As part of its One Week One Lab (OWOL) Campaign, CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Jammu, organized a symposium on drug discovery in hybrid mode here today. Dr. Sunil Kumar Dubey, General Manager, Medical Research, R&D Healthcare Division Emami Ltd. Kolkata was the chief guest in the inaugural session and delivered a plenary lecture on “Pharmacokinetic Pharmacodynamic Modelling and Simulation of Phytopharmaceuticals.” He shared his expertise in using pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling and simulation to understand the behavior of phytopharmaceuticals in the body and to design new drugs. Further he dealt in detail about the various aspects of pre-clinical drug development from new chemical entities (NCE) and phytopharmaceuticals. Lauding the role of CSIR-IIIM, Jammu in the drug development from natural resources, he emphasized that while developing phytopharmaceutical as a drug, we need to make actual costing involved and the availability of standardized raw material.

Earlier, Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu in his welcome address, introduced the chief guest among the audience and described Dr. Dubey is an acclaimed scientist having more than 16 years’ experience of teaching, research and administration. He is among ‘World’s Top 2% Most-Cited Scientists’ as per the Elsevier-Stanford University report, added Dr. Ahmed. Director, CSIR-IIIM also highlighted the institute’s achievements and vision in drug discovery and integrative medicine. Dr. Zabeer also said that the symposium aimed to showcase the institute’s research facilities and activities to the public and foster scientific curiosity and awareness among students and teachers.

Pertinently, Council of Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR) has 37 laboratories in 26 cities of India. Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Science and Technology, MoS PMO MoS Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space and Vice President CSIR emphasized that each of 37 laboratories is unique and specializes in as diverse areas as the genome to geology, food to fuel, minerals to materials and so on. To showcase and propagate such diversity across society, the Union Minister announced the idea of “One week One Lab.” to be a nationwide theme based campaign to showcase the technological breakthroughs and innovations in the CSIR Labs. CSIR-IIIM being one of the constituents of CSIR has launched its One Week One Lab Campaign on 4th June and its Day 1 activity was Lavender Festival at Bhaderwah which was inaugurated by Union Minister, Dr. Jitendra Singh.

During the technical sessions of the symposium, Dr. Prasoon Gupta, Principal Scientist, Dr. Parvinder Pal Singh, Principal Scientist and Dr. Qazi Naveed Ahmed, Principal Scientist of Natural Products & Medicinal Chemistry division were the lead speakers. Dr. Gupta spoke on the Isolation, Identification & Characterization of Natural Products. Dr. Pal Singh dealt with Phytopharmaceutical Research: Scientific Validation of Traditional Knowledge whereas Dr. Qazi Naveed delivered a talk on Modern Drug Discovery: A Rational Approach. The program was attended physically by more than 100 participants from different institutions such as AIIMS, Jammu, Central University of Jammu, Jammu University, IIT-Jammu, SKUAST Jammu, Cluster University of Jammu, Government Degree Colleges of Jammu, and other colleges and more than 250 participants attended through online mode. It provided a platform for interaction and exchange of ideas among the speakers and the participants on the current trends and challenges in drug discovery.

The symposium also showcased the research facilities and activities of CSIR-IIIM Jammu to the public and inspired scientific curiosity and awareness among students and teachers. Er. Abdul Rahim, Chief Scientist & Head RMBD & IST was also present on the occasion. Dr. Deepika Singh conducted the proceedings and Dr. Qazi Naveed Ahmed, Co-ordinator of the Symposium presented a formal vote of thanks..