Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Oct 3: A special guest lecture on body clocks was delivered by Prof Till Roenneberg, a world-renowned chronobiologist from the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany on the occasion of the inauguration of the Advanced Biology Research Cell at the K S Hegde Medical Academy here. The seed money for setting up the cell was provided by the Nitte Education Trust, with Dr Till Roenneberg placing at its disposal another Rs 11 lac worth of instrumentation.
Dr Roenneberg heads the Center of Chronobiology at the prestigious Institute of Medical Psychology and is a pioneer in studies on circadian rhythm. His seminal research publications on sun-entrainment of body-clocks has opened up new vistas in understanding of phenomenon such as sleep disorders, productivity and physiological processes.
Prof Till is a collaborator with faculty at KSHEMA in a few projects, which are now nearing completion. The studies on chronotyping south Indian population, spanning over a ten-month period with data collated from various sub-centres and covering nearly 75,000 participants is one of them. Light recordings using lux meters, and such hi-tech equipment have been collated from Sakleshpur, Uppinangadi, Bangalore, Sri Kalahasti and Chennai, besides other specific areas from across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
In his address to the staff and students of KSHEMA, Prof Till specifically mentioned the contributions of Dr Jairaj Kumar and Prof Arunachalam Kumar of the college to advancement of this exciting science in this part of the world. The college was already liaising with the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore for various chronobiological studies. KSHEMA, a pioneer in the field, is poised to become one of the leading research institutions in segment. The work done in India adds to data from Germany and deals with jet lag, social jet lag and topo-geographical jet lag phenomenon. The audio-visual presentation was followed by a lively interactive session.
The dean of KSHEMA, Dr Arunachalam Kumar, in his welcome address, dwelt on the scope for chronobiological medical studies in understanding health and disease. He mentioned KSHEMA faculty had already produced quality papers in this nascent field and had established a reputation for itself among the scientists of this specialty.
The professor was felicitated by the Nitte University Chancellor Vinay Hegde, who also pledged all moral and material support for future collaborations in research. Dr Shantaram Shetty, vice chancellor, Nitte University, received prof Till and took him around the Advanced Biological Research Cell. Dr Jairaj Kumar, research coordinator of the newly inaugurated cell, introduced Prof Till, while N S Ramesh Murthy, university registrar, proposed vote of thanks. The German don was accompanied by Pauline, his daughter and an up-and-coming documentary film-maker and writer.