Piloting MOOCs Course on "Cancer Drug Discovery and Development"

New Delhi, 31st July, 2018: Prof. Pallu Reddanna and his team from Dept. of Animal Biology, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad have developed a MOOC on "Cancer Drug Discovery and Development" in the e-Learning Centre under UoH-COL-CEMCA Project on Implementation of CEMCAs Higher Education Integrated at UoH. This is the first online course developed in the e-Learning Centre and the Dept. of Animal Biology. The piloting function of the online course was held at Seminar Hall, School of Life Sciences on Tuesday, 07^th August, 2018.

Launching the online course, Prof. Appa Rao Podile, Vice-Chancellor, University of Hyderabad ahs congratulated both the e-Learning Centre and the team. He hoped that this will enthuse the other faculty to come up with more such courses in future.

Welcoming the gathering, Prof. J.Prabhakar Rao, Director, e-Learning Centre has mentioned that this is a proud moment for both e-Learning Centre and Dept. of Animal Biology because the e-Learning Centre within a short period of time of its inception could develop the course in the Centre. He appreciated CEMCA’s contributions and support in this regard. He also narrated the present and future activities of the Centre.

Prof. Pallu Reddanna, Coordinator of the course has briefly introduced the course. The aim of the course is to introduce the concept of personalized medicine and highlight the translational aspects of Drug Discovery from research laboratory to the clinic. This is a 2-credit course which provides comprehensive overview of cancer drug discovery and development aiming at its translational relevance to clinic. The target audience is the under-graduate students. The students have started registration into the course. After getting student feedback, the course will be made available online for the Jan-Apr 2019 for initially University students.

Presiding the launching programme, Prof. Anitha Jagota, Head, Dept. of Animal Biology said that it is a special moment for the department for being the first department in the University to come up with an online course. Prof. S. Dayananda, Incharge-Dean, School of Life Sciences appreciated the participation of industry and clinicians along with academia in the development of the course. The programme was concluded with vote of thanks by Dr. A. Bindu Madhava Reddy, Dept. of Animal Biology & Assistant Director, e-Learning Centre.

The programme was attended by Prof. Arun Agarwal, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Hyderabad, Prof. Vasuki Belavadi, Deputy Director, e-Learning Centre, faculty and students from School of Life Sciences.