St Joseph’s University, Bengaluru Summer School Programme on Drug Discovery and Development

Bengaluru: In collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences and the Royal Society of Chemistry, St. Joseph’s University organized a two-week summer programme on ‘Drug Discovery & Development’ from June 10 to June 21, 2024 curated by Prof. Swetavalli Raghavan, Head of Innovation, Strategy & Government Affairs at the Royal Society of Chemistry to provide students a holistic understanding of the industry and skill them to build exciting careers in drug discovery and development, thus contributing affordable innovations to improve human health. The Department of Chemistry, School of Chemical Sciences, coordinated the 2024 programme.
India is the pharmaceutical hub of the world, with a 20% share of total global pharmaceutical exports. It is also the largest supplier of vaccines in the world by volume, accounting for more than 60% of all vaccines manufactured in the world. Consequently, there is a thriving job-market in the field. However, students are not well-versed with the entire pipeline of drug discovery and development; courses in India focus on one or two technical skill development only.
The Summer School programme offered students intensive and interactive sessions covering a range of topics, including genomics and proteomics drug development and delivery, preclinical and clinical trials, good laboratory practice, pharmacoeconomics and the regulatory framework related to drug discovery.Additionally, the programme included skilling workshops on writing effective CVs and effective communication. Students also benefited from industrial visits to Syngene Intl Pvt Ltd and C-CAMP.

The speakers for the Summer School included Dr. Rajamannar Thenati, Non-Executive Director at Sun Pharma; Dr. Neelima Dubey, Associate Principal Research Scientist at CIMPS; Dr. Dharmaraja Allimuthu, Assistant Professor at IIT Kanpur; Mr. Bhairav Kuttaiah, Advocate at the High Court of Karnataka; Dr. Kiran Bettadapur, Senior Research Investigator at Syngene International Pvt. Ltd.; Dr. Manojit Pal, Chief Scientist at Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences; Dr. Parimal Mishra, Chief Scientist at Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences; Dr. Aparna Kasinath, Head of Bioanalytical Laboratories at Syngene International Ltd.; and Prof. Swetavalli Raghavan, Professor of Practice at St. Joseph’s University.
A total of 26 students registered for the pilot batch of this the two-week summer programme. The participants included BSc, MSc, and research scholars from various institutions, such as Vellore Institute of Technology, Jain Deemed to be University, Mount Carmel College(Autonomous), Manipal Institute of Technology, University of Kerala Kariavattom, IISER Tirupati and St. Joseph’s University, Bengaluru.
The two-week programme helped students acquire essential employability skills, network with potential employers, and learn from industry researchers in the field of drug discovery and development. This summer school provided students with the understanding and knowledge needed to bridge the gap between academia and industry. The inaugural batch of the Drug Discovery and Development Summer School graduated on Friday, 21 June 2024 with enhanced preparedness to shape their careers in this field.
“I learnt so much about drug discovery but also about myself at this summer school. Who knew a 11 day summer school program would be this impactful”, says Ms Vyjayanti Bharadwaj, a student at this summer programme.
Rev Dr. Victor Lobo SJ, Vice Chancellor and Fr Denzil Lobo SJ, Director, the School of Information Technology were present for the valedictory programme held on 21st June, 2024.