India Alliance Newsletter I Issue 15 I May 2017

News & Views

EDITORIAL Last two months were dotted with various inspiring and challenging events, some of which have been chronicled in the May issue of the India Alliance bimonthly Newsletter. We recently concluded a successful three-day Annual Fellows Meeting (18-20 May) in Hyderabad which included science talks, group discussions and posters by India Alliance Fellows. The meeting provided opportunity for Fellows to get critical feedback on their science from the India Alliance Fellowship committee members and explore possibilities for collaborations. Sessions on effective lab management, research management ecosystem in India and the importance of public communication of science, were also organized and saw active participation from the Fellows. In an effort to strengthen biomedical research collaborations and cross-learning between Africa and India, India Alliance invited 8 researchers from various institutions in Africa for the Annual meeting. We will share the outcomes of this meeting shortly.

To begin with, we would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to India Alliance Fellowship committee members Prof. Wendy Bickmore (MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburg, UK), Prof. Angus Silver University College London, UK) members Early Career Fellowship Committee and Prof. Anne Ferguson-Smith ( Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, UK) member Senior and Intermediate Committee for getting elected as the Fellows of Royal Society UK for 2017. Felicitations to IA Fellows Drs Mahak Sharma, R Mahalakshmi, Maria Frances Bukelo, Thomas Pucadyil, Urvakhsh Mehta and Yogeshwar Kalkonde for receiving prestigious national and international recognition for their contribution to their respective research fields.

On the Fellowships front- interviews for the Senior and Intermediate Fellowship 2017, Early Career Fellowship 2017 in Basic Biomedical research and Research Training Fellowship 2017 for Clinicians and Public Health researchers were recently held in Hyderabad. Results of these will be announced shortly. Following this round, Research Training Fellowships have been discontinued. We are presently not accepting preliminary applications for any of our Fellowship schemes. Submitted applications are currently under review. Early Career Fellowship and Senior and Intermediate Fellowship (basic biomedical research) competitions will be launched on 13 July and 15 June respectively.

Our Fellows continue to provide answers to important and complex biomedical research questions. A few recent breakthroughs have been included in the Research Highlights section. Senior Fellow at IISc Bangalore, Dr Amit Singh’s recent research elucidates a novel mechanism which can be used to develop a new class of drug that targets bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Recently published research of Dr Sridharan Devarajan (Intermediate Fellow), also based at IISc, deepens our understanding of how attention works in the brain. Dr Bushra Ateeq, Intermediate Fellow at IIT Kanpur, and her team exploited the efficacy of a known anti-malarial drug for treating castrationresistant prostate cancer. Research groups of Intermediate Fellows, Drs Amit Tuli (IMTECH Chandigarh) and Mahak Sharma (IISER Mohali), got together to provide better molecular understanding of trafficking pathways inside the cell. Dr Bhavana Muralidharan’s (Early Career Fellow, TIFR Mumbai) latest work uncovered new role of a key gene regulator which determines the fate of neurons in the developing brain. Early Career Fellow at NCBS Bangalore, Dr Megha used the fruit fly model to provide clues into how the developing brain survives nutritional deficiency. Some of these published works were also covered in the media, links of which are included in the Research Highlights section.

Early Career Fellow, Dr Shweta Khandelwal (Public Health Foundation of India, Gurgaon) is a strong advocate for strengthening nutrition research in India and shares her research efforts in this direction in the piece titled Nutrition research in India needs serious nourishment. This newsletter also includes interview of Dr Shantanu Chowdhury, IA Senior Fellow at CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi, where he talks about his research that is attempting to understand how cancer cells metastasize, provides useful advice for scientists planning to move back to India and weighs in on the importance of engaging with the public about science.

The India Alliance and European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) are currently inviting applications for “India I EMBO Symposia”. This funding is available for meetings that intend to address discovery and innovation through an interdisciplinary approach. Applications submitted for the first round are currently under review. More information on this funding opportunity is included in this issue and is also available on the India I EMBO Symposia website.

The India Alliance continues to organise various Science Communication training activities. The India Alliance hosted a unique two-day Workshop “Visualising Science” in partnership with Nature India and National Institute of Immunology, which introduced scientists and science communicators to visual tools and methods that make science communication more effective and interesting. We are currently accepting applications for our 16th two-day Science Communication workshop which will be held in New Delhi on 7-8 September 2017. Our SciComm101 team will be holding one-day Workshops at various institutions around the country over the next few months. More information on these Workshops can be found in this issue.

On the occasion of World Health day (7 April) India Alliance supported It’s Ok To Talk Public Engagement event around youth mental health in Delhi organised by the PRIDE team based at PHFI. India Alliance also participated at the 5th Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan and Expo in Pune on 11-14 May 2017. This event aimed to engage with various public groups about science and technology and showcased achievements of various government science programmes. Read about these events in our Public Engagement section.

Don’t forget to check out the announcements at the end of this issue for Postdoctoral positions and funding, Newton Fund – Researcher Link Workshop Grants, upcoming “International Symposium on System, Synthetic & Chemical Biology” and information on Médecins Sans Frontières’ new programme on Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine.

Last but not the least, our Report for 2015-17 can be downloaded from our website.

As always, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to those who have contributed to this newsletter. Special thanks to our Intermediate Fellow, Dr Sridharan Devarajan for the cover image, which shows a whole brain’s anatomical connections as measured with diffusion MRI followed by tractography.

It’s always a pleasure to receive your valuable comments and suggestions for the newsletter so please do keep them coming.

Best wishes, Sarah Iqbal, PhD Public Engagement Officer Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance May 2017

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CONTENT

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INDIA ALLIANCE fellowships

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New INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWS

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INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWS’ awards and recognition

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INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOW IN SPOTLIGHT Interview with Dr Shantanu Chowdhury, CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi

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INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWS’ RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:

Recently published research of

Dr Amit Singh (IISc Bangalore), Dr Sridharan Devrajan (IISc Bangalore), Dr Mahak Sharma (IISER Mohali), Dr Amit Tuli (IMTECH Chandigarh), Dr Bushra Ateeq (IIT Kanpur), Dr Bhavana Muralidharan (TIFR Mumbai), Dr Megha (NCBS Bangalore)

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OPINION Nutrition research in India needs serious nourishment

By Dr Shweta Khandelwal, Early Career Fellow, PHFI, Gurgaon

17 INDIA ALLIANCE EVENT SUPPORT India I EMBO Symposia – Call for Applications

18 INDIA ALLIANCE SCIENCE COMMUNICATION workshops Report on Visualising Science Workshop & Upcoming Science Communication Workshops

22 india alliance public engagement with science ItsOkToTalk Public Engagement event, 5th Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan and Expo

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OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS Postdoc positions at IISER Bhopal Simons Postdoctoral Fellowship Newton Fund – Researcher Link Workshop Grants International Symposium on System, Synthetic & Chemical Biology Médecins Sans Frontières’ new programme on Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine

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Upcoming deadlines

INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWSHIPS Senior and Intermediate Fellowships in Biomedical Research Launch date: 15 June 2017 ; Preliminary application deadline : 16 July 2017 The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance invites applications for its Senior and Intermediate Fellowship scheme. These Fellowships are available across the full spectrum of biomedical research from fundamental molecular and cellular studies through clinical and public health research*. Interdisciplinary projects are also welcome.

Provisions: The 5 year Fellowship support provides • • •

Eligibility: • No age or nationality restrictions. The applicant need not be resident in India while applying but should be willing to relocate to and work in India.

• A salaried position or commitment towards a salaried position at the Host Institution is not required.

• Applicant can have a PhD in any discipline of science.

• This competition is open for basic science/veterinary researchers between 4 -15 years of post-PhD research experience.

• Applicants are advised to choose the most appropriate scheme suitable for them based on their qualification, research experience, career trajectory and track record. Please refer to the guidance notes, provisions and mandate of the scheme for deciding on the scheme you wish to compete for. The Office reserves the right to advise on the suitability of the scheme accordingly.

Eligibility guidance notes: Senior Fellowship: For researchers who have demonstrated their potential to lead an independent research program and want to expand it further to undertake pioneering research. Suitable for applicants with 7-15 years of post-PhD research experience.

Intermediate Fellowship: For postdoctoral researchers who have been successful in building a track record of pursuing a cutting edge research and wish to establish their own independent research program in India.

Suitable for applicants with 4-7 years of post-PhD research experience.

competitive personal salary support generous and flexible funds for research funds to develop international collaborations

Requirements: The following are essential for the application.

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A research proposal that is based on a hypothesis and seeks to answer an original biomedical research question A not-for-profit Host Institution in India that will administer the Fellowship for the full duration of the award A sponsor at the Host Institution, who can guarantee space and resources for the duration of the award

Application forms will be available on the India Alliance online application System (IASys) at https://fellowships.wellcomedbt.org/Login.aspx on 15 June 2017.

