The society of young biomedical scientists (SYBS), organised the third chapter of National Biomedical Research Competition, from 6th to 10th December, 2021, in collaboration with AIIMS, Rishikesh, JNU-Delhi, AIIMS-Jodhpur, PGI-Chandigarh, NIPER-Mohali, CDRI and IITR-Lucknow. During this pan-India scientific conglomeration, of 400 participants, around 300 research scholars presented and discussed their work. Rohitash Yadav, President of SYBS, India, along with the team members, successfully organised the third NBRCOM 2021 at a virtual platform.
On the last day of the third NBRCOM, a panel discussion was conducted on the topic "Research Scenario in India: Issues and Challenges". The prominent persons on the panel were Prof. Niranjan Chakraborty, former faculty at Jawaharlal Nehru University; Prof. Dulal Panda, Director, NIPER, Mohali; Dr. Pragya D Yadav, Scientist E, NIV; Prof. Vibha Tondon, JNU; Dr. Neeraj Jain, Scientist at CDRI, Lucknow; Dr. Praveen Kumar, Lead Scientist in nference. The panellists were introduced by Dr. Khusbu Bisht, MD, AIIMS, Rishikesh and panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Jitendra Kumar Chaudhary, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Shivaji College, University of Delhi. The other prominent persons in attendance were Prof. Balram Omar, AIIMS, Rishikesh, Prof. Rakesh Tyagi, JNU; Dr. Deepika Bansal, NIPER, Mohali, Dr. Pradeep K. Sharma, IITR, Lucknow. In addition, there were around 400 faculties and researchers who attended the same.
The cardinal points of discussion were, 1) Are we as a Nation collectively failing to inculcate scientific temperament in our young generations? 2) Are we able to provide sufficient research funding, laboratory space and research collaboration opportunity for our budding researchers? 3) Do we need to have equality and equity in terms of funding and resource availability across laboratories and research institutions? 4) Do we need to allow public-private partnership (PPP) in the field of research? And 5) Research honesty and integrity.
Discussions revolved around several issues raised by both panellists and participants. One of the issues was the lack of mentorship, research infrastructure and funding to young budding scientists and research scholars joining PhD across the various medical and non-medical research institutions. Another issue was lack of intra and inter-institutional collaboration amongst, thereby restricting the crosspollination of ideas and underutilisation of instruments available in one.
Finally, Young Researcher Awards were awarded to the 1st 2nd, and 3rd rankers in Oral and Poster Presentations in Life Science, Health Science and Pharmaceutical Science Category. Ajmal Jaleel of the Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, Archana M G of Regional Cancer Centre, Arifhunera of JIPMER, Pondicherry, were adjudged the first, second and third winner in the Health Sciences Category for Oral Presentation. Jaleel, Archana and Arifhunera were awarded the Young Researcher Award in the Health Sciences Category for their research work.
Parvaiz Ahmad Shiekh of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), Bakhya Shree, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, Madhurima Ghosh of National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, Reena Yadav of PGIMER, Chandigarh were adjudged the first, second and third winner in the Life Sciences Category for Oral Presentation. Parvaiz Ahmad Shiekh, Bakhya Shree, Madhurima Ghosh and Reena Yadav were awarded the Young Researcher Award in the Life Sciences Category for their research work.
Sonika Chibh of INST Mohali, Punjab, India, Prashant Sadanandan of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Sandarbh Kumar of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Arihant Kumar Singh of BITS PILANI and Pooja Jain, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi were adjudged the first, second and third winner in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Category for Oral Presentation. Sonika Chibh, Prashant Sadanandan, Sandarbh Kumar, Arihant Kumar Singh, and Pooja Jain were awarded the Young Researcher Award for their research work. Dikshant Gopal Gupta of the PGIMER, Chandigarh, Sanjeev Khanth PE of Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, Vishakh C Keri of AIIMS, New Delhi, were adjudged the first, second and third winner in the Health Sciences Category for Poster Presentation. Dikshant Gopal Gupta, Sanjeev Khanth PE, and Vishakh C Keri were awarded the Young Researcher Award in the Health Sciences Category for their research work.
Shalini Kunhi Kannan of LATROBE-JSSAHER, Srishti Dutta Gupta of IISER, Kolkata, Shruti Patrick of National Brain Research Centre, Haryana, and Jaskiran Kaur of PGIMER, Chandigarh were adjudged the first, second and third winner in the Life Sciences Category for Poster Presentation. Shalini Kunhi Kannan, Srishti Dutta Gupta, Shruti Patrick and Jaskiran Kaur were awarded the Young Researcher Award in the Life Sciences Category for their research work.
Aditi Vashistha of UIPS, Punjab University, Chandigarh, Pallavi Chandrakant Mandave of Interactive Research School for Health Affairs (IRSHA), and Avneet Kour of Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Mohali, were adjudged the first, second and third winner in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Category for Poster Presentation. Aditi Vashistha, Pallavi Chandrakant Mandave, and Avneet Kour were awarded the Young Researcher Award in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Category for their research work.