Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 4: Prof Harald zur Hausen, Nobel Laureate for Medicine working with the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, delivered a special lecture on ‘Prevention of Cancers linked to Infections’ at the Indian Genetics Congress organized by the Department of Genetic Engineering of SRM University.
“Twenty one per cent of global cancer incidence is caused by infections by parasites and bacteria and this could be substantially reduced by vaccination and one way of preventing cancer is by treating persisting infections,” he said.
The three day Congress had the participation of nearly 800 delegates from across India.
Speaking on Genomics and the Zero Hunger Challenge, Prof M S Swaminathan, the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation told the gathering that there are three major dimensions of hunger—calorie deprivation, protein deficiency and micronutrient deficiency; and one of the ways of overcoming protein hunger is through the Pulses Revolution with the “Pulses Panchayat” being a central theme of the International Year of Pulses in 2016.
Expressing hope that the Genetics conference would come up with a Charter for the Government of India to formulate a policy for Genetic Engineering in India, the President of SRM University, Dr P Sathyanarayanan called on the Government of India to substantially enhance funding for Research and Development. “Genetic Engineering Research of today will yield results only in the next generation and it will have to be also focused on the common person and social values” he said.
On the occasion, Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Director CRRI, Cuttack, received the Lifetime Achievement Award while Dr Swarup Parida and Dr Amit Mitra of the National Institute of Plant Genome Research received the Young Genetics Researchers Award.
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