By Ranjana Konatt, Editor (Brand Positioning)
SciGenom Research Foundation (SGRF), a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting science in India through research and education, organised the 9th annual ‘NextGen Genomics, Biology, Bioinformatics and Technologies (NGBT),’ conference in Mumbai on the 30th of September 2019. The conference was chaired by Dr Sekar Seshagiri, NGBT Conference Chair & President SGRF. The panellists attending the conference were Dr Gangandeep Kang, Professor of Microbiology Christian Medical College, India; Dr KK Narayan, Managing Director, Metahelix Life Sciences Limited; Dr Vishva Dixit, VP, Discovery Research, Genentech; Dr Prasanna Venkatraman, Principal Investigator, Advanced Centre for Treatment Research and Education, and Dr Kumar Prabash, Prof. Medical Oncology, TMH-Mumbai. Dr Sekar Seshagiri, NGBT Conference Chair & President SGRF, said: “This is the 9th year where we have approximately 700 delegates and 100 speakers from around twelve different countries.”
India is a country that has changed considerably in the last 30 years, said Dr Gangandeep Kang. Elaborating, on another aspect, she said: “One thing that is very important for us to understand as a society is that no country becomes well-known or great without science.” For instance, if you look at countries around the world, there is a lot of investment in science and technology. Stressing further on the relevance and the importance of science and technology as a core driver of growth within India, Kang added: “In India, we are all about the numbers and we tend to focus less on quality in the field of medical and research.” Dr Vishva Dixit, VP, Discovery Research, Genentech, added to what Khan had to say. He said: “In addition to an investment in research and technology – ensuring a good governance structure is also crucial.” He added: “My sense is that a lot of institutes are wrapped up in bureaucracy and we need collaboration in order to move forward.” Dr Venkatraman, on the other hand, stressed on the need to innovate. He said: “There is a need for parallel funding from the corporate sector.” Problems can be solved only once everyone is aligned with the rest of the world. “We need to take risks, and we are ready to fail but we need to innovate in order to be successful,” he added. Another concern brought up for discussion was the need to ensure data privacy within the science of Genomics. Prabash said: “I doubt that any good researcher will venture into something where data privacy becomes an issue, especially once you publish a good journal.” He said that there are rules in place to ensure that data is not leaked and that rules are generally followed. In addition, Prabash pointed out that there are a whole bunch of additional issues that we need to focus on.
