IGCLA: Day Two

The second day of IGCLA presented the delegates with an opportunity to interact with the speakers over breakfast. Topics of discussion ranged from astrobiology to protein engineering, and even to metabolic medicine and Germany with insights and anecdotes from their lives as researchers.

Dr. Nishchal Dwivedi, a theoretical physicist from the Nuclear Physics Division of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre gave the first talk of the day, on the interesting topic of the three-body problem – the physics of complicated three-body trajectories. Eclipses, involving the earth, sun and moon, as well as the physics of the deuterium atom, which consists of a proton, neutron and electron, were elaborated upon in a way that was simple enough to hold the attention of the large fraction of medical students in the hall.

The second talk was on pediatric metabolic medicine and the importance of neonatal screening for inborn errors of metabolism, by Dr. Prof. Anibh Das, Department of Pediatric Medicine, Hannover Medical College. He discussed the various errors of metabolism that could be screened for, how the corresponding clinical pictures arise, and the treatment modalities available for the same.

After that, his student, Dr. Partha Dabke, an alumnus of Kasturba Medical College, spoke of his time in Germany and what it means to be a medical researcher. ‘Why research?’, ‘Why Germany?’ – were the questions he answered in light of his experience.

Dr. Ritabrata Thakur from the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences then took the stage to give an account of his team’s riveting research – a seventeen-day cruise in the Bay of Bengal, an attempt to understand the mysterious workings of the Indian monsoon.

The DAAD panel discussion held afterward with Dr. Prof. Anibh, Dr. Partha, Ms. Isabel and Dr. Aditi informed the audience about medical education in Germany and the procedures and protocols involved in applying to study there.

The presentation of posters on cases and research continued on this day as well, holding the rapt attention of the judges and delegates alike as they perused the contents of TMA Pai Hall 1.

After a satisfying lunch, the delegates attended the workshops being conducted for the day. Brainwaves, Who Let the Rats Out, Interventional Radiology, Stempeutics, De Qi, Astrobiology, Ideas to Innovation, Making Ends Meet and EM Simulation kept their minds busy as the day wore on.

The next event was Panacea, the multidisciplinary quiz hosted by Dr Haneil D’Souza. It consisted of a preliminary round, following which six teams qualified for the finals. The winners were Avinash Rao G, Achintya Sharma and Ayush Malviya.

Curtains closed on Day 2 of IGCLA with a screening  of the movie, ‘Fire in the Blood‘, courtesy of Doctors Without Borders. The movie told the true story of how people came together to fight back when pharmaceutical companies and governments blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for countries of the global south, causing millions of deaths that were, in every sense, preventable.

– Reported by Niharika Dixith

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