Guru Nanak Dev University hosted top Indian scientist, Padma Shri awardee (2012) in Science & Engineering, Former Director International Centre for Genetic & Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, Prof. (Dr.) Virender S. Chauhan to deliver Sardar Bishan Singh Samundri Lectureship Award in Agriculture and Allied Sciences. Prof. Chauhan spoke on the topic ‘Achievements and Challenges in Biosciences’ with his vast experience spanning five decades of academic excellence as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford (UK), Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Sciences and World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).Prof Chauhan emphasized the importance of collaborative research involving Chemistry, Medicine, and Biotechnology for human welfare. He discussed the delivery mechanism of SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) and the advantages of RNA vaccines.
The second part of the lecture emphasized malaria research in India. He discussed the recently approved malaria vaccine (RTS, S) for children in sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate to high P. falciparum malaria transmission. In the last part of the lecture, Prof. Chauhan deliberated on targeted drug delivery in cancer patients. In his message to the students, he suggested going out of their comfort zone, honesty in experiments and working hard. He said that young students may start with a small project and read good quality research in other allied areas to have a holistic approach. Science should be pursued with passion, which is the main driving force to excel in life.Dean, Academic Affairs, Prof. S.S. Behl gave the presidential address and delighted the audience with his mystic knowledge and said that it was Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji who gave the universal anthem while drawing several parallels between scientific evolution and spirituality.
Prof. Hardeep Singh, Officer on Special Duty-Vice-Chancellor Office, Dean Life Sciences Prof. B S Chadha, Heads of Life Sciences Departments and faculty members attended the lecture. Prof Jatinder Kaur, Head of Botanical and Environmental Sciences welcomes the guest and shared her department profile. Prof. Avinash Nagpal highlighted the philanthropist work done by Sardar Jaswant Singh Rai Memorial Trust, Jalandhar for sponsoring this lecture under Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GNDU. Prof. M S Bhatti coordinated the lecture and Prof Saroj Arora gave the vote of thanks.
Prof. Jaspal Singh Sandhu, Vice-Chancellor congratulated all the faculty members of the department for hosting this prestigious lecture. Prof. Chauhan was highly impressed with the facilities created by MYAS Sports Sciences & Medicine and Centre of Emerging Sciences which he observed were at par with the IITs. The day concluded with an interaction with the faculty of Life Sciences on diverse topics including quality publication, National Education Policy-2020 etc. While sharing the Vice-Chancellor's vision of academic excellence to excel, he said GNDU indeed has potential and asked everyone to work hard to make GNDU a top-rated university.