The fourth chapter of the Science Conclave cum National Biomedical Research Competition (NBRCOM-2023) was organized by Society of Young Biomedical Scientists India on 09-10 December 2023. The young researchers from different fields of Biomedical Sciences namely Health Sciences, Life sciences, and Pharmaceutical sciences congregated under a single umbrella across the country. Eminent biomedical researchers and faculty from prestigious institutes judged competitions in Oral and Poster Sessions. More than 500 researchers participated in this scientific competition and among them, 200 presented their scientific research in different categories.
Young Researcher Awards were awarded to the top five winners from each category. It was followed by awards and prize distribution to research scholars winning top 10 spots in each category including; Life Sciences, Health Sciences, and Pharmaceutical sciences for both oral and poster presentation categories. The cash prizes of Rs two lakh were instituted to winners in each category. The two-day research competition was enriched with various scientific presentations that extensively covered current topics of biomedical sciences.
Chief Guest of the ceremony was Dr. Rajendra Sharma IAS, Director General, ESIC Headquarters New Delhi. Dr. Rajendra Sharma addressed the young researchers and ESIC Medical College faculty/staff regarding the ESIC scheme which is one of the largest Government social security schemes in the world. He also talked about the steps being taken to expand the coverage of this scheme to more people. He also commended the organizers for attracting a large number of participants in the competition, so that more and more creative ideas could be plotted on the scientific rainbow.
Patron, Prof Nandakishore Alva, Dean of ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Alwar said that the Institute has climbed in ranks in order of student preference at a rapid pace and motivated the faculty to strive to make the institute a top choice among students in the state of Rajasthan. He also quoted that the world is moving fast forward in healthcare field and it is very important for initiatives like this in our country, so that we would keep pace and contribute towards global development under a scientific community. Scientific Chairperson of NBRCOM-2023, Prof. Niveditha, (HOD, Pharmacology), gave vote of thanks to conclude the inauguration ceremony.
The Organizing Secretary and President of the Society of Young Biomedical Scientists, Dr. Rohitash Yadav worked tirelessly for months to make this program successful. Dr. Yadav believes that when purpose is sincere, good intentions and strong commitment then it is not difficult to overcome uphill tasks and achieve the motto of success. The day the Young Indian Scientists bring laurels to the country, the Society will have succeeded in its mission. He sought the support of the youths to make this, success of the scientific journey of society which he has visioned long back. Society will run on the ideals of the scientists like Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and will develop a research environment in the country, which will boost young minds to come up with new ideas and help the country prosper and excel in the field of Science & Technology.
In the Health Sciences category, the following researchers bagged top 3 prizes in the oral presentations category: Anandita Bhardwaj (IIT Delhi) bagged the first prize for their research study titled Automated PCG-based Detection and Classification of Valvular Heart Diseases using Interpretable Deep CNN, K Sai Pradyuth (BITS Pilani) bagged the second prize for their research study titled Lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticulate system for delivery of an epigenetic modulator, Belinostat: Improved Pharmacokinetics and Biodistribution in tumor model and Dr. Yatharth Mishra (All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi) won the third prize for their research study titled Microanatomy of Temporomandibular Joint Osteochondroma. All these three were bestowed with Young Researcher Award as well.
In the Health Sciences category, the following researchers bagged top 3 prizes in the poster presentations category: Anitha Sriram (NIPER Hyderabad) bagged the first prize for their research study titled Boosting The Anti-Arthritic Potential: Nano-Hyalurosomal Transdermal Gel Of Tofacitinib Citrate And Boric Acid For The Management Of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Parul Chaurasia (IIT-BHU Varanasi) bagged the second prize for their research study titled Freeform method of 3D bioprinting for fabricating biological structures with shape fidelity and Alhad Mulkalwar (Seth GS Medical College Mumbai) won the third prize for their research study titled Evaluation of the Role of Jyotishmati (CelastruspaniculatusWild) Seed Oil in Animal Models of Alcohol Use Disorder. All three were bestowed with Young Researcher Award as well.
In the Life Sciences category, the following researchers bagged top 3 prizes in the oral presentations category: Nirmal Kumar (IISER Mohali) bagged the first prize for their research study titled Identification of diphenylurea derivatives as novel endocytosis inhibitors that demonstrate broad-spectrum activity against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus both in vitro and in vivo, Sandhya Singh (CDRI Lucknow) bagged the second prize for their research study titled Musashi-2 causes cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction through destabilizing Cluh and Smyd1 mRNA and Sourav Ghosh (DBT-Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar) won the third prize for their research study titled Distinct evolution of Plasmodium glutamine synthetase with species-specific essentiality and its implication in artemisinin resistance. All three were bestowed with Young Researcher Award as well.
In the Life Sciences category, the following researchers bagged top 3 prizes in the poster presentations category: Ahana Banerjee (IIT Delhi) bagged the first prize for their research study titled Regulation of diabetic wound associated AGE/RAGE and PPAR-? signaling using immune-modulating hydrogel to reduce systemic inflammation and restore microenvironmental macrophage dysfunction, Amrita Mukhopadhyay (IIT-BHU Vranasi) bagged the second prize for their research study titled Genomic Exploration of Mutations in Titin in patients with Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Insights from Whole Exome Sequencing and Molecular Docking Analysis and Sumanpreet Kaur (PGIMER Chandigarh) won the third prize for their research study titled How to distinguish between Organophosphorous and Organocarbamate pesticides?. All three were bestowed with Young Researcher Award as well.
In the Pharmaceutical Sciences category, the following researchers bagged top 3 prizes in the oral presentations category: Aditya A. Singh (NIPER Ahmedabad) bagged the first prize for their research study titled Parkinson's served in a plate: Preclinical investigation of high fat diet and rotenone in development of Parkinson's disease, Sakeel Ahmed (NIPER Mohali) bagged the second prize for their research study titled Development of novel ApoE-mimetic peptide (ApoEFrag) as a neuroprotective agent for the treatment of stroke: A mechanistic study and Vidit Gaur (IIT Delhi) won the third prize for their research study titled Combinatorial treatment of VJ23 encapsulated inside agonist CD40 engineered smart immunosomes modulated tumor microenvironment, reduced associated toxicities and showed tumor free survival in murine glioblastoma model. All three were bestowed with Young Researcher Award as well.
After the award ceremony at the end of day 2, Prof. Nandakishore Alva, Dean, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Alwar and Dr. Rohitash Yadav, President, Society of Young Biomedical Scientists (SYBS) India thanked and appreciated each participant for their valuable contribution to science and society and motivated them to keep working for a noble cause and serve humanity.
The event ended on a high note and the Society of Young Biomedical Scientists aims to organise such events in the future to promote the quality and excellence of science in the nation and see out more and more participation and vigour to work for science.