Biotecnika Times - 25th August Edition - FREE PDF Download

2020 AUGUST25,

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August 25, 2020 Vol. 04 No 145

ISRO & IISC SCIENTISTS DEVELOP ‘SPACE BRICKS’ FROM LUNAR SOIL FOR HABITATION ON MOON Space Bricks From Lunar Soil Developed By ISRO and IISc Scientists

A sustainable process of making bricks on the moon has been developed by researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The process of making bricks uses lunar soil, bacteria, guar beans, and urea so that self-sustaining structures can be built on the moon someday.

A researcher of the city-based science institute told IANS that extracting lunar soil and hardening it into brick-like structures using guar beans and bacteria is involved in the process that might enable habitation on the moon in the future.

India is also a part of the race where many countries have hopes of sending humans to Mars, Moon, and other planets of the solar system. The Gaganyaan mission, slated for 2022, is something ISRO is working on to send the first human being to the orbit.

For the mission, four cosmonauts are being trained in Russia currently.

Colonizing other planets is also a mission for space scientists, with NASA’s Artemis mission being the furthest so far in exploring the same. However, traveling to space and sending this one pound of Rs 7.5 lakh worth material to space is too expensive with today’s technological capabilities. Using things found in the moon will be the next best thing to do if sending materials from Earth is not a viable option.

The “space bricks,� as the researchers call them, could be used to create habitation structures on the moon. This is a sustainable as

well as a cost-effective option compared to cement.

Aloke Kumar, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc, said that both biology and engineering field are brought together in this, which makes it more interesting.

The raw materials for these bricks include lunar soil and urea, which is found in human urine, both readily available. A bulk of these bricks were made by the researchers by adding guar gum extracted from guar beans.

The researchers also found another option where they use a bacterium called Sporosarcina pasteurii that produce calcium carbonate crystals through the ureolytic metabolic cycle. These bacteria form these crystals as The bricks were formed by mixing lunar soil with these bacteria, urea, guar gum, and calcium. They were found to have significant machinability and strength after a couple of days. Using a simple

lathe machine, the researchers were able to mold the material into any shape.

Koushik Viswanathan, Assistant Professor in IISc, said in a statement that the recipe makes it flexible to use in a variety of shapes by casting.

Intricate interlocking structures for construction can be made on the moon exploiting this capability, he added.

The journal Ceramics International published the findings.

Another bacterium option – Bacillus velezensis instead of the Sporosarcina pasteurii was also considered in a study led by Rashmi Dikshit, a DBT-BioCARe Fellow at IISc. Since Sporosarcina pasteurii is expensive, cheaper, and locally available, Bacillus velezensis with similar properties was used. The journal PLOS One published the results.

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SCIENTISTS EXPLAIN WHY SOME CORONAVIRUSES CAUSE DEADLY DISEASE WHILE SOME DOESN’T Why don’t all coronaviruses cause disease? Scientists explain possible reasons COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2, a type of coronavirus that causes infection in the respiratory tract by entering the body through the nose, mouth, or eyes. SARS-CoV-2 is not the first coronavirus that has caused disease in human beings. There are several non-pathogenic coronaviruses and at least 4 types of typical cold-causing coronaviruses, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV. Currently, a team of researchers at the University of Alabama, Birmingham said that they have discovered a possible reason why some coronaviruses just cause the common cold, and some may not even trigger any disease, but novel coronavirus – SARS-CoV-2 is pathogenic.

The outcomes for the research are released in the American Journal of Physiology – Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, and the study suggests that SARS-CoV-2 acts as a miRNA (microRNAs) sponge and damages the host immune system, which allows viral replication as well as the disease spread.

MiRNAs and viral sponges MiRNAs are short stretches of RNAs helping in the production of different proteins and help in fine-tuning cellular metabolism rate and the response of a cell to adverse challenges like stress or viral entry. It constitutes just 0.01% of the total RNA in a cell.

But, viral RNA constitutes about half of the total RNA in a cell throughout a viral infection.

In Epstein Barr infection, hepatitis C, and herpes virus, the concept of viral sponges has previously been noted. Viruses sponge up miRNAs by binding to them at different sites, a viral sponge can inhibit the miRNA of the cell from working – This makes the host cell unable to express specific proteins that can otherwise help it to eliminate the virus.

The latest study In the current research, the scientists utilized computer analysis and bioinformatics to find out the interaction between the 896 miRNAs in humans, 7 coronaviruses – the most pathogenic ones: SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, and 4 non-pathogenic coronaviruses.

The scientists discovered that compared to the non-pathogenic strains, all 3 pathogenic strains had many more miRNA binding sites, SARS and MERS virus had a unique set of 21 and 24 miRNA binding sites, respectively, and SARS-CoV-2 had a set of 28 distinct miRNA binding sites.

The epithelial cells of the bronchi – mainly associated with lung problems like lung cancer, cystic fibrosis, and tuberculosis expresses these miRNAs – that SARS-CoV-2 effects.

The authors of the study said that the COVID-19 virus – by its potential reduction of the host’s miRNA pool – may promote infected cell survival and therefore continuity of its replication cycle.

Additionally, it was shown that among other things that this virus needs to perpetuate in the body, about 9 of the 28 miRNAs sponged by the COVID-19

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causing virus have a role in inhibiting the production of host cell proteins and viral duplication.

Future prospects The scientists claim that these findings will require additional validation, consisting of examining the levels of the target miRNAs in host cells and tissues. This might help in developing new treatment methods involving miRNAs balancing.

The study might help shed light on why some individuals are more susceptible to severe COVID-19.

Previously, it has been suggested that the severity of the disease in older people is due to the fact that older people have lesser miRNAs. Additionally, it might help understand how this virus can exist both in humans and animals – There are specific miRNAs in bats that provide tolerance to COVID-19 causing virus.

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BACTERIA’S SECRET WEAPON TO EVADE IMMUNE RESPONSE REVEALED A previously unknown method used by bacteria to evade immune responses has been discovered by the scientists at Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI).

Bacterial infections, which are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics could be prevented with the help of this new study published in Nature Microbiology.

To understand the process by which bacteria release toxins that disarm the ‘power-house’ mitochondria in immune cells, Dr. Pankaj Deo and his colleagues in Dr. Thomas Naderer’s laboratory took a different approach.

