VIVEKANANDA INSTITUTE
OF TROPICAL MYCOLOGY (VINSTROM)
Dr. T.S. Suryanarayanan
(Dr. TSS), Director, Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology, was invited to
give the keynote address at the 25th Genetics of Microorganisms
Congress organized by the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, which took place
from 5-8th March, 2006.
Dr. TSS
was invited to a round table conference on “Metagenomics Initiatives in
Tropical Countries” organized by the Brazilian scientists. After the
conference, Dr. TSS had discussions with Dr. Neto, Vice-Dean and President of
the Research Committee, University of Sao Paulo and Dr. Rod Sharp, Rutgers
University, USA, regarding Indo-Brazilian cooperative research efforts
involving VINSTROM.
Dr. TSS
also gave two lectures at the research laboratory of Dr. Azevedo, College of
Agriculture, Sao Paulo, and conducted a workshop for the research students
there.
Six papers
have been published in the name of VINSTROM in one year in top-notch
international journals.
Dr. TSS
was invited to deliver the prestigious Shome Memorial Lecture in the recent annual
meeting of the Mycological Society of India held in Bangalore.
In the
last three months, Dr. TSS also reviewed research papers for journals including
Mycologia (USA), Mycological Research (UK) and Fungal Diversity (Hong Kong).
One more
research project on the litter fungi of forests has been sanctioned by the
Ministry of Environments and Forests, Government of India, to Dr. TSS (Rs. 13
l;akhs).
This
project aims at screening fungi for the production of anti-tumour and
anti-cancer chemicals. The results so far are very promising and Dr. TSS has
been invited to the German Biotechnology Research Centre, Braunschweig, again
for 20 days. He plans to go during the summer vacation (May 2006) to take the
research to the next logical step which is molecular structure determination.
The
tropical forest research institute of the Smithsonian Institution, USA, has
approved the joint proposal of Dr. Suryanarayanan and Dr. Arnold (University of
Arizona, Tucson, USA) for a multilevel biodiversity study of forests of Costa
Rica, Western Ghats and Panama. This project would provide funds for training
one of the VINSTOM students to go to Arizona and get trained in advanced Molecular
Techniques. Dr. TSS has been granted funds by the United States Education
Foundation India (USEFI) to visit Dr. Arnold’s laboratory for 15 days to
initiate the project. He plans to do it during the November vacation of the
college in 2006.
As a part
of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the College, VINSTROM proposes to
conduct a one-day workshop on Research Avenues in Biology to enthuse students
to take up research as a career. Several scientists have agreed (tentatively)
to participate in this workshop. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan has agreed to
inaugurate it and Dr. Florenz Sasse, German Biotech Research Centre, has agreed
to deliver a special lecture. The prospective date of the seminar is 3rd
July 2006.