Every year, students elect President, Vice President , Coordinator and Treasurer of the Biochemical Society which involves the students and faculties in organizing various academic activities throughout the year. One of the activity is departmental academic fest BIOSPARK. This fest helps the students to learn basics of organizing scientific events, gives each one of them an opportunity to participate in scientific discussions and presentations in the most creative ways possible.
BIOSPARK 2024
The Department of Biochemistry, Deshbandhu College under the aegis of IQAC, DBT STAR College Scheme and Research & Development Cell, organized its Departmental Academic Festival, Biospark 2024 on 16th April 2024. On this occasion, the department’s Biochemical Society organized an inter-college Quiz, wherein a prelims round was followed by finals. The department also hosted a talk by Dr. Gaurav Tyagi, Assistant Professor, Special Centre for National Security, which engaged the students on the pertinent topic of “Antimicrobial Resistance- A threat to international security”. The speaker emphasized on the facts and figures related to antimicrobial resistance from across the world and abridged the students about the silent but major threat it poses for the world in the coming decade. Having experience in both academia as well as the corporate world, he interacted with students on matters related to higher studies and career as well. Biospark 2024 was more special as the department released its annual magazine, Biospark 2023. Dr. Vineeta Kashyap, the teacher-in-charge of the department, gave an overview of the Biochemical Society, Biospark as well as Biospark 2023 magazine. The magazine was released by all the faculty members of the department, the speaker and Prof. Indrakant Singh, the DBT STAR Co-ordinator. The magazine showcasing scientific as well as non-scientific articles by students, also covered various departmental activities, and academic as well as extra-curricular achievements between Jan 2023- Mar 2024.
The event was organized by the Biochemical Society, under the convenership of Dr. Vanshika Bhatia and Dr. Astha Giri and the co-convenership of Dr. Prabha Arya. The event was graced by students and faculty members of various departments. The department feels grateful for the support of our Principal Sir, Prof. Rajendra Kumar Pandey and the IQAC co-ordinator, Dr.Aditya Saxena and believes that their continued support will encourage the students in the future as well.
BIOSPARK 2023: A Fusion of Knowledge and Fun The annual departmental fest, BIOSPARK' 23, was held by the Department of Biochemistry at Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi, on November 3, 2023. It was an intellectually stimulating mix of contests and talks, as well as an insightful talk by a distinguished guest speaker. The convenor of the event, Dr Vineeta Kashyap, skilfully oversaw the proceedings and played a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth execution of BIOSPARK 2023. Principal Prof. Kamal Kumar Gupta graced the occasion with an inspirational speech that encouraged the students to delve deeper into the realms of biochemistry and public health.
During the event, Principal Prof. Kamal Kumar Gupta praised the event, urging the students to explore the fields of biochemistry further and stressing the significance of raising awareness for the prevention of cervical cancer for betterment of health of women and girls. His words resonated with the attendees, emphasizing the significance of education and research in these fields.
Dr Vanshika Lumb Bhatia invited our Guest of Honour Dr Md Kausar Neyaz, Founder and Managing Director of Aabir Bio-Services Foundation, for his enlightening talk on "Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Towards Cervical Cancer Screening and HPV Vaccination Among Women and Girls in India." Dr Neyaz's speech shed light on the significance of cervical cancer and HPV screening and the urgency of regular screenings in detecting precancerous lesions early, ensuring timely intervention and treatment. He pressed the need to vaccinate girls aged 9 to 13 years and shared the success stories of campaigns of his foundation that had successfully created awareness and organised immunization programs to protect women and girls against this dreadful cancer.
BIOSPARK 2023 hosted an invigorating intercollege debate competition titled DEBATE DERBY. The competition featured two rounds, the preliminaries and the final round. Dr Astha Giri, Dr Kamana Singh, Dr Rubina Chongtham and Dr Shruti Yadav, served as the distinguished judges for this intense and intellectually stimulating event whose theme revolved around-“Tech’s impact on health: navigating the digital revolution in human well-being.”
In addition to the debate competition, the event also featured a Treasure hunt competition that engaged students in a thrilling quest to uncover hidden clues and challenges. The treasure hunt added an element of excitement and teamwork to the fest, allowing participants to apply their knowledge and problem-solving skills. Recognizing the importance of inclusivity and accessibility, BIOSPARK 2023 was live-streamed on our college YOU tube channel, ensuring that a broader audience could join in for the academic fest.
BIOSPARK succeeded in bringing together students and enthusiasts from various backgrounds, fostering an environment for sharing knowledge and exploring new dimensions of biochemistry and technology. The event was a testament to the department's commitment to academic engagement and intellectual growth. We eagerly anticipate the future editions of BIOSPARK, anticipating further successes.
