Short-term course on computer-aided drug design at IIT-BHU

The Interdisciplinary Data Analytics and Predictive Technologies (I-DAPT) Hub Foundation under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) at IIT-BHU commenced a weeklong short-term course on Computer-Aided Drug Design and Structural Bioinformatics 2023 (CADDSB-2023) from March 13.

About 80 participants from different disciplines from all over India are attending this course which will conclude on March 17.

Addressing the inaugural function, the project director of the I-DAPT Hub foundation and dean (Research & Development) of IIT-BHU, Prof Vikash Kumar Dubey, said that the invited lectures and hands-on sessions from leading experts in the field would surely open newer vistas of specialized knowledge in the domain of artificial intelligence/machine learning-enabled computational biology discovery and, eventually, health informatics and translational research.

As chief guest, Prof Krishna Misra from IIIT-Allahabad, delivered the inaugural lecture. She emphasized how the integration of life science problems with computer sciences is the need of the hour and elaborated on the importance of bioinformatics in solving healthcare-related problems and disease management. Prof B Jayaram, an emeritus professor from IIT Delhi, envisioned a disease-free planet and the potential role of data analytics and computational biology in realising this ambitious dream. He showcased the utility of a supercomputing facility, various computational suites, and software (e.g., Sanjeevini, Bhageerath, Dhanvantri), all indigenously developed in his lab at IIT Delhi, that can significantly reduce the drug development timelines.

The Project Coordinator of the I-DAPT Hub foundation, Dr RK Singh, said that courses like this would empower younger generations to learn & to think analytically about the critical health-related problems persisting in society.

The course convenors, Dr Aditya Kumar Padhi and Dr Sumit Kumar Singh highlighted that the contents of the course would significantly boost the fundamental and practical knowledge of participants.