International conference on foldscope and its applications

Jalandhar: Two-day international conference was organized by P.G. Department of Biotechnology of Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar from 20-21 June 2020. This conference was jointly organized by 11 different institutions from all over India. The participating institutions are Lyallpur Khalsa college Jalandhar, FC college Pune, SGK Government Degree College Guntur, Assam University, AG Arts and Science College Pune, Cotton University Guwahati Asam, ADP College Nagaon Assam, KM Institute for P.G. studies and research Pondicherry, Agricultural College and Research Institute well Vallanadu, University College Mangalore, Nizam College Hyderabad. Around 137 participants including students, research scholars, scientists, Professors participated in the event.During inaugural function the chief guest was Dr. Manu Prakash, the INVENTOR of Foldscope from Stanford University USA and Guest of honour Prof. LS Shashidhara from IISER, Pune/Dean Research Ashoka University, Sonipat. During inaugural function overall patron of this event Dr. Gurpinder Singh Samra welcomed all the dignitaries and highlighted importance of foldscope in the area of education. Dr. Arun Dev Sharma overall coordinator of the conference welcomed all the dignitaries in the conference. During his address Dr. Arun Dev Sharma mentioned that covid-19 pandemic has served as unprecedented Global shock to the various sectors however education hit the hardest, but the post covid-19 crisis send as a chance to do better by organizing e-conferences. This conference intended to provide opportunity and platform to nurture our knowledge in the area of education using foldscope like gadgets. The keynote address was given by Dr. BC Goswami, Vice Chancellor, Cotton University, Assam. Further on behalf of all patrons, Dr. Buchade PB from AG Arts and Science College Pune and Dr. Uday Kumar from Mangalore University College Karnataka gave remarks about the international conference. The chief guest of the occasion Dr. Manu Prakash highlighted the importance of foldscope in today's era. Chief guest Dr. Manu Prakash have specially mentioned that it is a first kind of event organized ever in India with joint collaboration by multi institutions from all over India. He mentioned that all organizing secretaries are the PIs who have received DBT foldscope indo-us Grant from DBT. He mentioned that as the trend of science decreasing day by day so this microscopic gadget can do wonders in student`s life. This small foldscope can be used in our daily life to see contamination of milk adulteration, wheat flours, daily hygiene check of street vendors etc.
The guest of honor Dr. Shashidhara highlighted the importance of Technology in the area of science by citing various suitable examples in the area of science.  In this conference there were two invited talk sessions and two technical sessions (oral and poster presentation). During invited talk session, various speakers/organizing secretaries Dr. Gayatri Gurjar, Dr. Tulasi, Dr. Indu Sharma, Dr. Shobha Ajeet Waghmode, Dr. Anjana Singha Naorem, Dr. Mousmi Saikia, Dr. Mahipal Singh Shekhawat, Dr. Anupma Harshal W., Dr. M. Gomathy, Dr. KG Sabarinathan, Dr. Bharathi Prakash, Dr. Nageswara Rao Amanchi, Dr. Geetha and Dr. Suneel presented their findings with foldscope and highlighted its importance in today`s life. In technical oral session about 12 presenters presented their papers. In poster presentation session about 8 different researchers presented the posters in the area of foldscope.
In the valedictory function 7 different participants were awarded best poster awards and best oral talks. At the end the conference, convener of the conference Dr. Arun Dev Sharma presented vote of thanks to resource persons, chairpersons and Patrons of different institutes especially Dr. G.S. Samra and President governing Council Madam Balbir Kaur for constant support. During this function inaugurator Dr. Inderjeet Kaur and colleague Prof. Navjot Kaur were also present. Feedback was taken from participants at random and it was highlighted that these type of conferences should be organized every year where students from PG and UG level can present their findings in a supportive way.