The International Conference on Neuroscience and Neurological Disorders under the aegis of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Society of Neurochemistry India (SNCI) began at North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) here today. The conference will conclude on September 16.
Organised by the Department of Biomedical Engineering, NEHU, the international conference was inaugurated by NEHU vice chancellor Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla. The guest of honour was Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) deputy director general Dr. Geeta Jotwani.
Also present were SNCI honorary president Prof. M K Thakur, SNCI secretary general Prof. Prakash Babu, NEHU Dean of SoT Prof. Iftekhar Hussain, Dr. Dinesh Bhatia and Shyamal Mandal, organising secretary and joint organising secretary respectively of the 37th Annual Meeting of SNCI along with other faculty members and staff of the university.
More than 100 invited delegates, speakers, academicians, scientists and participants from all parts of the country and abroad and neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh along with few selected local participants are attending this international conference on different upcoming areas of Neuroscience with practical demonstration and hands-on-sessions.
Prof. Shukla in his speech said that such capacity building programmes on regular basis that would help the participants to develop their advanced skills thereby allowing dissemination of new knowledge and technological know-how to train working professionals and young minds to learn from challenges from past and build towards a new future for progress of mankind and the society at large. He requested for follow up action after the event so that a report may be placed before the Central and State government for development with revision of existing policy documents in this area.
Prof. Jotwani emphasised on the need of organising such events on regular basis and how they could help young budding professionals to make them abreast about different government schemes and allow for an interface between policy makers and scientists in defining and shaping the progress and future of the country on the path of development keeping abreast with latest technological developments.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Bhatia, enlightened the participants about the objectives of the International Conference and 37th SNCI Annual Meeting and how it would be beneficial for the participants with emerging new technologies which are impacting all sectors especially the healthcare arena. He thanked the Society for Neurochemistry India (SNCI) for holding its annual meeting again at NEHU, Shillong in a span of less than a decade.
Prof. Hussain apprised participants about the applications of artificial intelligence, deep learning and machine learning in healthcare. He emphasised how they are changing the landscape in development of smart and affordable medical devices that could revolutionise the field of healthcare.
Prof. Thakur and Prof. P. Babu stressed on the role of SNCI which was established in the year 1979 and how it has evolved over the years to develop the scientific temper in the field of neuroscience in the country and its role in grooming the budding scientists and researchers by utilising existing resources from all parts of the country over the years since its inception.
The aim of the conference is to provide participants with extensive knowledge with regards to the recent advancements in the field of Neuroscience research and how to translate research from laboratory to market or bench to bedside to make it customized and affordable.
The conference lays emphasis on open scientific discussion with experts from academia, research organisations, scientists and industry professionals, providing hands-on laboratory training sessions with presentation of the participants through oral and poster presentations, group meetings and panel discussions with experts from the industry. Several awards in different categories are being presented to selected winners chosen by a panel of experts based on laid down parameters for evaluation and scientific merit.
