"India needs a lot of things to compete in the global market and we want to create programs in key areas needed for India's growth such as Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy, Advanced Materials, and even new areas in life sciences like population health. These are things that are going to change India’s landscape," said Rahul Mehta, Founder, The Mehta Family Foundation.
He was the guest of honour at third Edition of PAN IIT Biotech Meet which started in IIT-Madras. Addressing the Inaugural Session, he added: "Robust ecosystems are needed to bring about Quality Programs and having Masters and PhD programs alone are not sufficient. Our goal is to help build the ecosystem that will fundamentally change the dynamics of quality education.
We want to build new things in India and also help create ecosystems around new areas in the country. Only through outstanding research can India become intellectual leader of the world. In the next 50 years, Life Sciences will have more impact on well-being of the society than computing had in the past 50 years."
Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, who inaugurated the Conference, said, “This conference will feature a number of eminent speakers from India and other countries as well. The idea is to bring together some of the best in the field every year so that the researchers and students can benefit. The young people entering this field, through such conferences, will get a very good idea of how various people are approaching cancer treatment and get a snapshot of recent advancements.”
Despite major developments in the understanding of cancer biology and treatment, cancer remains unconquered. Discovery of cancer genome and research into better targets for treatment may be another frontier in this effort. This conference comes in the wake of announcements of various cancer genomes into the public domain. It is unique as it will bring basic scientists and clinicians on a single platform to discuss issues pertaining to both sides of the coin. Around 300 delegates from across the globe, including India, U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia, and Singapore are participating.
This is the first time IIT Madras is hosting the PAN IIT Biotech Meet. It is being organized by IIT Madras, Office of International and Alumni Relations, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences and The Mehta Family Foundation, Houston, U.S. The conference brings together scientists from IITs, Indian Institute of Science and Educational Research (IISERs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, as well as the international research community to discuss innovation in cancer genomics, drug development, target selection and the impact of new discoveries in personalized treatment strategies.
