JALUKBARI, April 1 - Professor Franz Bairlein, Director, Institute of Avian Research, Germany, delivered a lecture, �From Route to Genes: an Integrated Approach to Study the Control of Bird Migration�, at a national seminar on integrated approach in zoological research held at the Department of Zoology, Gauhati University, which ended yesterday.
Prof Franz highlighted the mechanism of bird migration from one continent to another continent over seas, sometimes for 100 hours at a stretch. During migration the birds can double their body weight in 7 days� time, and that deposition of fats mostly helps the birds to get energy (fuelling) during long and very long flights without any stopover. The unfolding of a detailed mechanism and genetic control of metabolism in birds during migration may help medical scientists to understand and develop therapy for curing metabolic disease syndromes in humans where obesity and diabetes have some relations, he said.
His lecture and interactive session which lasted for about an hour, was attended by about 300 zoologists, students and research scholars and scientists from different colleges, universities and institutions of India.
The seminar, organised in association with the Zoological Society of Assam (ZSA), encompassed all topics related to basic life and zoological sciences and saw about 300 participants from all over India.
The Department of Zoology, GU also organised the Prof Rajendra Prasad Chaudhuri 6th endowment lecture on March 30 in its auditorium. The endowment lecture was delivered by Dr AS Sahul Hameed, OIE expert and Tata Innovative Scholarship awardee from C Abdul Hakeem College, Melvisharam, Tamil Nadu. The topic of the lecture was, �Application of Biotechnological Tools for Aquatic Animal Health and Management�.
Dr RC Deka, Vice Chancellor of Assam Down Town University, Guwahati and former Director of AIIMS, New Delhi, was the chief guest of the occasion. Prof Aparajita Borkotoki, former head of the Department of Zoology and dean of science, Gauhati University was the guest of honour.
