Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, MAHE, Manipal headed by Dr.Suvarna G Kini has organized a 3-day E-Symposium and e-Poster Presentation on the title “Integrated Approaches to Drug Discovery and Development – An Update” from July 25 to 27, 2022.

The first day began with an inauguration wherein Ms. Mrunal invoked the blessings of God by reciting an invocation. The welcome address was given by Principal, Dr. C. Mallikarjuna Rao. Dr. Suvarna G Kini introduced the Chief guest Dr.Manesh Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Manipal-Government of Karnataka Bioincubator, K-tech Innovation Hub & IRAC-BioNEST, MAHE, Manipal, and the program was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, by unveiling the curtain electronically followed by his  Inaugural address. Dr. Aravind Pai, Assistant Professor.-Selection grade, proposed the vote of thanks, and Dr. Jeyaprakash RS, Associate Prof. was the master of the ceremony. A total of 141 participants were registered for the E-symposium. 81 scientific e-posters were received out of which 69 were presented on two days in three sessions. Four prizes were awarded in each category. About 80 participants attended each day, and the scientific lectures were scheduled in the morning from 9.00 am to 12.30 noon. The afternoon was allotted for the presentation of e-posters on 25^th and 26^th July 2022 from 2.00-5.00 pm. The E-symposium was sponsored by Labindia and Gennext.

The morning scientific lecture session followed immediately after the inauguration at 9.30 am. Around 80 delegates attended the interesting lectures given by Dr.Prajwal Nandekar, Dr. Pritesh Bhat, and Dr. Jianxin Duan. Dr. Nandekar, Senior Scientist, Schrodinger, Bangalore was the first speaker who spoke on “Application of AI and ML in Drug Discovery – Advanced tools in Schrodinger Suite”. This was followed by a talk from Dr. Pritesh Bhat, Principal Scientist, Schrodinger Inc. and alumnus of MCOPS, who enlightened about “Accelerating Drug Discovery with FEP+” and how it can be used in optimizing the drug candidates. The third speaker of the day was Dr.  Duan, Fellow, Schrodinger GMBH, Germany, who discussed “Structure-based Design and Optimization of Biologics”. Afternoon session was allotted for e-poster presentation which was divided into three categories – Category-I for In-silico studies, Category-II for Synthetic chemistry, and Category–III for Analytical Approaches. Each Category was evaluated by three faculty members. On 25^th and 26^th July afternoon, all three categories' e-poster presentation was conducted parallelly. 

On Day 2, 26^th July 2022, the morning session started with a talk from Dr. Mandar Bodas, Solution Consultant, Elsevier, Bangalore, India. He spoke on “Toxicophores in Drug Discovery”. The next session was a lecture given by Dr.M.N.A.Rao, Former General Manager, R&D, Divis Laboratories Limited, India. Dr. Rao discussed the “Importance of Process Chemistry in Drug Development”.The third lecture was given by Dr. Manoj R Shukla, Associate Director, Lupin Limited, Lupin Research Park, Pune. Dr. Shukla spoke about lead optimization methods in his topic entitled “Discovery of a Potent and Selective PI3Kδ Inhibitor with Improved Pharmacokinetic Profile and Superior Efficacy in Hematological Cancer Models”.This talk was followed by the demonstration and explanation of Reaxys software by Dr. Mandar Bodas.

The third day started at 08:30 am with a talk by  Dr. Karthik A, JBL, Bangalore, India, who delivered an informative lecture on “High Throughput ADME Assays to Support Drug Discovery and Development”. The next session of the day started at 9.30 am with a talk by Mr. Sandeep Jagtap, Business Manager, Labindia Analytical Instruments, Bangalore, The lecture focused on “Standard Operating Procedure for Characterization of New Drug Entity”. The next speaker was Dr. Tarun Sharma, Director, Sai Life Sciences, Hyderabad, India. Dr. Sharma discussed the “Importance and use of LC-MS in Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics”. After each speaker’s presentation every day, a questionnaire session was held where the delegates clarified their doubts.

The E-symposium concluded with a valedictory program at 2.30 pm on 27^th July 2022. Dr. Jeyaprakash RS welcomed the audience. Mr. Harish K Jain, Director, Embiotic Laboratories Private Limited, Bangalore, was the Chief Guest who delivered the Keynote address. The results of the e-poster competition were announced and videos of the sponsors, Labindia and Gennext, were played. Vote of thanks was given by Dr. Aravind Pai and the Master of the ceremony was Dr. Jeyaprakash RS. As a token of appreciation, an e-certificate was presented to all the eminent speakers on days one, two, and three on behalf of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, MCOPS, MAHE, and Manipal. Feedback was taken from all the participants each day at the end of all sessions. The program concluded with thanksgiving by Dr. Suvarna G Kini, HOD, Dept of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, MCOPS, MAHE, to all the department faculty, non-teaching staff, and Research scholars for all the help rendered by them during the three days e-symposium. e-Certificates were sent by email to all participants and winners of the e-posters.

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