1. Inaugural lecture

Date of the program: 24^th September, 2019

Convenor: Dr. Rajni Jain

The Biochemistry Department of Deshbandhu College and IQAC keeping the spirit and curiosity in the young scientists alive, organized the annual fest of the Biochemical Society 'Biospark '19'. Under the aegis of DBT Star College Scheme, the Department organized an inaugural lecture 'Battle against Infectious Diseases' on 24th September, 2019 in the college auditorium. The event began with Sci-Art Rangoli Making Competition on the topic 'Host-Pathogen Interaction' which was judged by Dr. Y Singh, Dr. Manisha Senger and Dr. Preeti Karwal.

This was followed by a seminar wherein two eminent research scientists shared their work and experiences. Dr. Yogendra Singh was the first speaker of the event. He delivered a talk on the topic, “Survival Strategies of bacterial pathogens”. Dr. Singh is known as a pioneer in the field of pathogenesis and treatment of tuberculosis as has been working as a Senior Scientist, at Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Mall Road, New Delhi and now is Professor at Department of Zoology, Delhi University. Dr. Singh enlightened the students with the basic knowledge of the working with pathogens as to how different pathogens are capable of causing different infectious diseases and what strategies can be used for the possible treatments of the diseases.

The event also hosted a lecture by Professor Kalpana Luthra, Department of Biochemistry, AIIMS New Delhi on 'Immunogen Design towards Responses of HIV-1 Infection'. Dr. Kalpana Luthra is working on vaccine development against HIV at Department of Biochemistry, AIIMS, New Delhi. She discussed how immune response elicited in subtype C HIV-1 infected donors can be characterized and how cross-neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies effective against different subtype C and non-subtype C HIV-1 can be isolated.

Following the lectures, the students organized a Panel Discussion on the topic 'Eugenics-Genetic Superiority vs Social Inferiority' in the afternoon session. A total of six teams belonging to different colleges participated in the panel discussion. Four questions were asked, two in favour and two in against of the Eugenics. Cash prizes and certificates were given to the winner teams for both the competitions.

The event was concluded by a vote of thanks delivered by the teacher in-charge and convenor of the event, Dr. Rajni Jain. The event was a great success and by the means of various multidisciplinary activities the Department made it much more than an informative session for the students.

2. Two Days Webinar on “Understanding Human Health and Wellness in New Perspectives”

Date of the program: 20^th - 21^st May, 2020

Convenor: Dr. Preeti Karwal

No. Of participants: More than 100

The Department of Biochemistry, Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi, organized a two days Webinar Series on 20^th and 21^st May, 2020 on the theme “Understanding Human Health and Wellness in New Perspectives”. The webinar series was organized under the aegis of IQAC, Deshbandhu College and DBT STAR College Scheme. The webinar hosted lectures on extremely relevant and current topics pertaining to the looming COVID-19 pandemic and was attended in large numbers by students and faculty members of various educational institutes.

The program was inaugurated on 20^th May by a welcome speech by our Principal, Dr. Rajiv Aggarwal. Our speaker, Dr. Debojyoti Dhar, Co-founder and Director of a start-up, Leucine Rich Bio Pvt. Ltd, introduced us to the intriguing and yet unexplored world of the “Microbiome” and spoke on the topic: “Gut Microbiota in today’s time- implications in Health and Wellness”. The session was attended in huge numbers and piqued the interest of everyone, evident from the variety of interjections posed by the audience. Dr. Dhar, being an alumnus of our department was indeed an inspiration to our students and spoke on various implications of the gut microbiota on our health and susceptibility towards viral infections including COVID-19.

On the second day, we witnessed a unique combination of Biology and Computers, when Dr. Tavpritesh Sethi, MBBS, PhD, Assistant Professor, IIIT Delhi, shared his journey of developing a smart phone application (App) aimed at providing correct information and statistics regarding various diseases and more so, the COVID-19 pandemic. He spoke on the topic: “Fighting the Covid-19 Pandemic with Data and Computing”. His talk focused on how wrong information regarding the current pandemic or as he termed “infodemic” could be filtered using the App, WashKaro, developed by him and his team. The session, although technical, was well appreciated by one and all and gave us an insight of translational research.

The webinar was a well-organised team effort by all the faculty members of the Department of Biochemistry under convenorship of Dr. Preeti Karwal, Teacher-in-charge, Department of Biochemistry and co-convenorship of Dr. Kamana Singh. The program was concluded by a warm vote of thanks by Dr. Rajni Jain and splendid appreciation by the participants. We are grateful to our Principal, Dr. Rajiv Aggarwal for his relentless support and encouragement in organising the event.