Educational Visit to Tata Memorial’s ACTREC,Kharghar

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FIELD VISIT REPORT


Friday, 29th Nov.2019:The One-day Educational Visit as a part of curriculum of TYBSc(Biotechnology)to ACTREC,Kharghar was planned and successfully executed.The selected 15 students of Vartak College,Vasai alongwith Prof.Mrs.Kanika Bhargava were the part of ACTREC’s 17th Open Day.The session began at 10:00 am by an introductory presentation on History of Tata Memorial Centres for Cancer and about cancer progression in brief by Dr.Pradnya Kowtal.Poster Display highlighting cancer research,diagnosis,treatment and prevention were also a part of this session.Ms.Megha Malhotra,a PhD student was the appointed volunteer for the complete tour.The first visit was to Microbiology Lab P-115 where the students were introduced to BacT/Alert 3D,a equipment employing BH infusion media and pH change indicators to detect presence of micro-organisms in given blood sample with couple of hours! Further,the next demo was of Serum Protein Electrophoresis,Lab PS-117, involoving HYDRAGEL 7 PROTEIN(E) gels for seperation of human serum proteins in human serum and urine and semi automated SEBIA and HYDRASYS 2 Scan for detection of monoclonal gammopathies.The third lab demo was of Clinical utility of advanced cross-sectional imaging and MRI in the Radiodiagnosis Dept.The students gained knowledge about the Magnetic Resonance Imaging,the Superconducting magnet,detection of cancers using H2O and proton flow in the body and the T1 and T2 images obtained.T1 images give anatomical details whereas T2 images give pathological details which are used in detection of tumors,one such example is detection of Brain Tumors by examining the proton diffusion and blood vessel perfusion rates.Various types of MRI such as Functional-MRI are also being developed.The next Depatment was the Clinical Pharmocology dept.,Lab.KS-019 dealing with High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Dionex 3000 UPLC.Here,the purpose of HPLC,its basic principle,steps in sample preparation,detector systems & applications in bioanalysis,BA/BE study,drug monitoring and invivo/invitro screening was explained.
Further,demo on DNA sequencing by Sanger’s Chain Termination method on Automated Sequencers(Capillary Electrophoresis)-3500[8 samples] and 3730[48 samples] Genetic analyzers was given in the DNA Sequencing dept.The explanation included the Exo-Sap digestion,use of polymer Pop7,importance of Quality Value & Primer Noise,NGS[NextGenSequencer].





The Students Council of ACTREC(SCA) then had an informal discussion with the students about Cancer Research at ACTREC and brief information about different career options available after graduation/post-graduation and various competitive exams regarding the same.Following SCA discussion,the BioPhysics facility then introduced us to basic principles,instrumentation,applications of Fluorescence Spectroscopy and also gave brief introduction about Surface Plasma Resonance and circular dichromism.The last demo was given by the Common Instrument Room members,where we were introduced to ultrasonic sonication,differential centrifugation,ultracentrifuge,spectrophotometer,nanodrop spectrophotometer and gel documentation system.
We would like to thank The Principal,Vartak College,The Department of Biotechnology & Prof.Mrs.Kanika Bhargava for arranging this one-day educational tour to ACTREC.
Also,Sincere Thanks to Tata Memorial’s ACTREC,Kharghar for inviting us for the 17th Open Day and for letting us experience your cutting-edge research and technology and for co-operating with us throughout.

Location: Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

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