Title of the talk: Mechanisms underlying infantile-onset spinal muscular atrophy: Clues from a novel disease modifier.

The inauguration of the Mehta Family Centre for Engineering in medicine was held on 6th November marked by a two-day research symposium. The inauguration ceremony commenced with cutting of the inaugural ribbon by Smt Jyoti Mehta and Dr Annamaria. The inaugural research symposium witnessed invited talks in the three focus areas of Molecular medicine, Digital medicine and Regenerative medicine. There were vibrant interactive sessions: between students and Shri Rahul Mehta, and an open house discussion of students with Dr. Shankar Subramaniam, UCSD, Dr. Gang Bao, Rice University and Dr. Annamaria. A fun quiz conducted by Dr. Shankar Subramaniam. Finally, the two-day gala event concluded with the felicitation of students for their many academic achievements. Many of the priceless moments were captured for posterity, and all to see."

MFCEM Dialogues, 2nd March, 2023, on *Tools and techniques for effective communication* by Matt Abrahams, Stanford Graduate School of Business. Matt Abrahams is a globally acknowledged trainer and teacher on communication and organizational behavior. The MFCEM Dialogue session was jointly chaired by Mr. Rahul Mehta, The Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta Family Foundation; and Prof. Nitin Gupta, IIT Kanpur. The session opened with a dialogue between Mr. Michael Takagawa, Founder and CEO of Corporate Edge, a leadership consulting firm, who posed very relevant and interesting questions for Matt to answer. Through the session Matt Abrahams highlighted the importance of communication, and defining communication as “Operationalized Leadership”. He elaborated on many techniques and tips for effective communication. The session ended with a vibrant question & answer session, wherein students posed some very interesting questions. Matt ended the session, by nominating the winners for the best question asked, these were: Devdhar Patil, Ashutosh Kumar and Sanyam.

As part of the MFCEM Seminar series, Prof. Nitish Thakor, Dept. Biomedical Engineering and Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and member, Advisory Board- MFCEM, gave an insightful glimpse into his research work, in the areas of neural prosthesis, neurological instrumentation, biomedical signal processing, micro and nanotechnologies and clinical applications of neural and rehabilitation technologies at brain-machine interface, on the 13th October 2022. He also stressed upon a need to address the many challenges that lie at the interface of Engineering and Medicine and come-up with cutting edge solutions and technologies.

The MFCEM Dialogue is an interactive event of students and faculty with accomplished researchers who are leaders in their field of research. The event includes a brief presentation by the speaker aimed at a wide audience, followed by an extended interaction session covering new developments in the field and the speaker’s personal academic experiences.

Prof. Nitish Thakor, Dept. Biomedical Engineering and Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and member, Advisory Board- MFCEM, interacted exclusively with students as part of the MFCEM Dialogue on 12th October 2022. Prof Thakor shared his inspirational academic journey, and encouraged students to follow their research interests with passion and single-minded dedication.

MFCEM Dialogue Series

The MFCEM Dialogue series is an interactive event of students and faculty with accomplished researchers who are leaders in their field of research. The event includes a brief presentation by the speaker aimed at a wide audience, followed by an extended interaction session covering new developments in the field and the speaker’s personal experiences. The first event of MFCEM Dialogues was held on the 26th January 9:30 pm over a zoom discussion with Prof Prashant Mali, from the Department of Bioengineering, of University of California San Diego. Prof Mali shared some of his recent work on the use of CRISPR Cas9 technology for rational engineering of genomes, and its use in therapeutics. He also shared his recent work on 3D bioprinting of vascularized matrices for long term ex-vivo cultures.

Felicitation event by The Mehta Family Centre for Engineering in Medicine:

of Prof. Bushra Ateeq for The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2020 & The DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Senior Fellowship 2020; Prof. Arun Kumar Shukla for The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2021 and The DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Senior Fellowship 2020; Prof. Nitin Gupta for The Swarnajayanti Fellowship 2020 ; Prof. Jayandharan G. Rao for The DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Team Science Grant 2020; Prof. Dibyendu Kumar Das for The DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship 2020; Prof. Arjun Ramakrishnan for The DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship 2020, in the presence of Mr. Rahul Mehta, The Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta Family Foundation and Prof Shankar Subramaniam, UCSD, International Advisory Board MFCEM, and Prof. R Sankaramakrishnan, Head, Dept Biological Sciences and Bioengineering (BSBE), who participated remotely.