Friday, September 16, 2011

OSDD FOUNDATION DAY & 3 DAY REVIEW MEETING - 15 th September 2011,Brain Storming Session on OSDD

·     Wishes to all OSDDians on the successful completion of  three years of collaborative research and joint fight against TB !!!


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      The three day long OSDD PIs meet to discuss the progress made so far and to decide the future course of action, started yesterday with Chief mentor Prof. Samir K Brahmachari and distinguished scientist Dr.Balganesh presiding over the function. OSDD PI's across the country have gathered at CSIR-New Delhi to discuss various projects undertaken by OSDD and seek solutions to the problems faced along the way.

      In his introductory remarks, Project Director congratulated all the OSDD members on their collective efforts and hopeful results. Talking about the successive ventures of OSDD and the setbacks faced along the way he insisted on the need to have realistic view of target deadlines specially in the case of lengthy research processes like drug discovery. He emphasized that this is the apt time to , reassess OSDD’s current position, accelerate the speed of research and not be held back by temporary setbacks.
     
     In the discussions that followed on the aspects of coordinating OSDD activities, Dr.Balganesh drew attention to the alarming  infection and mortality rates ,calling TB a global emergency. He also stressed on the immediate need of finding a drug against TB throwing light on the fact that increased use of immunosuppressive drugs against arthritis and in organ transplantation increases the chance of TB reactivation. Dr Balganesh pointed out that, the rise in the incidents of diabetes and HIV has amplified the menace of TB, given the fact that diabetic patients are 8 times more susceptible to TB and it is a serious co-infection seen among HIV patients. Hoping that the recently established OSDD unit would act as a facilitator of inter disciplinary research he added that OSDD should be willing to take up more projects of higher risks and  make up our minds to have at least 1 molecule in each of the 3 phases of clinical trials,10 years down the line.

   Adding his valuable comments to the brain storming session  Chief Mentor OSDD Dr Brahmachari congratulated on the success of establishment of OSDD unit and  discussed  the assignment of co-ordinators for sub-groups under OSDD unit to facilitate effective management of different aspects of the project  .Talking about the need to identify novel targets and pathways in Mycobacterium that can be exploited to terminate the bacterium he stressed on the need of incorporating engineering principles to model complex biological systems. Dr.Brahmachari encouraged the OSDD members to keep up the practise of  open and transparent discussions and urged the students to have a grasp of engineering basics to model complex models.




      Geetha.S
     OSDD Communication Wing