Please visit our website http://wellcomedbt.org/fellowshiptype/basicbiomedical-research-fellowships for further information on these Fellowships. You can write to us at info@wellcomedbt.org if you have any queries. * We encourage Clinicians and Public Health researchers to apply in the separate Clinical and Public Health competition which would be announced in January 2018. Please check for updates at http://wellcomedbt.org/fellowshiptype/clinical-and-public-healthresearch-fellowships

Early Career Fellowships in Biomedical Research

Launch date: 13 July 2017; Preliminary applications deadline: 10 August 2017 This is a mentored Fellowship programme that provides a unique opportunity for postdoctoral researchers to carry out research in India towards building an independent research career.

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Eligibility: • Applicant must be in the final year of PhD or have no more than four years of post-PhD research experience from the date of PhD viva to the full application submission deadline (August 2016 for the current round of competition); due consideration will be given to justified career breaks • Applicant can have a PhD in any discipline of science • There are no restrictions based on age or nationality • Applicant need not be resident in India while applying, but should be aspiring to launch an independent research career in India • Applicant must choose a not-for-profit host institution in India that will administer the Fellowship for the full duration (5 years) of the award. The applicant and the host institution will have to abide by the India Alliance policies on time commitment.

• Applicant may or may not have a faculty position Remit: Full spectrum of biomedical science from fundamental molecular and cellular studies through Clinical and Public Health research** Interdisciplinary projects are welcome Provisions: • The upper limit for an award is INR 1.7 Crores. The 5-year Fellowship typically provides:

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Competitive personal support Generous research funds Funding to work overseas for up to 2 years and develop international collaborations

Essentials on the application: • A research proposal that seeks to answer an original biomedical research question • A Fellowship Supervisor who would supervise the applicant in the proposed research and a letter of support to this end • An additional letter of recommendation Application forms will be available from 13 July, 2017 on the India Alliance online application System (IASys) at https://fellowships.wellcomedbt.org/Login.aspx Please visit http://wellcomedbt.org/fellowships/early-career-fellowships for further information on eligibility, remit, provisions, and the application process. Queries may be addressed to info@wellcomedbt.org **We encourage Clinicians and Public Health researchers to apply in the separate Clinical and Public Health competition which would be announced in January 2018. Please check for updates at http://wellcomedbt.org/fellowshiptype/clinical-and-public-healthresearch-fellowships

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Development of a highly efficient and immunologically inert adeno-associated virus based vector system for retinal gene therapy

assess genetic variation, inbreeding, Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) diversity and gut micro-biota across all individuals in a few wild populations. I will then evaluate reproductive success consequences of these genotypes using paternity/maternity. I hope to understand whether an individuals’ genotype influences his/her fate, and guide efforts to conserve this species in the future.

Dr Jayandharan Giridhara Rao Senior Fellow 2016 Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur WEBSITE

Leber congenital amarousis (LCA) type 2 is a form of hereditary blindness caused by mutations in the retinal pigmental epithelium (RPE) 65 gene. The disease is characterized by degeneration of the retinal cells and a progressive loss of photoreceptors leading to a profound impairment in visual function. LCA2 is an ideal target for gene therapy, since the molecular genetics and function of the RPE65 gene is well understood and there are several animal models, in which the novel therapies can be tested. However, recent data from clinical trials for LCA2 using AAV vectors demonstrate a significant loss in the photoreceptor activity and vision. This is due to either suboptimal delivery of the vector, a very low level expression of the transgene (RPE65) and the immune response directed against the vectors. These observations underscore the need to decipher the molecular basis of immediate and long-lived target host cell response to the process of viral infection. The insights gained from such studies will help in designing (1) high transduction and permeating vectors that are amenable to less invasive ocular delivery procedures (2) vectors with improved efficiency in seropositive settings and (3) immunologically naive vectors that will permit their re-administration to augment visual function in the recipient. Our studies are planned to optimize some of these features within AAV based vectors. Such a multi-pronged approach encompassing the basic biology of the virus with specific efforts directed at minimizing its immunotoxicity and their pre-clinical validation in a retinal degeneration disease model of LCA, augurs well for their potential application in humans.

Life course programming of stress responses in young adults in India: A multi-faceted approach to explore mediating factors and develop interventions

Dr Ghattu V Krishnaveni Senior Fellow 2016 (Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship) CSI Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, Mysuru WEBSITE

How important is population genetic variation to wellbeing?

Prof. Uma Ramakrishnan Senior Fellow 2016 National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore WEBSITE

Around 4,000 tigers remain in the wild. Most tigers live in relatively small and sometimes isolated populations. Increasing human population size will continue to isolate tigers, leading to decreased genetic variation and inbreeding. How does low genetic variation and inbreeding influence the fate of individuals and populations? I wish to explore this difficult question in the context of wild Indian tiger populations. I will investigate homozygosity and inbreeding by sequencing whole genomes and subsequently develop methods to

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Early life nutrition may affect individuals’ susceptibility to adult noncommunicable diseases (NCD). Both maternal undernutrition and gestational diabetes (GDM) increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and mental disorders in the offspring. This phenomenon may reflect permanent effects (‘programming’) of unbalanced fetal nutrition on physiological systems. Stress is a well-recognised NCD risk factor.

Disturbed fetal nutrition may alter normal stress reactivity, and increase disease risk. My study draws on the complementary strengths of three Indian birth cohorts with an overarching aim to understand modifiable factors that can reduce stress responses and guide the development of an integrated intervention to reduce stress, and therefore future risk of NCDs. I will measure stress-induced changes in salivary cortisol and cardiovascular parameters, and brain structure and specific gene functionality, among young participants from Mysore, Mumbai and Pune cohorts. I will test the effect of mothers’ pregnancy nutrition and diabetes on these measures. This research will confirm whether early nutrition has life-long effects on disease risk through increased stress reactivity. Adolescents are highly sensitive to stress. I will explore the potential to develop stress management measures for the future in youngsters through nutrition supplementation, and understanding their perceptions of stress and its management.

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Reducing Health Inequalities among Sexual Minorities in India: Generating Evidence for Action Dr Venkatesan Chakrapani Senior Fellow 2016 (Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship)

Hypoxia-mediated expansion of transcriptome due to epigenetic modifications in breast cancer tumorigenesis and chemoresistance Dr Sanjeev Shukla Intermediate Fellow 2016

Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal

WEBSITE Sexual and gender minorities such as men who have sex with men and hijras/trans women in India experience higher levels of physical and mental health problems when compared to the general population.

Available evidence strongly suggest that stigma and discrimination faced by sexual and gender minorities could be contributing to the health inequalities experienced by them. My proposed research, by using syndemic theory and intersectionality framework, aims to document and explain the high levels of physical and mental health problems among sexual and gender minorities in India. I will explore the causes behind clustering of psychosocial health problems (syndemics) among sexual and gender minorities; whether and in what ways the clustering of psychosocial health problems synergistically increase the risk for HIV; and whether interventions that try to simultaneously address the syndemic conditions can reduce the risk for HIV and promote health among sexual and gender minorities. Thus, the proposed project will advance theory and identify evidence-based actions to reduce health inequalities among sexual and gender minorities in India. Active engagement with community agencies and government health officials will ensure translation of research evidence into public health action.

Investigating the mechanism of mechanostress induced ATR activation and its role in cell plasticity regulation Dr Amit Kumar Intermediate Fellow 2016

WEBSITE Alternative splicing of pre-mRNA is a process that can generate multiple protein-coding isoforms through combinatorial use of splice sites, leading to regulated expansion of the transcriptome. It is estimated that more than 90% of human genes undergo alternative splicing in a cell and tissue-specific manner during normal development. The alternations in signaling pathways can be sensed by both splicing and epigenetics machinery and may result in aberrant alternative splicing in cancer. Among the signaling pathways, Hypoxiainduced response plays a key role in the progression of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) and is considered as one of the hallmarks of TNBC. Hypoxia promotes an adaptive transcription response resulting in epigenetic changes which support cancer cell growth. Considering that epigenetic modifications are known to regulate alternative splicing, and epigenetics plays a crucial role in cellular response to hypoxia, it is possible that hypoxia-induced response contributes to cancer-specific alternative spliced transcripts due to epigenetic changes. However, the interplay between hypoxia and alternative splicing is largely unexplored in TNBC. In this project, we are investigating whether and how hypoxia contributes to the generation of cancer-specific spliced isoforms via epigenetic modifications and whether hypoxia-induced alternative splicing is involved in the tumorigenesis of TNBC.

Deciphering the role of epigenetic mechanism in normal and malignant Hematopoiesis Dr Chandra Chaturvedi Intermediate Fellow 2016

CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow

Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow WEBSITE

WEBSITE

The DNA damage response is mediated mainly by ATR to govern genome integrity of replicating chromosomes. Recent advances also suggest ATR involvement in a wide range of cellular processes independent of DNA damage. These new functions of ATR may explain the basis of defects observed in ATR associated Seckel syndrome. However, the mechanisms underlying the disease are still poorly understood. For this reason, I would like to investigate weather ATR is an integral part of cell regulatory pathways that contributes to the maintenance of NE integrity, chromosome fragile sites and cell plasticity.

