July 5, 2020, Maryland, USA – International Society of Bangladesh-affiliated Microbiologists (ISBM), a unique professional organization which unites Bangladeshi microbiologists and microbiology-related professionals located worldwide, has launched their very own scientific webinar series. On June 20, 2020, ISBM organized and initiated the first part of the series with focus on laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19, where four scientists, working in university and government laboratory settings with high quality expertise demanded at the state and national levels, were able to present their work on detection of Sars-CoV-2. ISBM is additionally proud to report an impressive audience number, which was 199, logging in from various parts of the world, to gain knowledge about techniques used to detect COVID-19. Furthermore, the audience have also showed enthusiasm to continue to follow the webinar series, whereby a poll at the end of the webinar revealed a high percentage of the audience highly likely to attend future webinars.

The second webinar, a follow up to Part 1 of COVID-19 detection, was held on July 4, 2020. The knowledge disseminated by the speakers to the audience was met with immense interest and  positivity, because it not only presented the works of three scientists who are equipped to battle the pandemic globally (such as Dr Bijon Kumar Sil, Head, Department of Microbiology, Gono Bishwabidyalay, Bangladesh, currently working with a team of scientists to develop antibody detection kit in Bangladesh), but it also highlighted the presence of Dr Asif Mahmud, assistant manager and in-charge of Globe Biotech Limited, Bangladesh. After having received promising results from preliminary trials involving animal modelling conducted in June 2020, Dr Asif Mahmud and Glove Biotech Limited announced the development of COVID-19 vaccine for Bangladesh. If the vaccine is in market in the next six months, this would be an amazing achievement for Bangladesh to prevent any further loss (personal and financial) due to the highly infectious Sars-CoV-2. The second webinar has received amazing feedback from the audience, with a high percentage of them very likely to return to participate in future webinars irrespective of their geographical location. 

Considering the unforeseen circumstances and events brought about by the ongoing pandemic, ISBM hopes to bring a scientific solution through dissemination of knowledge, and ultimately, hope, to mankind, adversely affected by this deadly virus. At this time, ISBM wishes to showcase scientific talent of high standards that may serve as solutions faced by mankind in the world, such as disease. 

For more information and to be involved, contact Dr. Md Mizanur Rahman (mizan71@yahoo.com)