GANDHINAGAR The Biothon 2025 competition organized by the Gujarat Biotechnology University (GBU) here on Monday received an overwhelming response from Master’s and PhD students pursuing Biotechnology and life sciences in the premier state and national universities and institutes.
“As part of this event, a hackathon was organized to ignite the creativity of young minds, and at the same time celebrating collaborations, creativity, and learning among students of Gujarat. The students pitched cutting edge biotechnology-based solutions to address the societal and industrial challenges such as biogas, biofuels, advanced vaccine design, therapeutic protein production etc,” a GBU release said.
“Biothon-2025 served as a platform for students to connect with Indian and international stalwarts & peers of biotechnology in industry and academia to share and shape their ideas in a collaborative mode,” the statement added.
Mona K Khandhar, IAS (Principal Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Govt of Gujarat), Professor Sir Peter Mathieson (Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh), Sudhir Vaid (Chairman and Managing Director, Concord Biotech) and representative from British High Commission have boosted the morale of students.
The representatives from Indian biotech companies, such as Sun Pharma, Syngene International, Reliance Industries, Alpgiri, GERMI, Dyneval Ltd, TERI-ONGC Biotech Ltd and Savli Technology & Business Incubator also attended the event.
The participation of Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, in this event, marked a significant academic partnership milestone between India and United Kingdom. His visit also reflected the growing partnership between the GBU and the University of Edinburgh, fostering global standards of teaching and research collaborations.
Biothon-2025 ended with a roundtable discussion amongst the dignitaries, faculty members of GBU and representatives from Indian biotech industries.
Director-General of GBU, Prof. Subeer S. Majumdar highlighted the importance of strengthening the industry-academia relationship to promote biotech ecosystem in the country. The importance of setting up centers of excellence on Bio-AI and Biofoundry, jointly by Indo-UK efforts were also discussed. Overall, they discussed the potential scope of innovation in the biotechnology sector and the role of India contributing to the global development in the field. Gujarat being the pharma capital of India, its role in upcoming biotech revolution was strongly highlighted.
The event inspired the students and highlighted the global opportunities available in life sciences and biotechnology. The event also provided a nexus between fundamental knowledge and translating applications through interdisciplinary and modern tools of biology. The event underscores GBU’s commitment to boosting young researchers and positioning itself as a leader in biotech education in India.
