Kanya Maha Vidyalaya- the Heritage & Autonomous institution, Seat of Women Empowerment with Top National and State Rankings by India Today Survey of Best Colleges 2020 (various categories) & Outlook Magazine organised a virtual interaction with the scientists of National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi under DBT Star College Status through Science Setu Program.

It was a unique opportunity for science students at undergraduate and postgraduate level to get an exposure to such a high-level research. The Resource person for the event was Dr. Manoj Prasad, Scientist VII, NIPGR. Dr Manoj commenced his lecture by enlightening the students on importance of food and decreasing number of food crop species. He also discussed about the gap between the population and the number of crop species available to feed the population. He told that it’s high time to focus on mainstreaming underutilization crops for food and nutrition security and using next-gen genomics tools for trait improvement in these crops. He stressed on the genomic history and ecology of the geographic spread of millets. He focused on the molecular breeding and genetic manipulation as the two most potent technologies of crop improvement. He concluded his lecture discussing about functional and comparative genomics have provided the platform for gene discovery and their functional characterization. Dr. Pinky Agarwal and Dr. Amarjeet Singh, Scientists, NIPGR attended the questions of the participants and gave vote of thanks.Principal Prof. Dr. Atima Sharma Dwivedi averred that it was an intellectual and exciting experience for all the participants to learn the practical aspects of science from the scientists of international calibre. She further maintained that KMV always strive to impart quality based science education to the students and always keep on organising such meaningful activities for the betterment of the students.