The study shows that immune cells with dysfunctional mitochondria during infection triggers apoptosis. Dr. Pankaj said that it is the activation of host cell death factors that deliver the final blow to mitochondria which induces apoptosis, not the bacterial toxins themselves.

The researchers were able to reduce inflammation in mice by genetically targeting apoptotic factors, which improved health outcomes.

They used multidrug-resistant bacteria like the deadly Pseudomonas aeruginosa, uropathogenic Escherichia coli, and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which are found prevalent in hospitals. But the results would apply to other bacterial species also.

New therapeutic possibilities could be opened up by targeting mitochondria to understand the new ways some bacterial infections evade the immune response, said Dr. Naderer, who led the research.

Scientists had been trying to block endotoxins that kill immune cells for a long time, but this study shifts the focus to some other toxins that are more important.

Scientists will now focus on investigating or repurposing the drugs already in use, perhaps as anti-cancer drugs, to test if they can clear bacterial infections.

The scientists show in this research that they can accelerate the immune response to bacterial infections and that they have a way to shut down the tissue-damaging inflammation if the response persists, leading to constant inflammation and a lot of tissue damage.

It was previously believed that endotoxins released by bacteria induce an inflammatory type of programmed cell death called pyroptosis in immune cells. The new study proves that a similar mechanism is used by pathogenic bacteria to release additional toxins. Small surface structures called outer membrane vesicles released by those bacteria, packaging toxins that target mitochondria, kill immune cells.

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IISC PROJECT COSWARA: DIAGNOSTIC TOOL TO ‘HEAR’ COVID-19 SYMPTOMS IISc Project Coswara: Diagnostic Tool To ‘Hear’ Covid-19 Symptoms A Covid-19 diagnostic tool based on cough, respiratory, and speech sounds is being developed by researchers in the Project Coswara team from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Users are required to provide a recording of vowel sounds, cough sounds, breathing sounds, and count for five to seven minutes for the tool to diagnose Covid-19.

More than 1,100 voice samples have been collected by the team so far. For the validation of their diagnostic tool, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had asked them to come back after sample collection, after reviewing their protocol in May. Signal processing and machine learning techniques are used to analyze the collected data. Distinguishing between Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients is done with the help of the sharpness and frequency of the voice. The research team intents to launch and release the diagnosis tool as a web or mobile application through which a score to indicate the probability of infection can be provided.

patients, the production of sounds is compromised. Regular patients’ cough is harmonic in nature, while the cough has a lot of vibrations in Covid-19 patients, thus, the team looks for distinctive patterns in cough. In order to detect Covid-19, a model that identifies these vibrations is created by analyzing signals with computer algorithms He added saying that an accuracy of 95% was shown in a paper published by the University of Oklahoma, a facility in Ukraine, and the University of Michigan.

The team wants to reach a target pool of more than 2,000 samples and are looking for both healthy and Covid-19-positive volunteers to provide voice samples through the web tool. The team will be able to set the right threshold with the help of the data from healthy individuals.

Assistant professor at IISc, and the lead of the project, Dr. Sriram Ganapathy said that in Covid-19

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DISTINCT MUTATION PATTERN IN SARS-COV-2 VIRUS OBSERVED IN WEST INDIA SARS-CoV-2 Virus New Mutation Pattern Observed In Western Parts Of India 90 whole-genome sequences of the COVID-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus were submitted recently to the global database, GISAID, by an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the National Centre for Cell Science (DBT-NCCS) in Pune.

From the samples of patients who tested positive for COVID in Pune, Satara, and Nashik districts of Maharashtra, the sequences were obtained. In order to identify any variations, these sequences were compared with those reported from other Indian and global sources. In most of the sequences, four variations were present, and these four variations were found to be predominant. In samples from symptomatic patients, more prominently from women, three mutations appeared to be more frequent. Six mutations were found absent in senior patients but found to be frequent in the samples from younger patients as there were some correlations observed between sequence variations and patient age.

In the viral genomes from each of the districts included in this study, new and distinct patterns of mutations were observed. Thus, these analyses revealed a newly emerging pattern of unique linked mutations in the genome sequences from western India, which indicates that during the lockdown period, there might have been region-specific evolution of the virus genome.

NCCS carried out this work with

support from Dr. T. P. Lahane, Director, DMER, Maharashtra, and in collaboration with the Armed Forces Medical College and B. J. Medical College in Pune. The researchers uploaded the findings of this study on the preprint server, bioRxiv.

As a participant of DBT’s pan-India 1000 genome consortium, which was set up to sequence the genomes of the virus from clinical samples collected at different locations across the country, genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 was undertaken by NCCS. The National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) coordinates this initiative and it involves several national research institutions, aimed at understanding the genetic variations in the virus across the country. Recently, the first milestone of sequencing 1000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes was crossed by the consortium.

So far, around 75,000 viral genomic sequences of Covid-19 virus from across the globe have been uploaded on the global GISAID database with the global rush to sequence its genome since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the identification of the virus.

Valuable insights that are necessary to identify potential intervention strategies, to design and evaluate diagnostic tests, and to track and trace the outbreak, are provided by the genome sequences. Through genome sequencing along with other ongoing diagnostics and research initiatives, NCCS has been contributing to the national efforts towards these goals.

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SCIENTISTS TO BRING BACK MALASIAN EXTINCT RHINOS USING STEM CELLS Reviving Rhinos From Stem Cells To Bring Back The Extinct Species Malaysia’s last Rhino, Iman, died last November after years of failed breeding attempts and what’s remaining is its eggs, skin, and tissue samples.

Using cells from Iman and two other dead rhinos, scientists are now planning to bring back the Malaysian variant of the Sumatran rhinoceros with the help of experimental stem cell biology.

Muhammad Lokman, a molecular biologist at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, said he is very confident that it’s possible if everything works well and if everyone supports them.

In 2015, one of the world’s smallest rhinos, the Sumatran species, was declared to be extinct in the Malaysian wild. The increased hunting and forest clearance reduced the numbers of these species once roamed across in India to just 80 in Indonesia.

Within six months of the death of Malaysia’s last male rhino, Tam, Iman, died at the age of 25 in a nature reserve on Borneo island, following massive blood loss caused by uterine tumors. Efforts were made to breed these two, which did not work.

