DRDO(defence Research And Development Organization

[Guest]

[center]<b>DRDO Researching Applications Of Magnetic Resonance In Defense</b>[/center]

Dated 15/1/2008

The 14th annual meeting of the National Magnetic Resonance Society (NMRS-2008) is being organized by DRDO's Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS) at Dr. S Bhagwantam Auditorium, Metcalfe House, Civil Lines, Delhi from 16th to 19th January 2008.

During this meeting a special international symposium on "Advanced MR Applications" is being held during the first two days. The symposium will deal with the developments and advancements in the frontier areas of biomedical magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy with special emphasis on functional, metabolic and neuro-imaging.

The meeting is being attended by about 250 Indian and 25 international delegates from national and international academic and research institutes with several of them legends in their area of work. The event will be inaugurated on 16th January 2008 at 0930 hrs by Dr T Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India and Lt. Gen. Yogendra Singh Director General Armed Forces Medical Service (DGAFMS) will be the guest of honour. Prof Seiji Ogawa of Japan , the inventor of the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal based MR contrast which forms the basis of functional MRI, one of the the most upcoming and promising application of MRI will also be present in the inauguration.

The other eminent scientists include Dr W Selvamurthy, distinguished scientist and Chief Controller (LS&HR) DRDO, Prof K V Ramanathan, President NMR Society and Dr R P Tripathi, Director, INMAS. During the inauguration session Maj Gen (Retd) Dr N Lakshmipathi, VSM, Former Director of INMAS will be felicitated by the Society for bringing in the first MRI in the country.

The international delegates include Prof. David G Gadian from University College London, Prof Elaine Holmes Imperial College London, Prof Uwe Klose and Dr Michael Erb from University of Tuebingen Germany, Dr Stefan Posse, University of New Mexico, Prof Veena Kumari from Kings College London, Dr Kohkan Shamsi, Acunova life sciences USA, Dr Tony Stocker from Research centre Juelich Germany.

The meeting would be a great opportunity for the entire scientist community in the country to meet the experts and learn about the advanced techniques and applications of MR. The event has a special significance for INMAS and DRDO as it coincides with Golden Jubilee celebrations of the DRDO.

The National Magnetic Resonance Society (NMRS) of India was established in the year 1995, with the aim of bringing together scientists working in the different areas of magnetic resonance on one platform.

The major participating institutes include Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Tata Institute of Fundamental research (TIFR) Mumbai, Centre of Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) Hyderabad, National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) Pune, IIT Chennai, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, Centre for Biomedical Magnetic Resonance (CBMR), SGPGI Lucknow, besides INMAS, Delhi.