initiative for Biosciences Research, Education, Training and Awareness (iBRETA)

Aim of the project
JPF Initiative for Biosciences Research Education Training and Awareness (JPF iBRETA) is aimed at delivering curated, scientific information and encourage interactions with field experts to create awareness regarding different aspects of health and disease and engage in biomedical research.
Approach
Health Katta:
-
Identify and create awareness regarding the interactions of lifestyle associated factors and human health.
-
Give insights into disease biology and deliver possible lifestyle interventions by interactions with experts.
-
We hope that gaining insights into the interaction between disease and lifestyle factors will help people modulate their lifestyles and avoid future health consequences.
-
We are collaborating with on-field doctors in India working in remote areas with underprivileged communities. Our efforts are directed to help understand their health issues and build strategies to deliver healthcare services for their future generations.
FACTS AND FIGURES
EVENTS
Health Katta Session 1: COVID 19 and Lifestyle
We launched our pioneering project under this umbrella, 'Health Katta' aimed at identifying and creating awareness regarding the interactions of lifestyle-associated factors on human health.
Our inaugural (date) Health Katta began with a talk from Dr. Milind Watve shares his insights on the increasing susceptibility towards various emerging diseases due to lifestyle diseases.
Taking diabetes as an example, Dr. Watve explained its nature in the light of modern research. He highlighted that simple lifestyle modulations like daily exercises can help averting lifestyle diseases in the future.
The session was concluded by Amol Gangji narrating two projects undertaken in Solapur district of Maharashtra, India to introduce lifestyle interventions for women working as cigarette rolling workers. The first project showed how the application of ‘Pranayama’ has a positive impact on women's health. The second project focused on providing an alternative of manufacturing bags to cigarette rolling. These lifestyle changes have proven to improve their lives.
The session was an intricate blend of scientific logic for lifestyle disease and field application of lifestyle interventions.
Dr Watve has been teaching and mentoring students for a large part of his career. He was the Head of the Department of Microbiology at Garware College, Pune, then the Professor of Biology at the IISER, Pune and now an independent researcher. His research interests span a broad range of topics like, evolutionary medicine, diabetes, cancer, evolutionary psychology, wildlife ecology conservation, and theoretical and philosophical aspects of biology.
_edited.jpg)
Speaker, Dr Milind Watve
Topic: Act now for healthy tomorrow: Relationship between COVID 19 pandemic and lifestyle diseases.
Health Katta Session 2: Healthy ageing with healthy lifestyle
One thing that everyone hates is getting older, mostly because aging changes the body. But do you ever wonder what aging is all about? You might have millions of questions like why do we age? What changes when you age? Can we age healthily? And many more...
To answer your questions you might have and to know science behind aging.
We are coming up with the 2nd session of Health Katta on the topic of Lifestyle and Ageing.
Vd. Prayag Sethia is a well known Ayurveda practitioner and has been associated with prestigious hospitals like the Seth Tarachand Ramnath Charitable Ayurvedic Hospital and clinics. He specializes in Panchakarma, Consultation, Suvarnaprashan for Kids, Personalized Diet planning, Diabetes Management, Fever, Cold & Cough. In addition to these activities, he is also actively involved in public communication on various aspects of Ayurvedic medicine and how following simple rules can ensure a healthy and happy life.

Speaker, Vd. Prayag Sethia

Speaker,
Dr Vanita Patwardhan
Dr Vanita Patwardhan has more than 30 years of experience in educational psychology, cognitive psychology, psychometry, guidance and counseling, school psychology, facilitation in soft skills, assessment of competencies and consultancy for industrial HR and creative thinking skills . She serves as the honorary professor at Jnana Prabodhini institute for Psychology (JPIP) and has been an active advisor for many Ph.D. students. Her work expands in aging with conducting sessions in the USA and the UK for geriatric populations enabling them to achieve a healthy balance of psychological, physical health and family.
Date: 6th August 2022, Saturday
Stay tuned for more details !
Our team

Kshitij Deshmukh
Lead, JPF Healthcare and Biomedical Sciences
Co- lead, JPF Project Based Learning
Member, JPF Analytics
BSc, Microbiology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, India
MSc, Cell Biology, University of Manchester, UK
Research interests: Protein biochemistry, tissue specificity in cancer and tumorigenesis.
Hobbies: Reading, playing guitar and music.

Mrunmayee Kulkarni
Co-lead JPF, Healthcare and Biomedical Sciences
Msc Biotechnology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, India
PhD, (CSIR-Junior Research fellow), Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, India
Research interests: developmental biology, cell biology and mitochondrial dynamics.
Hobbies: Reading and singing.

Pallavi Gadgil
Co-lead JPF Healthcare and Biomedical sciences
Co-lead JPF Yuvati Vibhag Abroad
BS-MS, IISER Bhopal, India
PhD, Indiana University, US
Research interests: Cell, molecular and chromosome biology.
Hobbies: Reading, Trekking, Cooking.
Contact Us
Individuals with creative ideas under the aims of this forum are encouraged to contact us at biomed@jnanaprabodhinifoundation.org