John Payne of the Borneo Rhino Alliance (BORA), who has campaigned for about four decades to save Malaysia’s rhinos, said Tam was equivalent to a 70-year-old man whose sperms were not expected to be good of course. So to increase the chance of breeding, the sperm and eggs of rhinos in Indonesia had to be collected, for which Indonesia

didn’t show much interest yet.

Discussions are going on with conservationists in Indonesia, whose environment ministry disputed accusations of cross-border rivalry as a reason why Malaysia’s rhinos died out.

Indra Exploitasia, the ministry’s director for biodiversity conservation, said the implementation must be in accordance with the regulation of each country as this is part of diplomatic relations.

Now the scientists in Malasia are planning to use cells from dead rhinos to produce eggs and sperms that can be used to yield test-tube babies. These test tube babies can be implanted into any closely related species like a horse. Scientists have a similar plan for African northern white rhinoceros, whose numbers left is just two. In 2018, they had succeeded in producing embryonic stem cells for the southern white rhino.

The researchers leading the research, Cesare Galli and Thomas Hildebrandt, said the process is still far from developing a whole new animal.

But the lack of genetic diversity in animals could pose a threat to their long term survival even if the process of reviving rhinos from stem cells worked.

Arief Boediono from Indonesia is helping out those in Malasia, hoping to learn from them so that rhinos in his country can be rescued.

There has been success involving lab rats in Japan, who have grown teeth and organs like kidneys and pancreas using embryonic stem cells from rats and mice. This means there is a chance but could take five to twenty years, added Arief. For now, Iman’s hide will be stuffed and displayed beside Tam’s in a Borneo museum.

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AMAZON LAUNCH E-PHARMACY IN BENGALURU, SET TO CLASH AGAINST RIL Amazon Launch E-Pharmacy In Bengaluru, Set To Clash Against RIL Hoping to exploit a fast-growing market fuelled by a large base of smartphone users, E-pharmacies are set to become the next big arena of battle with billionaires Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani diversifying into this segment.

While Reliance Retail plans to scale up its pharmacy and grocery platforms through its SMART Point outlets, Amazon launched the ‘Amazon Pharmacy’ last week in Bengaluru and will conduct pilots in other cities. Reliance Life Sciences, the biotechnology subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is already working towards establishing pathology labs through local partnerships.

The CEO of an Indian e-pharmacy firm, on condition of anonymity, said the e-pharmacy market is now ripe for consolidation; thus, large retailers like Amazon and Reliance are keen on this market.

While the government focuses on healthcare and schemes like National Digital Health Mission and Ayushman Bharat, more retailers are waiting to join the sector, he added.

Amazon, who launched its e-pharmacy last week, said in a statement, said that both prescription-based and over-the-counter drugs, along with traditional Indian herbal medicines and basic health devices would be offered by ‘Amazon Pharmacy.’ The new commerce and pharmacy platforms will rapidly scale up the retail, said RIL in its March quarter analyst presentation.

Currently, there are online platforms or e-pharmacies like Netmeds, Medlife, Sequoia Capital-backed 1mg, and Temasek-backed PharmEasy, where consumers can buy medicines online.

These companies were also working on integrating diagnostic facilities and telemedicine on their platforms.

To allow users of its artificial intelligence-based virtual assistant Alexa to request prescription refills, Amazon had partnered with US-based firm Giant Eagle Pharmacy in November.

Because consumers can directly deal with drug manufacturers in e-pharmacies, instead of having three-four middlemen in the supply chain, leading to greater cost-efficiency, the sector is expected to disrupt the pharmaceutical distribution model.

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HIDDEN TRAITS OF PLANT GENOME REVEALED

BY NANOPORE GENOME SEQUENCING Nanopore Genome Sequencing Technology Reveals Hidden Plant Traits The full genome for the black mustard plant has been decoded by an international team of researchers at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Plant Phenotyping and Imaging Research Centre (P2IRC) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). The research will advance the breeding of oilseed mustard crops and provide a foundation for improved breeding of canola, lentils, and wheat.

A new genome sequencing technology (Nanopore) was used by researchers led by Isobel Parkin and Andrew Sharpe to obtain very long “reads” of DNA and RNA sequences, providing previously unknown information for crop breeding. The journal Nature Plants published the results.

The research offers a new model for building genome assemblies for crops like lentils, canola, and wheat. Sharpe, director of P2IRC, said its a new recipe for building the genome sequence of any crop.

The researchers now know that the same quality of genomic data and genetic variation can be obtained for these crops. They can more easily select genes for specific desired traits and make breeding more efficient.

To sequence larger and more complex crop genomes, Sharpe and his team are using the software platform in the Omics and Precision Agriculture Lab (OPAL) at the USask Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS).

Black mustard (Brassica nigra) commonly grown in the Indian sub-continent is much similar to the canola crops and mustard

grown in Canada and is usually used in seed form as a cooking spice. A “higher resolution,” clearer view of plant genes is provided by the research, offering breeders and researchers a more defined view of which genes are responsible for which traits. The results also explain how the block mustard is different from its close relatives like turnip, canola, and cabbage.

Research Centre, said the research enables the identification of novel structural variation as well as provide insights into how crops evolve.

The team also uncovered structures on chromosomes essential for plant fertility, the first direct evidence of functional centromeres, and the hard to identify regions of the genome.

The genome assembly developed by researchers for the black mustard is a great example of how important genome biology can be quickly revealed using Nanopore sequencing technology. Public and private plant breeding organizations can make use of this advanced sequencing technology through GIFS and OPAL.

Unprecedented access to previously hidden features of plant genomes has been enabled by the use of long-read sequence data , said Parkin, a USask adjunct professor, and P2IRC member.

Parkin, also the lead research scientist with AAFC Saskatoon

Multiple copies of certain genes that express specific traits were also found in the sequence. This means that several genes could strongly express certain traits like fungal resistance.

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SCIENTISTS DISCOVER PHOTOSYNTHETIC HACKS TO BOOST CROP YIELD Lack of raw materials and machinery often hinder photosynthesis, the process by which plants manufacture yield from carbon dioxide and light. The researchers from the University of Essex in their new study have resolved two important photosynthetic constraints to enhance plant productivity by 27 percent in real-world field conditions. This photosynthetic hack is the third breakthrough for the research project Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), which has also shown to conserve water.

Patricia Lopez-Calcagno, who led this work for the RIPE project and a postdoctoral researcher at Essex, said plants are only as fast as their slowest machines like a factory line. The scientists have identified some steps that are slower, and what they are doing is to enable these machines to accelerate these slower steps in photosynthesis.

