21st Conference of National Magnetic Resonance Society of India concludes at GNDU

Amritsar, March 9, 2015:  A four-day 21st Conference of National Magnetic Resonance Society of India was concluded here today in Guru Nanak Bhawan Auditorium of Guru Nanak Dev University. As many as 235 scientists of international repute from all over the world participated and presented their research papers during these four days.

Prof. Jefferey Reimer from University of California, Berkley highlighted the use of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in the design of metal-organic frameworks for storge of fuel gases like hydrogen and methane. Perspective use of magnetic resonance in the biomedical sciences for diagnosis of heart related diseases, neurodegenerative diseases is forcasted.

A. S. Brar, Vice-chancellor and a renowned NMR spectroscopist and polymer scientist and also the president of National Magnetic Resonance Society of India  presided over the function and told about the uses of magnetic resonace spectroscopy for structure elucidation of biomolecules as well as for diagnosis of various diseases.

Earlier,  NS Dhalla, Distinguished Professor and Director of Cardiovascular Developments, St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada delivered the keynote address and highlighted the role of NMR in the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases at the inaugural day while Prof. Bernhard Bluemich, the distinguished professor from Institut für Technische und Makro. Chemie, RWTH Aachen University, Germany made the inaugural presentation on this occasion.

While describing the applications of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Prof. Bluemich gave details about the latest developments in the NMR instrumentation and use of portable NMR instruments for the geological and environmental studies has broadened the working sphere of NMR spectroscopy.

A. S. Brar presided over the inaugural function of the conference. In his presidential address,  Brar told about the versatility and usage of NMR spectroscopy in the structure elucidation of small molecules to Biomolecules like proteins and nucleic acids. He told that this is one of the analytical techniques which find its application in biomedical research in the form of MRI, in the geological sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, chemical and biological sciences.

Christian Griesinger from Germany; Prof. Jeff. Reimer form University of Berkley, USA; Prof. Matthias Ernst from Switzerland, Prof. Klaus Zangger from Austria, Prof. S. Subramanian from IIT Channei, Prof. CL Khetrapal from CBMR Lucknow, Prof. Anil Kumar from IISc Bangalore also presented their papers. Prof. R.K. Mahajan, the convener of the conference welcomed the delegates and told about the detailed scientific programme of the conference. About 35 invited talks, student presentations and 100 poster presentations will be made. It is worth to mention that the visionary approach of  A. S. Brar made us to organize this prestigious conference twice in the last 5 years. Earlier, in 2011, the NMRS conference was organized in which two pioneering scientists namely Prof. Richard R Ernst and Prof. Alex Pines from Switzerland and USA, respectively came here along with the galaxy of NMR/MRI scientists and delivered a series of public lectures. / (SK Vyas, Jalandhar)