IIT Madras partners with Ministry of AYUSH for AYURTECH 2022

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras is partnering with the Ministry of AYUSH to organise a major event on the indigenous system of medicine in India, a statement from IIT Madras notified.

The institute aims to provide a forum for the AYUSH scientists and researchers to hear from the experts in academia and industry, and to get an overview of the expanding field of AYUSH sciences. It was also a platform to network, share and showcase one’s research findings among the peers in the field from industry and academia including technical institutes, industry, AYUSH colleges and medical hospitals for prospective collaborations, the statement added.

The statement also said that IIT Madras Department of Biotechnology is organising a six-day continuing Medical Education (CME) programme on ‘Technological interventions to standardise the indigenous system of medicine in India’ called AYURTECH 2022-CME, from 20th to 25th June, 2022. This CME programme is being sponsored by the Ministry of AYUSH.

This includes lectures by experts from academia and industry across the country followed by a hands-on workshop exclusively designed for the CME participants, who are nominees from the nodal research and academic centres under the Ministry of AYUSH, the statement said.

In parallel, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is also organising a lecture series open to students, academicians and industry working on AYUSH sciences and natural products to create increased awareness and promote interest for interdisciplinary research and education in the field of AYUSH, according to the statement.

Addressing the inaugural session of the combined inaugural event of AYURTECH 2022-CME and the IITM AYURTECH 2022-Lecture series, Dr Manoj Nesari, Adviser, Ministry of AYUSH, said in the statement, “The Ministry of AYUSH is working keenly to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the National Health Policy, 2017. Hence, there is a huge scope to integrate technology and AYUSH.”

Speaking earlier, Dr Tanuja Nesari, Director, AII India Institute of Ayurveda, New Delhi, and CEO, National Medicinal Plant Board, said in the statement, “The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that Indian traditional medicines are as relevant in treating the virus as other medicines. If we integrate technology with AYUSH, then India can lead the world.”

The hands-on workshop will focus on four relevant areas:

• Applied plant biotechnology for sustainable production of uniform and high-quality medicinal plant biomass at a large scale
• Qualitative and quantitative characterisation of phytochemicals in medicinal plant extracts
• Bioactivity analysis of medicinal plant extracts for targetted therapeutic applications with underlying mechanism of action.
• Application of bioinformatics to study the pleiotropic effects of medicinal plant extracts (phytochemicals)

The interactive lecture series broadly covered the areas of applied plant biotechnology, medicinal chemistry, bioinformatics and biological sciences.  Eminent scientists, faculty and researchers actively working in allied areas, who are affiliated to various national-level institutes of repute and industry, were speakers for the two events, the statement further mentioned.

Addressing the participants, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said in the statement, “There is a huge need for Indian medicines to have the technological support to take them to the next level. This will provide empirical and scientific evidence for Indian medicines. There is a need to focus on research that will lead to filing more patents for Indian medicines.”