SMVDU Katra, 29 Oct. 2018. School of Biotechnology, a leading and research oriented department at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) organised invited lectures by eminent scientist Dr. Ashok P. Giri, Head, Biochemical Sciences Division, CSIR-DSL, Pune. Three sessions were conducted on biochemical aspects of synthesis of various secondary metabolites in plants and their relationship with environment, growth and development stages, as reported by Dr. Sharda Potukuchi & Mr. Inderpal Singh. Talking on the importance of invited lectures, Prof. V. Verma, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, informed, these lectures are the part of Expert Lecture Series that have been organised in the school on time to time. Following the principle that let knowledge come from all directions, Dr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice-Chancellor (SMVDU), emphasised on the outcome-based-education where education beyond syllabus must be covered through such extension activities. Dr. Giri’s research group have been working on understanding of the plant-insect interaction at molecular level that will serve as a basis for developing strategies for plant protection in sustainable manner with minimizing use of chemicals, reported Dr. Sharda Potukuchi. Further, she informed Dr. Giri’svisit shall open up new avenues for cooperation in several academic fronts, including publications, development of patentable processes and designs. Additionally, the faculty membersexpressed their gratitude to the scientist and expected that it would motivate the potential researchers. The sessions were attended by students, research scholars and faculty members of the school. The vote of thanks was presented by Dr. Vinod Singh.