The national conference cum Workshop on Stress and Metabolic Syndrome (SMS 2010), is going to be organized by School of Biological Sciences (SBS), NISER and KIDS, Bhubaneswar

Advent of various high-throughput technologies in Biology is helping us in understanding gene networking and the mechanisms underlying complex biological processes as integrated systems of many interacting components. Thus it is possible to understand laws governing intricate biological systems as well as to predict the systems properties.

This power enables us to explore previously unreachable corners of life as well as leading to develop intervention which was not otherwise possible earlier. With the advent of various genomic, proteomic and metabolomic (together as omics) and advanced bioinformatic analyses it is now possible to compare various gene networking and pathways involved in various health and immune conditions.

This methodology is not only applicable within a species but also across species. This comparative genomic approach from the host point of view (in case of a disease as well as from point of gene-environment interactions) can generate a plethora of information which could lead to

•  Understand the origin of a disease.

•  Identify combinatorial biomarkers for specific disease condition.

•  Understand the hierarchical and statistical importance of genetic pathways .

•  Predict disease outcome.

•  Develop effective ways of intervention .

While there are various different biological questions which intrigue us, the one we are focusing on in this conference cum workshop is Stress and Metabolic Syndromes (SMS). The conference is concentrating on correlating stress and diseases with particular emphasis on metabolic syndromes such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension in Indian perspective. The meeting is planned for two days of informal interactions between scientists of clinical and non-clinical background and participants who might be experiencing some kind of stress or affected by metabolic syndromes.