The School of Bioengineering and Biosciences at Lovely Professional University (LPU) held a two-day international conference on plant physiology and biotechnology (ICPPB)’ at the campus. Providing & promoting the cutting edge research; the scientifically significant conference covered different aspects for the betterment in agricultural & biotechnology fields and crop improvement, thereof.
The ‘Conference’ churned out appropriate results aimed at “advances in plant regeneration; regulation of biotic and abiotic stress responses by plant hormones; bio-stimulants and bio-fertilizers; plant signalling, epigenetics, microbe interaction, genome editing, cryopreservation; and, crop improvement”.
It also facilitated hundreds of participating scientists, researchers, academicians, industrialists, students from across the world to share recent advancements and challenges; exchange Innovative Ideas; and, share their respective experiences and success stories.
Chief Patron of the conference, LPU Chancellor Dr Ashok Kumar Mittal congratulated all engaged in the various proceedings of the conference for making it truly global and result oriented. On this occasion, a 151 paged abstract book containing 147 solid solutions through plants and processes was also released in the esteemed presence of LPU Pro Chancellor Mrs Rashmi Mittal.
It was organized by LPU’s Division of Research & Development (DRD) and department of Molecular Biology & Genetic Engineering. Inaugural address was made by the Chief Guest, Prof. Sant Saran Bhojwani, Emeritus Professor, Director, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Agra). Secretary for the ‘Plant Tissue Culture Association of India, Padma Shree, Prof Dr Pramod Tandon was the Guest of Honour.
Inaugural scientific session was chaired & co-chaired by Prof Rakhi Chaturvedi (IIT, Guwahati) and, Prof Ariel D. Arencibia from Catholic University of Maule, Chile. Here, important discussions were made to provide “biotech solutions to boost plant salinity tolerance using the secrets of mangrove trees” by Prof Dr Pannaga Krishnamurthyr from National University of Singapore.
He informed that saline soil reduces plant growth and crop yield worldwide. There should be strategies to enhance salinity tolerance levels of crop plants. Prof Dr Gian Pietro Di Sansebastiano, University of Salento (Italy) informed about “plants-based low-cost platform for drugs discovery and screening.”
He highlighted that search for more effective drugs for human therapies are one of the most important challenges as new molecules are continuously synthesized. In this context, the new efficient screening methods for drug functional characterization at sub-cellular level are required to reduce costs.
Similarly, during other sessions, Prof Dr Karel Doležal from Palacký University (Czech Republic) forwarded research made on “new phytohormone derivatives as modern tools for basic and applied research in plant biotechnology – from synthesis to analysis and back.” Dr Pinky Agarwal, from National Institute of Plant and Genome Research, (NIPGR), talked about factors regulating rice grain size.
Dr. Dilfuza Jabborova from Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences also chaired an important session.