8th International Symposium on ​Bioinformatics

Abstract Submission for Poster Session OPEN

November 29, 2024

SP Jain Auditorium

University of Delhi South ​Campus, New Delhi, India

Sri Venkateswara College is a prominent, nationally sought-after co-education and constituent college of the University of Delhi. The ​desire to share knowledge and make education accessible to all brought together three visionaries, Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh an eminent ​educationist, Dr K. L. Rao and Dr. C. Anna Rao, who were determined to craft a dynamic space that would seamlessly blend traditional ​values and learning with modern outlook in Delhi. This dream blossomed into reality with the aid and encouragement rendered by ​Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), and Sri Venkateswara College made its modest beginnings in Andhra Education Society in 1961. ​The foundation stone of Sri Venkateswara College was laid in the year 1961 by eminent Indian philosopher and statesman Dr. Sarvepalli ​Radhakrishnan.

This year marks 63 years for this prestigious institution, which has proudly stood tall through many decades acquiring an indomitable ​place in the Indian education map. Today, Sri Venkateswara College has around 4500+ students on its rolls, offers more than 20 ​different undergraduate courses and 10 postgraduate courses in the Humanities, Commerce and Science disciplines with 206 teaching ​and 151 non-teaching staff. The college is known for its excellence in academics, sports and overall development of students. One of the ​important achievements of the college was to be recognized by the UGC as a Center for “potential for excellence” (2004-2008) and as ​“Star College” by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (2011) that has helped to strengthen undergraduate education ​and training in the Life Sciences and Biotechnology. In 2016, Sri Venkateswara College was accredited with Grade “A” by the National ​Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and subsequently a Grade “A+” during the second cycle in 2021. It is a matter of pride ​that the college secured 13th position in the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2023 Rankings instituted by Ministry of ​Education.

Sri Venkateswara College believes in imparting “value based instruction‟ which is woven into the very texture of the “value integrated ​education‟ that we impart to the students. The college envisages shaping sensitive, balanced global citizens of tomorrow whose heart is ​cultured in indigenous values and mind is sharpened in critical thinking. The college strives to provide a platform for students from ​diverse backgrounds and strengths to excel in academics, research, cultural as well as social activities and sports. Our aim is to offer ​broad, balanced and diverse academic programs that are mutually reinforcing and emphasize on quality education at the undergraduate ​level. We take pride in the fact that “Venkyites” in today’s world are known for their penchant to excel in all walks of life.

( www.svc.ac.in )

Bioinformatics at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi

The Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (BIF) at Sri Venkateswara College was established in 2006, with the financial assistance from ​the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi for promotion of Bioinformatics Teaching and Research. The Centre has been ​focusing research work in Molecular Modelling, Molecular Dynamics, Drug discovery, Network Biology and Allergen Informatics. The ​centre has received “INCENTIVE AWARD FOR PUBLICATIONS” for three consecutive years i.e. 2014 and 2016 from DBT, New Delhi for ​publications in Bioinformatics under BIF category.

The DBT funded Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (BIF) Center at Sri Venkateswara College has been coordinated by Dr. N. Latha ​since its establishment in 2007. The Centre has been providing scientific support to both research and education to the faculty ​members, research scholars and students of all science departments in the Colleges , University as well as nearby institutes. The Centre ​has been regularly organizing Conferences, Workshops and Training Programs at both National & International level. Dr. Latha has been ​the Principal Investigator of several research National projects and International Projects. She has collaborations under DST India-​Belarus Cooperation Fund (2014), DST India-Austria Bilateral Cooperation (2019) and DST India Thailand Cooperation (2020). Further, ​she was instrumental in signing of a Joint agreement in Bioinformatics with Martin Luther University, Germany in the year 2019 for ​academic exchange. She has mentored several interdisciplinary undergraduate research projects and has been instrumental in ​introducing a Certificate Program in Bioinformatics & Computational Biology for undergraduates at University of Delhi. In recognition of ​her contributions to the promotion of Bioinformatics, Dr Latha has been conferred the prestigious Excellence in Service Teacher’s Award ​by University of Delhi (2019) and the prestigious INSA Teacher Award by Indian National Science Academy (2020). She has also been ​elected as Executive Committee member for the Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Network (APBioNet) to coordinate activities in Bioinformatics ​in the Asia Pacific region.

Bennett University has been established by the Times Group, India's largest media conglomerate through Act No. 24 of 2016 passed by ​the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The University at present offers unique interdisciplinary and contemporary courses through its ​Schools of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Management, Law, and Media & Liberal Arts. In addition, the University has also ​established the Centers for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and External Relation & Executive Education. Bennett University has excelled ​as the frontline multi and interdisciplinary university establishing partnerships with, Babson College, Georgia Institute of Technology, ​EDX.org etc.

