Hands-On Workshop | 31 August – 3 September 2026 | Navi Mumbai

For years, the way students encountered CRISPR-Cas9 in biotechnology education was simple: as an elegant, Nobel Prize-winning diagram on a lecture slide. 

At the four-day hands-on workshop convened by Jio Institute and D. Y. Patil Deemed to be University, the question had changed. 

As genome editing moves from fundamental biological discovery to rewriting medicine, agriculture, and biopharmaceuticals, a more critical challenge is emerging: how do learners bridge the gap between understanding a molecular mechanism and executing it reliably at the laboratory bench? 

This question guided the intensive workshop titled "From Basics to Breakthroughs," hosted across campuses at Jio Institute, Ulwe, and the School of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (SBB), D. Y. Patil Deemed to be University, Belapur. Designed as a single continuous experiment rather than a sequence of static demonstrations, the programme immersed 21 participants—ranging from first-year undergraduates to doctoral scholars and industry professionals—in designing, executing, and troubleshooting a complete genome-editing workflow. 

Translational Horizons: Connecting the Bench to Industry

The workshop opened with a clear directive: academic laboratory practice must connect directly to therapeutic and industrial reality. 

Following the ceremonial lamp lighting alongside institutional leadership, Dr Praveen Rao, Research Director at Reliance Life Sciences, delivered the inaugural keynote address. Dr Rao explored the evolving biopharmaceutical landscape, examining how advanced gene-editing platforms transition from exploratory research into scalable bioprocesses and therapeutics. 

For a cohort with diverse technical backgrounds, the session provided an immediate translational anchor. It established that mastering guide-RNA design or precision cloning is not an isolated academic exercise, but the baseline requirement for building clinical and industrial bioproducts. 

From sgRNA Design to Plasmid Construction

The laboratory journey began with target selection and computational design before moving directly to molecular manipulation. 

Led by Dr Ankita Bansal (Jio Institute) and Dr Mala M. Parab (SBB, D. Y. Patil Deemed to be University), participants utilized bioinformatics tools to evaluate target recognition, PAM sites, and off-target risks across genes such as EMX1, EGFP, and CCR5. Translating computational designs into physical vectors, the cohort performed restriction digestion, agarose gel electrophoresis, gel purification, ligation, and bacterial transformation. 

Because each day's experimental protocol depended entirely on the previous day's viability, participants had to interpret their own culture plates, identify aberrant bands, and troubleshoot contamination or ligation inefficiencies. The emphasis shifted from blindly following a protocol to understanding experimental causality. 

Beyond Cas9: Mammalian Translation and Gene Regulation

As the workshop advanced, the focus widened from bacterial systems to functional mammalian applications and emerging molecular tools. 

Participants conducted plasmid isolation, minipreps, and quality assessments, exploring the nuances of mammalian cell culture, transfection mechanisms, and phenotypic validation. Moving beyond conventional Cas9-mediated double-strand breaks, sessions introduced the broader CRISPR toolbox—including CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) to modulate gene expression without altering permanent DNA sequences. 

Industry engagements with Thermo Fisher Scientific and scientific sponsors provided technical depth on sequencing-result verification, editing efficiency metrics, and next-generation delivery platforms. 

Choosing the Target: The Questions That Matter

The defining outcome of the four days was captured in a simple challenge posed to the cohort: if you could edit one gene using CRISPR, which would you choose, and why?

Rather than defaulting to standard textbook cases, the cohort developed over twenty distinct disease-focused targets, each accompanied by an experimental strategy: 

• Haematology & Oncology: Correcting the single-nucleotide HBB mutation in sickle cell disease, restoring TP53 tumor-suppressor pathways, and targeting BRCA1 in hereditary breast cancer. 
• Cardiovascular & Metabolic: Knocking down PCSK9 to control LDL cholesterol, engineering immune-evasive B2M knockouts for diabetes cell transplants, and modulating TCF7L2. 
• Infectious Disease & Industry: Disrupting the CCR5 HIV co-receptor, targeting fungal tyrosinase for L-DOPA synthesis, and developing wheat gliadin knockouts for coeliac disease. 

Several participants designed edits directly linked to their ongoing research, ranging from CYP1A1 in endometriosis to EDN1 in vascular regulation—turning workshop protocols into immediate research roadmaps. 

Four Days. One Lasting Transformation.

By the final day, every student group had obtained verified clones, interpreted their sequencing outputs, and defended their disease-focused proposal. 

Learners who began Day 1 mastering basic micropipetting concluded Day 4 diagnosing unexpected bands and defending gene-therapy designs. 

CRISPR-Cas9 provides the molecular machinery to edit life with single-base precision. But as the workshop demonstrated, tools alone do not yield breakthroughs. Meaningful scientific progress belongs to researchers who know how to formulate the right biological hypothesis, interrogate their own anomalies, and take ownership of the science at the bench.