The two-day International Conference on Bacteriophage Research and Antimicrobial Resistance (ICBRAMR) has begun at Vellore Institute of Technology, here on Thursday.
Inaugurating the conference, Director of National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chennai, Srikanth Prasad Tripathy called upon the researchers to come out with more vaccinations to eradicate tuberculosis by 2025 as mandated by the Ministry of Health.
‘New vaccine’
“Scientists and researchers working on tirelessly to have a formidable weapon against tuberculosis in the form of a new vaccine. Currently, the vaccine based on the BCG provides protection to children and not to young people or adults. The new vaccine needs to be formulated about three million people who were infected with tuberculosis,” he said.
“Identifying the patients at early stages is essential to ensure that they do not spread the disease to others. We also need to remove the stigma associated with TB. There is a need to generate public awareness about the treatment available now,” he added. Professor Emeritus, Ever Green State College, Olympia, USA, Elizabeth Kutter said that the conference found find solutions in the field of phage therapy.
She said that the practice of phage therapy, which uses bacterial viruses (phages) to treat bacterial infections, has been around for almost a century.
The conference organised by the School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT, Vellore aims to bring together Indian and International communities (scientists, students and postdocs) from academia, national laboratories, industries and other organisations working in the field of antimicrobial resistance and phage therapy.
The conference covers broad research theme in the area to accommodate wide range of participants to facilitate collaborations (both national and international). Interest in the applications of bacteriophages for the treatment of multidrug resistance pathogens is on the rise and this conference will be a right platform to bring in experts and researchers across the globe to discuss the current and future prospects of phage therapy in India.
Many senior experts, researchers, will be delivering special lectures.VIT Pro-Vice-Chancellor, S. Narayanan, president, Society for Bacteriophage Research and Theraphy, Sanjay Chhibber, Dean, School of BioSciences, VIT, V. Pragasam, and Convenor N Ramesh spoke at the inaugural session.
