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The 14th annual meeting of the National magnetic
resonance society (NMRS-2008) is being organized by 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. Yogender
Singh VSM, PHS Director General Armed Force Medical Services (DGAFMS) will
be the guest of honor. Prof Seiji Ogawa, 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 scientist present will 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. Dr Subash Khushu and Dr Namita Singh of INMAS
are the convener and the organizing secretary of the meeting.
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 plateform. The major
participating institutes from India 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,
Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi.
INMAS, one of the life sciences laboratories of the Defence Research and
Development Organization (DRDO), was established in the year 1961. Life
sciences laboratories of DRDO are engaged in the research and development
of products for the physical and mental health of the man behind the
machine in armed forces.
INMAS has the distinction of setting up the first ever Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI) Centre in South East Asia way back in 1986 and use it in its
clinical and biomedical research programme. In the initial years, being
the only MRI centre in this sub-continent, INMAS not only catered to the
diagnostic needs of armed forces but also to civilian population in India
and neighboring countries besides developing human resource for the
country in this emerging field. Important contributions in neuro-infection
imaging, brain tumors and other neurological disorders was made and
broad-based research experience using MRI and MRS in this institute made
the medical community confident about the sophisticated technology, which
resulted in the opening of several new advanced medical imaging centres in
the country. The centre has now established an excellent functional MRI (fMRI)
facility wherein clinical and applied cognitive research is being actively
pursued. Cognitive studies related to short-term memory, multilingual
complexity, visuo-spatial judgment skill impairments in alcoholism,
mapping of socially relevant negative emotions and meditation are also
being conducted. The combined fMRI and voxel based Morphometry (VBM)
studies on alcoholism suggest possibly weakened visuo-perceptual and
memory encoding ability resulting in diminished symmetry decision making
skills due to an effected parieto-limbic and frontal network. The
assessment of cognitive functioning in deficient and efficient human
models by fMRI will go a long way in the diagnosis, treatment and
rehabilitation of patients with cognitive impairment and improvement in
the performance of man behind the machine under stressful working
conditions. INMAS has developed several products for armed forces
including MRI coils for human applications.
The international delegates of the symposium include Prof Seiji Ogawa from
Japan, 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 Maxico,
Prof Veena Kumari from Kings College London, Dr Kohkan Shamsi, Acunova
life sciences USA, Dr Tony Stocker from Research centre Juelich Germany.
The meeting promises to be an interesting event, providing an opportunity
for the Radiologists, Clinicians, Physicists and Chemists, Biomedical
Scientists, Biotechnologist, Biochemist and Engineers to interact and to
know first hand about the developments at the national and international
level in the area of magnetic resonance imaging. Holding of such an
exhaustive event 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.
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