The UQIDAR Industry Connect Workshop on Biotechnology & Bioinformatics was held on 9th September 2021 at IIT Delhi (IITD). This was the fourth UQIDAR Industry Connect workshop, after successful workshops with Google and Microsoft Research and an Industry Connect workshop on Energy.
The hybrid workshop was chaired by Professor Avril Robertson and Professor Mikael Boden from The University of Queensland (UQ), and Professor Ritu Kulshrestha and Professor Ravi Krishnan Elangovan from IITD. More than 95 delegates participated in the virtual workshop and around 25 delegates participated in person.
The Workshop focused on four broad topics. The topics were:
- Medical devices and diagnostics
- Therapeutics and Personalized Medicine
- Biomanufacturing
- Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Biotechnology
Dr Rajeev Shorey, CEO, UQIDAR and Professor Nidhi Jain, Professor-in-Charge of the Academy welcomed all speakers and delegates of the workshop. This was followed by the welcome address by Dr Jessica Gallagher, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement and Entrepreneurship), UQ. Professor Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi delivered the inaugural address at the workshop. This was followed by the address by Professor Ashok Ganguli, Deputy Director, IIT Delhi. Dr Liz Izquierdo, UQ, provided an overview of the Industry Connect Workshop.
The workshop included focussed presentations by twenty faculty members from UQ and IIT Delhi followed by seven talks by industry experts. The industry stalwarts included Dr Anand Deshpande (Persistent Systems), Dr Sharmila Mande (TCS Research), Dr Manjiri Bakre (Oncosystem Diagnostics), Dr Bidhan Das (Octavo Solutions Pvt Ltd), Vivek Chandra (Premas Biotech), Dr R Venkataramanan (Karkinos Healthcare) and Arun Kumar (Axperia Ventures).
The UQIDAR workshop on Biotechnology and Bioinformatics was a great success, primarily due to the vision of Professor Anurag Singh Rathore (Dean Corporate Relations, IIT Delhi) and the workshop coordinators. We are also extremely grateful to all the speakers and delegates for ensuring a highly enriching and informative workshop on a topic that is of immense interest to the global community.
The Industry Connect workshop served an important purpose in showcasing deep expertise to the industries in India and Australia in the areas of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics across the two globally renowned universities. We are confident that several industries will partner with UQIDAR in the fullness of time.