There is an immense interest in the use of living cells of either microbial, mammalian or plant origin as factories for the mass production of small synthetic molecules or protein based products of commercial value. Hence, a joint Indo-US Workshop on “CELL FACTORIES” was organized by Prof. Pramod P. Wangikar (IIT-Bombay) and co-chaired by Dr. Jay Keasling (University of California, Berkeley), Dr. Mugdha Gadgil (NCL Pune, India) and Dr. Aindrila Mukhopadhyay (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA).
This workshop aimed at providing a platform for a productive exchange of ideas between academic and industry researchers in this field, from both participating countries. A total of 10 speakers from USA and 17 speakers from India made oral presentations. The research work showcased at this workshop dealt with the specific challenges in implementing these cell based processes for the targeted products of interest within the diverse ‘cell factories’. Overall, this workshop brought into focus the emerging interest in this research area with a good overview of the challenges and specific resolutions to the issues faced with regard to the various products of interest.
