Speakers at a workshop hosted by the Department of Pharmacy of Annamalai University have called for rational use of antibiotics alongside research innovation for discovery of new molecules to check the rampant spread of infectious diseases.
The one-day workshop on “Infectious diseases and their control” was organised with a view to focus on the recent innovations in microbial infections, its prevalence in India and globally.
Inaugurating the scientific forum, V. Murugesan, Vice-Chancellor of Annamalai University, pointed to the importance of innovative research in developing new drug molecule to battle against infectious diseases.
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Peter N. Monk, immunologist of Sheffield Medical school in UK, discussed the mechanism of biofilm formation of bacteria in tissue and development of antimicrobial drug target for biofilm of bacteria.
“The discovery of antimicrobial biofilm small peptide 102 derived from CD9 protein to treat bacterial infection had potential to replace the existing antibiotic as well as antibacterial therapy so as to prevent the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains,” he said.
Mahendiran, surgical oncologist of Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital, explored the prevalence of cervical carcinoma caused by Human pappilomavirus and H. pylori associated stomach cancer in India.
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M. Jaya, microbiologist, spoke on the current status of infectious diseases in India and world. She mentioned the methods to be adopted to eradicate tuberculosis in India in 2025.
Guruprasad Mohanta of Department of Pharmacy explained the rational use of antibiotics for better therapeutic effect and to avoid the global threat of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Around 200 delegates from biochemistry and biotechnology, microbiology, and pharmaceutical sciences attended.
New techniques
N. Krishnamohan, Registrar i/c, emphasised on the importance of multicentre research to develop new techniques or molecules to treat infectious diseases.
K. Raghukhanthan, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, G.P. Mohanta, Head, Department of Pharmacy, V. Parthasarathy, R.T. Saravanakumar, R. Sanilkumar, K. Saravanan and P. Balachandran, faculty, participated.