The University of Illinois leads the RIPE project hoping to improve photosynthesis and develop more productive crops. RIPE is supported by the U.S. Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the U.K. Government’s Department for International Development (DFID).

When the transportation channels, reliable machinery, and supplies are limited, the productivity of the plant’s factory decreases.

The researchers modeled each of the 170 steps of this process to identify what limits the process of photosynthesis and how plants could efficiently manufacture sugars.

Crop growth was increased by 27 percent in this study by resolving two constraints: one in the part where carbon dioxide is fixed into sugars and another in the part where plants transform light energy into chemical energy.

The sunlight is captured and converted into chemical energy inside two photosystems so that it can be used in photosynthesis.

Plastocyanin is the transport protein that transport electrons into the photosystem to fuel this process, but its high affinity for its acceptor protein often leads to failure of shuttling electrons back and forth efficiently.

The team resolved this constraint by adding cytochrome c6, a more efficient transport protein that has a similar function in algae, to help plastocyanin share the load. By bulking up the amount of a key enzyme called SBPase, using the additional cellular machinery from

another plant species and cyanobacteria, they addressed the constrain in the Calvin-Benson Cycle — wherein carbon dioxide is fixed into sugars.

The team improved the ratio of biomass produced to water lost by the plant or crop’s water-use efficiency by adding cellular machinery” for the Calvin Cycle and “cellular forklifts” to shuttle electrons into the photosystems.

The crop productivity in the greenhouse was found to increase by 52% when these two improvements were combined. The crop growth in the field trials increased by 27%, demonstrating that the crop production in real-world growing conditions can be boosted by using these photosynthetic hacks.

RIPE Director Stephen Long said this breakthrough could be stacked with the two previous

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discoveries from the RIPE project to improve the crop yield as much as 50-60%.

The previous discoveries from the RIPE project had provided a shortcut in how plants deal with a glitch in photosynthesis to boost productivity by 20 to 40 percent and to help them adapt to changing light conditions to increase yields by as much as 20 percent.

Both discoveries were published in the journal Science.

The studies, including the photosynthetic hacks to boost yield, were conducted on tobacco. But now the scientists are planning to translate these discoveries to cowpea, maize, cassava, rice, and soybean. The RIPE project and its sponsors are committed to making their new technologies available to the farmers, ensuring a Global Access. The project aims to equip farmers with higher-yielding crops to ensure everyone has enough food to lead a healthy life.

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INDIA’S FIRST COVID-19 VACCINE, COVAXIN APPEARS SAFE IN PHASE I PRELIMINARY RESULTS Covaxin Vaccine Appears Safe In Phase I Preliminary Results Bharat Biotech-ICMR Covaxin Vaccine Principal investigators conducting the trials of the Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech and ICMR said that the preliminary results of phase 1 clinical trials of the vaccine suggest that the vaccine is safe.

At 12 sites in India, around 375 volunteers have enrolled, and the vaccine is being tested on them, with two doses of the vaccine being administered to each volunteer.

Leading the trial at PGI, Rohtak, the principal investigator, Savita Verma said that at their site, they have not observed any adverse events in any of the volunteers, the vaccine has shown to be safe.

Savita Verma added saying that the vaccine appears to be safe as of now, determining how effective the vaccine is is the second step, for which the sample collection has begun. To test the immunogenicity of the vaccine, investigators are collecting blood samples. As there have been no unusual events in patients seen so far, the team is currently in the process of giving a second dose to the healthy volunteers.

At All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, 16 volunteers have been recruited for testing the Bharat Biotech vaccine, and the principal investigator, Sanjay Rai said the vaccine has shown to be safe in the volunteers.

to secure vaccines begins. In collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Bharat Biotech has developed India’s first vaccine candidate, Covaxin. The ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune, isolated a strain of SARS-CoV-2, from which the vaccine is developed.

For conducting Phase II trials, the company will approach the Drug Controller General of India once the safety data from all 12 sites show desirable results. By August end, the investigators are expecting to finish the Phase I trial.

Another investigator added that the vaccine may be available in the first half of next year if everything goes well.

The government is keeping a close eye on developments as the race

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73 NOVEL VARIANTS OF COVID-19 STRAIN IDENTIFIED IN ODISHA 73 NOVEL VARIANTS OF COVID-19 STRAIN IN ODISHA IDENTIFIED 73 novel variants of the COVID-19 strain in Odisha have been identified by a team of genomic researchers from the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar, and CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi.

The lead investigator and director (research) of the IMS and SUM Hospital, Dr. Jayashankar Das said, “For the first time in India, two lineages — B.1.112 and B.1.99 have been reported by the research team after carrying out sequencing of 1,536 samples including 752 clinical samples. The treatment and cure for patients will become easier if the detailed character of the novel coronavirus is known.”

The most-advanced COVID-19 sequencing technology was validated by the research team, supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Having the added advantage of enabling genetic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 for the detection of SARS- CoV-2, this technology could be a potential high-sensitivity assay.

Quoting a report by sequencing tech firm Illumina, he added saying in completing the first field validation and releasing the data online, India has beaten 12 organizations in 10 countries with this study.

To understand the mild, moderate, and critical coronavirus infection along with its transmission capabilities, the IMS and SUM

Hospital researchers are also undertaking the sequencing and analysis of 500 viral genomes.

Moreover, the study will help understand new mutations in eastern India, especially in Odisha, new therapeutic targets, and the vulnerability of the strains.

Affecting millions of people across the world, the rapid emergence of COVID-19 as a pandemic has necessitated high-throughput and sensitive approaches for the COVID-19 diagnosis, surveillance, and determining the genetic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2, which will also help in tracking information of the strains.

Das explained the difference between RT-PCR test and COVID-19 sequencing tests stating, “The RT-PCR tests only determine whether a patient is positive or negative for the infection while the COVID-19 sequencing reports give the entire history of the coronavirus.”

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WON’T RUSH COVID-19 VACCINE UNDER PRESSURE, SAYS BHARAT BIOTECH CMD Covaxin Enter Phase Two Trial – Safety And Quality Will Be Paramount The phase-I clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based pharma firmBharat Biotech has completed. Its chairman Krishna Ella said they cannot rush the procedure of vaccine development while claiming that the company would not succumb to pandemic pressure.

