Srinagar, April 21: Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir is going to hold a two-day international conference on coronavirus on May 10 &11 at its Srinagar campus.
The conference ‘Coronaviruses: Past, Present and Future’ is expected to be attended by internationally renowned virologists and scientists.
In this regard, a meeting was held by Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-K, Prof Nazir Ahamd Ganai, to review the preparations for the mega event.
Director, SKIMS, Prof Parvaiz Koul; Principal GMC, Anantnag, Prof Syed Tariq Qureshi; Principal GMC, Baramulla, Prof Ruby Reshi; and Deputy Director, Health Services Kashmir, Dr Syed Manzoor Kadri, besides the Directors, Deans, other officers and event organising committee members from SKUAST-K, attended the meeting.
Organising secretary of the conference, Dr Nadeem Shabir said the event will provide a platform for scientists, academicians, industry representatives, and policymakers to discuss the ongoing coronavirus research and policies in the Indian subcontinent. The conference will also highlight the role of Indian researchers, doctors and industry in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The leading Indian virologists and academicians will deliver keynote lectures, while researchers from leading institutes of India will also share their ongoing research on coronaviruses under various themes, including, One health and Zoonoses, Surveillance, Detection and Characterisation, Countermeasures and interventions, Behaviour and Social Policy, and SARS-CoV3 and the future.
The conference is being organised by Dr Nadeem Shabir, an assistant professor-cum-Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Fellow who leads a prestigious project on the development of a safe vaccine against avian coronavirus at the Division of Animal Biotechnology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Shuhama.
Dr Shabir is the only scientist from the Indian subcontinent, who has been nominated as an International Management Board member on United Kingdom-International Coronavirus Network (UK-ICN). He was also invited to deliver a talk on his ongoing research work on avian coronaviruses at the launch meeting of the UK-ICN held on November 5, 2021.
The UK-ICN is sponsoring the event to strengthen the network of coronavirus researchers in the Indian subcontinent.
Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-K, during his deliberation, congratulated the Organizing Secretary, Dr Nadeem for his maiden nomination from the Indian subcontinent as a member of the Global Network, and for conducting the prestigious International event, related to one of the burning issues confronting human survival on the globe, at SKUAST-K. He emphasized the role of healthcare professionals and other stakeholders in the fight against COVID-19 and sought active participation and deliberations on important themes of the conference from research scientists, medical professionals and young scholars from prestigious medical and research organizations in the country.
The Two-day event will be held in Nund Reshi Auditorium at SKUAST-K, Shalimar wherein Industry and Vaccine manufacturing partners too will discuss and present their views, apart from the international and national speakers of eminence in the field of coronavirus research.
