The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Opportunities in biological research

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 06, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Opportunities in biological research

To motivate students of biotechnology to take to research programmes, the Department of Biotechnology of J.J. College of Arts and Science in Pudukottai organised a session on `opportunities in biological research' recently.

A scientist from the National University of Singapore, B. Ramanathan, stressed the importance of research programmes in biotechnology.

He explained the contribution of researchers to the growth and development of the society.

The researches contributed a lot by developing medicines for a few major diseases like cancer besides evolving special techniques for wide range applications in fields like aquaculture, environment, animal husbandry etc.

Dr. Ramanathan said post-graduates in Biotechnology had bright career opportunities in countries like Singapore, Japan, Taiwan etc where the governments allocated a huge sum to encourage research programmes in biomedical sciences.

He explained the ways and means for post-graduates to take maximum advantage of these opportunities.

Two students from the college were selected on the occasion for taking up a short-term research project in Singapore.

Principal J. Parasuraman, Management Trustee Kavitha Subramanian and Head, Department of Biotechnology, K. M. Subbu Rathinam, spoke.

Office-bearers of different associations of the Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan College of Arts and Science in Perambalur were installed at the college recently.

Principal R. M. Meenakshi, who presided, appealed to the students to take extra efforts to reach higher levels.

They should be prepared to face the challenges, without getting discouraged at any point of time, particularly while facing any piquant situation.

Correspondent A. Srinivasan spoke.

A one-day special lecture programme on `Transgene technology for human welfare' and `Functional genomics' was organised by the `Chakrabarthy's Club of Gene Technology' of J.J. College of Arts and Science, Pudukottai recently.

The Head of Department of Bio-technology, Bharathidasan Institute of Technology of the Bharthidasan University, P. Rajaguru and its lecturer P. Sureshkumar were the resource persons.

Dr. Sureshkumar spoke about how the transgenic plants, especially golden rice, Bt. cotton, and Bt. maize could influence the agricultural economy and ameliorate the malnutrition in developing countries.

He also explained how the genes could be injected into the host cell using novel molecular biology techniques like electrophoration, microinjection and particle bombardment. Dr. Rajaguru explained the impact of the micro array technique on the genome study, which was not feasible in earlier days.

Contributions from M. Balaganessin and G. Prasad in Tiruchi.

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