Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (DBT-IBSD), Imphal and ICMR-National Institute of Chemical Biology (ICMR-NICED) in association with the Society for Ethnopharmacology, India organized a two days National Conference on “Exploring the Bioresources of India to fight against Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)” AMRC-2024 at Science City Auditorium, Kolkata, India during April 04-05, 2024.

The program has been organised to promote Bioresources including medicinal plants, microbes, mushrooms and other bioresources to develop multidrug-resistant drugs to combat the Antimicrobial resistance problem which is a major issue in the whole World. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses both health and economic burdens for patients and healthcare systems, globally. The efficacy of several antibiotics is threatened by the emergence of resistant microorganisms. There is an urgent requirement to develop new drugs /medicines, therapeutics, diagnostics and preventives to combat the superbugs through collaborations to strengthen research in AMR.

The North-East region (NER) is known as nature’s paradise and is globally recognized among the top ten biodiversity-rich hotspots, having significant ecological diversity and rich ethnic and cultural traditions. This region is gifted with an enormous amount of valuable medicinal resources used by traditional healthcare professionals to manage infectious diseases. This seminar highlights crucial and contemporary aspects of recent trends on AMR research horizons. It also deals with the strategies for the exploration of bioresources to develop alternative effective therapeutics against AMR.

The program was attended by several Directors and scientists from various parts of the country including industrialists and Health department officials. Among all the delegates Prof. Padmanabhan Balaram, Former Director, of IISc, Bangalore, who is a recipient of the third highest Indian Civilian honour Padma Bhushan was the Chief Guest and delivered the keynote address. Prof. Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director, IBSD, Imphal welcomed the delegates and addressed the importance of organising the National Conference on AMR and the possibility of harnessing the bioresources available in the NE where it can be used for future drug development to fight against Antimicrobial Resistance. Dr. Shanta Dutta, Director ICMR-NICED, Kolkata also welcomed the delegates and highlighted the importance of identifying the lead molecules to fight against antimicrobial resistance problems. The conference has various scientific sessions, panel discussions, i-Connect Program Business meet on “Bioresources to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR): Development of new generation antimicrobials) and best oral poster presentation sessions. The conference was attended by more than 300 delegates including Scientists, Professors, Doctors, Industrialist and Research Scholars from all over the countries.