TECHNOCZAR 2018
It was indeed a special morning for all of us – the management, staff and students, as occasion draw unparalleled enthusiasm in us, all gathered to take part in the celebration of the Technoczar. The first annual Technical festival of DY Patil School of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, Technoczar 2018 was organized on 15th and 16th of January. The theme for the festival was in accordance with our Prime Minister’s vision of Swachh Bharat. ‘Science and Technology in making a Swachh, Swastha, Samruddh Bharat’ caught the attention of many students and left a long-lasting impact on them.
Our Guest of Honor Dr Arvind Lali, Professor- Head Center of Energy Biosciences, ICT Mumbai and Vice-Chancellor Dr Sirish Patil, Dr D.Y Patil University, Nerul, Dean Faculty of Science Dr Thankamani Marar inaugurated the Auditorium by cutting the ribbon. Following the Indian Culture, the program began with lamp lighting ceremony in the presence of our esteemed guests, followed by the welcome address by our Director, Prof. Dr Debjani Dasgupta.
Prof. Arvind Lali gave an insight into the development of the country as a whole and the contribution of the youth followed by a speech by the Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, Dr Shirish Patil. The inauguration ceremony concluded with the vote of thanks by Dr Naveen Padmadas.
Technoczar hosted six major power packed events over the 2 days in the college campus. Students and professors were engrossed and thoroughly enjoyed the events. Six major events were a part of this 2-day journey.
Technoczar commenced with Power Talks, which saw around 150 eager students and faculty participating to hear four leaders from various sectors in the biosciences industry. Dr Arvind Lali, Professor Head of Centre of Energy Biosciences at ICT Mumbai, gave the participants an insight into bioenergy and development of sustainable techniques for waste management and energy conservation. Prof Lali research work is primarily focused on the renewing the carbon source from the domestic, industrial and agriculture waste for the commercial applications. India is the the largest resource of domestic, industrial and agricultural wastes, generating about 600 billion tonnes of waste annually needs to be processed and utilized for the human benefits. His research work predominantly involved in the processing of wastes initiated from the breakdown of complex molecules such as polymers into smaller bio-components, including, the monosaccharides, disaccharides and other components; which is to be utilized and converted into a useful bio-product with the help of beneficiary microbes procured as a fresh inoculant.
Dr Vasan Sambandamurthy, Chief Scientific Manager at Biocon Research Limited spoke about the role of siRNA in tackling diseases which kept the students held on to their chairs. His primary research objective is to generate siRNAs as a therapeutic molecule to intervene dreadful diseases, including cancer, resistant tuberculosis, cystic fibrosis, and blurry vision issues related to ageing.
Dr Girish Mahajan, Vice President of HiMedia delivered a lecture on hydroponics which was helpful to participants who are interested in pursuing plant biotechnology. Dr Girish research work has been majorly focused on the Hydroponics that includes the development of nutritionally enriched and bio-safety plants used for domestic purpose. Their research work regulates all stages of plant development starting from the seedling and emerging into a whole plant. This type of in-vitro vegetation has been achieved with the limited fertile soil of which all essential nutrients have been supplied with the limited water resources. Their methodology of supporting the green revolution despite the water scarcity and adverse environmental conditions will essentially help to develop an emerging India in all aspects.
Dr Soumyo Mukherjee, Professor at Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Bombay, his research interest’s has been widely focused on the invention of novel optical waveguide biosensors which in turn could measure the particulate matters, harmful toxins, high-toxic metal ions that had been generated at the water level by an industrial pollutant and in other plausible common basic consumables. His mode of scientific inventions related to the optical waveguide biosensors comprised the application of physics, chemistry and biology into which his inventions achieved a perfect model of detecting the contaminants or the quality of the consumables in all different platforms. Power Talks as an event witnessed the highest number of participants and was widely successful.
Enigma, the project presentation event was a 2-day event beginning right after Power Talks. Students from our college and various other colleges presented their projects from biotechnology, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering and many more. Each group represented a potential project which could help the society in various ways. To name a few notable projects which attracted people were the Agricultural sensor, stress meter, ketoacidosis analysis for diabetes, heartbeat monitor.
Brain bytes as an event was a platform crafted to drive innovation through the transition of ideas into application and products. It involved brainstorming and finding a feasible solution to a stated industrial problem. This event noticed a good number of participants proposing different avenues to solve the given problem value addition to products.
‘One reel’- the short film festival saw participation from aspiring filmmakers. The short films featured the environmental issues and responsibilities of the citizens for the same. This event added a new dimension to the festival by giving an artistic angle to the current scenario.
Apart from the major events, ‘Fun and Frolic’ being a combination of technology and games had interesting participation. The flagship events included Laser Tag, Spice it up, Byte and tell and Biodetectives.
Technoczar also hosted 3D-printing, Virtual Reality and Augmentation experience in the campus for the participants.
The valedictory ceremony was conducted on 16th of January 2018, which marked the conclusion of Technoczar-2018. The winners of the formal events were felicitated followed by the members of Technoczar core committee sharing their experiences about the festival. To sum it up, Technoczar-2018 had an overwhelming response from not only the School but also from other colleges. Technoczar-2018 gave the students a platform to showcase their technical prowess and think out of the box to come up with innovative solutions.
