71st Anniversary General Meeting

The 71st Anniversary General Meeting of the Academy was jointly hosted by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) held on 27-28 December 2005 at Hyderabad. The meeting was attended by around 200 scientists including fellows,young scientists and local scientists. The highlights of the meeting includes a symposium on ‘Stem Cell Research: Technical, Ethical and Social Issues’, the C V Raman Medal Award (2005) Lecture by Dr M.S. Bamji, presentation of Young Scientists Medal to awardees, admission to the Fellowship apart from the Presidential address of Dr R.A. Mashelkar and the Council Meeting.A summary of the events during the Anniversary Meeting are given in the following paragraphs:

Symposium on “Stem Cell Research:            Technological Ethical and Social Issues”

Dr Lalji Singh, Director, CCMB and the convenor of the seminar while welcoming the speakers, participants and invitees gave the background information about the stem cell research. He said Stem Cells are considered to have the ability to divide without limits and to give rise to daughter cells that can form

Dr. Lalji Singh welcoming the participants in the symposium
specialized cells. The cells categorized as Totipotent have the unlimited ability to differentiate into any tissue including extra-embryonic membranes and all embryonic tissues and organs. Some of the stem cells can differentiate into any cell type but cannot form full embryo are the Pluripotent cells. Successful isolation and culture of pluripotent human embryonic and adult stem cells have created the prospect of developing an entire array of new cellular therapies. Much of the excitement about stem cells exists as it offers possibilities of many medical benefits in terms of reconstruction therapy. The potential ability to clone both animals and possibly human being as well as to use stem cells for tissue regeneration, genetic engineering, treatment of certain diseases, has stimulated Social, Ethical, Legal, Political, Medical and also religious disussions. While talking about the background of the meeting, he mentioned that the meeting was primarily designed to examine some of the latest concepts, technical approaches, recent findings related to both embryonic and adult stem cells as well as associated socio-ethical problems. Because of the new hyped biomedical breakthrough in stem cell research and its potential for major applications in reconstruction therapy that could affect human lives in multiple ways, a rigorous examination of the science of stem cell biology will be required before it is applied widely. A number of scientists, medicos are invited to discuss to assess the State of Art of many aspects of stem cell research, he pointed out.

Dr. May Griffith is seen making her point during the symposium

Dr Mashelkar, President, INSA in his inaugural address stated that the seminar which includes the leading scientists, doctors and science policy makers is expected to discuss the current trends in the research and applications of stem cells and suggest oversight measures and possible guidelines that would be helpful in getting the maximum advantages of this technology.
                             Dr C M Habibullah, DMCS, Hyderabad while delivering his keynote address on ‘Stem cells, clinical

Dr. Jyotsna Dhawan during the symposium

applications, the Hype and Hope’, discussed various issues regarding stem cell research scenario in India including his own work on liver stem cells and regeneration.Dr Pritinder Kaur, Peter Mac Institute of Cancer Research, Melbourne, Australia, focused on regenerative potential-epidermal stem cells, the outermost layer composing the skin. Dr Shymala Mani from NBRC, Manesar, spoke on the potential of human embryonic stem cells and focused on neurogenic potential of embryonic stem cells. Dr Jyotsana Dhawan, CCMB, Hyderabad presented her work on quiescence of stem cells. Drs.May Griffith, OHRI, Canada and Prabha Nair,SCTIMST, spoke about the role of scaffolds in tissue engineering which help us shape the tissues. Dr Nair covered a range of scaffolds for various systems including naturally derived and synthetic, highlighting their advantages. Dr Rajesh Rao, NIH, USA presented his work on various growth factors on the cells of embryonic cortex. Dr Alok Srivastava, CMC, Vellore highlighted the potential of mesenchymal stem cells.Dr Gopal Pande, CCMB, Hyderabad, focused on proteomic analysis and regenerative potential of the side population stem cells from murine bone marrow and human fetal liver. Dr Satish Kumar, CCMB, Hyderabad, presented his work on functional genomics using stell cells. Dr Shashi Singh, CCMB, Hyderabad gave a brief overview of the work being done in corneal reconstruction and islet regeneration followed by alternative sources of Mesenchymal stem cells.