Molecular Biosciences Research Cluster (MBRC), Department of Biotechnology, FET, MRIIRS organized a hands-on workshop on ‘Techniques in Animal Cell Culture’ to bridge the skill gap amongst the technical workforce available in biotechnology and the industry requirement in the field of Animal Cell Culture. Moreover, it was an opportunity to showcase the excellent cell culture facilities in MBRC Laboratory.

The workshop had participation of students, research scholars and faculty members from different universities including Chandigarh University, Chandigarh, Punjab; Babasaheb Ambedkar University, Lucknow; and MRIIRS. Out of the 40 odd registrations first 30 were selected for hands-on sessions. However, the expert lectures were attended by a good number of interested students and faculty members. 

The workshop was inaugurated in the presence of Pro-VC, Dr. M.K. Soni, and Dr. Abhilasha Shourie, Professor and HOD-Biotech. Dr. Sachin Kadam, Chief Technology Officer, Advancells, Noida, a seasoned researcher working in the booming domain of stem cell application conducted a talk. His talk gave participants a new insight into stem cell technology and its application in regenerative medicine. In the hands-on session, Dr. Kadam and his associate Dr. Shraddha demonstrated the technique of isolation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cellsand their culture.

Dr. Shilpa S. Chapadgaonkar, Associate Professor, Biotechnology and MBRC Cluster head apprised the participants about ‘Essentials of Animal Cell Culture and its applications’. It was an interactive session with discussions on facilities, precautions, safety measures and ethical considerations that are critical for working in Animal Cell Culture laboratory. On this day, the participants started working on the Culture of Human Embryonic Kidney Cell Line (HEK 293). They worked on their skills of aseptic transfers and were highly excited to use the advanced instruments. The participants also performed trypan-blue dye exclusion assay for determination of cell viability on the day.

Dr. Kapila Kumar, Assistant Professor, Biotechnology gave a very informative talk on ‘Genome Editing’. She emphasized the latest technologies and immense possibilities that could open with the latest CRISPR-Cas9 technology that has made genome editing much simpler. In the hands-on session, participants worked on the isolation of genomic DNA isolation from the cultured cells.  Agarose gel electrophoresis was performed to know the size of the DNA. The participants practiced the protocol and the results of the experiments were successfully observed in the gel documentation unit.

Day four of the workshop was dedicated to Advanced Microscopy Techniques and had experts from DSS Imagetech. Dr. Md. Kausar Neyaz, Ph.D., PGDBA, AGM – R&D, Project Head – Human Diagnostics at DSS Imagetech Pvt.Ltd. delivered the expert lecture on ‘Biomarkers for the Early Detection of Cervical Cancer’ which was very informative and relevant for one and all. After this, Dr. Somnath Ghatak Application Manager – Micro Imaging Division, DSS Imagetech Pvt. Ltd.delivered an expert lecture on ‘Recent developments in microscopy and various applications in Cell Biology’. This was followed by a hands-on session on microscopy and the participants got the chance to study some of the beautiful slides stained with Fluorescent markers. 

An expert lecture on ‘Development of Effective Bioassays’ was delivered by Dr. Joseph Davis, Professor- Biotechnology, MRIIRS. Dr. Joseph is an expert in bioassay development and he shared his experience from his years of research work in industry and academia. He elaborated on the significant factors in assay development and the common pitfalls. Our faculty members participated enthusiastically in the interactive session that followed. The hands-on session on this day was given to MTT cell viability assay. This technique has become indispensable for most of the application areas of cell culture including drug development and cyto-toxicity testing. 

This also brought us to the culmination of the 5-day long journey of knowledge. The participants had a great learning experience as per their feedbacks. The valedictory session was chaired by Dr. Geeta Nijhawan, Associate Dean- FET.