Monday, the 13th November 2006: 2.00 to 4.00 pm, Auditorium I in Gujarat Science City

The Gujarat Science City is announcing the popular science lecture on the topic "Natural Toxins: Poisons and Therapeutics" to be delivered by Prof. P. Balaram, Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on the Monday, the 13th November 2006 at 2.00 pm in Auditorium I.

The lecture is sixth in 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.

Food contains natural chemicals that are essential for growth and health, including carbohydrates, sugars and proteins and vitamins. However, some foods contain potentially harmful poisons called natural toxins. The reason for the presence of natural toxins is not always known. In some foods, a toxin is present as a naturally occurring pesticide to ward off insect attack. Or it may be formed to protect the plant from spoilage when damaged by weather, handling, UV light or microbes.

Although naturally occurring toxins are all around us, the lecture will explore to educate where and how they occur, so that, steps can be taken to avoid them.

A specialist in molecular biophysics, Prof. P. Balaram is the currently the Director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and  the Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Italy. Prior to this, he was Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Chairman, Molecular Biophysics Unit  and Chairman, Division of Biological Sciences  at the Institute.  His main research interests are in bioorganic chemistry and molecular biophysics.  He is the author of over 370 research papers.  He received his M.Sc. from IIT Kanpur (1969) and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Carnegie-Mellon, Pittsburgh, USA (1972). 

Professor Balaram has received many awards / honors in recognition of his work, of which mention must be made of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize of CSIR (1986), Alumni Award for Excellence in Research from IISc (1991), TWAS Award in Chemistry (1994), G.D. Birla Award for Scientific Research (1994), Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Kanpur (2000) and Padma Shri by the Government of India (2002).

Professor Balaram has delivered a number of lectures and has served on the Editorial Boards of journals, both national and international.  He is also serving on many committees of the Government of India, and is currently a Member, Science Advisory Committee to the Union Cabinet, Board of Research in Nuclear Science of DAE, Advisory Board of CSIR and Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, to name a few.  He has been the Editor of  "Current Science" for over ten years.

The lecture will provide an insight about the emerging field of natural toxins and educate about its bad effects as well as the therapeutics use for survival.

We take this opportunity to invite one and all to attend the programme at Auditorium I in the Science City.