Knowledge Blast yet another creative and innovative episode of our International Symposium Bionformatica Indica – 2020 with the vision to provide a galaxy of eminent professionals with the aim of promoting academic and industrial collaboration and there by generating fresh insights in the related fields was organised from January 16 th to 18 th 2020. Sri. G. Vijayaraghavan, Founder CEO, Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram innagurated the occassion and was presided by Prof. Oommen V. Oommen Emeritus professor, University of Kerala. The proceedings was released by Prof. P. Sudhakaran, Emeritus Professor, University of Kerala to Dr. Umesh, Assistant Professor, College of Engineering, Thalassery. Dr. E V. Soniya of RGCB, Thiruvananthapuram being awarded the Best Woman Scientist Award by National Academy of Biological sciences was honoured during the event. 2020 BioIndica mainly focus on the research areas Machine Learning in Bioinformatics, Next Generation Sequencing and Computer- Aided drug designing. Invited lectures by Dr. Ganesh Bagler (IIIT- Delhi), Dr. Deepak Mishra (IIST, Thiruvananthapuram), Dr. Aravind Kumar Rengan (IIT, Hyberabad), Dr. Avinash Sharma (NCCS, Maharatra), Dr. E V Soniya (RGCB, Thiruvananthapuram), Mr. Rishi Agarwal (IIT, Guwahati), Ms. R. Ananthalakshmi Ammal (C- DAC, Thiruvananthapuram), Dr. Pritesh Bhatv (Schrodinger, Bangalore) and online invited talks by Dr. Ewert Bengtsson (Uppsala University, Sweden), Dr. Bindhu A (University of Lund, Sweden) and Ms. Reshmi Ramakrishnan (KU, Leuven, Belgium) enriched deeper insights into the aforementioned research disciplines. Over 100 participants attended the symposium comprising of professors, Associate professors, Assistant professors, Lecturers, PhD scholars and students from kerala and Tamil Nadu. The symposium gave oppurtunity to the young talents to present their work, exchange ideas and interact with senior experts. All oral presentations were encouraged to present their work in three minutes. The presentations were followed by open discussion and suggestions. The symposium was enriched by various cultural program and it was indeed rare experience to cherish.

The 6th biennial international symposium, Bioinformatica Indica 2018 was organised from January 8th to 10th 2018. This event was uniquely upholding five sustainable values – Simple, Low Cost, Frugal, Eco-friendly and Ethnic. Prof. Rajan Gurukkal, Vice-Chairman, Kerala State Higher Education Council inaugurated the occasion and was presided by Prof. P . K. Radhakrishnan, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kerala. The proceedings was released by Prof. Oommen V Oommen, Emeritus Professor, University of Kerala. Invited lectures by Dr. Chandra Verma (A-Star Institute, Singapore), Dr. K K Sabu (JNTBGRI), Mr. Kashyap Chatbar (Uninversity of Edinburgh, UK), Mr. Gokul Alex (UST Global) Mr. Robin Tomy (TCS), Dr. E V Soniya (RGCB, Thiruvananthapuram), Prof. Pawan K Dhar (JNU, New Delhi) enriched deeper insights into the aforementioned research disciplines. Over 100 participants attended the symposium from Kerala, TamilNadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. All oral and poster presenters were encouraged to present their work in a minute. The symposium was enriched by various cultural programs. The shadow play or Tholpavakoothu conducted by Ramachandran Pulavar and team from Shornur was indeed rare experience to cherish.

Yes! A dream of connecting great minds of various fields under one roof came true with the yet another episode of our international symposium - Bioinformatica Indica 2016. The event was inaugurated by Dr Kuncheria P. Isaac, Vice chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. The key note address was delivered by Prof. Sir Tom Blundell, University of Cambridge . The​ ​list of speakers includ​ed Chandra Verma (A-Star Institute, Singapore), Pawan K. Dhar (JNU, New Delhi), R. Sowdhamini (NCBS, Bengaluru), N. Srinivasan (IISc., Bengaluru), Harsha Gowda (Institute of Bioinformatics, Bengaluru), Akshansh Gupta (JNU, New Delhi) and Dr K Thankaraj (CCMB, Hyderabad). The symposium had around 60 participants from different universities of India and abroad like University of Cambridge, IIT Bombay, IISC Bangalore, NITS, Hyderabad Central University, Anna university, Bharathidasan University, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, NCBS Banglore, Amrita Center for Nanoscience and Molecular medicine, College of Engineering Trivandrum, New Horizon college of Engineering Bangalore and Sahrdaya College of Engineering, RIT Kottayam, along with a part from our esteemed alumnis.