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Hematopoiesis or the development of blood cells is a dynamic process that is tightly regulated at the transcriptional level by epigenetic modifications. Growing amount of evidence suggests that alterations in the epigenetic enzymes regulating these modifications are a leading cause in leukemia initiation and progression. The Nuclear Receptor Binding SET Domain (NSD) containing histone methyltransferase family of enzymes has three members NSD1, NSD2/MMSET/WHSC, and NSD3/WHSC1L1. Deregulated expression of NSD histone methyltransferases due to alterations and/or amplification can disrupt normal hematopoiesis and induces leukemogenesis or development of leukemia. NSD1 and NSD3 undergo chromosomal translocation with

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the nucleoporin gene (NUP98) to form oncogenic fusion proteins NUP98-NSD1 and NUP98-NSD3 that mediates Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). The reactivation of specific genes upon expression of NSD mutants in hematopoietic cells leads to oncogenic transformation, such that these cells acquire new properties including increased proliferation, unlimited self renewal and/or inhibited apoptosis and differentiation. However, currently it is unclear how the oncogenic NSD mutants’ work at the molecular level to alter gene expression and most importantly, to which extent their role as epigenetic regulators differs from that of the “normal” NSD proteins. The long term goal of the current research proposal is to elucidate the molecular mechanism by which NSD mutants’ causes leukemogenesis.

Role of micro RNAs in the regulation of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling and development of new therapeutics for steroidinduced glaucoma Dr Senthilkumari Srinivasan Intermediate Fellow 2016 Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Madurai WEBSITE

Glucocorticoid –induced glaucoma is an important clinical condition associated with the use of steroids in patients with various inflammatory or autoimmune diseases. GC-induced glaucoma as a sideeffect associated with steroid use is very common in steroid responders.

The responsiveness of steroid varies among the patients and the susceptible individuals are at great risk of developing optic neuropathy leading to blindness. It is reported that, 40% of the general population showed increased intraocular pressure (IOP) due to dexamethasone (steroid) use and 6% of these patients will develop glaucoma.

Patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) are 100% steroid responders which eventually enhance the susceptibility of losing vision.

However, the molecular basis for such responsiveness towards steroids is not very well understood. Through this fellowship, I hope to address why some respond to steroids and why some are more susceptible to develop secondary glaucoma and why not others? We hypothesize that the microRNAs (small non-coding RNA) have a regulatory role in mediating glucocorticoid receptor signaling and the development of miRNA mimics / inhibitors would be beneficial for GC-induced glaucoma. By proving this mechanism in ex vivo model system using human donor eyes, we would be able to predict the susceptible individuals with the specific set of microRNAs as a biomarker and to target for GC-induced glaucoma in the clinical set up.

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Program for Effective mHealth interventions in under-resourced settings for adolescents Dr Benedict Weobong Intermediate Fellow 2016 (Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship) Sangath, Goa WEBSITE India is home to 240 million adolescents and the proportion who drink alcohol is rising. POWERTXT-D is designed to use simple and innovative technology such as mobile phone messaging to help adolescents change their problematic drinking behaviour. It’s about harnessing and demonstrating the POWER in a TXT message! I plan to do this by first finding out what people know about problematic drinking in adolescents and to use this information to develop/adapt brief interventions to help adolescents change their problematic drinking behaviour. This project has the potential to influence policy in India through the national RKSK (Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram) programme for adolescent health, which has emphasized among other things interventions for mental disorders and well-being.

A cohort study on the effect of prenatal exposure to maternal cortisol and psychological distress on child development in Bengaluru, southern India Dr Anita Nath Intermediate Fellow 2016 (Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship) Indian Institute of Public Health,Hyderabad Bengaluru Campus WEBSITE The proposed study will be conducted among two pregnant women availing antenatal care at two public sector hospitals in Bengaluru. The baseline assessment will be done at the time of recruitment between 14-28 weeks (early to mid pregnancy). A questionnaire will be administered to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics, obstetric, medical and psychiatric past histories. Further assessments will be done (i) 37–38 weeks of gestation (late pregnancy), and at (ii) 10 days (iii) 3 , 8 months (iv) 12 months after birth.(v)once every year upto three years. The presence of maternal psychological distress will be identified by using Kessler 10 Scale of Psychological Distress (K10) for prenatal depression and the 10-item Pregnancy related anxiety (PRA) scale for pregnancy anxiety. Maternal saliva samples will be collected for cortical analyses during early, mid and late pregnancy. The infant will be assessed by Bayleys Scale of Infant and toddler development at 3 months, 8 months, 1 year, 2 year and 3 years of age.

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Young Lives Matter Assessing determinants of suicide in young people in India: a case-control study in Pune Ms Madhumitha Balaji Early Career Fellow 2016 (Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship) Sangath, Goa WEBSITE The primary aim of my study is to investigate the reasons for suicide among 15-29 year-olds in India. A secondary aim is to study the reasons for accidental injury deaths in the same age group.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people in India. Nearly 60% of all suicides in women, and 40% of all suicides in men occur in 15-29 year-olds. Yet no one knows why this is the case. We often hear of “failure in examinations”, “family problems” or “drug use” but there has been no scientific study investigating the relative importance of these factors and how they lead to suicide. There is also no evidence as to what factors prevent or protect one from committing suicide. This gap in knowledge is a significant barrier to designing contextually appropriate programs for preventing suicide among young people.

My study is a case-control study. I will compare those who died by suicide with living persons from the same neighbourhood, to see how frequently potential risk and protective factors are present in each group. I will also compare suicide cases with those who died from accidental injuries, in order to understand the risk factors for accidental injury deaths, another leading cause of mortality among Indian youth. To collect information on these factors I will use the psychological autopsy method, which involves structured interviews with family members, close associates and care providers of people in all groups, as well as examination of the information available in their personal, medical, forensic and other documents.

I hope to arrive at a set of risk and protective factors for suicide as well as accidental injury deaths. I then expect to make recommendations for the development of public health programs for the prevention of these untimely deaths among young people in India.

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Visit India Alliance website to view profiles of other Fellows

INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWS’

Awards and Recognition Fellow

Award/recognition Dr Mahak Sharma Intermediate Fellow (Basic Biomedical Research Fellowship)

SERB Women Excellence Award by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India

IISER Mohali

Dr R Mahalakshmi Intermediate Fellow (Basic Biomedical Research Fellowship)

SERB Women Excellence Award by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India

IISER Bhopal

Dr Maria Frances Bukelo Research Training Fellow 2014 (Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship)

The Florabel G. Mullick Travel Award at the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology for her work on Hirschsprung’s Disease

St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore Dr Thomas Pucadyil Senior Fellow (Basic Biomedical Research Fellowship)

Selected as Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Scholar 2017

IISER Pune

Dr Urvakhsh Mehta Early Career Fellow (Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship)

ICMR Tilak Venkoba Rao Award 2015 for research in the field of Psychological Medicine and Reproductive Physiology

NIMHANS, Bangalore

Dr Yogeshwar Kalkonde Intermediate Fellow (Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship)

Bruce S. Schoenberg International Award in Neuroepidemiology of the American Academy of Neurology 2017

SEARCH, Gadchiroli

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INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOW IN SPOTLIGHT

Dr Shantanu Chowdhury

Senior Fellow, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi

Please tell us what you are working on and what impact do you hope it will have.

First one takes us to the ends of human chromosomes called telomeres.

This are like the 'end-caps on shoelaces' that prevent the ends from fraying: only that they are molecular folded DNA forms. Telomeres stretch to several kilobases of DNA in length and are known to elongate or shorten, sometimes with aggravating consequences. For instance, short telomeres have been associated with several human cancers. It is broadly understood that as cells age telomeres decrease progressively in length.

Shortening below a certain threshold triggers processes that kill cells somewhat like a molecular clock that keeps count of age and ensures that aged cells are done away with. This is normal and perhaps good, as ageing cells tend to accumulate wear-and-tear defects. However, what is not quite understood is how telomeres talk to the rest of the genome - to trigger death sentences. Or, how do long telomeres, on the other hand, manage to keep cells healthy. Understanding this would unravel how to intervene in situations where telomeres have abnormally shortened (cancers, as mentioned above) or elongated. Our work asks if there are specific molecular messengers that shuttle between telomeres and the rest of our genome to keep track of when and how to pass on signals from telomeres to activate cellular processes. While it is believed that telomeres may influence how cells survey and repair damaged DNA molecular details of this are not entirely clear. We believe agents that engage with both telomeres and other parts of the genome hold key to this understanding.

Though connected in some ways the second aspect is about cancer spread or what is called in technical terms as metastasis. Years of work has helped understand primary tumors, i.e., at the tissue of origin, and drugs in many cases work to mitigate primary tumors. Metastasis, particularly how and where tumor cells find their second home, is only beginning to become clear. Being a process that involves several steps like getting away from the primary initiation site, entering and navigating the blood circulation, exiting circulation and finally making home at the extraneous site - makes metastasis a complex issue.

