Ex-Union minister Balyan exhorts scientists to undertake research beneficial to common man

Chandigarh, Dec 1 (PTI) Former Union minister Sanjeev Balyan on Monday exhorted the scientists to undertake the areas of research that are beneficial to the common man and especially agriculture.

CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) is hosting a three-day Laboratory Animal Science Association Conference (LASAICON)-2025 on 'Preclinical to Clinical: Connecting the Dots of Research, Animal Welfare, Drug Discovery, and Pharma Innovation for Viksit Bharat'.

Balyan joined the event virtually on the opening day and addressed the gathering.

The event shall bring together an interdisciplinary community of scientists, regulators, animal welfare experts, innovators, students and key stakeholders from academia and industry.

Balyan lauded the efforts of CSIR-IMTECH in organising LASAICON.

According to a CSIR-IMTECH statement, the former minister exhorted the scientists to undertake the areas of research that are beneficial to the common man and especially agriculture.

The statement said LASAICON-2025 aims to address critical scientific and ethical intersections -- promoting humane, responsible and cutting-edge approaches in biomedical research, accelerating drug discovery, and nurturing pharmaceutical innovation through informed scientific discourse and cross-sectoral collaboration.

Dr Sanjeev Khosla, Director, CSIR-IMTECH, while addressing the gathering, highlighted that there is a pressing need to develop a robust mechanism for the welfare of lab animals as most of the failures in any drug discovery programme occur at the preclinical stage.

He also dwelled on newer methods that have the potential to replace animal models like organoids due to their human-specific, 3D structure that better mimics human organs for disease modelling, drug screening and toxicity testing.

Over the next two days, the scientific programme will explore key themes including animal welfare, ethics and alternatives, translational research and preclinical models, drug discovery and pharma innovation, digital disruption through AI and regulatory frameworks and quality standards.

CSIR-IMTECH is a national centre for excellence in microbial sciences and was established in 1984.

IMTECH's vision and mission are to create a translational ecosystem strengthened by fundamental discoveries and to address unmet healthcare and industrial needs with state-of-the-art processes and platforms respectively. PTI SUN KSS KSS