About School of Engineering & Applied Sciences at Bennett University

The School of Engineering & Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Bennett University remains at the forefront of innovation and cutting-edge ​research. The School of Engineering & Applied Science houses four departments: Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), ​Biotechnology (BIOTECH) Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Physics (PHY). The School offers undergraduate, post graduate and ​doctoral level programs. The programs aim to blend rigorous academic instruction with real-world experiential learning.

Department of Biotechnology at Bennett University

The Department of Biotechnology at Bennett University has become central to developing innovative technologies in areas including ​health, environment, energy, food and nutrition security. The Department offers B. Tech Biotechnology, B- Tech-M. Tech ​Biotechnology Integrated and Ph. D. Biotechnology programs.

The course curriculum is reviewed by the Board of Studies consisting of senior scientists from the Department of Biotechnology (GoI), ​IIT-Delhi, Directors and Heads from Industry.The department’s curriculum is tailored to offer multi-disciplinary specializations in ​Biomedical Technologies, Drug Discovery & Protein Therapeutics, Genetic Counselling & Precision Medicine, Industrial Biotechnology ​and Nanotechnology & Biosensors and is frequently reviewed to ensure its relevance and effectiveness. The faculty members are ​accomplished researchers with PhD and Postdoc degrees from eminent universities worldwide.

The Department is primarily dedicated to facilitating experiential learning for the students, with the aim of equipping them with the skills ​needed to comprehend, design, and produce products and processes of commercial value. To achieve this, the department emphasizes ​project-based learning, providing internship opportunities at renowned biotech industries to help students develop practical skills.

Furthermore, the department exposes students to cutting-edge research through government-funded projects that are sanctioned to ​faculty members working in different areas of biotechnology. The faculty members also maintain active collaborations with prominent ​industry players as well as research institutions.

The Department of Biophysics was established in 1985 under of Faculty of Interdisciplinary and Applied Sciences (FIAS) in the then ​newly established South Campus of Delhi University. The Department offered Ph.D. programme in Biophysics since it’s establishment. ​It also actively participated in the M.Phil. (Biotechnology) programme, which was being run jointly by the Departments of Biophysics, ​Biochemistry, Microbiology and Genetics. The department has started M.Phil. Biophysics from the Academic Year 2018-19. From ​Academic Year 2020 department has started M.Sc. Biophysics course.

Department of Biophysics is one of the few Departments in India that offers both post-graduate and PhD programs in Biophysics. These ​programs are interdisciplinary in nature and aim to train students in the theories and methods of physics to understand how biological ​systems work. Both programs offer training to explore the structure, function and interactions of cellular components and ​biomolecules, control of cellular processes at the molecular and genome-wide levels, and develop methods to model and predict these ​processes. Both programs also expose students to quantitative and high-throughput methods to understand life at both cellular and ​system levels. Teaching and training programs of the Department of Biophysics are run by highly specialized core faculty members who ​are trained in different domains of biophysics. Each faculty member has an active, vibrant research lab involved in cutting-edge ​research in various domains of biophysics, thereby providing collaborative research and training opportunities. Besides the ​Department's core faculty, faculty members of the sister departments of FIAS also contribute to the teaching activities.

The Department has well established research labs funded by Extramural grants from DBT, DST, ICMR, CSIR, UGC, as well as ​intramural grants from the University of Delhi. The department offers research opportunities in the areas of vaccine and drug design, ​drug target discovery, multi-omic data integration, large-scale bio-moecule production, structural and computational biology. The ​Department is equipped with electrophysiological set up (patch clamp and bilayer systems), which are the most sensitive tools to study ​such channels. The objective of structural biology work is to understand the structure-function-evolution relationship in proteins from ​various organisms, particularly extremophiles using various biophysical techniques like CD spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The ​department is also involved in research in the areas of metagenomics and molecular modeling. The thrust area of bioinformatics is ​genome and protein sequence analysis particularly in relation to function. Department regularly organizes seminars by national and ​international researchers to expose the students to diverse scientific areas and methodology to complement the courses in the ​programme.

The alumni of Department have carved a niche for themselves by occupying positions as independent PI (University of California San ​Francisco USA, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi) or post-doctoral fellows ​(National Institute of Health (USA), Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (USA), Institute of Human Genetics (France) in ​universities and research institutes of both India and abroad and PhD students (Indian Institute of Science (Bengaluru), Indian Institute ​of Science Education and Research (Bhopal), Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi and Guwahati).