Guest Lecture by Prof. Areejit Samal of IMSc, Chennai at Dept. of Bioinformatics

The Department of Bioinformatics of Central University of South Bihar (CUSB) organized a guest lecture delivered by well-known researcher, Professor Areejit Samal from the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), Chennai. Prof. Samal said that Indian plants and their constituent phytochemicals have huge potential for the cure of diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular, and a variety of ailments. Moreover, he emphasized that Indian plant phytochemicals are a gold mine for the discovery of new drug molecules. Prof. Areejit Samal’s laboratory at Chennai has recently developed a database called IMPPAT. Essentially, it is an online storehouse, which contains information of over 4000 plants grown all over India and 20,000 odd chemicals, making it one of the largest plant phytochemical databases ever developed in the country. The database was developed after digitization of over 100 treatises on ancient Indian herbs as well as 7,000 abstracts of published research articles and many online resources. This platform is a great enabler for researchers to explore common chemicals, or their subsets for developing new drugs. Dr. Samal dwelt on a key outcome during research investigation by his team, and explained to a spellbound audience that it was surprising to learn that naturally occurring chemicals in Indian medicinal plants have no significant similarity with those used in existing drugs. This was an exciting finding as it makes them prospective ingredients for future medicines. Dr. Samal is a well-known bioinformatician, who has authored several publication and books. Much of traditional medicine is purely based on human experience, and not supported by any scientific evidence. Documenting plants and their associated phytochemicals is therefore a step forward towards going from experience-based to evidence-based science.

Dr. Samal also lauded the efforts of CUSB bioinformatics faculties to impart high quality teaching and to carry out cutting edge-research in the department. Earlier Dr. Asheesh Shanker, Head, Dept of Bioinformatics, introduced the speaker and said that PG students in their last semester obtain project training at different laboratories in India and Prof. Samal’s laboratory has been an excellent place to receive such training. The event was attended by the faculty members, namely Prof. R.S. Rathore, Dr. Krishna Kumar Ojha, Dr.  Durg Vijay Singh, Dr. Vijay Kumar Singh, Dr. Anil Kumar, Dr. Nitin Kumar, several research scholars and students. Prof. Rizwanul Haque, Dean (SEBES), applauded the efforts of the department in organizing such talks.