Biospark ‘23
Student Workshop on Science Communication Workshop
The Department of Biochemistry organized the inaugural event BIOSPARK 2023 on 31st January, 2023 under the aegis of DBT STAR College Scheme and IQAC, Deshbandhu College. On this occasion the department introduced a student workshop on Science Communication in association with CSIR-IGIB and Ashoka University. The workshop hosted science communicators from various institutes. Dr. Poorti Kathpalia, Science communicator at CSIR-IGIB, Ms. Ipsita Herlekar, Writing Tutor at Centre for Writing and Communication, Ms. Arushi Batra from CSIR-IGIB and Ms. Shreshtha Mondal from the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore conducted the workshop by sharing their journey of hailing from different academic backgrounds and converging at some point in their career to become science communicators. They gave students an insight into science communication as a popular career options and explained the various branches hailing from it. In a hands-on session, the resource persons explained the various methods of developing scientific content for interesting and effective communication on topics like Artificial Intelligence in Science, Climate Change, Use of DNA technology for human growth to name a few. Students learnt about an alternate discipline and interacted with the resource persons to know more about the field. The hands-on activity was a learning experience for the students wherein they developed contents like videos, poems, articles, memes on the different scientific topics. The students learnt that the essence of science lies in not just performing complicated experiments but in simplifying and effectively communicating the result to the general public. The program was convened by Dr. Kamana Singh (Teacher-in-Charge, Dept. of Biochemistry) and Dr. Astha Giri. The co-convener for the event were Dr. Vanshika Bhatia and Dr. Naresh Kumar, while the organizing committee comprised of Dr. Vineeta Kashyap and Dr. Prabha Arya. The event was graced by the presence of Prof. Kamal Kumar Gupta, Vice Principal and Dr. Aditya Saxena; Co-ordinator IQAC, Deshbandhu College who lauded the effort of department and encouraged the students towards developing a scientific temperament. The support and motivation provided by our Principal Sir, Prof. Rajiv Aggarwal is paramount and we express our heartfelt gratitude towards him.
Biospark ’22 Magazine Release
Link for the magazine: https://anyflip.com/oeajp/mcvh/
On the occasion of the Inaugural event of Biospark 2023, the Department of Biochemistry released its Annual Magazine, Biospark 2022 on 31st January, 2023. The magazine was on the theme “Role of Science and Technology towards building an Atma Nirbhar Bharat”, which was in sync with the programs and student competitions held under the banner of Biospark in 2022. The Biospark ’22 magazine had 6 sections, named Evolving Science, containing scientific articles on the topic “Indigenous start-ups/products in the field of biological science/life sciences; Pinnacle- the achievements section; Reverie- a section for non-scientific articles; Reminiscence- a section highlighting the departmental activities in the past academic session; Imperio- a section connecting the present students with their seniors and alumni placed at eminent institutions and Piece de Resistance- a section showcasing the artistic talent of the Biochemistry family. Although the magazine although was released in physical form, it largely remain as an e-magazine and thus surpasses the limitation of pages and financial concerns. The Biospark magazine was initiated with the fund generated by Dr. Mira Kushal, retd. Faculty member of the department and thus we all are extremely thankful for her kind and continuing support. The magazine was compiled and prepared by the hardworking, creative and diligent student editorial board comprising of Amritaparna Maity, Aayush Goel, Aniket Singh (IIIrd Yr); Sinthia Mondal, Anushka Raina, Pranamya Pradeep (IInd Yr); Lavanya and Barha Sajid (Ist Yr) under the guidance of the faculty members of the Department of Biochemistry. The leadership provided by our head of the institution, our Principal Sir to carry out such activities motivates us to bring out beautiful editions of the Biospark magazine every year with renewed enthusiasm. The department hopes that reading the magazine would be as enriching and enjoyable as it’s compilation process.
Biospark 2022: Inaugural Lecture
“Reminiscence of Glorious Past to Exciting Present of Biological Research in India: Basic Science to Translational Exploration”
The Department of Biochemistry, Deshbandhu College organized the Inaugural Lecture of its academic festival Biospsark, ‘22 on 11th Oct, 2022. Being the first offline event after the pandemic, the students and faculty members of the department participated wholeheartedly to make the event a vibrant one. The speaker for the inaugural lecture was Dr. Debi P. Sarkar, Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Delhi South Campus. Sir gave a captivating and interesting talk on the topic, “Reminiscence of Glorious Past to Exciting Present of Biological Research in India: Basic Science to Translational Exploration”. He elaborated on the Indian Scientists who have contributed to the field of Science, ranging from physics to physiology. He mentioned stalwarts like, Prof. J.C Bose , Sir. C.V Raman, Prof. Bachhawat who have helped establish the role of Indian researchers on the world map. He encouraged and motivated the students by reminding them of the greatness of Indian scientists and what science, particularly Biological Science, holds for them and their country in the future.
Keeping in line with this theme, an inter-college Rangoli Making competition with the theme Role of Science in Atma Nirbhar Bharat, was also organized and witnessed participation in large numbers. This competition was adjudged by Prof. Debi Sarkar along with the faculty members from the Dept. of Botany, Dr. Aparna Nautiyal along with Dr. Sanehlata from the Dept. of Sanskrit. The competition was won by a student of English (Hons). A Quiz competition based on Biochemical/Biological Sciences was also hosted by the students of the department, and it showed an overwhelming response. The quiz competition was thus conducted in two phases, wherein the finalizing six teams from the first phase, then competed for the second phase. The students were actively involved and enjoyed organizing and participating in this event.
The inaugural lecture of Biospark 2022, was convened by Dr. Kamana Singh and Dr. Vanshika Bhatia, along with the untiring efforts of the co-convenor, Dr. Vineeta Kashyap and Dr. Prabha Arya. The organizing committee members, Dr. Rajni Jain, Dr. Astha Giri and Dr. Naresh Kumar took various responsibilities to make the event a success. This event was graced by the presence of the Staff Council secretary, Dr. Manisha Sengar along with the DBT STAR College Co-ordinator, Dr. Indrakant Singh and IQAC Co-ordinator, Dr. Aditya Saxena. The event could be a success only with the motivation we draw from our principal sir, Prof. Rajiv Aggarwal and the Department of Biochemistry is fortunate to have his support and encouragement.
BIOSPARK MAGAZINE