During an interaction with members of the Chennai International Centre on ‘Covid-19 Endgame Scenarios, Ella said there is tremendous pressure on the company to develop the vaccine. But Bharat Biotech is giving more importance to quality and safety.

He said they don’t want to develop the wrong vaccine and kill more people.

When asked about the launch date of the vaccine, Ella said they are being monitored by international communities and agencies, so they want to do the clinical research of the highest standard. Its a matter of prestige for both the country and the company. He assured that they would produce the best quality vaccine.

How fast the clinical trials can be completed for vaccines depend on the time frame. It took six months to complete the phase on trials of the vaccine for rotavirus. But it took only 30 days for the COVAXIN to complete its phase one trials and to enter the phase two trials.

Ella added that the COVID-19 pandemic is not only causing an increased number of deaths but is also destroying the economy. And that’s why every bureaucrat and politician is talking about it. He said road accidents cause more deaths than the pandemic, and people should not get paranoid about the pandemic.

Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine called COVAXIN has now entered the phase-II clinical trials after the 30 days long phase-I clinical trials.

Ella said the Indian vaccine industry is no less than global giants like Sanofi or GSK based in Europe and the US. People had doubts about the capabilities of Indian companies. But with the development of the vaccine for diseases caused by rotavirus and polio, they were proved wrong.

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DRUG-RESISTANT STRAIN OF MALARIA PARASITE IDENTIFIED IN EAST AFRICA Malaria Parasite Resistant to Artemisinin Identified in Africa Scientists have identified a drug-resistant strain of the parasite that causes malaria in Rwanda, a country in East Africa.

In the new study by the scientists from the Institut Pasteur, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Malaria Control Program in Rwanda (Rwanda Biomedical Center), Columbia University (New York, USA), and Cochin Hospital, the blood samples from patients in Rwanda were analyzed.

It was found that the parasites were able to resist treatment by a frontline drug in the fight against the disease, the artemisinin drug.

At one of the health centers they monitored, in around 19 of 257 (7.4%) of patients, they found one particular mutation of the parasite, resistant to artemisinin.

They published their study in the journal Nature. In Africa, this is the first time the resistance to the drug artemisinin has been observed. The scientists warned in the journal article that, in the 1980s, millions of additional malaria deaths in young African children are suspected to be caused by the malaria parasites that developed a resistance to previous drugs, and that the resistance identified now could pose a major public health threat in the continent. Earlier, researchers thought that the disease would be eradicated within years when the first malaria drug, chloroquine, was developed. However, malaria parasites have progressed to develop resistance to successive drugs, since the 1950s.

According to the analysis by health and science correspondent, James Gallagher, this is a highly significant moment and also deeply worrying in the fight against malaria.

For more than a decade, resistance to artemisinin has been there in parts of South East Asia. Now, malaria parasites that are capable of resisting treatment have infected around 80% of patients in some regions. But, Africa is where more than 9 in 10 cases of the disease are, and it has always been the biggest concern. It appears as though the resistance, rather than spreading from South East Asia to the continent, it evolved in malaria parasites in Africa. However, the result remains the same that treating malaria is getting harder.

the malaria parasites developing resistance to artemisinin was first recorded. Scientists at that time feared that even in Africa, resistance to artemisinin could occur and have devastating consequences. These fears may have come true now as indicated in this study, as African countries have been one of the worst affected by malaria.

A combination of two drugs – artemisinin and piperaquine, is now commonly used to treat malaria infection. However, in South East Asia in 2008,

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WHO APPROVAL AWAITED FOR RUSSIA’S‘ SPUTNIK V’ COVID-19 VACCINE Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, revealed that the country was the first to develop and register the first vaccine against COVID-19, and he declared that the vaccine gives “immunity” against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

The WHO has responded to Russia’s claim by stating that if the nation wants the WHO’s consent, an extensive review of the vaccine’s safety data requires to be sent to WHO. Tarik Jasarevic, the spokesperson for WHO, said that pre-qualification of any vaccine consists of the strenuous testimonial and also the assessment of all the required safety and efficiency data.

He added that discussions are ongoing relative to possible WHO pre-qualification of the vaccine against COVID-19, and they are in close contact with the Russian health authorities.

Murashko said that all the volunteers developed high titers of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Most importantly, no one had major problems with immunization.

Registered but unproven Sputnik V vaccine

Murashko claimed that a mass vaccination campaign, the SARS-CoV-2 will undoubtedly begin in October. The very first doses will be offered to doctors as well as educators. He included that the vaccine will be ‘absolutely free,’ with the costs coming out of the national budget.

The name of the vaccine ‘Sputnik V’ refers to the Soviet launch of the first satellite in 1957 that caught the world by astound. The vaccine was developed in collaboration with the Russian Defence ministry and Gamaleya Research Institute, Russia.

The ‘Sputnik V’ vaccine is among two vaccine candidates from Russia and is among 21 candidates from around the globe. However, Mikhail Murashko, the Russian health minister, declares that the vaccine has shown high effectiveness and safety, suggesting that Phase 2 trials have actually been finished.

According to Kirill Dmitriev, the main investor in the vaccine’s development, head of the country’s Russian Direct Investment Fund, and sovereign wealth fund said that more than 20 nations, including India, have expressed their interest in the vaccine.

According to Dmitriev, about 20 nations had given “initial applications” to Russia to secure a total

amount of over 1 billion dosages of their ‘Sputnik V’ vaccine. For the production of an overall 500 million doses per year, they have signed for the arrangements with 5 nations. It is anticipated that the Phase 3 trials of the vaccine will take place in the UAE, Philippines, and Saudi Arabia.

There is no large scale trial of the vaccine to support the claim that it works, while Russia has explained its intent on being the first in the world to develop a vaccine against COVID-19.

According to Ayfer Ali, a specialist at Britain’s Warwick Business School’s research wing, Russia is carrying out a large population-level experiment of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Authorizations that come through very swiftly can mean that study of vaccine ‘s adverse effects might not have been properly done.

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Generally, the side effects of vaccines are rare, due to the fact that extensive processes of monitoring and approval are done prior to the launch of a vaccine for public use.

Ali claimed that even if any adverse results do transpire, they could be major as well as trigger long-lasting damage.