Moreover, these tumor cells manage to do something that the whole body otherwise is trying hard to prevent - that is, ensure that heart cells do not make their way to the liver! Thus, somehow metastatic 'rouge' cells have learnt to beat the system. Knowing this, it was intriguing to learn about a protein that was shown to single handedly tame metastatic behaviour in many human cancer cells. NME, short for non-metastatic proteins, got named so for this reason. I thought knowing the molecular ways NME proteins work could be key to understanding metastasis suppression. With this in mind, we started to look closely at NME proteins - more specifically the second member of this family called NME2. Work from our group revealed a new angle: NME2 associates with and turns off an important factor called telomerase ('hot' in science - discovery of telomerase received the Nobel prize in 2009). But how is telomerase important in metastasis? Telomerase, it was found recently, not only helps tumors grow but also helps how tumor cells metastasize. Thus we built the connection that maybe, maybe one of the ways NME2 works is through suppression of active telomerase. This work over the last few years, with support from the India Alliance Senior research fellowship, has helped us unravel the mechanistic underpinnings of how the NME2telomerase axis functions in inhibiting spread of cancer cells. In addition, based on this new understanding we designed molecular 'intervention' agents, which when introduced into human tumors grown in mice can substantially reduce tumor growth, and possibly metastasis.

Is there a research area other than yours that interests you deeply?

Monitoring cancer treatment through a simple blood test is now possible.

With potential to do away with biopsies this is probably slated to be one of the most useful clinical developments. Small pieces of DNA dissociate and leak into the blood stream from cells. The amount leaked from cancer cells appears to be much more, making this strategy detect patients, in principle. More so, one can look for DNA markers within the fragments to say how aggressive or how treatable is a particular cancer.

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Given this one should be able to detect where the metastatic site is developing - in other words, which other organs the tumor is spreading to - I find this line of research engaging because of its immediate impact in the clinic. This would be a breakthrough given that it takes months, sometimes years, before secondary metastatic sites are detected - which is one of the biggest reason for cancer-related mortality today.

What motivated you to become a scientist?

Be my own boss! That is the short answer. Freedom to dream and try out your dream in our own way - I found this theme very attractive in the beginning. Many years later I still believe this is what I enjoy everyday.

Any views on the recent "March for Science" by scientists around the world?

Very relevant if you ask me. I feel that as scientists sometimes we tend to lose touch with the outside world. I mean the larger society. This makes policy makers doubt our eventual usefulness raising questions like 'how is your science useful to people'. This leads to the next question - why should your science be funded by public money. Events like 'March for Science' become relevant in the background of these and other related questions. However, one needs to move beyond symbolism to more sustained efforts. In Indian science also these issues are relevant - public engagements through sustained efforts may be one of the ways to go.

Based on your experience, do you have any advice for scientists planning to come back to India to set up their independent labs ?

Following a postdoctoral tenure abroad many of us get used to how laboratories are run outside India. The turf in India is different - and requires adjustments. Once we are comfortable with this and also the fact that we are here to stay and make it work - most times it works! I know opinions differ - therefore would stick to my personal experience. I found funding opportunities in the initial years, that were not large money, but were very useful - this was helpful in setting up shop (for example, fast track grants). Another advantage was that research fellows came with their own fellowships. And perhaps most importantly, the pressure to publish in the first 4-5 years was not immense. This helped a lot when I look back.

How has Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance funding helped you and your research?

In a big way. I am not saying this because this happens to be an interview with the India Alliance. I think most people who received Fellowships from the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance would agree.

The idea I proposed was provocative and I had not had extensive experience in the workings of what I proposed. Today, after roughly six years of funding I can speak with more clarity - India Alliance helped me start a telomere biology laboratory and explore avenues that I would not have believed I could do a few years back. In the same breath I would like to mention the efforts the India Alliance staff makes to iron out day to day issues that crop up. Meant a lot guys - thank you!

What keeps you going everyday?

Many things actually. Dream of solving a challenge that always appears one experiment away. The feeling that I have some answers that nobody else may know about. Working with a team of motivated young people particularly, sharing that gleam in their eyes when a challenging experiment works - priceless, as they say! Lastly - let me share something more personal. During my postdoc years abroad a fellow colleague on hearing I was moving back to India had asked, '... you sure, they do good science there?' I keep wondering about this while I spend everyday trying best to answer that question.

Take a glimpse inside Shantanu’s scientific world on the next page

INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOW IN SPOTLIGHT Dr Shantanu Chowdhury

Find out more about Shantanu’s work here

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INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWs’

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Mechanistic framework of how midbrain and forebrain networks interact to control spatial attention

By Dr Sridharan Devarajan, Intermediate Fellow 2015 IISc, Bangalore Our environment bombards us with an abundance of sensory information. Attention is our remarkable ability to select the most relevant information, at each moment in time, to shape behavior.

Attention can operate through two distinct mechanisms -- by enabling us to perceive objects better (sensitivity), or by prioritizing the most important objects to engage with (bias). It remains unknown where in the brain these two attention mechanisms operate. In this study, the authors developed a new mathematical model to analyze behavior in attention tasks, and suggest that bias is controlled by the superior colliculus, a subcortical brain region that is highly conserved across vertebrates.

These findings demonstrate that attention is not a unitary phenomenon, and represent a key step towards understanding the neural mechanisms

of attention. The results could also pave the way towards designing therapies for attention disorders that target these distinct components of attention.

Does the Superior Colliculus Control Perceptual Sensitivity or Choice Bias during Attention? Evidence from a Multialternative Decision Framework. Devarajan Sridharan, Nicholas A. Steinmetz, Tirin Moore and Eric I. Knudsen. Journal of Neuroscience. January 2017 Banner image above: The brain's functional connectivity (left), anatomical connections (middle) and oscillatory dynamics (right) during attention, as measured with magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography.

Novel mechanism to develop a new class of drug that targets multidrug-resistant bacteria

By Dr Amit Singh, Senior Fellow 2016 IISc, Bangalore In our recently published work in Chemical Sciences, we used chemicalbiological approaches to identify the role of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas produced by bacteria in driving multi-drug resistance. H2S gas is generally considered as a metabolic byproduct with no biological consequence, however, our study not only revealed that multi-drug resistant uropathogenic strains isolated from patients produce much more H2S, but also showed that inhibition of H2S production reversed drug-resistance to a significant level. In collaboration with Harinath Chakrapani, IISER, Pune, we have synthesized small molecules H2S donors which selectively releases H2S inside bacteria (E.coli ).

participates in respiration but also detoxify any harmful reactive oxygen species produced by antibiotics. Altogether, our study revealed that by inhibiting H2S production and cytochrome bd oxidase in bacteria, we can effectively kill drug resistant pathogens. Future studies will be aimed to generate novel compounds which blunts H2S production and cydbmediated alternate respiration to target antimicrobial resistance.

By modulating intrabacterial levels of H2S, we demonstrated that H2S protects bacteria from antibiotics. Mechanistically, we showed H2S mitigates oxidative stress caused by antibiotics, thereby promoting resistance to diverse clinically-relevant drugs. We identified that H2S is able to show its protective effect by activating alternate respiration in E.coli coordinated by cytochrome bd oxidase (cydb). This protein not only

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“On Demand” Redox Buffering by H2S Contributes to Antibiotic Resistance Revealed by a Bacteria-Specific H2S Donor Prashant Shukla, Vinayak S Khodade, Mallojjala SharathChandra, Preeti Chauhan, Saurabh Mishra, Shivakumara Siddaramappa, Eswarappa Pradeep Bulagonda, Amit Singh and Harinath Chakrapani. Chemical Science, April 2017 Media coverage : “Reversing Drug Resistance made possible”, The Hindu

INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWs’

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Exploiting the efficacy of a known antimalarial drug for castration-resistant prostate cancer

By Dr Bushra Ateeq, Intermediate Fellow 2013 IIT Kanpur Majority of prostate cancer patients with the organ confined or localized disease undergo hormonal therapies targeting various nodes of the androgen receptor signalling pathway, such as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), involving either surgical or chemical castration. Although, ADT remains the mainstay for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer, most of these patients invariably develop resistance, leading to an aggressive stage, termed “metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer” (mCRPC). In this study, we have employed “drug repurposing or repositioning” strategy to address this problem. We have shown that, Artesunate, which is an U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - and World Health Organization (WHO) - approved anti-malarial drug derived from sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), could be used to restore the sensitivity of the mCRPC condition to anti-androgens or ADT. This study for the first time provides a compelling pre-clinical rationale that Artesunate in combination with Bicalutamide, an androgen receptor antagonist (anti-androgens) reduces oncogenic properties of the castrate-resistant prostate cancer cells. Moreover, mechanistically the drug combination induces oxidative stress, cell death and inhibits NF-κB

signalling, which leads to degradation of androgen receptor, subsequently sensitizes castrate-resistant prostate cancer cells to antiandrogen therapy and revokes their oncogenic potential. Most importantly, this combinatorial therapy demonstrates very promising regression (>95% reduction) in tumor burden and decreased metastases to lungs and bones in CRPC tumors bearing mice. Thus, the current study strongly indicates an immediate requirement for conducting the wellplanned clinical trials using Artesunate in combination with antiandrogens for mCRPC patients.

