Srinagar, June 23[KNS]: Eminent national-level experts provided hands-on training to at least 25 select faculty members from colleges in Kashmir and Ladakh during a Proteomics Workshop which concluded at the University of Kashmir on Friday.

The two-day workshop was sponsored by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, under its Core Grant and Power Fellowship awarded to Dr Riffat John, faculty, Department of Botany, KU.

Vice-Chancellor, Prof Nilofer Khan, chaired the valedictory session of the workshop and underscored the need for faculty members in the University and colleges to remain updated with new technological advancements in different fields like Proteomics, which is generally defined as the large-scale study of Proteins.

She said such capacity-building programmes will go a long way in fostering a culture for interdisciplinary research in higher education institutions (HEIs) as mandated under the National Education Policy-2020. She congratulated Dr Riffat and her team for holding the important programme.

Eminent speakers who shared their expertise with the participants included Dr Monika Agarwal from SERB, Prof Mahesh J Kulkarni from National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune and Prof Sreenivas Chavali from IISER, Tirupati. The technical sessions included theoretical and practical training in protein isolation and quantification, Gel electrophoresis (one dimensional and two dimensional) including image acquisition and analysis.

In her remarks, Dr Riffat John said the field of proteomics is mainly significant as response of plants and animals is exhibited at the level of proteins. She said proteomics focuses on the identification, localisation, and functional analysis of the protein make-up of the cell activity which makes the present workshop very significant.

Dean Research, KU, Prof Irshad A Nawchoo and HoD Botany, Prof Zahoor A Kaloo, also shared the dais and views at the valedictory session, where the Vice-Chancellor later gave away certificates to the participating faculty members.

Earlier on Thursday, the inaugural session was attended by Prof Manoj Prasad from NIPGR, New Delhi and Prof Irshad A Nawchoo, besides faculty members from the Department of Botany.

Dr Anzar Ahmad Khuroo delivered the formal vote of thanks at the valedictory session. [KNS].