Authorization from WHO awaited Jasarevic explained at the WHO briefing that every nation has national regulatory agencies that approve the use of vaccines or medicines in its region. He added vaccines and medications have WHO’s process of pre-qualification.

The manufacturers seek the agency’s stamp of quality, as well as authorization for its use when a vaccine is prequalified by the WHO. Jasarevic said that to obtain the authorization, there are evaluation and assessment of all required safety and efficacy information gathered from the clinical tests, and WHO will do this for any kind of vaccine candidate developed.

The pandemic has seen an unprecedented mobilization of research and funding to find a working prevention tool against COVID-19.

According to a vaccine tracker from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, an estimated 230 vaccine candidates in under development.

Jasarevic said that they really hope some of these vaccines will prove to be safe and efficient as they have been always claiming.

He included, however increasing progression does not suggest jeopardizing safety.

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NEW WAY TO ELIMINATE IMMUNOTHERAPY RESISTANT CANCERS DISCOVERED Blocking TREM2 Enhance Immunotherapy For Cancers Immunotherapy stimulates the patient’s own immune system to attack cancer cells. It revolutionized the cancer treatment by yielding remarkably quick and complete remission in some cases. Since tumors are notoriously adept at evading immune assault, such drugs work for less than a quarter of patients.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in a new study have now shown that blocking a protein called TREM2 can enhance the effects of standard immunotherapy and can completely eliminate tumors. The study published in Cell on August 11th offers a potential way of making immunotherapy work for more cancer patients.

Rock Belliveau, MD, Professor of Pathology, and Marco Colonna, the senior author of the study, said they had found a new tool to enhance tumor immunotherapy.

The growth of certain tumors was reduced by using antibodies against TREM2 alone. They saw a total rejection of the tumor when they combined immunotherapy with TREM2 antibodies. Some antibodies against TREM2 are already in clinical trials for certain other diseases, which is a great thing.

The results need to be further verified in animal models. If successful, the scientists will be able to move to clinical trials easily because there are already antibodies available.

Tumor cells can be detected and destroyed by T cells, a kind of immune cells. So tumors create an immune-suppressive environ

environment in and around themselves in order to protect them from T cells and survive. There is an immunotherapy that wakes T cells from their quiescence called checkpoint inhibition, which will stimulate the T cells to attack tumors. But it won’t be enough to eliminate the tumor, it the tumor environment is still immunosuppressive.

Colonna, who is an expert on the immune system, had been studying TREM2 for a long time in the context of Alzheimer’s disease.

The TREM2 was linked to underperforming immune cells in the brain. They found that the same kind of immune cells are found in tumors, where they produce TREM2 and inhibits the activity of T cells. They noticed that TREM2 is expressed higher inside te tumor compared to outside, which made it an ideal target for cancer therapy because peripheral tissue will have little effect when they engage TREM2.

They decided to study if blocking TREM2 could boost the tumor-killing powers of T cells by reducing immunosuppression. As a part of this, cancerous cells were injected into mice to induce the formation of sarcoma. They studied four groups of mice; One group received the placebo, one received both checkpoint inhibitor and TREM2 antibodies, one received only checkpoint inhibitor, and the last group received only antibodies against TREM2. The Sarcoma grew steadily in the mice group that received a placebo. They grew more slowly and even disappeared in few cases in mice groups that received either the checkpoint inhibitor or the antibody.

Surprisingly, the tumors were completely rejected by those in the mice group that received both.

Similar results were obtained with the colorectal cancer cell lines also.

When analyzed the immune cells in tumors of mice that received

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TREM2 antibody alone, they found that they had very less suppressive macrophages, and the T cells were plenty and active, suggesting that anti-tumor T cell activity can be boosted by blocking TREM2.

Macrophages with TREM2 were found in many kinds of cancers during further experiments. With the help of Cancer Genome Atlas, a publicly available database of cancer genetics, they found that shorter survival in both colorectal cancer and breast cancer is linked to higher levels of TREM2.

To see if TREM2 inhibition is a promising strategy for a range of cancers, they are now expanding their study of TREM2 to other kinds of cancers. Over 200 cases of human cancers and subtypes have shown the expression of TREM2. But they have only tested models of the sarcoma, breast, and colon. There are other models left to test, and they also have to test a mouse model with a human version of TREM2. If that works, they can move to clinical trials.

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CHINA’S FIRST COVID-19 VACCINE PATENT GRANTED TO CANSINO BIOLOGICS China’s First COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Granted To CanSino Biologics According to the Chinese Intellectual Property Administration, China’s vaccine maker CanSino Biologics Inc won the patent approval for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Ad5-nCoV, on Monday.

According to state-owned newspaper People’s Daily, it is the first COVID-19 vaccine patent granted

by China. As per the patent document, the patent was approved on August 11 after being submitted for application on March 18.

The Phase-2 clinical trial of the adenovirus vector vaccine or Ad5-nCoV was shown to induce an immune response and was safe, according to the information on the medical journal Lancet, last month.

Conducted overseas, more participants will be included in the Phase-three trial of the CanSino vaccine. In order to launch Phase-3 clinical trials in those countries, the company said it is in talks with Russia, Brazil, and Chile.

The vaccine’s appropriate dosage to trigger a strong immune response, the longevity of the protection, and whether there are host-specific differences will be checked in the Phase-three trial.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed that there are three vaccine candidates are in different stages of human clinical trials in India. Two of the vaccines, developed by Bharat Biotech, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR), and Zydus Cadila Ltd, have their Phase-I and Phase II clinical trials ongoing. The Serum Institute of India has partnered with AstraZeneca for manufacturing the third vaccine candidate developed by Oxford University, which has been permitted for conducting Phase II and III human clinical trials.

Additionally, US firms Moderna and Pfizer have also begun their late-stage trial for their COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

There are various vaccines for COVID-19 in development around the world. The development of the world’s first vaccine against novel coronavirus was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. With 38 volunteers, the vaccine Sputnik-V’s clinical trials showed that all of the participants developed immunity and it was started on June 18.

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SKIN CANCER TO BE TRACKED USING URINE SAMPLE Urine test to track progression and treatment response of skin cancer The most common type of cancer around the world is skin cancer, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. The treatment’s success rate is generally directly proportional to early detection. And as there is no single, reliable therapy, the course of treatment requires a multi-directional approach. This makes tracking disease progression almost as essential as the treatment itself. It helps the physicians to keep an eye on the response of the person’s body to the therapy.

