National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Chandigarh celebrated its Foundation Day with different functions and activities on February 15.

Director of the Institute Prof. P. Rama Rao, welcoming the guests at the function, took a trip down the memory lane by presenting a slide show which included the progress report of the year 2007-08 and vibrant photographs showing the growth of the Institute and highlighted the collaborations with industries and achievements, a release said.

Delivering the Foundation Day Lecture on "Potential of Fatty Acid Synthesis Pathway for AntiMalarials," Prof. A. Surolia, Director, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi said that malaria is affecting 500 million people in the world every year. Nearly 3 million deaths are reported due to this disease and this endemic has already spread to more than 100 countries.

He emphasized the need for developing more anti-malarial drugs. Talking about the limitations of current anti-malarials, he said that it acted by poorly defined mechanisms like chloroquine and artemisinin. Hence, it cannot be improved to combat drug resistant parasites and targets overlap with host (inhibitors of folate pathway), therefore side- effects are manifested. He complimented NIPER for its initiative to attract the best talent for entry into the profession.

Prof. S. V. Kessar, FNA, Professor, Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, Punjab University, Chandigarh presided over the function. Prizes were distributed for various quiz competitions organized during the foundation day celebrations involving students, staff and faculty of NIPER to mark the occasion. A Book entitled "Herbal wealth of north-east India- A pictorial and herbaria guide" and Video based on the educational documentary entitled "Herbal Wealth of North-East; A boon for Mankind" was released by Prof. A. Surolia during the occasion.