The versatility of single-stranded DNA By: Dr. Kishan Raj Selva Raju 11th April 2022

Good news! The world is now recovering from the global pandemic (Covid-19) that took millions of lives in short time. Not just the lives were gone, the economic stability of many nations took a hit as well. Thanks to modern biotechnology and the
innovative minds behind it who played vital roles solving this worldwide threat. Yes! Monoclonal antibodies, antiviral drugs and the most advance and latest RNA-based vaccines are the talk of the town which received unconditional recognition for saving lives throughout the world. Thanks to the masterminds who developed these biotechnology-based treatments and prevention measures to curb continuous spread of the threat.

Based on these current trends in biotechnology, the School of Biotechnology of Manipal International University (MIU) has recently organized a webinar on “The versatility of single-stranded DNA”. This webinar was intended to expose young researchers on the currently ongoing advancements in the field of molecular biology especially on the state-of-the-art technologies used to identify, modify, or design novel genes used in gene therapy to treat various genetic disorders and disease control.

The webinar was held on 11th April 2022. Invited speaker Senior Lecturer, Dr. Citartan Marimuthu from Advance Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia (AMDI, USM) delivered the talk. The webinar received positive feedback from the audience claiming that they have received ample information on current issues in disease prevention based on nucleic acid manipulations. The audience were also satisfied with outcome of the talk and agreed to join future events organized by the School of Biotechnology of MIU.