The latest research published in the journal Open Chemistry brings excellent news for individuals struggling with malignant melanoma – a hostile form of skin cancer.

Presently, physicians require to carry out invasive biopsies, where they eliminate a small piece of skin and analyze it under a microscope for examining the development of this disease.

The study claimed that doctors can now keep an eye on the progression and therapy response in patients with skin cancer by just analyzing a urine sample.

Malignant melanoma Most of the moles on our bodies are harmless. However, these moles can develop into malignant melanoma in a few rare cases.

Continuous direct exposure of the skin to ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun can cause malignant melanoma. The appearance of a new, different-looking mole or any kind of change in an existing mole could be a sign of skin cancer.

Tracking cancer progression using urine samples As malignant melanoma is extremely hostile and usually spreads to other parts of the body, it can be tough to treat such cancers. As it has high probability reoccurring, it is crucial to monitor its progression and treatment response.

Researchers from the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University discovered a method to examine the malignant melanoma with the help of a urine sample, as the procedure of analyzing the development of malignant melanoma can be painful as well as frightening for the person.

Scientists discovered that there are some fluorescent molecules produced throughout the growth as well as the development of skin cancer, which can be detected in the urine samples.

In the research, the researchers accumulated the urine samples of patients with malignant

melanoma and also healthy individuals. With the help of fluorescence spectrophotometry, these samples were tested for the presence of different cancer biomarkers.

Additionally, the researchers carried out a genetic analysis of these patients to understand the genetics associated with the development of melanoma.

Conclusion of the research The outcomes of the research revealed that the urine samples from the malignant melanoma patients had different levels of the metabolism-linked fluorescent markers as contrasted to the samples from healthy individuals.

The researchers kept in mind that the stage of melanoma corresponded with the levels of the fluorescent molecules in the urine.

Additionally, the fluorescent molecules showed that there were specified genes that were associa

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specified genes that were associated with the progression of melanoma.

The researchers concluded that these waste metabolites could be an important marker in easily keeping an eye on the illness.

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NEW FUNCTION FOR A WELL-KNOWN MOLECULE AS A PLANT HORMONE New function of ACC molecule as a plant hormone A completely new function for a well-known plant molecule called ACC was discovered by the scientists at the University of Maryland (UMD) – offering the first clear instance of ACC acting upon its own as a plant hormone. Plant hormones carry messages to signal and trigger important processes for plant health and functionality.

In recent research, by activating proteins similar to those associated with nervous system responses in animals and humans scientists show that ACC has a crucial function in pollination as well as seed production. These research outcomes might not only alter books that have formerly attributed plant responses to the hormone ethylene as opposed to ACC, yet could also shed light on new research studies to enhance crop yield and plant health.

Caren Chang, affiliate professor of Plant Science & Landscape Architecture supported by the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station and a professor in Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics, UMD, said that there are numerous novel things about this research, however, it presents a new plant growth regulator or plant hormone – which is the main impact. This is not a newly discovered molecule, however, it has never ever been thought of in the past as a plant hormone, only as ethylene’s precursor.

Chang clarifies that ethylene has been studied for a long time and is one of the five major plant hormones. It is essential for many

processes that are crucial to plant health and crop production, including fruit ripening, germination, flowering, plant disease defenses, and stress responses to flooding and drought.

some of these responses that have been attributed to ethylene with ACC might actually be separate ACC responses, acting as a hormonal itself or growth regulator.

He added, in most of the studies, knowing that it’s a precursor that plants convert into ethylene – ACC has actually been used instead of ethylene. This is due to the fact that ACC can be sprayed on the plants and is simple to work in powder form. However, due to the fact that ethylene is a gas, it is really difficult to work with it. Due to this, instead of ethylene, researches have utilized ACC for years, and the literature would certainly interpret the observed responses as ethylene responses.

In the event that ACC is actually causing important plant processes previously attributed to ethylene, this study opens the door for many papers across years of research, and textbooks and future education on plant hormone responses, to be modified.

He said that what their paper reveals is that ACC response is not always a response of ethylene, some of these responses that have been attributed to ethylene

Additionally, the research paper presents breakthroughs in reproduction in plants. Chang said that there are numerous steps that are crucial in pollination, and among these steps, and in one step to actually produce a seed the plant pollen has to reach the ovules.

He added that the research shows that ACC signaling in the ovule is associated with getting the plant pollen tube to turn and deliver the pollen successfully.

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This makes it necessary for seed production. How the maternal ovule tissue helps attract the plant pollen tube was revealed in this study, and this is not a small impact. In the absence of ACC, the seed number doubles. There is potential here to enhance the seed number, which can have an effect on food security long-term and raise food production in specific plants.

An additional major finding for this paper reveals clear links between human, animal, and plant hormone signaling pathways by determining a prospective receptor for ACC task – Led by José Feijó, a professor in Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics and affiliate professor of Plant Science & Landscape Architecture.

Feijó said that one of the most fascinating parallels is cell-cell interaction. Animal glutamate receptors are proteins that are needed for the signals to jump from one nerve cell to the

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other, either with calcium signaling or via an electric impulse, which is necessary for things like memory. Challenges in the process mediated by glutamate receptors are understood to be connected to depression and neurodegeneration.

in plants and humans that are not well comprehended presently.

Glutamate-like receptors all seem to convey functions connected to communication in plants, either in pathogen or defenses and stress alert systems or to bring male and female genes into an egg.

The human nervous system has these receptors, and neuroscientists have actually been examining them for developing medicines to treat problems associated with the nervous system. The scientists discovered that ACC can really impact the nervous system in human beings, and they determined to find the same receptors, called glutamate-like receptors (GLRs) in plants, to see if they respond to plant ACC – they discovered that ACC can really affect GLRs in plants also, said Chang.

He added that emerging trends suggest that through the plant vascular system glutamate-like receptors underlie long-distance electric signaling. As glutamate receptors evolved to be related to the animal nervous systems to execute similar roles, this is a fascinating parallel evolution of a function for glutamate receptors.

Feijó said that the outcomes of the result open up an entirely new method of a research study in plant biology and indicate similarities

Chang and his group are thrilled about the directions this work can go with all the newly discovered functions ACC is playing as a plant hormone and as a new candidate activating GLRs. He further added that there is still a lot of studies to be done to see exactly how this is all happening and can be utilized in various plants, however, all that new study can be carried out now.

