Mesenchymal stem cells isolated from dental pulp has the inherent capacity to differentiate into different cells types such as neural cells, osteoblasts, adipocytes, chondrocytes etc.,. In view of the above fact, the workshop on stem cell culture and characterization was initiated at BRULAC-DRC, Saveetha Dental College on the 15th of April 2019. The delegates and students were welcomed by Dr.M.Karthik Ganesh and Dr.J.Vijayashree. The workshop started with a brief introduction about the invited speaker Dr.S.Raghunandhakumar, UGC-Kothari Postdoctoral Fellow by Dr.D.Ezhilarasan. The presentation on “Mesenchymal stem cells from dental pulp and their application” enlightened the students and other delegates about the potential use of MSCs in the field of dentistry. The speaker was felicitated by Dr.A.Paramasivam and Dr.A.Padmaraj.

The hands-on training started with processing of dental pulp which was demonstrated by Dr.A.Paramasivam and Dr.S.Raghunandhakumar. The students were asked to perform the procedure independently, following which they isolated RNA from the cells. The students and delegates were enthralled to visualize RNA on the agarose gel. The characterization of the stem cells was achieved by specific marker detection employing both reverse transcriptase and conventional PCR. The principle and methodology was explained to students and they were taught to set-up a PCR reaction and programming of the thermal cycler. Stem cell marker specific PCR returned a positive result which was shared to students after gel documentation. The workshop concluded with positive feedbacks from the delegates and students, which proved its success!