National Webinar on Insight Into Viruses

A National Webinar on “Insight into Viruses and the Prospect of Traditional Herbal Medicine in the Management of Viral Infections” was organized by the Department of Botany, D.K College Mirza in association with the North East Science Movement, Vijnana Bharati and IQAC, D.K College, Mirza on the 1st of August, 2020.

The Webinar was graced by distinguished Resource persons Prof. Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director of the Institute of Bioresource and Sustainable Development, National Insitute of Department of Biotechnology, Imphal and Dr. Narayan Chandra Talukdar, Former Director of Institute of Advanced Studies in Science and Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Guwahati. The Keynote address was delivered by Prof. Nilakshee Devi, Head, Department of Botany, Gauhati University who touched upon the prospect of herbal medicines in the current Covid 19 pandemic scenario. Participants numbering 390 from all across the country actively took part in the proceedings and engaged in interaction with the Resource Persons.

Earlier, the Webinar was inaugurated by the Principal cum Chairperson of IQAC, Dakshin Kamrup College, Mirza, Dr. Nabajyoti Das. He addressed the participants and highlighted the importance of scientific establishment of herbal medicines in the present times of emerging viral infections. Sri Jayanta Sahasrabudhe, National Organizing Secretary of Vijnana Bharati, was the Chief Guest for the programme. In his address Sri Sahasrabudhe appealed to the participants to explore the floristic diversity of the North Eastern part of India and take advantage of Central Government schemes for rightful utilization of indigenous medicinal plants.

In his highly informative talk in the first technical session of the Webinar, Prof. Pulok Kr. Mukherjee focused on validation of medicinal plants from Indian system of Medicine, their formulation and standardization, which are useful bio prospecting tools for the traditional medicine based drug discovery programme. He urged students and researchers to collaborate with National institutes to take up pharmacological studies of indigenous plants for upliftment of the herbal medicine industry of the country.

Dr. N. C Talukdar delivered an interesting talk on the multifaceted dimension of viruses causing large scale pandemic deaths and their application in drug discovery particularly vaccines and therapeutics. He highlighted the recent findings of the etiology of the SARS CoV2 virus and the issues and challenges regarding formulation of an effective vaccine or other therapeutics.

Dr. Gargi Chakravarty, Asst. Prof., Department of Botany was the convenor of the Webinar and also moderated the sessions. On behalf of the IQAC, Dr. Gargee Chakraborty, Coordinator offered all technical help and guidance. The IT team of the North East Science Movement helped in successfully conducting the programme.

Dr.Gargee Chakraborty
Convenor and Asst. Prof.
Department of Botany
Dakshin Kamrup College,Mirza