Targeting NF-kappa B signaling by Artesunate restores sensitivity of castrate-resistant prostate cancer cells to anti-androgens. Nunes JJ, Pandey SK, Yadav A, Goel S, Ateeq B*. Neoplasia. April 2017 Media coverage: 'Repurposing' malaria drug to treat castrate-resistant prostate cancer, IANS

Figure: Schema showing mechanistic details of treatment with artesunate alone or in combination with anti-androgen mediated restoration of sensitivity to androgen receptor antagonists in castration resistant prostate cancer.

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INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWS’

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Two small GTPases interact with a protein implicated in osteopetrosis, to regulate cargo delivery to lysosomes

By Drs Mahak Sharma* & Amit Tuli#, Intermediate Fellows 2013, 2014 Drs Mahak Sharma (IISER Mohali: right) and Amit Tuli (CSIR-IMTECH: left) with their students Rituraj Marwaha and Subhash B. Arya, the co-first authors of this study

*IISER Mohali, #IMTECH, Chandigarh Lysosomes are the recycling centers of a cell that digest extracellular and intracellular substrates including growth factor receptors, lipoproteins, damaged organelles and protein aggregates and recycle their constituents to build new proteins and membranes. Indeed, lysosomes play a vital role in maintaining cellular homeostasis reflected by more than 50 lysosomal storage disorders caused due to impaired degradation of substrates by lysosomes. Recent findings suggest that lysosome dysfunction is associated with more common human diseases as well, such as cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and obesity. In a collaborative study with India Alliance Intermediate Fellow, Dr Amit Tuli at CSIR-IMTECH (Chandigarh), we have now uncovered how two key GTP-binding proteins on lysosomes and late endosomes known as ARL8 and RAB7, respectively, coordinate their function to mediate cargo delivery to lysosomes. This is brought by the action of a common linker protein “PLEKHM1” that directly binds to both ARL8 and RAB7 and acts as a bridge to mediate fusion of endocytic and autophagic cargo vesicle with lysosomes.

Notably, mutations in PLEKHM1 gene result in the human disease Osteopetrosis, literally “stone bone”, where bones harden and lead to skeletal deformities. The underlying mechanism is defective bone absorption due to impaired lysosome secretion in the absence of PLEKHM1. However, little was known about how PLEKHM1 localizes to lysosomes or its function in controlling lysosome positioning. Our study reveals that ARL8 mediates PLEKHM1 lysosomal localization that in turn regulates ARL8–dependent lysosome positioning to the cell periphery.

Our study significantly contributes to understanding of how lysosome transport and fusion with cargo vesicles is regulated that can lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying lysosomes dysfunction.

The Rab7 effector PLEKHM1 binds Arl8b to promote cargo traffic to lysosomes. Rituraj Marwaha#, Subhash B. Arya#, Divya Jagga, Harmeet Kaur, Amit Tuli* and Mahak Sharma*. Journal of Cell Biology, March 2017 #equal contribution; *corresponding author

New role of a key gene regulator which determines the fate of neurons in the developing brain

By Dr Bhavana Muralidharan, Early Career Fellow 2011 TIFR Mumbai The cerebral cortex is a complex brain structure that processes higher functions in distinct regions. It is the seat of sensory perception, decision-making, language and memory. For the cerebral cortex to function normally, a precise development of circuitry is essential, which entails a diverse array of neuronal subtypes being generated in a sequential manner. Perturbations of this process can lead to a range of neurological diseases and disability. Transcription factor Lhx2 regulates fundamental steps in the development of the cerebral cortex, including development of neurons (neurogenesis) and cell fate specification.

We also provide mechanistic insight into how Lhx2 could execute the suppression of its target genes. We show that Lhx2 interacts with components of the chromatin remodeling complex, NuRD. The role of this complex is to control gene activity by altering the accessibility of the chromatin to transcriptional factor complexes. We show that loss of Lhx2 leads to an increase in the active marks on the chromatin of Fezf2 and Sox11, increases their expression within a day of Lhx2 removal, and causes a striking increase in sub-cerebral neuronal numbers seen in maturity.

We have recently shown that Lhx2 regulates the numbers of a very specific class of cortical neurons, which project to sub-cerebral regions in the brain including the spinal cord and are called the sub-cerebral projection neurons (SCPNs). It does so by binding to sequences in the genome, which regulate the expression of two transcription factors Fezf2 and Sox11, which are critical for the generation of the SCPNs in the developing brain.

This is a novel function of Lhx2, as a key regulator of neuronal subtype identity in the cerebral cortex. Overall, our study provides mechanistic insight into how the neurons responsible for cortical circuitry are generated in appropriate numbers and distinct subtypes during cortical development and can be used as a framework to study what goes wrong in developmental disorders like autism where the precise numbers of these neurons are altered.

Loss of Lhx2 leads to an increase in SCPNs and overexpression of Lhx2 leads to a decrease in SCPNs, thereby making Lhx2 as a necessary and sufficient regulator of the production of this particular class of cortical neurons.

Lhx2 interacts with the NuRD complex and regulates cortical neuron subtype determinants Fezf2 and Sox11. Muralidharan B, Khatri Z, Maheshwari U, Gupta R, Roy B, Pradhan S.J, Karmodiya K, Padmanabhan H, Shetty A, C. H. Balaji, Kolthur-Seetharam U, Macklis J.D, Galande S, Tole S. Journal of Neuroscience. January 2017

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INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWS’

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Clues into how the developing brain survives nutritional deficiency Dr Megha, Early Career Fellow 2013 NCBS Bangalore

Poor quality nutrition during pregnancy results in smaller sized babies; remarkably, not all body parts decrease in size to the same extent. In humans, the brain is accorded preference for growth and will develop to near-normal size - an observation made in the early 1970s and termed “brain sparing”. It may not be surprising that a normal-sized brain would be a developmental priority – after all, by controlling our choices and behavior, it’s the brain that helps us adapt in life.

How then does a developing brain cope with loss of nutritious food? The laboratory of Prof Gaiti Hasan at the National Centre For Biological Sciences has examined this question in fruit flies. In work recently accepted by the journal Development, Hasan and colleagues focused on a special type of cell in the brain that secretes hormones, called neuroendocrine (NE) cells. Hormones made in NE cells influence feeding and metabolism, key processes required to integrate nutritional input to growth. Their article suggests that in NE cells, a calcium-based signalling can serve as an alternative system to help a protein-starved larvae survive to the pupal stage.

Flies go through distinct life stages - egg, larva, pupa and adult. As larva, they eat continuously to build up resources for the next developmental step, the pupa. “Our story began with mutant Drosophila fly that had impaired calcium signalling,” says Megha, an author of the work. “We noticed that the mutant was unable to transition from larva to pupa when deprived of proteins. Then, we began looking for which cell type or organ in the fly body was responsible for this. Our investigations led us to the neurons, amongst which, we decided to focus on the NE cells”, she adds. Working down from whole animal to a particular cell type, the study then focused on the molecular pathways inside the cell that connect protein metabolism to animal growth.

In a nutrient-rich condition, cells in a growing animal majorly use the insulin receptor based signaling pathway, to make proteins. When the animal is starved, nutrient-loss typically turns off insulin receptor signaling, in effect slowing down protein synthesis, in all the cells.

However, in a developing animal, some tissues need to keep growing (Brain sparing), even when nutrition is reduced. The research report by Hasan’s group find that in flies, calcium-dependent signalling pathway controlled by Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate Receptor (IP3R) appears to compensate for reduced insulin receptor signalling in NE cells. That IP3R/calcium signaling can substitute at the level of protein metabolism is a new finding and represents a novel way to keep protein synthesis going, when nutrient-dependent insulin receptor signaling is lost.

“This study is a vignette that feeds into this bigger picture of brain sparing” says Megha. In the future she hopes to use the Drosophila system to understand how early life nutrition can affect adult brain function. “I think this can be a great way to gain insights into factors affecting intrauterine growth retardation and how early nutrition inputs, especially during gestation, can influence metabolism or mental health later in life,” she adds, chalking out how this study can be taken forward.

IP3R mediated Ca2+ release regulates protein metabolism in Drosophila neuroendocrine cells: implications for development under nutrient stress. Megha, Gaiti Hasan. Development. 2017 Media coverage –” This Is the Brain’s Backup Plan to Stay Online Even When Starved of Nutrients”, The Wire

The fly on the left is one that has been grown on "normal"(optimum) food all through larval stages; the one on the right has been grown for a short time on protein-deprived media. Thus note that the bottom is smaller than the top.

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Opinion

Nutrition research in India needs serious nourishment!

By Dr Shweta Khandelwal, Early Career Fellow Public Health Foundation of India, Gurgaon

India’s National Nutrition Policy (NNP, 1993) is more than two decades old. The focus of this policy was to sensitize policy makers towards a huge segment of undernourished and stunted children in India postindependence and gear them towards making efforts to improve nation’s health. However we all know that current times pose multiple intertwined malnutrition issues including both undernutrition and overweight-obesity ,coupled with several micronutrient deficiencies.

