Natural Products are known to provide novel structures, which are complex and cannot be obtained by combinatorial synthesis.  Almost 60% of all approved anti-cancer drugs have been derived from natural sources.It has been estimated that of the approximately 250,000 plant species known today, only about 5-15% have been investigated for bioactive compounds.  The potential for utilizing such natural products as templates for the design of novel and innovative therapeutic strategies would be the focus of this session at the workshop.The established expertise of the participants in the workshop, in the specific domains of Biodiversity, bio-prospecting, platform technologies for drug discovery and the exploration of strategies for translational medicine, hold promise for significant outcomes, from enhancing bilateral cooperation with the interacting institutions and laboratories.  

Thematic Keynote Overview(15 mins)
Dr. Sudhir Sahasrabudhe, CEO, Rines Therapeutics, Research Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Utah, USA

Bullet Talks(5-7 min each)

• Dr. M.D.Nair, Consultant, Indian Pharmaceutical Industry
• Dr. Asoke Banerji, Professor, Amrita School of Biotechnology, Amrita University, Kollam, Kerala
• Dr. John Tainer, PBD Collaborating Senior Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
• Dr. Terry Hermiston,Vice President, US Biologics Research Site Head, US Innovation Center Bayer Healthcare, USA
• Dr. Gillian Murphy, Professor, Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, UK