On November 7-8, 2014, The School of Life Sciences (SLS) organized a training session on the use of two state of the art equipment purchased for the Life Sciences Laboratories at IUB. Mr. Hruday S. Chaporkar, an expert from Thermo/Forma Scientific who was brought in from India specifically for the training, demonstrated the many different applications of the quantitative Real Time PCR (qRTpcr) and sophisticated fluorescence and luminescence based ELISA machines. The training was inaugurated by the Dean of SLS, Dr. Rita Yusuf, with a brief welcome and introductory session. The objective of the program was to introduce faculty members to cutting edge research protocols, enabling them to teach advanced techniques to students, apply for competitive international funding, and initiate global research collaborations. A total of nineteen people, including SLS faculty members and representatives/technicians from the scientific companies, participated in the 2-day program. During the session, the operational capabilities of the two instruments were reviewed in detail as well as the multi-faceted software applications. Mr. Chaporkar skillfully elaborated the advantages and distinguishing characteristics of advanced models with respect to conventional ones. Importantly, faculty members were able to use the equipment for the first time and trouble-shoot when needed, with the help of the experts on hand.
