Amity University Gwalior Organized First Lecture of Popular Lecture Series on Biotechnology

Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Gwalior organised the first lecture of Popular Lecture Series, sponsored by DBT, New Delhi on 23 Sept 2014 in its campus at Maharajpura. Dr. Manoj Prasad, Senior Scientist, National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi delivered his talk to a large gathering of students including those from various schools of Gwalior . Dr Prasad’s lecture was focused on Biotechnological Applications for Agricultural Development and Food Security in India. He discussed the recent findings of his research on foxtail millet. This crop was regarded initially as a neglected crop but then emerged as a model system with rich genetic and genomic resources. He emphasized on the development of genomic resources at large-scale and providing unrestricted access to the research community. This would certainly accelerate molecular breeding for crop improvement. During his lecture, he also discussed the crop’s potential a biotic stress tolerance and encouraged the audience to explore the respective molecular mechanism which would enable the generation of crops with improved stress tolerance. This can lead to ensure food security in the scenario of global climate change. During the interaction with students, he emphasized on morphology, structural and functional genomics of plant. He discussed the nutritional and medicinal properties of foxtail millet and mentioned presence of the higher seed protein, crude fat and minerals content. Further, he discussed the medicinal properties of germinated seeds for curing dyspepsia, celiac disease, weak digestion and abdominal food stagnancy.
On this occasion, Lt. Gen. V. K. Sharma, AVSM (Retd.) the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Amity University Gwalior, emphasized on the potential health benefits of Foxtail millet. He further the motivated students for doing research on this crop for improvement in quality and yield.
The lecture ended with the concluding remarks by Prof. (Dr.) Rajesh Singh Tomar, Head, Amity Institute of Biotechnology and Dean (Academics), Amity University, Gwalior. In his remarks he emphasized on the development of better genetic engineering methods to enhance the productivity of Foxtail millet. This could be a model crop for arid and semiarid areas. He concluded with a Vote of Thanks to guest speaker for his informative talk. The seminar was followed by interaction of students with guest speaker Dr. Manoj Prasad.