Get to know the story behind the discovery of DNA and its basics in Sandwalk
A must read for any biology student.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Science Can't Thrive in Ivory Tower
"On the one hand, we are living in the best of scientific times," he said. "Advances are coming at a tremendous pace. The ability to sequence the genome has produced advances in our own field, and the ability to look into the brain and watch the brain in action is responsible for quantum jumps in understanding mental and addictive disorders. On the other hand, other issues within science are not going well and are eroding the relationship with society."
Scientists and clinicians concerned about the welfare of the scientific endeavor need to engage in a new way with the American public to reverse a deteriorating relationship between society and science.
Says Alan Leshner, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and executive publisher of the prestigious journal Science, told psychiatrists at APA's 2007 annual meeting in San Diego in May.
Scientists and clinicians concerned about the welfare of the scientific endeavor need to engage in a new way with the American public to reverse a deteriorating relationship between society and science.
Says Alan Leshner, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and executive publisher of the prestigious journal Science, told psychiatrists at APA's 2007 annual meeting in San Diego in May.
Warm up with "the worm"
Certain organisms offer greater advantages for experimental research and one such organism is Caenorhabditis elegans (nematode worm). While there are lot of webpages dedicated to the research aspects of the organism,there are very few pages that are of interest to undergraduate education as an educational tool
Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and Department of Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison has come up with a new educational web site on C.elegans .
For C. elegans resources, the site includes the following sections:
1) About C. elegans: background and why it is studied;
2) C. elegans research: research data organized by the five discipline groupings - Cell Biology,Developmental biology,Genetics,Evolutionary biology and Neuroscience;
3) C. elegans people: listing of C. elegans researchers with contact information;
4) C. elegans education: teaching protocols, materials, and learning modules; and
5) More resources: relevant external resources organized and made accessible for learning.
More on this website by the authors here
Take a look.
Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and Department of Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison has come up with a new educational web site on C.elegans .
For C. elegans resources, the site includes the following sections:
1) About C. elegans: background and why it is studied;
2) C. elegans research: research data organized by the five discipline groupings - Cell Biology,Developmental biology,Genetics,Evolutionary biology and Neuroscience;
3) C. elegans people: listing of C. elegans researchers with contact information;
4) C. elegans education: teaching protocols, materials, and learning modules; and
5) More resources: relevant external resources organized and made accessible for learning.
More on this website by the authors here
Take a look.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Careers in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics
Discovering biology in a digital world has wonderful posts on Careers in Biotechnology in Part I and Part II
Take a look at the link she has provided to know where actually Bioinformatics fit in Biotech careers. They are video interviews of people involved.
Take a look at the link she has provided to know where actually Bioinformatics fit in Biotech careers. They are video interviews of people involved.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Anne Laura McLaren - RIP
Anne Laura McLaren is a renowned reproductive biologist and geneticist. Her works on embryo transfer and culture (she was one of the first to culture mouse embryo outside the womb) lead to a popular Invitro Fertilisation(IVF) technology .
She died in a car accident on 7th July 2007
Fellow scientists rave about her boundless enthusiasm with which she used to pursue her research.At 80,she was very active in research,still publishing papers and books.
Frequently she would come out with a succinct statement such as: "When the embryo is outside the woman's body, genetics tells us that father and mother have equal rights. When the embryo is inside the body, physiology tells us that the woman's right is paramount."
In an interview in Cambridge for the Association for Women in Science and Engineering (AWiSE), of which she was president, she said: "When I was young I never thought of myself as a woman scientist, just as a scientist, and as a woman. There was no statutory maternity leave, we just had children and got on with things as best we could."
says Guardian
Home page of her research group is here
One of the icons of Women scientists,she will remain as a role model.
She died in a car accident on 7th July 2007
Fellow scientists rave about her boundless enthusiasm with which she used to pursue her research.At 80,she was very active in research,still publishing papers and books.
Frequently she would come out with a succinct statement such as: "When the embryo is outside the woman's body, genetics tells us that father and mother have equal rights. When the embryo is inside the body, physiology tells us that the woman's right is paramount."
In an interview in Cambridge for the Association for Women in Science and Engineering (AWiSE), of which she was president, she said: "When I was young I never thought of myself as a woman scientist, just as a scientist, and as a woman. There was no statutory maternity leave, we just had children and got on with things as best we could."
says Guardian
Home page of her research group is here
One of the icons of Women scientists,she will remain as a role model.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Maintaining brain health through learning
Learning finetunes our brain.It is biological. We can change our brain just by learning .
