Research 2015
The Sixth Annual Research Day held on 9th October 2015 was conducted for the first time as an extended 12 hour event. There were 250 entries of abstracts amongst which more than 50 were slotted for Platform presentations. There were poster presentations from other life sciences institute in Vellore as well. The presentations were categorized into: Medical Specialties, Surgical Specialties, Basic Sciences, Field Work and Epidemiology, Nursing, Allied Health Science and Medical Students. Owing to the large number of entrants, the presentations included the Scudder Auditorium and the New Examination Hall.
The highlights of the day included special orations by the distinguished faculty who included: Prof. Mammen Chandy retired head of Haematology, Prof. Jayaprakash Muliyil retired head of Community health department and former principal, Prof. Nissi Varki Professor of Pathology from University of California and Prof. Ajit Varki, a Haematologist who is now a Professor of Glycobiology at the University of California.
Inspiring introductions and citations were read out by Dr Alok Srivastava and Dr. Vikram Mathews,Dr Kurien George and Dr Anu Bose, Dr Sunil Chandy, Dr Alfred Daniel and Dr Nihal Thomas. The Videos of the orations of the distinguished faculty will be available on You-tube and on a link on the research website in a few days from now.
Prof Ajit Varki gave an outstanding oration which described many aspects of evolution. He compared the dietary habits of primates with those of humans and described the link of the growth of modern disease patterns in humans and as to how they are influenced by the changes in type of food intake. Studying these patterns may give strategies to curbing disease and death. Prof Nissi Varki compared and contrasted the pathology of mouse models with that of human pathology and how that despite that there are similarities in the types of diseases, the pathogenesis that underlies these disease may be very different. Thereby scientists and clinicians need to be aware of these very distinctive differences.
A Special Oration by Prof. Ajith Varki
