Faculty and research scholars from Amrita School of Biotechnology attended a two day International Conference on Bacteriophage Research and Antimicrobial Resistance (ICBRAMR) from  December 12-13, 2019, organized by the School of Biosciences and Technology, VIT, Vellore. The conference covered research themes in the area of bacteriophage therapy and antimicrobial resistance that accommodated a wide range of both national and international participants to facilitate collaborations and to discuss the current and future scope of phage therapy in India.

A pioneer in the phage arena, Dr. Elizabeth Kutter from Evergreen State University, Washington, US, was the special guest of honour for the event. Many other senior experts and researchers delivered special lectures and invited talks such as: Mr. Pranav Johri (Founder, Vitalis Phage Therapy), Dr. Mark Toleman (Cardiff University, UK), Dr. Urmi Bajpai (Associate Professor, Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi) and Dr. Sebastian Leptihn (Associate Professor, Zhejiang University, China).

Participants in the conference included members from the School of Biotechnology’s Sanitation Biotechnology Lab: Dr. Sanjay Pal, Dr. Sindhu Shetty K., Mr. Ajith Madhavan, and Ms. Amrita Salim (Ph. D. Student), as well as members of the Microbial Active Genetics Lab including Ms. Nitasha Menon (Ph. D. Student) and Ms. Meghna Chatterjee (JRF). The ASBT members presented posters on their research work including work on bacteriophages. Asst. Prof. Ajith Madhavan’s poster titled “0.22 Micron Membrane Filter as a Matrix for Lytics Broadcasting System” was awarded the second place for posters in the Phage subcategory at ICBRAMR 2019.