REPORT of National Seminar at Acharya & BM Reddy college of

Pharmacy

A “National Seminar on Pharmacogenomics and Its Applications in Drug

Discovery” was organized during the Second Annual Convention of
Association of Biotechnology & Pharmacy on 24th – 25th January 2009 at
Acharya Institutes, Bangalore. The event was organized by Acharya & B.M.
Reddy College of Pharmacy in association with Association of Biotechnology
& Pharmacy (ABAP) and Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), Peenya
Branch.

The Chief Guest Dr. B. Suresh, President-Indian Pharmaceutical Association,

President-Pharmacy Council of India & Vice Chancellor-JSS University
inaugurated the event. Addressing the gathering of about 450 scientists,
academicians from Pharmacy and Biotechnology fields, Dr. Suresh explained
the merits and de-merits of gene cloning and emphasized on the need to
produce technically sound and competent students to meet the industry
needs. Prof. K.Chinnaswamy, President of the ABAP explained the future
goals of association. Prof. Sambasiva Rao, General Secretary, ABAP gave a
report on associations activities. Prof. V. B. Desai, Ex-Drugs Controller,
Karnataka State said “Pharmacogenomics holds the key for personalized drug
therapy”. Dr. M. D. Karvekar, Vice President-IPA, Karnataka State branch &
Dean RGUHS, Mr. S. D. Joag Secretary-IPA, Prof. T. V. Narayana, Chairman,
IPA-Education Division, Mr. B. Premnath Reddy, Chairman, Acharya Institutes
and Dr. Goli Divakar Principal-Acharya & BM Reddy College of Pharmacy
were also present on the dais.

Seven honorary fellowships and eighteen fellowships of ABAP were awarded

to the leading scientists. The event was attended by 450 delegates from
academia and industry.
Honorary Fellows awarded to :
Dr. Gururaj A. Rao. USA
Dr. Vikram Kumar Yeragani, CANADA
Dr. K. S. Jagannadha Rao.
Dr. M. D. Karvekar.
Prof. V. B. Desai.
Dr. Jagashetty and Dr. Hobbs, Phillip John, UK were awarded honorary
fellowship in absentia
 ABAP Fellowships were awarded to the following members:
Prof. Arun Goyal.
Prof. M. Paridhavi.
Prof. S. Anbazhagan.
Dr. R. Sreenivas Rao.
Prof. C. Varadarajulu Naidu.
Prof. M. V. Nagabhushanam.
Dr. N. M. Shama Sundar.
Dr. P. N. Sharma.
Dr. M. Srinivasalu Reddy
Dr. Subash Marihal.
Dr. T. K. Ravi.
Dr. B. Jayakar.
Dr. C. Umamaheswara Reddy
Dr. S. Ramachandra Setty.
Dr. Prabhakar Reddy Veerareddy.
Dr. Ravichandran.
Dr. G.K. Rao.
Prof. Kantikumar Sirse.

Eleven speakers described and rightly justified gene therapy as the medicine
of 21st century; during their excellent information lectures showing new
horizons of pharmacogenomics and its applications in drug discovery.

The speakers are:

1) Dr. Gururaj A. Rao. Department of Pharmacy UFL Gainesville, Florida,
USA. – presented a lecture on Gene therapy, Advantages of gene
therapy in clinical trials.
2) Dr. Vikram K. Yeragani, M.B.B.S., D.P.M., F.R.C.P.(C).Professor of
Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University,
School of Medicine,Detroit, MI, USA. - Drug and Development and
Evaluation for Cardiotoxicity of Drugs
3) Dr. Arun Goyal, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, presented a
talk on Dextransucrase and Dextran from euconostoc mesenteroides
NRRL B-640
4) Dr. Shyama sundar, Prof. and Head of Anatomy, J. S. S. Medical
College, Mysore. JSS University. He presented lecturer on
plastination.
 5) Dr. P. N. Sharma, Deputy Director and Head bioengineering &
environmental center. IICT Hyderabad. He explained the
performance evaluation up gradation of effluent treatment plants and
bioremediation of contaminated soils
6) Prof. C. V. Kondiah, Department of Molecular Reproduction,
Development and Genetics Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore he
spoke about Genomic Methods in the Identification of Drug Targets in
Cancer
7) Prof. C. Varadarajula Naidu, Dravidian University Kuppam. Made a
presentation on plant cell culture for high value secondary metabolites
8) Dr. N. Srinivasan, Cryostem Private Limited Bangalore, spoke about
Stem Cells and their Clinical Applications
9) Mr. Shankar Menon, Russels Foundation Trust Institute of
Management Studies and Training ISO 9001:2000 Certified
International B-School Bangalore, Karnataka, India .Clinical Research
& Pharmacology, Its Scope in Pharmaceutical Industry
10) Dr. K. Jagadeeswara Reddy, Strides Arco Lab, Bangalore, India. He
Presented talk on Sodium Hyaluronate: Biotherapeutic and Industrial
Applications Hyaluronic acid (HA)
11) Prof. K.R.S. Sambasiva Rao, Centre for Biotechnology, Acharya
Nagarjuna University Nagarjunanagar, Guntur. He spoke about
Pharmacogenomics A Boom for Drug Discovery

A separate competitive scientific session for poster and oral presentations

was held which lasted up to 8:30pm on first day. A total of 33 oral
presentations and 68 posters were evaluated by eminent judges.

The two-day scientific feast came to an end with an announcement of awards

for the best oral and poster presentation by young scientists under senior and
junior categories.

The valedictory function was attended by Mr. Kaushik Desai, CEO, Global
Pharma Tech and Editor-Pharma Times (the official publication of IPA). The
program was concluded with vote of thanks by Dr. Divakar Goli, Seminar
Director & Principal, Acharya & B M Reddy College of Pharmacy, Bangalore
with an announcement of Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur as venue for
the 3rd Annual Convention of ABAP.