Open Day: CCMB opens to public for first time since Covid-19 pandemic

Hyderabad: CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) celebrated its "Open Day" on 26 September on the occasion of CSIR's 80th Foundation Day. Scientists at the institute put up their work in form of model exhibits and posters. Hands-on activities, games, and comics helped the visitors understand the scientific research.

More than 7,000 people, most of them school students, visited the institute on the day. The visitors were not just from various districts of Telangana but also from neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Every year, the Open Day at CCMB is organised by second-year PhD students. The organising team said, "Trying to coordinate the first physical Open Day in two years post-Covid was a tremendous task and a real learning curve for everyone in our batch. It's been a long couple of weeks but the enthusiasm of all the kids, young and old, has made it an enduring experience for us."

Dr. Vinay K. Nandicoori said, "It is an immense privilege that thousands of people visit our campus to understand our work. As an institute, we decided to conduct two Open Days every year—one on 26 September to celebrate CSIR's Foundation Day and another on 28 February to celebrate the National Science Day. We hope this will help us reach out to more people more efficiently."