GUWAHATI:
A 11-day-long course on Plant Tissue Culture (PTC) concluded at the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) campus, on April 12.
Organised in collaboration with the Department of Biotechnology, Gauhati University (GU), several researchers and students from all across the Northeast participated in the short-term course had begun on March 28.
The inaugural session was addressed by Prof Kanan Pakshirajan, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Guwahati. A recipient of many awards, Pakshirajan spoke on the benefit and importance of plant tissue culture in research work. USTM VC Prof GD Sharma spoke on how this short program on PTC will help students to get an idea on how rare plants can be conserved. Dr RK Sharma talked about how micropropagation would help to raise endangered medicinal plants and to enhance the secondary metabolites.
During this 11-day short term course, many eminent speakers from across the country delivered lectures.
The names include Dr Penna Suprasanna, senior scientist, Nuclear Aquiculture and Biotechnology Division BARC and visiting faculty at Dept of Applied biology, USTM; Manjeet Talukdar, Technical unit of Biotechnology, Division of Crop Science, ICAR – NER Barapani; Dr Abhijeeta  Nanda, SRF, unit of biotechnology division of crop science, ICAR-NER Barapani, Dr Narendran M Nair, Head R & D (Commercial Tissue Culture and Nursery) Seven Star Fruits Pvt  Ltd, Maharashtra, Dr Judith Mary Lamo, Assistant Professor, Dept of Biotechnology, St Anthony’s College, Shillong, Dr Shally Sultana, Assistant Professor, Dept of Biotechnology, Pandu College, Guwahati, Dr Mausumi Saikia, Assistant Professor, Dept of Herbal Science, Anandaram Dhekial Phukan College, Nagaon, Dr Saikat Gantait, Assitant Professor, Dept of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani West Bengal.