Remarkable.Is itn't ?
Learning increases the following in the brain :
Synaptic connections.( Information passes via neurons through a gap between them called synapse)
tiny blood vessels (called capillaries)
glial cells (support cells for myelin)
Myelination ( a lipid sheath that surrounds the axons of neurons)
Birth of new neurons
New proteins
“The adult brain, and even the adult aging brain, is fine-tuned by experience in both its performance and its abilities, essentially organizing itself in accord with its experience to prepare for the future,”says William T. Greenough, Ph.D., a Dana Alliance member and
neurobiologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Pay attention to what we do
True. Knowledge comes,wisdom lingers.
Remarkable.Is itn't ?
Learning increases the following in the brain :
Synaptic connections.( Information passes via neurons through a gap between them called synapse)
tiny blood vessels (called capillaries)
glial cells (support cells for myelin)
Myelination ( a lipid sheath that surrounds the axons of neurons)
Birth of new neurons
New proteins
“The adult brain, and even the adult aging brain, is fine-tuned by experience in both its performance and its abilities, essentially organizing itself in accord with its experience to prepare for the future,”says William T. Greenough, Ph.D., a Dana Alliance member and
neurobiologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
This capacity of the brain to structurally adjust itself to reflect our life experience—which scientists called plasticity—is what enables us to earn and to change the brain by learning.
What you do today and every day for the rest of your life can make a real difference in keeping the engine of learning tuned up and running smoothly throughout all of your tomorrows. By minding your brain, you can reap the rewards of learning throughout life.
Dana foundation on Learning throughout life gives more details.There are tips to enhance memory too by asking us to
Pay attention to what we do
Stay focussed
Repeat it
Write it down
Visualise it
Make associations
Stay organised
plan and prioritise.
True. Knowledge comes,wisdom lingers.
Genetic similarities in mummies of Royal Thuthmosis family
Discovery channel has wonderful videos on Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen..
Now researches have come up with evidences of skin lesions in Thuthmosis family (name given to four Pharoah of 18 th dynasty of ancient Egypt). A genetic disease ran in the family.
Take a look at this Discovery Video on how the CT scan of mummies reveal the lesions.
Now researches have come up with evidences of skin lesions in Thuthmosis family (name given to four Pharoah of 18 th dynasty of ancient Egypt). A genetic disease ran in the family.
Take a look at this Discovery Video on how the CT scan of mummies reveal the lesions.
Your DNA in your cellphones helps to track you
DNA in your cellphones .
Yes.
Loose cheek cells land in the microphone from the user’s breath and skin flakes get lodged in the button recesses and earpiece.
This is instrumental piece of evidence in criminal investigations
NewScientist has a report on this.
Thanks to Eye on DNA for the pointer.
Yes.
Loose cheek cells land in the microphone from the user’s breath and skin flakes get lodged in the button recesses and earpiece.
This is instrumental piece of evidence in criminal investigations
NewScientist has a report on this.
Thanks to Eye on DNA for the pointer.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Converting males to females ,for survival.
This is not a science fiction. No it is not some magic through mystic powers.
There is an infectious bacterium named Wolbachia capable of doing this in anthropods.
Thank God,not in humans.
They are passed from one generation to another generation only in the egg.So when they infect crustaceans and other insects,they either convert all of them into females or just kill the males.In some insects,females give birth without the need for the opposite sex
.
Wolbachia ,a widow maker does this to make sure of their own transmission.It manipulates sex by bringing out cytoplasmic incompatibility .Health females cannot mate with infected males,wheareas infected females can mate with both infected as well uninfected males.
Ah,what a strategy!
Carl Zimmer wrote a wonderful article The Tale of Sex and Survival on this reproductive parasite in Science magazine in 2001
International Wolbachia conference is held every year.Wolbachia Genome project was completed long back.
They are being researched for use as parasitic weapons against Insect pests and to treat Insect borne diseases like malaria.
Treacherous wonder.
There is an infectious bacterium named Wolbachia capable of doing this in anthropods.
Thank God,not in humans.
They are passed from one generation to another generation only in the egg.So when they infect crustaceans and other insects,they either convert all of them into females or just kill the males.In some insects,females give birth without the need for the opposite sex
.
Wolbachia ,a widow maker does this to make sure of their own transmission.It manipulates sex by bringing out cytoplasmic incompatibility .Health females cannot mate with infected males,wheareas infected females can mate with both infected as well uninfected males.