Obesity (and especially when accompanied with vitamin and mineral deficiencies) is the biggest risk factor for chronic diseases like heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension, cancers etc, which in turn cause a huge number of largely preventable deaths. Unfortunately India’s only NNP seems to have stuck in time. There is no evidence on efforts, if any, being directed to upgrade it to fight off the more contemporary nutrition challenges. The lifecycle approach to improving nutritional status of the population with special emphasis to maternal and child health and nutrition during vulnerable or critical junctures needs to be urgently adopted as our national priority.

One reason for the lack of motivation on the part of policy makers to invest in NNP may be poor quality and quantity of nutrition research from India. In fact, nutrition research in India has been described as nascent for the past several decades. The good news, however, is that it exists and is beginning to be realised as an important area of work in public health. But the bad news is that the situation is improving too slowly to make a significant impact or change in our practice and/or policy. High quality scientific writing coming from robust nutrition epidemiological studies is hard to find in general but this phenomenon is much more common in developing countries like ours. The quality of research further exacerbates due to hierarchical education and social system constraints and more importantly sporadic funding and poor mentorship in general.

India has a lot of scope to improve health outcomes and also offer ambient context (in terms of multiple transitions occurring within a growing economy) to try and answer important public health and nutrition research questions. India in the past decade has set up some public-private partnership programs with international partners like the US or UK (eg Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance) which provides funding to promising scientists at various stages in their career to boost research productivity in India.

Against this backdrop, I would like to share my longstanding passion and interest in trying to motivate the interested nutrition graduates of our country (including myself) to think beyond mere dietetics and try their hands in the research sphere. India’s maternal and child health

Photos from the field with the DHANI team and research participants

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statistics are not something we are proud of (more than 30% low birth weight babies leading to high rates of neonatal mortalities and even deaths, compromised mental and motor skills etc) and this is determined by a plethora of often complex and inter-related factors. So this area is the most obvious choice for several lifestyle, health and nutrition interventions. Being a great believer in lifecycle approach, I wanted to harness intergenerational benefits using high quality intervention in the best possible manner in the research domain (a randomised controlled double blinded trial). In simple terms, we give our product of interest to one group and placebo to the other and compare the outcomes in the two groups in a controlled setting.

Our product of interest is one specific type of long chain omega 3 fatty acid known as docosahexanoic acid (DHA). DHA is found largely in sea food, fatty fish and dairy. It is a structural component of human brain and retina (about 80% of all lipids comprise of DHA in these two organs). The blood levels of DHA in Indian populations are quite low. DHA has been speculated to improve birth outcomes and cognitive development of offspring when given to pregnant women. However, the evidence from trials (the one researchers will believe more confidently) is scanty and not that strong. In Indian settings, an improvement in birth weight will be of huge public health significance. In addition, if the cognitive skills are enhanced with this intervention, we could improve growth, productivity and human capital. I agree this may be wishful thinking but unless there is evidence to prove otherwise, every question is a valid question. For my India Alliance project, I am following a cohort of pregnant women enrolled in our DHANI* trial getting either DHA or placebo to assess the impact of supplementation on new-born health outcomes. This five year study is being carried out in Belgaum, Karnataka. Here we provide the supplements to the pregnant women from <20 weeks of gestation to 6 months post-partum. The born child’s motor and mental ability is assessed at 1 year of age.

This trial has opened doors to several important collaborations and opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the field. High quality research and effective communication around the results will help to strengthen the evidence base as well as inform nutrition policy/practice in India. It is important for India to invest in public health nutrition issues and urgently consider revamping the NNP to give direction, vision and a boost to this field. *DHANI stands for Maternal docosahexenoic acid supplementation and offspring neurodevelopment in India

Event support

Application deadline: 15 July 2017

About India I EMBO Symposia The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance and European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) will jointly fund up to three meetings per year in India. The meetings should address discovery and innovation through an interdisciplinary approach, with the speakers and participants discussing important global challenges in the context of the life sciences.

The meetings should be small, with 10 – 15 highly acclaimed international speakers and 50 – 75 participants, allowing early to mid career scientists to interact with leading international experts during a period of three days.

Proceedings from the meeting should be drafted as a position paper to advise the India Alliance regarding this area of research. The paper should in particular outline if and how research covered by the meeting could be beneficial to India. India Alliance may consider increasing funding for research in that area following expert advice and review.

Benefits • The maximum funding available for an India | EMBO Symposia is 60,000 euros.

India Alliance may consider funding research in that area following expert advice and review.

Application process • The deadline for submitting application is 15 July 2017.

• Applicants will be asked to complete an online and an offline application form.

• All incoming applications are screened to ensure eligibility requirements are met.

• The decision on which proposals receive funding will be jointly made by the EMBO Course Committee and the India Alliance Meetings Committee in May and October.

• All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application by email shortly after the committee meetings in September Required documentation Applicants will be asked to provide: • A list of organizers • Proposed title and topic of the meeting • Reasons for holding a meeting on the proposed topic • Information on any competing or similar meetings held in the current, proposed or following year • Proposed date and location • List of proposed speakers/instructors • Draft programme • Participant selection criteria and number of participants • Proposal for the position paper • Information on the practical component of the meeting (if applicable) • Draft budget

• EMBO also supports the organizers and meeting in the following ways: • EMBO creates a dedicated meeting webpage, including registration and abstract submission forms.

• EMBO provides a poster and advertising in selected print and social media channels.

• Organizers can apply for funds for an EMBO Young Investigator lecture, EMBO Science Policy lecture and EMBO Women in Science lecture.

Selection process

Eligibility

The selection process involves the following steps: • All incoming applications are screened to ensure eligibility requirements are met.

• India | EMBO Symposia must take place in India, but scientists from anywhere in the world are eligible to apply, independent of their nationality.

• India | EMBO Symposia must cover frontier, pioneering and interdisciplinary areas of life sciences that are underserved in India, and include speakers with interdisciplinary expertise. Furthermore, the application should include a list of (mostly) confirmed speakers.

• For detailed information on the eligibility criteria, including the format of the meeting, please consult the application guidelines (pdf).

• Meeting for which funding is being requested for must be held on or before 31 March 2017 Please note: After the meeting, the organizers must provide a position paper on the theme that includes a plan to catalyze research in that area in India.

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• The decision on which proposals receive funding is jointly made by the EMBO Course Committee and the India Alliance Meetings Committee in May and October.

• All applicants are informed of the outcome of their application by email shortly after the committee meetings.

For detailed information on the application process, key dates, format of the meeting and required documentation, please consult the application guidelines or visit India | EMBO Symposia website.

For any enquiries, please write to workshops@wellcomedbt.org

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

Visualising Science Scientists as visual story-tellers

30-31 March, 2017 National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi A scientist looking down a microscope discovers a world unknown to them with such visual clarity and depth, the same way X-ray beams striking on atoms through a lens, provide a vivid three-dimensional understanding of natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s building blocks. It is this visualizing power that has redefined scientific research and its impact on the society in the past many decades.

In the recent years, however, this knowledge gathered through the scientific lens, so to speak, has remained with the observer. As scientific knowledge and its complexity increases with the advent of more sophisticated technologies, it is important that scientists develop and learn innovative ways to effectively communicate their research outputs. In fact, a recent article in Nature highlights readability issue of scientific papers today and even goes to the extent of proposing that â&#x20AC;&#x153;students be encouraged to put down Nature and pick up Darwin, Dawkins or Dickensâ&#x20AC;?, if we want them to appreciate science and become good science communicators.

Visualising Science Workshop held on 30-31 March at National Institute of Immunology was an attempt to introduce scientists to various visual tools that are available today to communicate their science to a wide range of audience. The aim of this first-of-its-kind of Workshop in India, which was jointly organised by the India Alliance and Nature India, was to help researchers think outside the box when it came to carrying out research and its dissemination. The topics touched upon during the two days included, basic elements of science photography and film-making, drawing science illustrations, infographics and applications of virtual reality in science education and communication. The Workshop was attended by around 50 participants (PhDs, seniors scientists, science communicators, educators etc) from 29 institutions.

Prasenjeet shared his journey from being a scientist to a science photographer

Prof K VijayRaghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, set the tone for the workshop as he underscored the importance of interdisciplinarity and story-telling in scientific research and communication in his inaugural address.

The first workshop mentor, Prasenjeet Yadav provided a fascinating overview of his journey from a lab at National Centre for Biological Science, Bangalore to the expanse of Western Ghats as he transitioned from being a science researcher to a science photographer with National Geographic. He stressed on the power of visuals, saying that they are not merely pretty pictures but can be used to promote awareness on important issues.

Following a brief introduction, Prasenjeet outlined basic elements of a good photograph irrespective of the camera or lens used and took the participants around the NII campus to not simply capture photos but construct stories around them. After toiling for more than an hour taking pictures, participants shared their photo stories and received feedback on them.

