ITBHUGlobal.org: The Chronicle: Pallab Bhattacharya attended (July25-31) summer school at National University of Singapore

Pallab Bhattacharya attended (July25-31) summer school at National University of Singapore

@ Sep 27, 2010

6th GEM4 Summer School on Mechanobiology

SUMMER SCHOOL ON CELL AND MOLECULAR MECHANICS IN BIOMEDICINE

(Pallab Bhattacharya is a Senior Research Fellow at the department of Biomedical Engineering, IT-BHU. He took one week Summer School Internship at National University of Singapore. Here is the first-hand report. He can be reached at: pallab.bhu@gmail.com)

(Pallab Bhattacharya)

Bio-data of Pallab can be viewed here.

Global Enterprise for Micro‐Mechanics and Molecular Medicine (GEM4), together with National University of Singapore (NUS), conducted a summer school from 25th -31st July, 2010 at the National University of Singapore. The school was based on “Cell and Molecular Mechanics in Biomedicine”. Cellular and molecular mechanics deal with the study of the biological systems at the micro scale. I was awarded financial assistantships to participate in the summer school by the Dean of Student, BHU; Director, IT-BHU and Selection Committee of National University of Singapore. The organizing committee comprised of Prof. C. T. Lim, NUS, Singapore; Roger Kamm MIT, USA; Benny Geiger Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel; Geert Schmidt-Schoenbein University of California at San Diego, USA; Jimmy Hsia University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA; Subra Suresh MIT, USA; G. Ravichandran California Institute of Technology, USA; Michael P. Sheetz Columbia University, USA & other distinguished Professors of NUS, Singapore.

There were about 50 participants from different countries; most of them were graduate students and young faculty members of various Universities from around the world. Most of them came from an Engineering background (Electrical and Mechanical Engineering), but there was also a sizeable number hailing from diverse fields such as cellular biology, biochemistry, and physical chemistry. They represented countries such as Pakistan, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Iran, UK, China, Malaysia, Israel, Philippines and USA. The Summer School was studded by a series of stunning lectures given by distinguished Professors from around the world including MIT, Stanford U, Caltech, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Univ. of Washington, U Penn, UT Austin, Harvard Medical School, National University of Singapore and the Max Planck Institute, Germany.

Summer School started with the welcome address by Prof. C. T. Lim. Then Chair of Organizing committee Dr. Michael Sheetz welcomed the participants and gave an introduction to the GEM4 team. He also introduced to the participants the cultural diversity of the summer school. Then the other organizing committee members told us about their respective research centers. I felt pride knowing that some of them were from India who are presently doing research abroad. The most exciting feature of the Summer School was the experimental laboratory modules. These breath‐taking sessions provided me highly informed first exposure to the latest technologies in the fields of Nanotechnology, Mechanobiology and Cell-Biology. I worked on instruments such as Magnetic Tweezers, Palm Microscope, Confocal Microscope. AFM and Photolithography systems, I could only dream of seeing the green fluorescent live cells filled me with so much enthusiasm and energy which resulted in deriving me to pursue more interdisciplinary research in my later life. I also performed cell separation (metastatic) in bio‐chips; this all provided me the first exposure to micro‐fabrication. All these lab modules provided me the introduction to the cutting edge research being carried out in the research community which helped me to foster my research interests in diverse fields.

Every day, before lunch-time, I listened to three lectures on various topics of cellular and molecular mechanics. Interestingly, I always try to correlate my existing Biomedical Science /Engineering knowledge with biology during the lectures. This clearly shows that boundaries between the sciences are slowly diffusing away. The lectures also gave me a stark reminder of my own ignorance and limited knowledge in the furiously expanding arenas of science. All the lectures always ended with informative and thought provoking question and answer sessions.

During the intermittent coffee breaks and the mid‐day lunch intermission, I usually interacted with the speakers to know more about their research. In one of the meetings, I suggested the speakers some improvements in the research results they obtained, they appreciated my comments and offered me to work with them. I also was suggested with certain ideas to apply in my research.

At the end of the first week, we had a picture taking ceremony. I took so many pictures of the participants and with the organizers. Finally, the group photograph was taken outside the Engineering Foyer of NUS.

We had a Lightning Round on the Second day. All the participants were supposed to speak about their ongoing research with power point presentation. I have prepared very good slides elaborating my research. As an offer of respite from work, the organizers arranged a trip to the “EQUINOX” where we had our dinner on 70th floor (Tallest tower of Singapore). We had a very great weekend. After the certificate award ceremony, I took more pictures, thanked the School organizers and said goodbye to all my new friends with the promise that I always stay in touch with them. One week ended very soon, I enjoyed a lot, learned so many new things, interacted with so many different people of different cultures and countries, and made new friends. I took all happy memories with me back to IT-BHU, India.

PALLAB BHATTACHARYA

Senior Research Fellow, Biomedical Engineering

Institute of Technology, BHU

Varanasi-221005, India

________________________________

Additional Links:

* National University of Singapore

http://www.nus.edu.sg/