Hans
Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya celebrated International Day of Immunology by
organizing a webinar on “COVID-19:
Immune Response and Computational Resources” This webinar was conducted
under the able guidance of Principal Prof. Dr. (Mrs.) Ajay Sareen.
The Resource Persons included
an eminent scientist Prof. G.P.S. Raghava, Head Department of Computational Biology, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), New Delhi and Dr.
Deeksha (MD Pathology), Director Synergy Labs, Jalandhar. The webinar started
with concept note by Dr. Seema Marwaha, Head Department of Zoology and co-ordinator
of this webinar. The Chief Guest, Dr. Kanwaldeep Kaur, Officiating Principal
and Dean Academics welcomed the guests and participants. Prof. G.P.S Raghava
explained the basics of vaccines, various types of vaccines, mechanisms
involved in immune response to COVID-19 and pathway of vaccine discovery. He
very well explained the multiple layers of the immune system and also showed
how different features of the immune response can be used to develop
computational tools and databases. It is worth mentioning that Prof. Raghava’s
group has been the pioneer in developing a variety or web servers and software
related to the field of immunology including the latest CoronaVIR. At the end
of his talk he answered a variety of questions posted by the participants. Dr.
Deeksha Chaudhary explained the evolution, structure and function of SARS
CoV-2. She elaborated on various types
of vaccines and their mechanism of action with special reference to a variety
of COVID-19 vaccines being developed by various companies. She also addressed
various queries and motivated everyone to get vaccinated. Dr. Neelam Sharma,
Faculty Head Sciences presented the vote of thanks. The webinar was moderated
by Dr. Harpreet Singh, Head PG Department of Bioinformatics & Convener of this
webinar. This webinar was conducted in collaboration by the Departments of
Zoology and Bioinformatics. Mrs. Purnima Sharma, Asstt. Prof. in Bioinformatics
& Mr. Ravi Kumar Asstt. Prof. in Zoology managed the organization of this
webinar. The Technical support was provided by Mr. Vidhu Vohra and Mr. Rishab
Dhir while the creative was designed by Mr. Ashish Chadha. All members of
science faculty were present on this occasion.