Primed on the idea of story-telling, participants then interacted with National Award-winning documentary film-maker Raja Choudhary on how to create a plot of a science story, process of filming, curating a filmmaking team and so on. Raja Choudhary inspired discussions on the need for storytelling in science and how scientists can get involved in creating a science film with or without the technical know-how.

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Participants went around the NII campus capturing photo stories and tested themselves behind the lens Day two of the workshop started with a session on science illustrations by Dr Leslee Lazar, a neuroscientist-turned-science illustrator. Leslee, did not limit his session to practical tips on drawing illustrations (as he felt anyone could draw) but provided an intriguing history of science visualisation and how it has evolved over the years. He presented a completely novel approach of picturing data (for instance, he highlighted the insignificance of bar plots) and like Prasenjeet, emphasized the impact of visuals in communicating complex data and concepts.

Visualising Science: Scientists as visual story-tellers

Leslee shared doodling exercises with participants to help them visualise their science more effectively Prasenjeet gave workshop participants tips as they went about clicking pictures

Sajeev took the participants through the organised chaos of a news room and shared various science infographics that he had worked on

Raja Choudhary interacted with the participants about the process of filmmaking and what it takes to create a science story Sajeev Kumarapuram of Times of India, took the topic of science visualisation further with a session on science infographics and the process of creating them at the world’s largest media house, the Times group. He shared simple yet important tips on preparing infographics, such as, spend enough time analyzing data and information before drawing, only use reliable sources and never invent or misrepresent information- bad data leads to bad infograph. Sajeev’s session also stimulated a passionate yet constructive discussion among participants about the need for accurate representation of science data in popular media and the role of scientists in ensuring this.

The last session at the Workshop explored the potential of Virtual Reality as a tool for science education, research and communication.

Virtual Reality takes visualization to the next level and involves realistic and immersive experience for the participant. The speaker of this session, Avinash Kumar, took the participants through the kind of work he has done as a design strategist and introduced them to various biomedical science projects from around the world that have used virtual reality for both research and education. As cutting-edge and novel this technology may seem today, Avinash presented numerous historical instances which suggested that the concept of augmented reality has been experimented with as far back as the late 1800s. He provided a brief introduction to the technical aspects of VR- hardware and software requirements. After which, participants were encouraged to come up with ideas of using virtual reality “My VR idea” in their research or for communicating health or science issues they are passionate about.

Avinash presented a fascinating history of virtual reality and how it can be used for biomedical research and education

Alongside the workshop, a photo exhibition was organised that showcased the best entries from Nature India Photo Contest. The Photo exhibition was inaugurated by Dr Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, who also happens to be an artist. Dr Sharma highlighted the intersectionality of art and science in his address to the participants and encouraged exploration of these distinct yet connected fields.

All the workshop mentors echoed the same sentiment –one does not necessarily require technical expertise but the urge to tell a science story. Participants brought with them a strong sense of curiosity and a keen interest to learn these visual tools and confirmed towards the end of the Workshop that they would continue to explore creative ways to communicate their research so that their science can make a bigger impact on the society.

Attendees at the Nature India photo exhibition which was organised alongside the Workshop

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Visualising Science: Scientists as visual story-tellers

About the Workshop mentors Prasenjeet Yadav Prasenjeet Yadav is an ecologist turned wildlife photographer. In 2014, he was awarded a Young Explorer Grant and Title from National Geographic Society to produce a story on evolution and speciation in the Shola forests of Southern Western Ghats, India. Since then, he has been constantly working with National Geographic Society and its photography department. He has just curated a photography assignment on Urban Wildlife for Nat Geo Your Shot. http://www.prasenjeetyadav.com/

Raja Choudhary Raja Choudhury is a National Film Award winning Indian documentary film maker, architect, public speaker and designer of multimedia installations. He also received 2014 Golden Beaver Award for Best Indian Public Science Film from Vigyan Prasar. His film "The Quantum Indians" celebrating the lives of India's 3 great yet almost forgotten scientists Satyendra Nath Bose, Sir CV Raman and Meghnad Saha was awarded The National Film Award in 2014 as the Best Educational Film of 2013. https://www.rajachoudhury.com/

Leslee Lazar Leslee Lazar is a PhD in Neuroscience from National Brain Research Centre (India) and a post-doc from Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA). He moved back to India and works as a freelance visual science communicator, where he uses graphic design, illustrations, infographics and collages to communicate complex scientific concepts. Currently he is a visiting faculty at Indian Institute of Technology (Gandhinagar), where he is exploring his interests in the intersection of cognitive science, neuroscience, design and behavioral change. http://lesleelazar.com/

Sajeev Kumarapuram After editorial stints at reputed media publications including The Times of India, The Miami Herald, Indian Express and Businessworld, Sajeev Kumarapuram now specialises in infographic design, which enables him to channel his equitable love for two forms of expression: lines and letters. Trained under Simon Scarr, deputy head of graphics at Reuters, and Alvaro Valino, former head of graphics at Público, his works have been showcased in various books, in English and French. Raised in Kerala and settled in Delhi, the 34-year-old has donned plenty of hats in his career — an investigative reporter, columnist, illustrator and photographer, to name a few. His first book, a translation for Penguin, was published last year.

Avinash Kumar Avinash is a design strategist, researcher and artist-performer, and co-founder of three of India’s well-known creative endeavours - Quicksand, a innovation and strategic consulting firm, BLOT!, the country’s premiere audiovisual collective, and UnBox Festival, an interdisciplinary arts platform.

With an inclination towards building entrepreneurial projects, Avinash has been exploring design processes and cooperation within the arts in India for over 15 years. His most recent project, a GamesLab for exploring play experiences, is set to emerge as a disruptive project in gaming and transmedia in India in 2017. Avinash received a Wellcome Trust International Engagement Award in 2015 for a mixed-multimedia project “Trick or Treat”, which explored street medicine in India. http://quicksand.co.in/team/avinash ; http://www.medicinecorner.in/blot/

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Call for applications

16th

Science Communication Workshop 07-08 September 2017 New Delhi

The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance is pleased to announce its 16th Science Communication Workshop that will be held in New Delhi on 7-8 September 2017.

The Workshop will provide an interactive platform for young researchers to discuss with their peers and mentors various issues pertaining to science communication and career advancement.

The Workshop will cover aspects like: Ethics in research Presentation skills Manuscript & Grants writing Learning from choices/ Planning a successful career in science

Institute/University in India •prepared to submit a 1000-word research proposal, if invited to attend the Workshop. During the Grantsmanship module of the Workshop, a mentor would provide feedback on the proposal.

Deadline for submitting the online application is 12 June 2017, 5:00 PM IST Note: Only applicants who are selected to attend the Workshop will be notified by early-July 2017 Please write to us should you have any questions regarding this workshop or visit our website for more information.

Eligibility: To apply for participation in the Workshop, applicant must be •a senior PhD student OR a junior postdoctoral researcher OR a clinician researcher who is pursuing or has completed a postgraduate degree (MD/MS/MDS/MPH/equivalent) and is involved in active research •broadly working in the area of biomedical science at a Research

We would appreciate it if you could share this information with anyone who might be interested in participating at this workshop. Download the flier here.

Image credit : Wellcome Images

Upcoming SCICOMM101 workshops 6 June 2017

Mizoram University, Aizwal

8 June 2017

The Institute of Advances Studies in Science and Technology, Guwahati

9 June 2017

North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong

18 August 2017 IIT Gandhinagar

For more details on our Workshops visit "SciComm Workshop" under "Quick Links" on our website

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Call engagement for applications Public It’s Ok To Talk : Engaging with the young people about mental health

On 7th April, thousands of people across the world talked about depression on World Health Day. It is estimated that by 2020, 20% of Indians will face some form of a mental health problem making it even more important that we address the stigmas attached to mental health today.

The public event It’s Ok To Talk, organised by the PRIDE team at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) in Delhi on 8 April, intended to open up space for a dialogue on young people’s mental health issues in India. This event was part of a larger mental health campaign by the PRIDE team, #ItsOkBaatKaro which aims to enable young people to share their expressions on mental health and fight the stigma.

This event showcased a special multi-media exhibition (in collaboration with Instagram) and a puppet show that shared narratives of resilience, creating awareness on key youth mental health issues and included conversations with Prof. Vikram Patel (global mental health expert), Jo Agarwal & Ramakant Vempati (co-founders, Touchkin), Reshma Valliappan (artist and mental health activist), Jhilmil Brekenridge (poet,

author and mental health activist), Dhruv Visvanath (solo percussive acoustic guitarist), Natasha Noel (yogini, athlete and writer) and Pramada Menon (queer feminist activist).

This event was supported by Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance, Instagram, PRIDE-Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicial Medicine (LSHTM), Harvard Medical School, Sangath and the Wellcome Trust, UK. Photos from the event Visit the ItsOkToTalk website for more information on this campaign Follow the "ItsOktoTalk" / "ItsOkBaatKaro” campaign on social media Read more about the PRIDE project here

India Alliance at the 5th Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan and Expo

The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance recently participated at the “5th Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan and Expo” which was held at Fergusson college, Pune from 11-14 May 2017. This public event is a flagship program of Vijnana Bharati “initiated as a vehicle to reach the masses in the pursuit of popularizing science and technology and to facilitate interactions within common people and scientific fraternity” and is organised every two year in different Indian cities.

presented at around 40 parallel sessions during the expo were around the broad themes of life sciences, earth sciences, astronomy, archeology, technology, science of performing arts etc. The event also showcased key achievements of various government bodies such as DBT, DST, CSIR, DRDO, ICMR etc.

