CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), Jammu, successfully concluded its Three-day skill development training programme from 5 March to 7 March 2024, which saw the participation of more than 20 participants from different Universities of J&K region. The valedictory function was chaired by Dr Zabeer Ahmed, Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu, who, in his address, underscored the need to obtain S&T skills as he termed Science — A way of thinking and said that to achieve SDG goals and success towards Viksit Bharat, the role of science has to be pivotal.

While addressing the participants, Dr Ahmed fostered scientific temperament among participants and encouraged them to pursue research as their career, emphasising the importance of science & technology for the future. Dr Ahmed, in his address welcomed all researchers to visit the institute and equip themselves with practical insights and skills vital for navigating the complexities of drug research and development.

During the three-day programme, participants were imparted training in drug discovery and development through meticulously designed hands-on training and practical sessions, equipping participants with fundamental skills and knowledge in drug discovery and development. Through lectures and practical exercises, attendees delved into various facets of drug discovery, including molecular biology, Pharmacology, computational modelling, and clinical trial management.

On Day One, Dr Parvinder Pal Singh, Principal Scientist, delivered a lecture on “Phytopharmaceuticals Drugs — Scientific Validation of Traditional Knowledge” while as Dr Ravindra S Phatake, Scientist, talked about “Natural Products in Drug Discovery — Advances and Opportunities”.
On day two Dr Prasoon K Gupta, Principal Scientist, gave an insightful talk on “Discovery of Bioactive Compounds through a High Throughput Strategy to Speedup Drug Discovery”. While Dr Bharitkar Yogesh, Scientist, delivered a lecture on “Discovery of Novel Phytochemicals — A Systematic Process including Extraction, Isolation and Spectroscopic Characterisation”. Dr Kancherla Prasad, Senior Scientist, delivered a “Intellectual Property Rights” talk.

On Day Three, Dr Qazi Naveed, Principal Scientist & Head NPMC Division, talked about “Modern Drug Discovery-A Rational Approach”. Dr Showkat Rashid, Senior Scientist, delivered a lecture on “Natural Product Chemistry (NPC) and Synthetic Organic Chemistry (SOC) — A Tale of Two Complementary Partners in Modern Drug Discovery”.

Dr Bhahwal Ali Shah, Pr. Scientist and Technical Coordinator of the event enhanced the programme’s practical value by conducting hands-on training and lab sessions. He also gave a practical session on integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in drug discovery, with hands-on training on molecular modeling approaches and their application in drug discovery.

Earlier, Dr Nasir Ul Rasheed, Senior Scientist & Coordinator of Skill Development conducted the proceedings of the Valedictory function and shared objectives of such training programmes and informed participants about various initiatives under CSIR-Integrated Skill initiatives. The Training programme was conducted under the overall supervision of Er Abdul Rahim, Chief Scientist and Head, RMBD & IST Division.