The course will be conducted by top 10 scientists and executives from SII, spread across 10 lectures. (Express Photo) While vaccines are the buzzword the world over today thanks to the COVID 19 pandemic and the layman’s focus has been hooked on vaccine production for months now, what really goes into the making of a vaccine?
The answer to this question is the basis of the inaugural course by the Pune Knowledge Cluster offered in association with the Serum Institute of India (SII), starting from January.
From the science behind the vaccine development to the hiccups and challenges faced at various stages, the journey from laboratory to market, trouble shooting, learning about vaccine distribution, participants can expect to learn all this and more during the virtual course.
Designed for doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, young curious minds from industry and academia, research/science managers, technology incubators etc. in and around Pune, the course will be conducted by top 10 scientists and executives from SII, spread across 10 lectures, starting from January 15, 2021.
Established by the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, the PKC brings together representatives of academic and research institutions as well as industry from Pune and surrounding areas to address the challenges before the region using science and innovation.
Headed by the IUCAA, it has representatives from top scientific and research institutions like IISER, NCL, ARI besides Savitrbai Phule Pune university and others.
Dr Surendra Ghaskadbi, a senior scientist at Agharkar Research Institute and senior advisor, PKC, said, “This is the inaugural course of the PKC, and we wanted it to be something not available anywhere else. Our research graduates have access to the best that theory can offer, they know a lot about science. But the practicalities of what goes behind a vaccine production is something they don’t know.
Making a vaccine in the laboratory and then bringing it to the end user is a totally different game. Designing, producing and distributing a vaccine, is an arduous task. We want that the participants of this course don’t just learn the science behind vaccine production, but also the real life challenges, which is extremely important for a scientist to know,” he said.
Applications are being invited until January 5th and post a selection process, accepted candidates will be notified by January 11th. The maximum number of participants will be limited to 25.