Talk by Dr. Sohail K Pinto

Dr. Sohail K Pinto, Assistant Professor from the Department of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Biochemistry, delivered a talk on “Molecular Profiling of the acyl lipid pathway in Neochloris oleoabundans” organized by the Basic Science Forum, St. Aloysius College (Autonomous), on 21^st August, 2019 at 3:30PM in the Lecture hall of Department of PG Studies and Research in Biotechnology.

Neochloris oleoabundans was first isolated from a sand dune in Saudi Arabia by S. Chantanachat in 1962. Due to its high lipid content, it has been considered as a candidate organism for biofuel production. Dr. Pinto was able to study the various stress conditions affecting the yield of biomass production and factors that can increase the lipid production. Dr. Pinto worked with Prof. Pavan Jutur, Omics lab for algae, ICGEB, New Delhi as a part of his faculty summer fellowship program in May-July 2019. 

DBT Sponsored Workshop on Foldscope and its Applications

A workshop on Foldscope and its Applications was held at St. Aloysius College (Autonomous) on 10. August 2019. The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Innovation Cell and the Department of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Biochemistry, and was sponsored by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India and the Mangalore Jesuit Education Society.

The resource persons were Dr. Ch. Tulasi, Associate Professor, Dept. of Zoology, Govt. College for Women, Guntur and Dr. S. T. V. Raghavamma, Associate Professor, Dept. of Pharmaceuticals, Chalapathi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lam, Guntur. Both played an integral role in the organization of the workshop.

The workshop was inaugurated by the resource persons and Rev. Dr. Praveen Martis SJ, the Principal of St. Aloysius College. The workshop was focused on the assembly and use of the Foldscope, an innovative paper microscope developed by Manu Prakash and Jim Cybulski at Stanford University, USA. Dr. Tulasi introduced the Foldscope and instructed the participants in its assembly and general use. Dr. Raghavamma proceeded to demonstrate the use of the Foldscope in the initial diagnosis of disease such as malaria and filaria, and in how to prepare samples for observation by the Foldscope. Every participant was provided a Foldscope Kit and was guided in its assembly and use.

Despite the inclement weather, all the participants actively took part in the event and prepared their own slides to observe under foldscope.