The event provided a valuable opportunity for the scientific community to showcase their research and related activities and engage with various public groups about science and technology.

Theme of this year’s sammelan was Confluence of traditional and modern sciences: A new integral vision for development. The event saw participation from various research organisations, universities, grass root innovators, students, artisans etc from around the country. The science displays, talks, panel discussions and over 400 research papers that were

Find out more about the programme here.

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Other announcements

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Other announcements Postdoctoral positions available at IISER Bhopal

Simons Postdoctoral Fellowship The Simons Foundation is pleased to announce the “Simons Postdoctoral Fellowship” to support research on fundamental problems in marine microbial ecology. The program is open to all Ph.D. or equivalent degree holder who have no more than one year of postdoctoral experience. Applicants who are already involved in ocean research are also encouraged to apply. The foundation’s mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences. The foundation anticipates awarding five fellowships in 2017. Fellows will receive an annual stipend of $62,000, an annual allowance of up to $10,000 for health insurance and an annual research allowance of $10,000 for the fellow.

I. Study of membrane protein folding, assembly, and function Applications are invited for the post of Postdoctoral Fellow in the following research area: Study of membrane protein folding, assembly, and function.

Vacancies: TWO Qualification: Ph.D. in Life Sciences [preferably in areas of Biochemistry or Biophysics] with experience in at least one of the following: protein spectroscopy, protein thermodynamics, protein folding, membrane proteins.

Eligibility:

Age: Preferably not more than 32 years of age at the time of application.

Salary: Rs. 36000 per month + 20% HRA (for candidates holding a PhD degree); Rs. 28000 per month + 20% HRA (for candidates awaiting award of degree). Minimum tenure: 2 years.

Apply to: maha@iiserb.ac.in with detailed CV. Description of research in the laboratory of Dr. R. Mahalakshmi: The goal of research in my laboratory is to identify a functional link between proteostasis, membrane protein remodelling and quality control, and occurrence of disease states. My laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art facility for spectroscopic, electrophysiology, and biochemical studies. I combine biophysical studies with functional assays to obtain a complete understanding of membrane protein behavior. For further details, please visit our department website or click here.

Applicants must have received their Ph.D. or equivalent degree within two years of the fellowship’s start date.

Preference will be for applicants with no more than one year of postdoctoral experience.

Applicants may be citizens of any country.

How to Apply: To submit your proposal, the applicant can log in to proposalCENTRAL using your username and password. The link is: https://proposalcentral.altum.com/default.asp Supporting Documents: Applications must include:

II. Hypoxia, epigenetics, cancer

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Applications are invited from Indian nationals for the post of Postdoctoral Fellow under the following research project funded by Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance.

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Title: Hypoxia-mediated expansion of transcriptome due to epigenetic modifications in breast cancer tumorigenesis and chemoresistance This project aims to investigate whether and how hypoxia contributes to the generation of cancerspecific spliced isoforms via epigenetic modifications and whether hypoxia-induced alternative splicing is involved in the tumorigenesis of Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Name of the Post: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences Salary: Rs. 36,000/- per month. In case of non-availability of residential accommodation, HRA @ 20% shall be admissible. Duration: One year (extendable up to five years, subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funds)

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Short summary of prior research experience and a personal autobiographical statement (two pages) Brief research proposal with title (two to three pages, plus references and one page for figures) Biosketches of the applicant and sponsor, including publications Technical abstract Letters of recommendation from applicant’s thesis advisor and two additional research scientists, and letter of support from the postdoctoral research sponsor, who must acknowledge acceptance of the applicant to his or her laboratory. Confidential letters must be submitted through proposalCENTRAL. Budget (three years) Brief budget justification Renewable reagents and data-sharing plan Signed signature page with institutional approval to document the commitment from the fellow’s institution(s) to administer the fellowship

Financial Aid and Award Money:

Essential Qualification: Applicants should have a Ph.D., preferably in biochemistry, molecular biology, epigenetics, RNA biology or related field.

Desirable: Prior experience with molecular biology techniques. Candidates with experience in analysis of next-generation sequencing data/ RNA work/chromatin biology are encouraged to apply.

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Age: Maximum age is 32 years for general candidates at the time of application (to be relaxed by 5 years for SC and ST candidates and persons with physical disability)

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Application Procedure: Interested applicants should email their CV and a 1page cover letter (describing their past accomplishments, research interests, and career goals) along with names and contact information of three references and application form (given at the end of this advertisement) to sanjeevs@iiserb.ac.in. The application form can also be downloaded from this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2hJ3SdL_1EyanVWakhpQnBvNFk/view?usp= sharing This position will remain open until filled. Shortlisted candidates will be called for interview by email. No TA/DA will be paid to the candidate for appearing in the interview. The selected candidate will be notified by e-mail and expected to join immediately.

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The award is for three years, contingent upon satisfactory annual progress reports, and will include an annual stipend of $62,000, an annual allowance of up to $10,000 for health insurance for the fellow and family and an annual research allowance of $10,000 for the fellow.

Any unexpended health insurance funds must be returned to the Simons Foundation.

The research allowance may be used for research supplies, small equipment (including computers), attendance at scientific meetings and other research-related travel.

Up to $2,000 of the research allowance may be used for relocation of the fellow and family to the host institution.

Relocation costs must be in accordance with the policies of the host institution.

Awards can only be issued to nonprofit research universities or research institutions in the U.S. Payment cannot be made directly to fellows. No indirect or overhead costs may be charged.

Other announcements Call for Application - Newton Fund – Researcher Link Workshop Grants

Please see list of eligible UK research institutions ODA requirement: All applications must meet the required relevance to economic development or social welfare (see guidelines for further information) of the partner country.

Deadline: 13 June 2017, 16.00 (UK time)

British Council in collaboration with Royal Society of Chemistry is delighted to announce Newton Bhabha Fund Researcher Links Workshop Grant to bring together early-career researchers from India and the UK to build international connections which can support them in improving the quality of their research. Once funded, grants are available for early-career researchers in India and the UK to attend the workshop in the hosting country.

These grants are funded under the Newton Fund, a UK Government initiative funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), together with partner funders from around the world. The Fund aims to promote the economic development and welfare of either the partner countries or, through working with the partner country, to address the problems of low-income and vulnerable populations.

How to Apply Leading Researchers who meet the criteria of “Leading Researchers R4 “as defined by the European Commission are welcome to apply as workshop coordinators.

Each proposal must have one workshop coordinator from the UK, as well as a workshop coordinator from India.

Programme in Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine Médecins Sans Frontières

Developing countries are faced with a high burden of tropical diseases.

While doctors in these countries have hands-on experience of managing these diseases, they are unable to develop their professional qualifications because of high costs associated with a full-time post-graduate course and limited opportunities to pursue the same in the area of Public health. MSF India has initiated the Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine programme to address this need for a low-cost, part-time programme for mid-career doctors. The programme aims to provide high quality training in tropical medicine and public health in order to improve

Priority areas: Within the chemical sciences proposals, the following challenge areas are particularly welcome: Research with relevance to the below areas at the Chemistry-Biology interface, the Chemistry-Materials interface and the Chemistry-Environmental Science interface are also welcome.

Human Health – e.g. Antimicrobial resistance, neglected diseases, medical chemistry, bio-materials, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, child mortality, maternal health Energy – e.g. sustainable fuels, chemicals and energy storage.

Climate, Environment and Sustainability – e.g. climate change, green technology, sustainable development, ecosystem services, resource scarcity, new materials, nanomaterials, water quality, climate, agriculture, air.

Sustainable energy for all Water and sanitation Food Please click here to view Guidance Notes, Application Form and other details on eligibility.

Contact: All queries or comments about this call should be addressed to the Researcher Links email address UK-ResearcherLinks@britishcouncil.org and / or purti.kohli@britishcouncil.org. Please specify that you are enquiring about the Newton Researcher Links Workshops call.

patient and programmatic care in areas where it is needed most. Successful completion of this course will allow the candidate to appear for the Royal College of Physicians (UK) recognized Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene examinations.

As a researcher you could choose to contribute in the following ways: • Apply for the programme if you are a medical doctor for developing your professional experience.

• f you are a specialist on a topic related to humanitarian medical aid, you could teach that subject to the candidates.

• Work as international field staff with MSF world-wide For more information about the program and how to apply, email ghhm.co@new-delhi.msf.org or contact Médecins Sans Frontières office: AISF Building, First floor, Amar Colony, Lajpat Nagar -IV, New Delhi, Delhi 110024

Please send your feedback, suggestions and contributions to public.engagement@wellcomedbt.org

Follow us on www.wellcomedbt.org

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