The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as the most crucial global health calamity of the century faced by man. Efforts to slow down the transmission of the disease focuses primarily on testing & treating the patients, quarantining suspected persons through contact tracing, restricting large gatherings and maintaining complete or partial lock down. A new class of corona virus, known as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2) has been found to be responsible for this disease outbreak and global research to combat
COVID-19 is fast progressing.

In this context, Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), Thiruvananthapuram in association with the Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV), Thiruvananthapuram organizes a webinar series on “Emerging and Re-emerging Viruses’ which focuses primarily on understanding the virus biology, host immune responses, development of therapeutics and the containment measures taken globally and by Kerala against COVID-19.

Speakers

Dr. B. Ekbal
Member, Kerala State Planning Board

Dr. Gowri Sankar
Associate Principal Scientist
Merck, USA
Former Lead Immunologist,
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

Dr. Stalin Raj
Associate Professor in Virology
IISER Trivandrum

Prof. William Hall
Senior Advisor, Institute of Advanced Virology, Tvpm &
Prof of Microbiology, School of Medicine & Medical Science, University College, Dublin, Ireland

Dr. E. Sreekumar
Principal Scientist,
Pathogen Biology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB)
Thiruvananthapuram

Dr. Rajendra Pilankatta
Associate Professor
Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Central University of Kerala
Kasargod, Kerala