BIOSPECTRUM STUDENT LECTURE SERIES

"Take every crisis as an opportunity"

The third BioSpectrum Student Lecture Series organized in New Delhi at the Chandiwala Estate Auditorium on December 6, 2005, saw the enthusiastic participation of as many as 230 students from across the National Capital Region (NCR). The event was sponsored by Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Noida.

The Student Lecture Series is an event where leading personalities from across the industry address biotechnology students' queries on higher education, careers and opportunities in the biotech arena. BioSpectrum embarked on the country's First Public Lecture Series on Biotechnology for students and launched the event in Bangalore in July this year.

Appraising the students about the role of the government scientific departments/agencies in the area of modern biology, Dr GJ Samathanam, director, Department of Science and Technology, said, "There are 12 scientific departments under the Government of India and of which three viz. Department of Science & Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of the Ministry of Science & Technology play a very active role in nurturing the frontier areas of research on biotechnology including the international cooperation in this arena." There are many programs for young scientists floated by the DBT and DST in life sciences sector, he informed. "You should take every crisis as an opportunity, develop a curiosity to learn on a daily basis and do better benchmarking for higher education", Samathanam advised the students.

Ashish Jain, head - BioAnalytical Research, Jubilant Clinsys, outlined the various options available for students in the clinical research sector. Explaining the various services provided by a Contract Research Organization (CRO), he said, "Today the focus is on the preclinical, clinical and data management areas. Phase I (early and late) Phase II, Phase III, Phase IV and Bioequivalence studies are the critical part of any
clinical trial." Elaborating on the job categories in the sector, he commented, "Business development manager, regulatory affairs manager, documentation manager, finance manager, project manager, software engineer, instrumentation engineer are the options available in the administrative sector whereas as bioanalyst, research manager, pharmacist, clinical research associates, biostatistician, study co-coordinators, pharmacologist, data manager, molecular biologist, study custodians, phlebotomist, medical writers, biochemist, toxicologist, formulation manager, biologist and enzymologist are the job categories in the technical sector." He further went on to explain in brief the role and responsibility of some of the job positions.

Amity Institute of Biotechnology was the academic partner for the event. Prof. AK Srivastava, dean and coordinator, Amity Institute of Biotechnology exhorted the students to focus on research and developing laboratory expertise during their course curriculum. He felt that students should try to work on research projects while pursuing their degree program "as this will enhance your skills and knowledge of the subject."

The speakers addressed various queries of the students, which were mainly related to the future scope of the subject and job opportunities in the industry. On its part, BioSpectrum announced 5 lucky winners for complimentary subscription to the magazine for a year and encouraged the students to send in their questions and comments to the magazine.

Rolly Dureha