The ICIDN-2021 was held successfully from December 15-18, 2021 in Kathmandu, Nepal via virtual platform.

KATHMANDU, BAGMATI, NEPAL, December 22, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Third International Conference on Infectious Diseases and Nanomedicine-2021 (ICIDN-2021) was held from December 15-18, 2021 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The conference was jointly organized by the Nepalese Forum for Medical Microbiology, Nepal Polymer Institute and CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with support from the Society for Applied Microbiology (UK), under the leadership of Prof. Rameshwar Adhikari (Research Center for Applied Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal) and Dr. Santosh Thapa (Baylor College of Medicine & Texas Children’s Hospital Microbiome Center, Houston, Texas, USA).

The ICIDN-2021 conference, which was held in an online (virtual) format because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, provided a platform for presentation of interdisciplinary research in biomedical sciences by bringing together researchers from the various fields of infectious disease and nanomedicine, including microbiology, epidemiology, public health, pharmaceutical science, chemistry, and physics. Molecular microbiology and epidemiology of infectious diseases was one of the major themes of the congress. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was featured prominently during the meeting, with much emphasis on the challenges faced by both developed and developing countries in dealing with the pandemic, rise of variants, and use of the COVID-19 vaccines. The ever increasing problems and concerns of antibiotic resistance were also highlighted in the meeting. Various interesting talks on biosecurity as the last line of defense in post-antibiotic era and potential impact of disinfectant resistance were also presented during this meeting. The manufacture and applications of nanoparticles for the treatment of disease was also one of the main themes of the conference. The roles of human microbiome in health and diseases were also featured prominently in the meeting.

The Third International Conference on Infectious Diseases and Nanomedicine-2021 was attended by over 200 delegates from 18 countries across the world, including Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Kenya, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, UK, and USA. The importance of this conference for promoting interdisciplinary research in medical, microbial and chemical research communities in Nepal and intensifying scientific networks of biomedical scientists from the region to the rest of the world was highlighted by the organizers. Similar remarks were also made by the guest of honor Prof. Nanda Bahadur Singh (Vice-Chancellor, Mid-Western University, Surkhet, Nepal) in his opening speech.

Around five dozens papers, related to various thematic symposia on infectious disease and nanomedicine, were presented during the four days ICIDN-2021 meeting, including plenary lectures, keynote lectures, invited lectures, oral presentations and poster presentations. The ICIDN-2021 was successful in bringing many eminent scientists from across the world into a single platform. The conference started with a Plenary Lecture on next generation antibiotics by Nobel Laureate Professor Ada Yonath from the Weizmann Institute of Sciences based at Israel. Prof. Yonath shared her science journey and emphasized the roles of antibiotics in treatment of diseases. She also discussed about the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Another Plenary Lecture at the meeting was delivered by Prof. Peter Hotez, an internationally-renowned vaccine scientist from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, USA. Prof. Hotez discussed about the science and antiscience of COVID-19 vaccines.

In addition, the keynote lectures presented at different thematic sessions of the ICIDN-2021 were delivered by Prof. Robert R. Bragg (University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa), Prof. Jack A. Gilbert (University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA), Prof. Mohammed Morshed (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada), Prof. Yogendra Kumar Mishra (University of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg, Denmark), Prof. Mohan Pammi (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA), Prof. Shiba Kumar Rai (Nepal Medical College, Kathmandu, Nepal), RNDr. Jakub Sirc (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic) and Dr. Sabu Thomas (Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Kerala, India).

Furthermore, invited speakers of the ICIDN-2021 meeting were Prof. Niranjan Nayak (Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal), Prof. Olivier Sparagano (City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong), Prof. Mohammed Yasir Zahoor (University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan), Dr. Basant Pant (Annapurna Neurological Institute and Allied Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal), Dr. Sher Bahadur Pun (Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal), Dr. Khosbayar Tulgaa (Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia), Dr. Paul Yonga (Fountain Health Care Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya), Dr. Numan Oezguen (Baylor College of Medicine & Texas Children’s Hospital Microbiome Center, Houston, Texas, USA), Dr. Nino Zavradashvili (Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia), Dr. Thomas Horvath (Baylor College of Medicine & Texas Children’s Hospital Microbiome Center, Houston, Texas, USA), Dr. Mindy Engevik (Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA), Dr. Gereltuya Dorj (University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia) and Dr. Adrian Najer (Imperial College London, UK).

Additional speakers of the ICIDN-2021 included Dr. Mehrbod Estaki (International Microbiome Centre, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada), Dr. Michal Babič (Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic), and Dr. Migun Shakya (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA), among others. About two-third participants of the meeting were students, postdoctoral fellows and young researchers. This meeting provided an opportunity to students to gain valuable experience and first-hand information from the international delegates.

The next ICIDN conference will take place in-person in Kathmandu (Nepal) during December 15-18, 2023.

Dr. Santosh Thapa
ICIDN-2021 Conference Secretariat
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