Gastbeitrag. What is the purpose of such meetings and conferences ? Do scientists really need to have such meetings ? Imagine what would happen if the synapses between the neurons were not formed in us. Science in the present day, without networking would be like a nervous system without the ability of form synapses.

EMBO aims at bringing scientists from across the globe together so that there is more interaction and people know what is going on in other parts of the world. Dr Venki Ramakrishnan, at the outset of his talk, said that he was attending the meeting because, as a scientist of Indian origin, he wanted to know what was going on in India. It was with this objective of sharing knowledge, that the above meeting was held at the EMBO 2010 , Barcelona meeting.

The meeting started with a welcome address followed by a series of talks which ranged from ribosomes, vaccines, stem cells, policy matters and of course funding issues (after all money makes the world go round). The panel discussion on research opportunities spiced up the meeting, with the conversations between the panelists and the audience (mostly young indian scientists based outside India). Dr Venki gave keynote talk on ribosomes, with an insight into its structure.

Dr Vijayraghavan`s talk on the development of movement was not just focused on the movement in animals, but it also focused on the development of biological science research in India. He gave an overview of the genesis of life science research in modern India, which started sometime in the late 19th and early 20th century. With the establishment of institutions like Bose Institute, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Indian Institute of Science , Bangalore (now Bengaluru), the Bhabha Research Institute in Bombay (now Mumbai), etc, research in the field of life sciences gained momentum. After the independence of India, many centres of excellence came into existence in the form of national research institutes each of which was a feather in the cap of life science research in India. The present government has taken steps to increase the number of centrally aided universities and open new research institutions across the length and breadth of the country to facilitate quality higher education to the masses of India.

The Wellcome Trust/ DBT India Alliance is facilitating quality research opportunities for scientists in India and as Dr Anuradha said, it aimed at bringing people with a taste for quality research into India. The panel discussion which followed the talks of Anuradha and Gerlind, discussed about the opportunities researchers have in India. Embo Director, Maria said that Indians outside India could help India develop by adding their share of knowledge once they are back to their country. In response to a question about the problems one faces in India at different levels, Anuradha, with a very positive approach said that, what people take as problems should be taken up as challenges and dealt with a positive attitude rather than complaining about them. The panelists further added that money for research in India was not a problem, but the real problem was lack of good working hands.

There were eminent scientists of India and also from outside India like Dr Partha Majumder, Rashna Bhandari, Sandhya Visweswariah, Azim Surani, Vivel Malhotra, Ashok Venkitaraman and Satyajit Rath, who spoke on various scientific issues. The meeting ended with a positive note of bringing collaboration and mutual understanding among the scientists of India and the whole world.

Vaidurya Sahi ist Gastblogger vom EMBO-Meeting