Dr. Janko Nikolich-Žugich, MD, PhD, Bowman Professor and Head, Department of Immunobiology, Co-Director, University of Arizona Center on Aging, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, USA visited Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi and Amritapuri Campuses on 16 and 17 December 2021.
Dr. Janko met with Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) and had discussions with a group of faculties including Dr. Prem Nair, Dr. (Col) Vishal Marwaha, Principal, School of Medicine, Dr. Anil Kumar, HoD, Microbiology, Dr. Deepu, Dr. Merlin from the Infectious Diseases Division, Dr. Veena Menon, Virology division regarding Covid, Vaccination / Vaccines, treatment etc.
Dr. Janko delivered a Seminar on the work on “Immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in older adults” followed by a question and answer session. Approx 100 participants including faculty & students from various departments attended the seminar through offline and online modes. Dr Manzoor Koyakutty, PhD, FNASc, Professor, Cancer Nanomedicine & Immunotherapeutics Group, Centre for Nanoscience and Molecular Medicine had some interesting discussions with Dr. Janko on the possible areas of collaboration between ACNs and his lab. Dr. Janko agreed to work on immunobiology of T cells and nanotechnology methods to enhance the functionality especially in the context of aging as the central theme in collaboration with Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences. To begin with, two of our MSC – Nano Biotechnology students will do joint project work between ACNS and Prof Janko’s lab (Summer 2022).
Dr. Janko visited the School of Ayurveda and ĀCĀRA (Amrita Center for Advanced Research in Ayurveda). Dr. Janko had a discussion with Swami Sankaramritananda Puri (Dr. C. Nagarajan), Dean, School of Ayurveda and Dr. Ram Manohar, Research Director, ĀCĀRA as well as visited Analytical Lab, ACARA, Microbiology Lab, Medicine Preparation Lab, etc. This was followed by a quick tour for Dr. Janko to our Engineering campus. The day 2 events were concluded by a discussion on our Live-in-Labs® program.
Dr. Janko is internationally recognized as a leading immunologist and gerontologist. He received his M.D., MSc and Ph.D. in Immunology from Belgrade University School of Medicine. His long-term interests include basic mechanisms of T-cell function, immunity to infection in older adults, vaccines and biomarkers of declining immunity in the elderly, immune rejuvenation, immune monitoring in chronic conditions of aging and the impact of inflammation and nutritional intervention in aging, immunity and metabolic disorders. He has published over 130 scientific papers and reviews describing his work.
The coordinators of this event include Mr. B. Krishnan Pillai, Program Officer, Amrita Center for International Programs, Dr. Sivakumar. V, ACIP Research Coordinator, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Mr. Sarin Kumar.K.M, Program Associate, Amrita Center for International Programs and Ms. Radha Murali, Program Associate, Amrita Center for International Programs, Amrita University.
