NEWS/VIEWS AND COMMENTS Report of the 1st International Conference on ‘‘Frontiers in Biological Environmental and Medical Sciences’’ Sponsored by DST PURSE Phase II at University of Burdwan on March 8–10, 2018 Nimai Chandra Saha 1 • Bhramar Dutta 2 • Tanusri Roy 3 • Rajib Bandopadhyay 2 • Biplab Biswas 1 Ó The National Academy of Sciences, India 2020 1st international conference on Frontiers in Biological Environmental and Medical Sciences was organized by The University of Burdwan in association with DST PURSE Phase II during March 8–10, 2018. The inaugural session was attended by Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor Profes- sor Nimai Chandra Saha, Dr. A. Barik, Prof. S. Bhat- tacharya, Dr. Nabendu Choudhuri, Dr. K. C. Pandey, Dr. D. K. Panja and Dr. B. Biswas along with students, research scholars and dignitaries. The 3-day conference was divided into various sessions. Over 200 participants were registered in this prestigious science meet. There were eight disciplines under the three frontiers fields of science. The inaugural ceremony started with the welcome address of Dr. Anandamoy Barik who is the Joint Convenor of this conference. Hon’ble Vice- Chancellor Nimai Chandra Saha lightened the lamp and floral tribute was given, with an invocation song of Sanskrit chanting by Mr. Tapas Mitra. In the presence of eminent scientists of different fields of science chairing the stage, an abstract book was published. Dr. Nabendu Choudhuri, Ex- Professor, Burdwan Medical College, and Prof. K. C. Pandey, Lucknow University, were the guest of honour. Dr. D. K. Panja, Registrar of this University, was the special guest of this conference. Dr. Biplab Biswas, Joint Con- venor of this conference, thanked those who are associated with FBEMS 2018 and appreciated the overwhelming gathering. Followed by the inaugural session, Prof. N.C. Saha, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor of The University of Burdwan, delivered the imperative keynote address highlighted on green energy and ocean and water resources. He mentioned the utmost importance of renewable green energy sources and outlined the present scenario of the environmental issues. The session was chaired by Prof. Samir Bhat- tacharya of Visva-Bharati University. Special lecture was started with the talk of Prof. S. Bhattacharya, focused on Hilsa fish migration. After that, Prof. K. C. Pandey from Lucknow University spoke about ecological thinking in ancient India. The lecture reminds significant ideas about how we can use our enriched ancient science and tech- nology to overcome today’s problems. After lunch, again a session of special lecture was started with the talk of Prof. Sudip Chattopadhyay of NIT Durgapur. His area of talk was cellular regulation during Arabidopsis seedling development. Dr. N. Choudhuri was the chairperson of the session. Then, a lead lecture was given by Prof. Sagartirtha Sarkar of Calcutta University on possibility of cardiomyocytes self-regeneration during heart failure, followed by Dr. Himadri Saha from Central Agricultural University, Tripura. He discussed about fish health and nutraceuticals. Prof. S. Chattopadhyay chaired the session. After tea break, oral presentations started in four different themes with an average of ten participants in each session. Students, research scholars, postdoctoral fellows and professors presented their research works in the first- and second-day poster session in respective places. & Biplab Biswas biswas.biplab@gmail.com 1 Vice-Chancellor’s Research Group, Department of Zoology, The University of Burdwan, Golapbag, Burdwan, West Bengal 713104, India 2 UGC-CAS, Department of Botany, The University of Burdwan, Golapbag, Burdwan, West Bengal 713104, India 3 Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan, Golapbag, Burdwan, West Bengal 713104, India 123 Natl. Acad. Sci. Lett. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40009-019-00868-0