we should now park it
under an appropriate
name. Hopefully, there
will be big event every
year now. Big challenge
was to get the speakers
of various expertise on
a single platform but
we were fortunate to
be able to do that.
How much
awareness exists
currently at the
academic level as
far as this field
is concerned?
Based on my experience
in the outreach program,
not even undergrads
were aware. They had
just heard about the
word ‘synthetic biology’
but don’t understand
the meaning. The worst
thing is that at the faculty
level, there is too much
variation in the real
understanding of the
subject. It is very difficult
to convince few that this
is a new kind of science.
Event like these do
reinforce the definition
and help build awareness.
We highlight the
fascinating subject to
bring out its uniqueness.
There is an immediate
need to build awareness
about the subject
Why is this event
going to benefit
the bioscience
community?
I think it is for the first
time in our country that
we have engaged the
student community in
such an exercise. Right
from the high school level,
we have got eight students
handpicked from their
classes and given them
exposure to the modern
trends in bioscience.
At the event, we have
good mixture of crowd
consisting of undergrads,
Msc/PhD, postdocs and
faculty as well in the
audience. I had requested
all the speakers to make
it a TED like event so that
it becomes interesting
for the students and
they don’t get nervous
o overwhelmed.
I can see that to the
large extent we have
met the objectives.
Through this event, we
are trying to build new
excitement among the
students so that they
ask questions and leads
to more interactions as
Based on my
experience
in the outreach
program, not even
undergrads were
aware. They had
just heard about
the word ‘synthetic
biology’ but don’t
understand the
meaning.
I can see that to
the large extent
we have met
the objectives.
Through this
event, we are
trying to build
new excitement
among the
students so
that they ask
questions and
leads to more
interactions as a
final step.
a final step. The whole
idea is to bring upon the
strengths and make this
a recurring event.
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