Ah,what a strategy!
Carl Zimmer wrote a wonderful article The Tale of Sex and Survival on this reproductive parasite in Science magazine in 2001
International Wolbachia conference is held every year.Wolbachia Genome project was completed long back.
They are being researched for use as parasitic weapons against Insect pests and to treat Insect borne diseases like malaria.
Treacherous wonder.
Why are there two sexes ? Why Y ?
I read a captivating book,infact quite unusual one that gives me a sense of exhilaration.The book is Power,Sex and Suicide ,Mitochondria and the meaning of life by NICK LANE.The author provides breathtaking facts to establish that Mitochondria are the Clandestine rulers of the world.
Well,textbooks of the biology mention that mitochondria are power houses,a familiar word for any biology student.Few books dwell on its role in cell death . The book celebrates mitochondria for its role in our life,from rise to fall.
It is wonderful to note that mitochondria make the complexity possible in higher organisms,it governs and exceutes the power laws of biology,fulcrum for the two sexes,and a benovolent dictator, it kills us in the end.
Coming to the title,Why are they two sexes?
Some excerpts from the book.
The advantage of the sex lies in the recombination of DNA from distinct sources.which may help to eliminate broken genes and to foster variety.Hence the need for two parents.
What's wrong with having only one sex to do this,which amounts to having no sexes at all ?
Sperm are tiny and disposable.Men and males in general produce them by bucket load.Females produce far fewer,much larger eggs. needless to say,the eggs are immobile and sperms are motile. Why is it so?
Females invest more of their resources in the offspring,biologically.fertilised egg provides not just the genes,also all the nutrients and cytoplasm for the organism to grow.Sperm add next to nothing,except their genes.They behave like parasites.
Choroplasts and mitochondria are invariably inherited only from one parent,mother.It is the female who contributes to cytoplasm of the offspring. This is because mixing the cytoplasm from two different cytoplasmic genomes creates a conflict among cytoplasmic genomes.
The mitochondria exhibits selfish behaviour.They help safeguard their own transmission in the egg by eliminating males in hermaprodites.All through the evolution numerous tricks have evolved to exclude male mitochondria altogether
For those of you interested in some of the profound questions of science,this book is a must read.
Well,textbooks of the biology mention that mitochondria are power houses,a familiar word for any biology student.Few books dwell on its role in cell death . The book celebrates mitochondria for its role in our life,from rise to fall.
It is wonderful to note that mitochondria make the complexity possible in higher organisms,it governs and exceutes the power laws of biology,fulcrum for the two sexes,and a benovolent dictator, it kills us in the end.
Coming to the title,Why are they two sexes?
Some excerpts from the book.
The advantage of the sex lies in the recombination of DNA from distinct sources.which may help to eliminate broken genes and to foster variety.Hence the need for two parents.
What's wrong with having only one sex to do this,which amounts to having no sexes at all ?
Sperm are tiny and disposable.Men and males in general produce them by bucket load.Females produce far fewer,much larger eggs. needless to say,the eggs are immobile and sperms are motile. Why is it so?
Females invest more of their resources in the offspring,biologically.fertilised egg provides not just the genes,also all the nutrients and cytoplasm for the organism to grow.Sperm add next to nothing,except their genes.They behave like parasites.
Choroplasts and mitochondria are invariably inherited only from one parent,mother.It is the female who contributes to cytoplasm of the offspring. This is because mixing the cytoplasm from two different cytoplasmic genomes creates a conflict among cytoplasmic genomes.
The mitochondria exhibits selfish behaviour.They help safeguard their own transmission in the egg by eliminating males in hermaprodites.All through the evolution numerous tricks have evolved to exclude male mitochondria altogether
For those of you interested in some of the profound questions of science,this book is a must read.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Welcome to Wellcome images
Believe me,these are the crystals of a DNA repair protein-Ecoli mismatch U:G DNA glycosylase
Part one of the two part postoffice telegram(18 october 1962) to Francis Crick,informing him of the award of Nobel prize .
Confocal microscopic image of a human embryo with some remaining sperm cells about 5 days after fertilisation.Take a look at Human embryo in many forms and stages,the draft of the first paper of Watson and Crick ,the first DNA fingerprint.
There are images of Hanuman revealing Rama and Sita in his heart,a four armed Devi and much more
Welcome to the 2000 years of Human culture in awesome Wellcome images under Historical and Contemporary images category.
