IGCLA: Day Three

 

IGCLA’s hallmark is its ability to bring in speakers who, despite the diverse range of fields they come from, challenge and engage a crowd composed predominantly of medical students. Nothing proved this better than day 3 of its third edition.

The day kicked off with a talk by Dr. Ranjith Kumar, from the Dayalbagh Educational Institute in Agra, who took air pollution and its chemical aspects, and translated it into language that would spark even the interest of medicos – the development of asthma. He also provided insight into what India can do to improve its air quality, and the difficulties we can anticipate going forth.

He was followed by Dr. Dinesh Pathak, who drew from his experience working in the Czech Republic to speak about the need to evolve beyond silicon in photovoltaic cells, and the development of hybrid solar cells, while highlighting how important it is that India quickly amp up its infrastructure to harness more solar energy.

Succeeding him was Dr. Daichi Morita of Okayama University, whose previous work includes assessing antibiotic resistance in Vibrio cholerae. This is a topic of vital importance today, especially when most cholera pandemics originate from the subcontinent.
Next was Dr. Jasmin S. Shaikh’s talk on perovskite solar cells, which was quite illuminating, with her describing its working principles and optical properties. Designed to be cost effective, it can be manufactured in a large scale. Incidentally, Dr. Shaikh’s definitive paper on the same was published the day before.
Towards the end of the morning session was Dr. Jency Thomas, who applied chemistry to determine the use of polyoxometalates or POMs in medicine, with its anti-tumour and antiviral properties.
Dr. Jaikrit Bhutani’s “The Path to Happiness”, which marked the end of the morning session was a case for exploring multiple interests, and not limiting oneself to a narrow field, on a quest to find fulfilment. His talk was based on his own experiences, and injected levity into an otherwise highly technical day.
The afternoon session was commenced by Dr. Alphonsa Mathew, from the Department of Mathematics at St. Thomas College in Kerala. She translated her knowledge of fluid dynamics into the understanding of arteriolar blood flow, while simultaneously infusing the audience with a sense of wonder about the complex mathematics of day to day life.
She was followed by Dr. Ravi Kumar Kanaparthi, whose area of expertise is chemistry. He spoke extensively regarding artificial photosynthesis, and the application of photovoltaic cells in the same.
The last speaker in what was a very informative day was Dr. Sanjay Latthe, who introduced to the audience his work on super hydrophobic coating materials, and their widespread real world applications.
Going on simultaneously with all the plenary lectures was the final round of presentations for case reports, research and postgraduate theses. The winners for them were:
Case poster –
Reetika Ramanathan and Divya Nayar – 1st place
Dr. Mohammad Fahad – 2nd place
Chandni Rubina Nijjar – 3rd place
Research Poster –
Lalu Krishna K N – 1st place
Anwesha Das – 2nd place
Anoop Shaji – 3rd place
Postgraduate thesis –
Dr. Raghuram Tangirala – 1st place
Dr. Kapu Venkatesh – 2nd place
Dr. Sukrita Iyer – 3rd place
The evening made way for the Wearable Device Hackathon, where contestants battled it out to see who could come up with the most innovative solutions to quirky problems, and built models of them. Under Dr. Arun Shanbhag, it proved to be an unequivocal success.
There was no better way to conclude a packed, highly academic day than with the Gala Night where delegates and organisers alike let loose to the music of DJ Umesh in TMA Pai Hall. The event struck a chord with everyone thanks to its delicious spread and lively entertainment, bringing another successful day of IGCLA to a close.
 – Written by Dharini Prasad

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