About

Over the past 10 years the Young Investigator’s meeting (YIM) organized by IndiaBioscience have helped young scientists from around the nation to come together on a single platform and shape the future of Indian science. It was decided at the 10 the YIM held in March, 2018 that local YIMs may play a crucial role in creating a stronger network among scientists across the country. With this vision Kolkata will host the first local chapter of YIM from Feb 5 – 6, 2019 at Presidency University, Kolkata. The theme of the meeting is “Together today for a better tomorrow”.

The meeting will include basic researchers and clinicians from diverse scientific background across Kolkata and nearby areas, who will come together to collate, collaborate and strengthen scientific networking and research advancement in this region. We are planning to incorporate not just scientific talks and posters, but also discussion sessions, and plenary talk. We also have plan to include a session on public engagement approaches and how we can initiate more participation from scientists, clinicians and educators alike in such initiatives. In these discussion sessions we hope to have productive communication among peers coming from neighbouring institutes/laboratories/universities in the region.

The highlights from the meeting can be read here.

Event Details

Meeting Highlights:

Interaction among YIs engaged in life science and interdisciplinary research across Kolkata
Creating a common platform for sharing resources
Foster collaboration among young researchers and educators
Explore institutional strengths and shortfalls

Meeting Format:

YI talks
Poster Presentation
Panel Discussion

Programme

Day 1: February 5, 2019
8:30 am — 9:00 am	Registration
9:00 am — 9:05 am	Welcome note- Genesis of Regional Young Investigators Meeting, Kolkata chapter
9:05 am — 9:15 am	“Engaging Communities, Enabling Change” by Dr. Smita Jain, IndiaBioscience
9:15 am — 9:45 am	Introduction by participants
9:45 am ‑10:15 am	Keynote Lecture: “Together today for a better tomorrow – Particle accelerators at the frontier of collective wisdom” by Prof. Bikash Sinha, Homi Bhabha Chair Professor of the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC)
10:15 am — 10:30 am	Tea Break & Setting up posters
10:30 am — 11:30 am	*“The Chaos between the intention of becoming a scientist and being one”* by Prof. Maitrayee DasGupta, Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Calcutta *“Monkey See, Monkey Don’t Do! Some Reflections on a Primate Life”* by Prof. Anindya Rana Sinha, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore (National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru)
11:30 am — 11:40 am	Prof. Ron Vale, University of California, San Francisco, USA (via Skype)
11:40 am — 12:40 pm	Poster Session 1
12:40 pm — 1:30 pm	Lunch Break
1:30 pm — 2:30 pm	Panel Discussion: “Collate and Collaborate: an administrator’s perspective” Moderator: Dr. Smarajit Polley, Bose Institute, Kolkata Members: Prof. Anuradha Lohia, Vice Chancellor, Presidency University, Kolkata Prof. Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay, Vice Chancellor, Amity University, Kolkata Prof. Saumitra Das, Director, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani Prof. Sujoy Kumar Das Gupta, Director, Bose Institute, Kolkata Prof. Sharmila Sengupta, Professor and ex-director, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani
2:30 pm — 3:30 pm	Poster Session 2
3:30 pm — 4:00 pm	*“DBT Research Initiatives: Some Success Stories”* by Dr. Meenakshi Munshi, Adviser/Scientist G, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India
4:00 pm — 4:20 pm	*“Non-Duplex DNA Structures Challenge our Imagination of Structure/Function — Perspective from a Lab”* by Dr. Shantanu Chowdhury, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi
4:20 pm — 5:20 pm	Panel Discussion: “Collate and Collaborate: The investigators’ perspective” Moderator: Dr. Benu Brata Das, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Members: Dr. Malay Das, Presidency University, Kolkata Dr. Chandrima Das, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata Dr. Amitava Sengupta, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata Dr. Smarajit Polley, Bose Institute, Kolkata Dr. Bornali Bhattacharjee, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani Dr. Geetanjali Sundaram, University of Calcutta, Kolkata
6:30 pm — 9:00 pm	Conference Dinner at The Tollygunge Club

Day 2: February 6, 2019
9:15 am – 9:30 am	Prof. L.S. Shashidhara, Indian Institutes of Science, Education and Research, Pune
9:30 am — 10:30 am	*“Innovation grants — Exciting part of Young Investigator’s entrepreneurial journey”* by Dr. Viswanadham Duppatla, IKP Knowledge Park, Hyderabad *“Bottom-up: A network in action in immunity and in community”* by Dr. Soumen Basak, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi *“Importance of metal-speciation study in marine systems*” by Dr. Parthasarathi Chakraborty, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
10:30 am — 11:30 am	Panel Discussion: “Science, health and society “ Moderator: Dr. Abhik Saha, Presidency University, Kolkata Members: Prof. Subhash C. Lakhotia, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Prof. Sourav Pal, Indian Institute of Science and Education Research, Kolkata Prof. Partha P. Majumder, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani Prof. Hemanta K. Majumder, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata Dr. Abhijit Choudhury, Indian Institute of Liver and Digestive Sciences, Sonarpur Dr. Chinmay Kumar Panda, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata Dr. Raghunath Chatterjee, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata Dr. Soma Banerjee, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research
11:30 am — 11:45 pm	Tea Break
11:45 am — 12:15 pm	*“We are climbing Genomics Ladder”* by Prof. Partha Pratim Majumder, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani
12:15 pm — 12:35 pm	*“Reprogramming adult tissue in vivo”* by Prof. Chandan K Sen, Director, Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine & Engineering, Indiana University, USA
12:40 pm — 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm — 2:30 pm	*“What it takes to build up a hematopoietic niche”* by Dr. Lolitika Mandal, Indian Institute of Science and Education Research, Mohali *“A Journey to Create the Research Niche in an Indian Lab”* by Dr. Suvendra Nath Bhattacharya, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata *“Direct evidence of robustness in a two-component system”* by Dr. Jayanta Mukhopadhyay, Dept. of Chemistry, Bose Institute
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm	Panel Discussion: “Public Outreach in Science: an educator’s perspective” Moderator- Dr. Piyali Mukherjee, Presidency University, Kolkata Members: Prof. Parthiba Basu, University of Calcutta, Kolkata Dr. Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Liver and Digestive Sciences, Sonarpur Dr. Dipyaman Ganguly, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata Dr. Punyabrata Gun, Sromojibi Sastho Udyog Dr. Arup Kr. Mitra., St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata Dr. Krishna Ray, West Bengal State University, Kolkata
3:30 pm — 4:30 pm	Poster Session
4:30 pm — 5:10 pm	*“OMICS goes viral: Coupling Host-Rotavirus Interactions to Drug repurposing for designing antiviral therapeutics”* by Dr. Mamta Chawla Sarkar, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata *“Rational Design of Catalysts for Clean Energy and Environment”* by Dr. Abhishek Dey, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Sciences, Kolkata
5:10 pm — 5:20 pm	Concluding remarks
5:20 pm — 5:30 pm	Vote of Thanks
5:30 pm — 6:00 pm	High Tea and departure