The Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi is to organize the sixth national symposium on biotechnology, 'Biohorizon 2004'on March 12 and 13, 2004. The event aims at providing the academia and the industry a platform to discuss their mutual interests by providing a forum for promoting trade, investment and technology flows and to develop a synergistic interaction among the biotech community of India.

Biotechnology during the last two decades has globally emerged as a technological revolution interfacing with all walks of human activities including agriculture, common health care products, foods, industrial chemicals and environment management issues. It is very exciting for the biotechnologists, to be a part of the revolution.

The Department of Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology at IIT Delhi stays abreast of the latest advances in biotechnology through its organization Biochemical Engineers and Technologists Association (BETA). BETA has been involved with professional activities since its inception. It has been organizing Biohorizon every year since 1999 and wishes to achieve higher goals and standards this year.

The outstanding feature of this symposium will be participation from executives and researchers from various industry and academia from all over the country. The objective of the symposium is to promote greater awareness and interaction among biotech community about new and emerging areas in biotechnology. Emphasis has been given to develop an entrepreneurial spirit among the technologists of our country.

The symposium would include technical review sessions, technical poster sessions, discussion on the business of biotechnology, science quiz etc. In keeping with the objectives of the symposium, the events have been designed so as to excite, enthuse and provide insight to an audience comprising of technologists, technocrats and investors, covering a wide array of fields ranging from drug delivery to systems biology to down stream processing and even business of biotechnology.

Interested participants may contact: Pravin Kumar, convener, Biohorizon 2004, Department of Biochemical Engg. & Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. E-mail: biohorizon2004@yahoo.com. Phone: 26596160. Fax: 26582282