Special Events
The following events were conducted alongside our regular MolBio workshops in the year 2023-2024
Molecular Biology Workshop for Underrepresented Groups in Academia
25-31 January, 2023
We conducted a 7-day long, all expenses paid, hands-on residential workshop on Molecular Biology Techniques for under-represented groups in Academia. Applications were invited from students enrolled for Masters or PhD's in institutes located in Type Y and Type Z cities. After a rigorous screening of around 1500 applications from all across India, 25 participants were selected representing 13 states and 01 Union territory. The hands-on modules were conducted under the guidance of two instructors along with scientific talks on X-ray crystallography, metabolomics, Next-generation Sequencing , Genome Editing and GC-MS/LC-MS. Visit to the Animal House Facility, Zebrafish facility and Microscopy Facility at IISER-Pune and demonstrations of microscopes and Mass spectroscopy instruments like GCMS and LCMS was also done.
For more details visit our Karyashala website.
DNA Fingerprinting demonstration in collaboration with iGEM IISER-Pune team
16-July, 2023
A 1.5 hours long demonstration workshop on 'Whodunnit?: DNA Fingerprinting' was conducted by us as part of a Biomimetics competition organized by IISER-Pune Team iGEM 2023. Around 93 high school students participated in this event where the aim was to identify the culprit by matching DNA from a crime scene to that of three suspects.
'TA cloning: A simple subcloning strategy' for Praj Industries
17-18 August, 2023
A two day hands-on workshop on 'TA cloning: A simple subcloning strategy' was conducted for scientists of Praj Industries, Pune on 17-18 August-2023. Participants cloned a DNA fragment using TA cloning, made competent cells, transformed them, plated the cells and on the next day screened for recombinants using blue white screening. Successful cloning was confirmed by kit based plasmid DNA extraction followed by diagnostic restriction digestion. Along with the hands-on, the theory and concepts behind the experiments conducted as well as commonly used molecular cloning strategies in research and commercial labs were discussed. Participant feedback rating: 4.91/5
'Enzymes: The wonder molecules of life' for National Science Day
28 February, 2024
We gave a short talk with demonstration (25 min) as part of the National Science Day celebrations at IISER Pune on February 28, 2024. The talk focused on enzymes, their mechanism of action and also the different applications of enzymes from bread making to DNA based forensics. The science was conveyed in a simple manner since a major chunk of the audience was school students from grades 5th-10th. Accompanying teachers, parents and the general public of various educational backgrounds were also present.