The national training on “Molecular diagnostics and fingerprinting of Salmonella and pathogenic Vibrios associated with seafood and aquatic environment” started at the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) here.

The training, sponsored by the National Agricultural Innovation Project, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, is being organised by the Microbiology, Fermentation & Biotechnology Division of CIFT.

The programme was formally inaugurated by well-known scientist in food microbiology, Dr Bala Swaminathan, Vice-President, IHRC Inc., and Former Adviser to Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, USA.

In his inaugural address, Dr Swaminathan highlighted that globally Salmonella causes 94 million cases of infectious diseases, out of which 80 million cases are estimated to have food-borne origin. In this context, the rapid detection of Salmonella is of utmost importance.

The meeting was presided over by Dr T.K. Srinivasa Gopal, Director, CIFT. He briefed about the research works being carried out at CIFT in rapid detection of pathogenic bacteria, and their fingerprinting and their application in the area of disease investigation and food safety. He suggested the participants make use of the training programme to develop their core competence in rapid diagnostic methods, since the presence of pathogenic microorganisms is a matter of great concern in this era of globalisation, where there is potential scope for food-borne illness due to import of food items.

Dr K.V. Lalitha, HOD, MFB, welcomed the gathering. Dr Rakesh Kumar, Scientist, MFB Division and the Course Director, introduced the programme. Dr Toms C. Joseph, Scientist, MFB proposed the vote of thanks.

The purpose of the national training is to provide theoretical and hands-on- training on molecular diagnostics and fingerprinting of bacteria of public health significance such as Salmonella and pathogenic Vibrios in seafood and aquatic environments. The programme will focus mainly on the conventional and molecular rapid diagnostic methods for seafood borne pathogens, identification of pandemic strains, and serotyping, real-time PCR assay, pulsed field gel electrophoresis analysis, ERIC-PCR for fingerprinting and characterization of virulence genes.

The hands-on-training programme is designed to benefit young scientists/teachers working in the field of Microbiology and Biotechnology in ICAR Institutes/Universities and other Colleges in the country.

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