Tamil Nadu - Vellore   

Varsity to host bioinformatics meet

G.V. Selvam

VELLORE: The School of Biotechnology, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering of VIT University, Vellore, headed by T. Lazar Mathew, will be conducting a national-level technical symposium on bioinformatics on the university campus on Friday and Saturday.

Titled “PINNACLE ’08,” the symposium is dedicated purely to bioinformatics, according to Rao Sethumadhavan, convener of PINNACLE ’08 and divisional leader of Bioinformatics, VIT University. Bioinformatics, he said, has often been hailed as a revolutionary dimension of life sciences. Although a relatively new field in India, bioinformatics has its roots from the early 80s, but the much-acclaimed Human Genome Project took it to the frontier of science.

Almost all researchers of medical science, molecular biology, pharmaceutical companies and other bio-related fields rely on bioinformatics to reduce time and cost, thereby increasing their efficiency.

“Bioinformatics is the amalgamation of many branches such as chemistry, physics, statistics, biology, computer science and information technology.

It deals with efficient storing of biological data and computer-aided simulations of biological environment using special algorithms and software.”

G.V. Selvam, Pro-Chancellor of VIT University, said that it has been the aim of the university to incorporate features of excellence. With this objective, the institution maintains high standards of excellence, and PINNACLE ’08 is the outcome of such an initiative, he said.

More than 1,000 students from 60 universities have registered to participate in the symposium.

The URL of the symposium is www.vit.ac.in/pinnacle08/.

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