Welcome to the 2000 years of Human culture in awesome Wellcome images under Historical and Contemporary images category.
Great collection
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
There it is .
Making a good paper presentation
Making a good oral presentation
Getting your research published
Getting grants
Selecting a good Postdoctoral position
Having a suceesful collaboration
ALL IN TEN SIMPLE RULES -Here
Making a good oral presentation
Getting your research published
Getting grants
Selecting a good Postdoctoral position
Having a suceesful collaboration
ALL IN TEN SIMPLE RULES -Here
Life sciences - Videos
You can find beautiful scientific videos at DNATube, JoVe and Science Hack.
Thanks to My Biotech life for the pointer.
Thanks to My Biotech life for the pointer.
Genetic database for India-Kudos to Indian scientists
A consortium of Indian scientists completed a genetic database for India says Business standard(11July 2007). Alpin paul at Microarray blog tell us about the news.
The consortium called Indian Genome Variation(IGV) consortium (initiated by the Govt of India in 2003 ) of six CSIR laboratories intiated a network program on predictive medicine using repeats and single nucleotide polymorphisms.
The consortium called Indian Genome Variation(IGV) consortium (initiated by the Govt of India in 2003 ) of six CSIR laboratories intiated a network program on predictive medicine using repeats and single nucleotide polymorphisms.
Predictive medicine is the use of information about the Human genome to improve human health.Although more than 99% of human DNA sequences are the same across the population, variations in DNA sequence can have a major impact on how humans respond to disease; environmental insults such as bacteria, viruses, toxins, and chemicals; and drugs and other therapies.
The consortium validated SNP's and repeats in 1000 genes (genes linked to common diseases) of 15,000 individuals from well defined ethnic groups of India.
How do they identify the populations genetically for the study in complex and diverse Indian population ?
What are the strategies adopted to validate SNP's in the genes selected?
How do they manage and analyse the datas from the analysis using varied equipments and centres across india.?
More on the Project Overview here.
It would be great resource that catalogues the common patterns of genetic variation in important complex disease candidate genes.It will enable a lot in Predictive medicine and targeted drug therapies.
Hats off to Indian scientists for acheiving this feat.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Get competitive
"if you ask any top person in any field, ‘How do you improve?’ they will tell you, ‘By working with people who are better than me.’”
So how good are you? And how do you know? My advice: Whatever your field, find a competition and enter it. Even if you don’t win, you’ll see where you stand — and learn ways to improve. —
Yeah. Have the competitive spirit in you and GET COMPETITIVE
So how good are you? And how do you know? My advice: Whatever your field, find a competition and enter it. Even if you don’t win, you’ll see where you stand — and learn ways to improve. —
Yeah. Have the competitive spirit in you and GET COMPETITIVE
Undergraduate research
Research in Undergraduation ?
Research component in Undergraduation is a rare phenomenon in the Indian education system.While there are mandatory research work for Master's programme,there are not many or almost no university /college demands Undergraduate research.
However,a large number of undergraduates ,out of their interest ,explore and undergo training in research.Getting research exposure do not fall on their lap.They keep trying and contacting professors in research institutes right in their first year of UG.
Research has great benefits to offer in Undergraduation.
Take a look at this Science article to know the importance of Undergraduate research.
Research component in Undergraduation is a rare phenomenon in the Indian education system.While there are mandatory research work for Master's programme,there are not many or almost no university /college demands Undergraduate research.
However,a large number of undergraduates ,out of their interest ,explore and undergo training in research.Getting research exposure do not fall on their lap.They keep trying and contacting professors in research institutes right in their first year of UG.
Research has great benefits to offer in Undergraduation.
Take a look at this Science article to know the importance of Undergraduate research.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Your eyes say about you
Do you know that your personalilty is linked to your Iris pattern ?
Yes,much like your fingerprints,Iris pattern is unique in individuals.That is what you come across in Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons".
People who are warm, loving, and trusting are more likely to have a greater number of crypts or pits on their iris. People with more furrows, or lines around the outside of the iris are more neurotic and prone to impulsiveness. The Pax6 gene, which is linked with tissue growth both in the iris and the brain, is also involved with the development of positive emotion and self-control.
Iris scan is one of the Biometric technology employed for security purposes,to help identify individuals.This scanning analyze the features that exist in the colored tissue surrounding the pupil which has more than 200 points that can be used for comparison, including rings, furrows and freckles.
