Science city

The Gujarat Science City is announcing the popular science lecture on the topic "This Thing Called DNA" to be delivered by Padmashree Dr. D. Balasubramanian, Director of Research, L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad on the Monday, the 30^th October 2006 at 3.00 pm in Auditorium I.

The lecture is fifth of its series titled as "Science Matters" that aims to bring awareness among the young students, parents, teachers and the media persons about the fascinating world of basic sciences and its promising future. The series deals with topics on frontier areas of science and technology for the spreading of new knowledge and awareness among the students as well as the public at large.

The lecture on 'This Thing Called DNA' will explore the concept about 'Who am I'? Some material containing my father's biological characteristics fused with my mother's in her egg cell. I started my life from this single fertilized cell, which is a nano-particle and grew into a six-footer. My biological inheritance too has been a nano-material supplied by my parents. This nano-material is this thing called DNA.

DNA is ancestry. Darwin pointed out that all species on earth came about from a primordial ancestor through evolution. Studying the DNAs of various species thus reveals their interconnectedness and their diversity. DNA is our global genetic heritage.

A specialist in biophysical chemistry, ocular biochemistry and protein structure, Prof. Balasubramanian is currently working as the Director of Research, L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad. He has also been the Deputy Director and later Director at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad; He has published over 150 research papers in international professional journals and written over 300 popular science articles in Indian newspapers. He received his PhD in chemistry from Columbia University, USA.

Prof Balasubramanian is the recipient of several professional honors, the most noteworthy of them being the UNESCO Award for science popularization and Third World Academy of Sciences Award for Basic Medical Research. The Government of India conferred upon him the Padma Shri in 2002. The same year, he received the prestigious Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Merite from the President of France.

He is currently visiting Professor at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, and Fellow, Ophthalmology Department, University of Melbourne, Australia, and Adjunct Professor, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India.

The lecture will provide a glimpse of the DNA language, how it gets translated in the cells of our body for our growth, metabolism, health and disease. One can imagine how connected we people are with one another, and how biologically pretty much the same we all are. DNA does not admit castes, communities, tribes or races. These are matters of the mind, not of the molecule. These are sociology, not biology. Society divides us, DNA unites us. It is Nurture that sets us apart, not Nature.

All are cordially invited to attend the programme at Auditorium I in the Science City.