Jammu, March 14, : A three days skill development training programme on Tissue Culture Techniques commenced at CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine here today in which about 30 participants from diverse backgrounds of Biotechnology, Life sciences, Agribusiness management and agriculture enrolled for the workshop.
The programme was inaugurated by Dr Zabeer Ahmed, Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu. Dr Ahmed, Chief Guest during the inaugural session in his address said that tissue culture techniques have emerged as a pivotal aspect of modern biotechnology, playing a crucial role in crop improvement, pharmaceuticals, and horticulture. Recognizing the significance of this discipline in the contemporary scientific landscape, IIIM, following the NEP guidelines has taken the initiative to introduce a specialized Skill Development programme aimed at equipping individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge in tissue culture methodologies.
He called Tissue culture as an advanced technique, which includes molecular genetics, recombinant DNA studies, genome characterization, gene-transfer techniques, aseptic growth of cells, tissues and in vitro regeneration of plants. These technologies have applications in crop improvement and agriculture, which is the focus of this skill development program.
Dr Ahmed further said that Plant tissue culture coupled with biotechnological approaches leads towards sustainable agricultural development providing solutions to major food security issues.
Dr Ahmed described Plants are the rich source of phytochemicals with medicinal properties rendering them useful for the industrial production of pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. He said there are numerous plant compounds with application in the cosmetics industry, in addition to having moisturizing, anti‐ageing, anti‐wrinkle effects, plant-derived compounds also possess pharmacological properties such as antiviral, antimicrobial, antifungal, anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-allergy characteristics.
He said that in vitro propagation of industrially significant flora is gaining attention because of its several advantages over conventional plant propagation methods. He described the advantages of this technique is the quick availability of food throughout the year, irrespective of the growing season, thus opening new opportunities to the producers and farmers.
Dr SK Bakshi, Ex Chief Scientist and renowned cytogeneticist,who was distinguished guest speaker spoke about advantageous technique for plant propagation at a commercial scale. He also gave a lead lecture on “Development of MAPs, using Tissue Culture Techniques, for commercial utilization”.
He further said that Plant propagation in vitro has the potential to be a powerful tool in both fundamental and applied biology and said that Cryopreservation of genetic resources technologies have a lot of potential and are rapidly evolving around the world.