You are what your Iris pattern is?
Thanks to Dr.Deb for the pointer.
Vivacious Williams
They are friendly,gregarious,extremely affable,voluble ..but all out of a genetic syndrome . It is called williams syndrome.
Person with this syndrome will have unusual fascinating traits -
Person with this syndrome will have unusual fascinating traits -
a love of company and conversation combined, often awkwardly, with a poor understanding of social dynamics and a lack of social inhibition...Williams people talk a lot, and they talk with pretty much anyone. They appear to truly lack social fear.
If you’re talking with someone with Williams syndrome and look at your watch and say: “Oh, my, look at the time! Well it’s been awfully nice talking with you . . . ,” your conversational partner may well smile brightly, agree that “this is nice” and ask if you’ve ever gone to Disney World.
Friday, July 6, 2007
“Stammzelle” (Stem cells) - How the term come into being ?
“Stammzelle” (German for stem cells).
Stem cells -cells with great prospects for therapies has its term originated late back in 19th century.Intially the term was used to mean an unicelluar ancestor for all multicelluar organism and as the egg that gives rise to all cells.
Take a look at how early scientists come to define stem cell as a distinct cell in the embryo inspired and stimulated by Weissman's germ plasm theory at Cell -Stem cells magazine July issue.
Stem cells -cells with great prospects for therapies has its term originated late back in 19th century.Intially the term was used to mean an unicelluar ancestor for all multicelluar organism and as the egg that gives rise to all cells.
Take a look at how early scientists come to define stem cell as a distinct cell in the embryo inspired and stimulated by Weissman's germ plasm theory at Cell -Stem cells magazine July issue.
Projects/Training in Bioinformatics in India
Bioinformatics is the major thrust area by Department of Biotechnology (DBT),Govt of India. It has established a national Bioinformatics network - Biotechnology Information system (BTIS) across India in various universities and research institutes.
BTIS centres across India offers training programmes in various aspects of Bioinformatics all through the year.Click on the training (at DIC and sub DIC)link and find training calender for 2006-2007 in BTIS web page. Apply well in advance to these training programmes as limited number of participants are accepted to these programmes.
Apart from these DBT centres,there are lot of institutes offering training/projects programmes.Check their reliability before attempting to apply for their programmes. Here are some of them.
Bioinformatics Institute of India (BII),New Delhi offers projects/training.
Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBAB),Bangalore- offers short term courses and short projects. Selections have been made via written tests.
IIT's
More Bioinformatics links here
BTIS centres across India offers training programmes in various aspects of Bioinformatics all through the year.Click on the training (at DIC and sub DIC)link and find training calender for 2006-2007 in BTIS web page. Apply well in advance to these training programmes as limited number of participants are accepted to these programmes.
Apart from these DBT centres,there are lot of institutes offering training/projects programmes.Check their reliability before attempting to apply for their programmes. Here are some of them.
Bioinformatics Institute of India (BII),New Delhi offers projects/training.
Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBAB),Bangalore- offers short term courses and short projects. Selections have been made via written tests.
IIT's
More Bioinformatics links here
Thursday, July 5, 2007
SUS x SUS ,sweet coffee a.k.a Heaven ...deep down to Genetics and Biotechnology
Mystical blends,divine flavours....and watch this short animation.
Undoubtfully the best of all pleasures is sipping a hot steamy coffee,especially Madras filter coffee,thanks to Baba Budhan. Indian filter coffee is made from rough ground, dark-roasted coffee Arabica or Peaberry beans.
While there are many chemicals in coffee responsible for its mesmerising aroma,scientists have recently identified genes responsible for coffee quality.
Sucrose is considered to be the crucial to the coffee quality. CIRAD have identified key enzymes of Sucrose metabolism in developing coffee beans.Sucrose synthetase, is responsible for sucrose accumulation in coffee (Coffea arabica) beans,which is present in two forms from genes SUS1 and SUS2.
The use of breeding strategies like Marker- assisted selection and Genetic modification approaches (GMA) for molecular determinism ,coffee EST's (Expressed sequence tags) and more on Genetics of coffee quality here.
This paper on coffee Biotechnology details the Invitro tissue culture methods in coffee,
physiological and biochemical advances made and possiblities of genetic transformations in coffee usind indirect and direct gene transfer.
Enjoy coffee ,reading. It tastes great.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Top 40 Biotech companies in India
Biospectrum has listed top 40 biotech companies with their links in its current issue.
