It was organised by Sathgen Biotech, National Centre for Cell Sciences and Somaiya Vidyavihar
A one-day symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer- India 2018 was organised by Sathgen Biotech, National Centre for Cell Sciences and Somaiya Vidyavihar.
The symposium brought together renowned personalities in the field of cancer research including Dr Michael Clarke, academicians, research students and industry delegates.
The conference was organised at Somaiya Vidyavihar to enlighten students of Medical & Science College and other colleges about stem cells and cancer, pooling together the recent advances from the scientists and industry.
Speakers at the conference included renowned personalities in the field of cancer research Dr Sharmila Bapat, Scientist F, National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune; Prof Paturu Kondaiah, Professor, Molecular Reproduction, Development & Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru; Dr Anjali Shiras, Scientist G, National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune; Dr T R Santhosh Kumar, Scientist F, Cancer Biology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram; Dr AnnapoorniRangarajan, Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Reproduction, Institute of Science, Bengaluru; Dr Vivek Tanavade, Associate Professor, Division of Biological and Life Sciences, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad; Dr Sandeep Singh, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani, West Bengal; Dr Prashant Kumar, Faculty Scientist, DST – Ramanujan Fellow, Institute of Bioinformatics, Bengaluru; Dr Sanjeev Waghmare, Principal Investigator, ACTREC, Navi Mumbai; Dr Pritha Ray, Assistant Professor, Tata Memorial Centre (ACTREC), Navi Mumbai
Samir Somaiya,Godavari Biorefineries of which Sathgen Biotech is a division said, “Since its inception in 2007 Sathgen Biotech has been working on developing drugs, which could work to eliminate cancer stem cell population, drugs which will also work in combination with existing chemotherapies to eliminate cancer-related mortality. Stem cell therapy is a new targeted method being evaluated by various academic & research groups across the globe. This symposium is being organized to address the most updated research and information available in the area of cancer stem cell therapy. We believe that collaboration between Industry, Research Centres & Academic Institutions can work towards finding new and innovative methods to understand cancer & eventually circumvent it.”
Dr Michael Clarke, Associate Director, Stanford Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine and a pioneer in stem cell therapy of cancer, explained the role of stem cells in the treatment of degenerative diseases. He further added “There is a need for advancing research in the area of Cancer. Collaborations and discussions like these will bring in fresh new thinking and innovation. New paradigms from analytical tools to a deeper understanding of risk factors; from biomarkers to drug resistance and tumour recurrence are some of the many perspectives that have to be studied. The increase in cancer worldwide and the younger age at which it is occurring needs a clarion call for to come together and find solutions.”
Dr Vijay Joshi, Principal, KJ Somaiya College of Science and Commerce said, “The stem cells are mother cells of all cell type and are being used in various diseases to cure the anomaly. In a cancer tumour even after radiation and chemotherapy, a very small fraction of the cell remains alive and cause recurrence of cancer.We need to understand this complexity to have better therapeutic options in future. To explore this new avenue of science individual scientist from fundamental research arena need to come together with industry and academics”.