NATIONAL CONFERENCE on WONDERS OF THE SMALL
Exploring the Microbial World
3 & 4 April 2014
Organised by
MICROARENA
Centre for MicrobiologyPondicherry University
Puducherry-605014
MICROARENA The microbiology students club, MICROARENA was started in the academic year 2012-2013 and continually aims to stimulate the spirit of innovation and creativity among the students. Their talents are well explored on this platform and students are given an opportunity to be expressive of their ideas, and oratory skills. The elected representatives of the students of microbiology programme organise and coordinate the activities of the club, after appropriate consultations and exchange of ideas with faculty. Field trips and visit to educational institutions are a part of the agenda and various such outreach programmes are in the pipeline. Scientists and Researchers from different parts of India and the world over are invited to share the expertise with faculty and students through lectures and interactive sessions. Students are motivated to become aware of current scientific happenings, to imbibe research culture and academic learning through such seminars and lectures.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE When life arose on Earth about 4 billion years go, the first types of cells to evolve were prokaryotic cells. For approximately 2 billion years, prokaryotic-type cells were the only form of life on Earth. The oldest known
sedimentary rocks found in Greenland are about 3.8 billion years old. The oldest known fossils are prokaryotic cells, 3.5 billion years in age. Microbes are not only ubiquitous, they are essential to all life as they are the primary sources of nutrients and the primary recyclers of dead matter back to available organic form. The diversity in microbial communities is crucial to sustain larger ecosystem and life.
The conventional cultivation methods preclude microbial majority of a habitat that remain unculturables. The Hologenome theory proposes that the object of natural selection is not the individual organism but the organism together with its associated microbial communities. After the break through of Sargasso Sea exploration by Graig Venter’s team now the focus is exclusively on the exploration of microbial majority by cultivation independent approaches. The recent developments from human microbiome project, metagenomics and microbial genome project has expanded its scope and potential in the next generation drug design, molecular pathogenesis, phylogeography, production of smart biomolecules, etc.
Hence the study of the overall gut germ genome (Metagenome) and transcriptome (Microbiome) has been launched. Eminent speakers and young researchers bring together an exclusive science forum which would enlighten the minds of students and researchers in Microbiology and allied subjects.
FOCUS OF THE CONFERENCE
Microbial genesis and evolution
Microbial community diversity
The unculturables
Microbial interactions and association
Microbial life in extreme environment
Microbial bioinformatics
Pathways and metabolic engineering
Microbial gradient communities
Marine Microbes
Microbial disease biology
Next generation fuels by microbes
Space microbiology
Predictive models of microbial communities
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