Take a look at their profiles -products and their R&D activities.
Take a look at their profiles -products and their R&D activities.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
"Six thinking Hats" in lab group meetings.
"Six thinking hats" is a decision making tool developed by psychologist and physician Edward de Bono. In wearing a particular hat, people play roles or "as if" themselves into a particular perspective
Wear a white hat and present the facts of the case,generate ideas using green hat,evaluate the merits with yellow hats,demerits with a black hat,think of alternatives using red hat ,and adjourn the meeting with a blue hat.
Science has a nice piece of advice on Mastering your Phd/research by adopting this tool in regular lab group meetings.
Blue hat is tricky.
It is not always "What a fantastic idea! Let’s go for it!" hat.
Wear a white hat and present the facts of the case,generate ideas using green hat,evaluate the merits with yellow hats,demerits with a black hat,think of alternatives using red hat ,and adjourn the meeting with a blue hat.
Science has a nice piece of advice on Mastering your Phd/research by adopting this tool in regular lab group meetings.
Blue hat is tricky.
It is not always "What a fantastic idea! Let’s go for it!" hat.
Animations on DNA techniques.
Animations on DNA revolution,techniques and production are available at DNA learning centre's DNA Interactive page.
Do not miss the PCR animation in the techniques module.
Via Discovering Biology in a digital world
Do not miss the PCR animation in the techniques module.
Via Discovering Biology in a digital world
Getting DNA on to the centre stage
DNA is making waves for many years. As a genetic material,it is always in the limelight. There is one experiment that proved that DNA,not protein is the genetic material way back in 1952. In all textbooks,the chapter on DNA begins with Herchey chase and Avery experiments.
The evilutionary Biologist has a post on Hershey and chase as this week's citation classic.
Take a look at the original paper of Hershey and Martha chase on Blender experiment.
The evilutionary Biologist has a post on Hershey and chase as this week's citation classic.
Take a look at the original paper of Hershey and Martha chase on Blender experiment.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Stem cell therapies in India- Current scenario
Outlook (9th July 2007) has a cover story on Stem cells.
Stem cell : The body as a clinic covers the sucessful treatments done using stem cells in India for retinal reconstruction,heart muscle regeneration,spinal cord injuries.,parkinson's disease etc at LV.Prasad eye hospital, AIIMS, Chennai's Frontier Life Line Hospital,Gangaram Hospital and others.
Great to know that Dr Sangwan and his hospital have by now performed the highest number of adult limbal stem cell transplants in the world—close to 450.
There are articles on stem cell debate in US and banking cord blood stem cells.
Good to know that lot of intiatives are taken and it is promising.
Stem cell : The body as a clinic covers the sucessful treatments done using stem cells in India for retinal reconstruction,heart muscle regeneration,spinal cord injuries.,parkinson's disease etc at LV.Prasad eye hospital, AIIMS, Chennai's Frontier Life Line Hospital,Gangaram Hospital and others.
Great to know that Dr Sangwan and his hospital have by now performed the highest number of adult limbal stem cell transplants in the world—close to 450.
There are articles on stem cell debate in US and banking cord blood stem cells.
Good to know that lot of intiatives are taken and it is promising.
Biotech Industry in India- starved of talent
Most students coming out of colleges today lack practical knowledge and are mere bookworms. It’s like earning a catering technology degree without learning how to cook.
Today’s curricula don’t seem to be anywhere close to matching the industry’s requirements. Limited availability of trained manpower is a big hurdle for the industry that needs certain specific skillsets.
Today’s curricula don’t seem to be anywhere close to matching the industry’s requirements. Limited availability of trained manpower is a big hurdle for the industry that needs certain specific skillsets.
In the next five years, one can expect a huge shortage of right kind of people
Says ,Chairman of the Bharat Biotech International Ltd,a top player in Biotech industry.
Take a look at the article to check what is to be done .
Sometime back,Biospectrum ran a story on "What employers look for in a biotech graduate".
Let the students gear up.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
The Calcium Bomb
Well ,the bomb is a tiny blood particle, a Nanobacteria that makes loads of calcium enough to cause heart disease and cancer. Scary,that it can be killed only when its protective calcium shells are unsheathed.A book is on this basic premise.
This article in PLos Pathogens examines the reality.
Are we experiencing an aggressive disease-mongering campaign ?
This article in PLos Pathogens examines the reality.
Are we experiencing an aggressive disease-mongering campaign ?
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