'Bioinformatica Indica 2014' was inaugurated by Dr. A. Ajayaghosh, Director, CSIR - National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology. The keynote address was delivered by Alessandro Giuliani from TCE laboratory, Instituto Superiore di Sanita' Rome, Italy. The inaugural ceremony was flavoured by the cultural event organized by Team Sarga of Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. ​The​​list of speakers includ​ed Prof. M. Vijayan (IISc, Bangalore), Dr. Chandra Verma (A* Bioinformatics Institute, Singapore), Beena Pillai (IGIB, New Delhi), Pathipathi Srihari (NITK, Mangalore), Lalitha Rengarajan (University of Mysore), Sreejith Panicker (University of Kerala), S. Sankara Raman (Nirmala College, Kerala) and Vinod Scaria (Scientist, IGIB, New Delhi), who discussed their research works and latest trends in the field with the ever enthusiastic delegates. The scholars of the department Dr. Dileep Kumar, Vipin Thomas, Deepa G. and Umesh P. introduced the research work progressing in the centre. The talk by the Editor-in-Chief of SSB Journal Dr. Pawan K. Dhar concluded the Bioinformatica Indica 2014. The Kathakali performance was an eye candy for the delegates, emphasizing the cultural saga of the state.

'Bioinformatica Indica 2012' was inaugurated by Dr. Shoshana Wodak, University of Toronto, Canada. Dr. A. Jayakrishnan, Vice-chancellor, University of Kerala gave the presidential address. The proceedings of Indica 2012 was released by Prof. A. Jayakrishnan and the first copy was received by Dr. Shoshana Wodak. Felicitations were delivered by Dr. P. Mohanachandran (Syndicate Member, University of Kerala), Dr. Oommen V. Ommen (Emiritus Scientist, DCB) and Prof. Sabu Thampy ( IIITM-K). Symposium Coordinator Vidhya R.V. winded up the inaugural function by delivering the vote of thanks. The focal theme of this symposium was Protein-Protein Interaction Networks, with sub themes of Computational Genomics, Transcriptomics, Proteomics, Systems and Synthetic Biology and Drug Discovery. Keynote address was delivered by Dr. Pawan K. Dhar, Editor-in-Chief, Systems and Synthetic Biology Journal. Dr. Soumen Roy (Bose Institute, Kolkata), Dr. Ravi Gupta (SciGenome, Kochi, Kerala), Dr. Shobha Ranganathan, Dr. M. Michael Gromiha (Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai) Dr. Alex Pappachan James (IIITM-K, T'puram) were invited to present talks. Also Dr. Achuthsankar S. Nair introduced the research work currently progressing in the centre. Mr. Umesh P., Research Scholar, DCB delivered an informative talk on Synthetic Biology.An exclusive talk and a live demo on 'Snake and Venom-informatics' by Dr. Dileepkumar R., Post-doctoral Fellow, Dept. of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics and Ms. Anaswara Krishnan, Research Scholar of Dept. of Zoology covering behavioural detailing of important venomous and non-venomous snake species of Keralam. The inaugural function was followed by presentation of Kathakali, the traditional dance form of the state.As a part of the symposium we had arranged a 5 hour city tour. Delegates were escorted to Kovalam, the most beautiful beach; and Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, the richest temple in the world. The valedictory function was chaired by Dr. Oommen V. Oommen and Dr. V.N. Rajasekhara Pillai, Vice-chairman, KSCSTE, Thiruvananthapuram delivered the valedictory address.

'Bioinformatica Indica 2010' was inaugurated by Prof. Alessandro Guiliani, eminent computational biologist from Rome. Prof. Guiliani highlighted the need to apply systems approach to studying biology. Dr. A. Jayakrishnan (Vice-Chancellor, University of Kerala) presided over the function. Dr. P. Kangueane (AIMST, Malaysia), Dr. Chandra Verma (Biomolecular Modeling and Design Division Bioinformatics Institute, Singapore), Dr. P.R. Sudhakaran (Dept. of Bio-Chemistry, University of Kerala), Dr. Cliff Kussmaul (Muhlenberg College, Pennsylvania), Dr. Pawan K. Dhar (CSSB, University of Kerala), Dr. Sucheta Tripathy (Virginia Bioinformatics Institute), Sri. Prasanth Suravajhala (C-DAC Bioinformatics Group, Pune) presented their work in this Symposium. Dr. Oommen V. Oommen (Dept.of Zoology, University of Kerala) released the proceedings. To flavour the symposium the department organized various cultural events like Kathakali, Classical Music Concerts and Gazals which offered the participants an unforgettable audio-visual fiesta.

'Bioinformatica Indica 2008' was inaugurated by Dr. T. Madan Mohan from the Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. Dr. Todd Taylor from RIKEN Yokohama Institute, Japan delivered the keynote address.The initial episode of bioinformatica focused on Synthetic Biology, Systems Biology, miRNA, Immunoinformatics, Signal Processing Techniques and Microarray Analysis. Dr. Pawan K. Dhar (RIKEN Yokohama Institute, Japan), Dr. Narinder Singh Sahni (JNU, India), Dr. G.P.S. Raghava (IMTECH, Chandigarh), Dr. G. Narahari Sastry (IICT, Hyderabad), Dr. D. Karunagaran (IIT, Chennai), Prof. Limsoon Wong (National University of Singapore), Dr. D. Swati (Banaras Hindu University) and Dr. Kumar Selvarajoo (Keio University, Japan) were invited and they engaged the sessions in the symposium. Dr. Krishna Kant (Ministry of Information Technology, Govt. of India) released the proceedings for the initial Bioinformatica series.