Chandigarh,May 1: World Immunology day which falls on 29th of April every year, was celebrated in PGIMER by the department of Immunopathology. The program was attended by more than 600 students of secondary and senior secondary level pursuing 10, +1 and +2 in science and biology in various Government schools under the Education Department of Chandigarh Administration. The program which was conducted under the aegis of Indian Immunology Society was inaugurated by Professor Arvind Rajwanshi, Dean PGI included lectures on Immune system: How it protects our body from diseases by Prof. Sunil K Arora and ‘Our amazing immune system’ by Prof. Ranjana Minz. The students were also conveyed the importance of voluntary organ donation through a demonstration talk by consultant in ROTTO program in PGI. by The students overwhelmingly participated in the Immunology Quiz competition, Extempore stage presentation and Poster making competitions and the winners were awarded with trophy and cash prize along with certificates.
This program was followed by a hands-on workshop on HLA typing & cross-match for tissue & stem cell transplantation and Immune-cell monitoring by flowcytometry and a Symposium on Transplant & Cancer Immunology on 30th April 2019.
Many experts like Prof N K Mehra, Former Dean-Research, AIIMS, New Delhi; Prof. Joshy Jacob from Emory University, Atlanta, USA; Prof. Gaurisankar Sa from Bose Institute, Kolkata and Dr. Amit Awasthi from Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad including the clinical experts from PGI were invited as faculty for this symposium who delivered lectures on advances in the field of Tissue transplantation and prospects of immunotherapy against cancer.
More than 100 delegates including basic scientists and clinicians from all over north India participated in this one and a half day program Prof Sunil K Arora, Professor of Immunology in PGI, who is currently the President of Indian Immunology Society said that the theme of this year’s celebrations was carefully chosen to introduce the subject of Immunology to the school students and bring awareness about the role of immune system in protection from various diseases including infections and cancer to public in general and school students in particular at a very young age so that they can be sensitized about the potentials of immune-therapy in curing the cancer and other infectious diseases and also to encourage the young brains to choose this important field of medicine as their research career in future.
