MAHER Advanced Research Centre for Health Sciences (MARCH) successfully conducted a Two-Day Hands-on Bioinformatics Workshop on Viral Diversity, Sequence Analysis, Phylogenetics & Molecular Docking on 21st & 22nd February 2025 at the Department of Research, MAHER. The workshop, held in a hybrid mode, attracted 28 participants (20 offline and 8 online) from prestigious institutions, including ICMR – National Institute of Translational Virology and AIDS Research, Ballygunge Science College, Bharathidasan University, Madras Christian College, Central University of Tamil Nadu, University of Madras, and Rajalakshmi Engineering College.
Dr. Jason Blackard (University of Cincinnati) led the first day session covering viral diversity, sequence analysis, drug resistance and vaccine escape while the second day was led by Dr. Daniel Alex Anand (Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology) covering molecular docking, and ligand toxicity prediction. Participants engaged in hands-on training with advanced bioinformatics tools, with Dr. Thirumal Kumar and Dr. Suvaithenamudhan (Assistant Professors) assisting the hands-on sessions on both days, fostering technical expertise and research collaborations. The event was chaired by Dr. N. Arunagirinathan (Dean, Research) and Dr. P. Balakrishnan (Chief Scientist, Infectious Diseases), with Dr. D. Thirumal Kumar and Dr. Pavithra Amritkumar as co-organizing secretaries. The workshop received excellent feedback for its practical approach and expert-led discussions, empowering researchers with essential computational biology skills.