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IISC-CENTRE FOR BRAIN RESEARCH ADMISSION FOR PHD PROGRAM 2020 IISc-CBR PhD Admission 2020 – Applications Invited IISc-CBR PhD Admission 2020 – Applications Invited. Centre for Brain Research (CBR) Full-time PhD Program Admission 2020.

Interested and eligible applicants can check out all of the details on the same below: Centre for Brain Research An Autonomous Centre of Indian Institute of Science Bangalore -560012 Admission for Ph.D. Program-2020 Important Dates:

PhD Online Application Commence On: 19th August 2020 Last Date To Apply: 04th September 2020 Interview dates [ Online ] : 21st ,22nd ,23rd September 2020 Full-Time PhD Program beginning on: 01st October 2020 Centre for Brain Research (CBR) welcomes applications from eligible as well as very motivated applicants for admission to full-time PhD. Program beginning on 1st October 2020. It is a recognized research centre for the Ph.D. program with Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Karnataka. The PhD degree will certainly be awarded by MAHE. CBR promotes interdisciplinary research in basic and also clinical neuroscience to understand disorders of the ageing brain through advanced genetic, biochemical,

neuroimaging and also neurocognitive investigations.

These studies are dovetailed with research on model systems to identify the molecular underpinnings of age-related brain disorders. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS), whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and advanced computational approaches are being employed to identify the common, low frequency, rare, solitary nucleotide polymorphisms, as well as structural genetic variations that can contribute to healthy ageing and/or neurological disorders. Brain imaging investigations are being conducted to identify structural, vascular, as well as metabolic alterations in ageing brain utilizing advanced brain imaging methods at 3 Tesla state-of-the-art human MRI scanner.

The above objectives are being implemented through large population studies,

specifically Srinivaspura Aging, Neuro Senescence as well as COGnition (SANSCOG) study, Tata Longitudinal Study on Aging (TLSA), and also GenomeIndia.

SANSCOG & TLSA are envisioned as parallel as well as harmonized, prospective, community-based cohort studies in India– rural and urban, respectively– with long-term follow-up, for the comprehensive evaluation of risk as well as protective factors associated with cognitive changes due to normal ageing, dementia and various other associated disorders. Participants in the SANSCOG study are recruited from the villages of Srinivaspur Taluk in Kolar District in southern India, whereas those in TLSA are recruited from urban Bangalore.

GenomeIndia is a pan-Indian initiative led by CBR to identify the genetic variations present in the Indian population through whole-genome sequencing of tens of thousands of representative

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individuals across the nation. This will lead to the development of a genome-wide association chip specific for the Indian population and facilitate large scale genetic studies in the future.

Along with human ageing studies, researchers at CBR are likewise investigating the very early functional and structural changes at the synapse, dynamics of filamentous actin and its modulators at the dendritic spine, oxidative stress, synaptic dysfunction, sex-specific differences making use of mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Extensive studies are being performed to study molecular underpinnings of synaptic dysfunction during transient along with repeated vasoconstriction in an animal model of vascular dementia. Research groups are engaged in neurobehavioral investigations to delineate the very early cognitive and also behaviour deficits, and also their underlying neural circuit mechanisms.

will certainly be screened, as well as the shortlisted candidates will certainly be called for an online interview. Applicants will certainly be chosen for the PhD program based upon their academic record and also performance in the interview process.

August 25, 2020 Vol. 04 No 145 Check Handbook Below

Candidates with valid National fellowships will avail the fellowships from their respective agencies. But students who qualify the interview process and does not have national fellowships will be supported by CBR. For additional detailed info on area of research, admission process as well as various other info, please refer the webpage www.cbr.iisc.ac.in.

See Notification Below

The PhD program accepts students from a master’s degree in any type of branch of science or a four-year bachelor’s degree in any branch of Medicine/ Engineering/ Technology/ Veterinary Science/ Pharmacy/ Biostatistics.

Students ready to work in the areas of the neurobiology of disease, human genetics, computational biology, magnetic resonance imaging and also spectroscopy are encouraged to apply.

Preference would be given to those who have qualified national level fellowship tests (CSIR-UGC NET for JRF/ UGC NET for JRF/ DBT-JRF/ ICMR-JRF/ JEST/ NBHM Screening Test/ INSPIRE fellows (for PhD)/ GATE). Applicants in the final year of their respective courses are likewise eligible to apply.

Applicants need to send their applications online by 04/09/2020.

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ICAR-IISR RESEARCH LEADING TO PHD 2020 UNDER UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT ICAR-IISR PhD Admission 2020 Under University of Calicut ICAR-IISR PhD Admission 2020 Under University of Calicut. PhD positions in Botany/Biotechnology/ Microbiology/ Zoology available. Interested and eligible applicants can check out all of the details on the same below: ICAR – INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SPICES RESEARCH Indian Council of Agricultural Research) Post Bag No: 1701, Marikunnu Post, Kozhikode -673 012, Kerala, India PME/IISR/11(07)2020 ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode, welcomes applications from applicants that are Indian citizens, to pursue research in following disciplines leading to a PhD Degree under the University of Calicut. For more details Click here.

2. Applicants with lecturer-ship only in CSIR-UGC (NET) examination need not apply.

3. Upper age limitation is 35 years for male as well as 40 years for female applicants as on 01-07-2020, which is relaxable by 5 years as per the Govt. of India guideline for.

SC/ST/OBC/ Women/Physically Handicapped candidates.

Application: Applicants that fulfil the above criteria may send their online applications on. or before 30-September 2020.

Selection method:

Eligibility criteria: 1. Applicants with a Master’s degree in Botany/Chemistry/Biotechnology/ Microbiology/ Zoology and a legitimate National level fellowship (JRF/SRF of CSIR, UGC, DBT, KSCSTE etc.), DST-INSPIRE or any other comparable fellowship for pursuing PhD.

Eligible applicants must attend for an interview before the selection committee which will certainly be intimated after the deadline.

Selection of PhD scholars will be based on a quick presentation (10-minutes) on any type of topic of interest in the relevant field of specialization.

Note: Candidates will certainly need to make their own arrangements for traveling, stay, etc. at the exam centre. Travelling allowance is not payable by ICAR-IISR. Mere fulfilment of the minimum requirements stipulated in the notification would not. automatically entitle a person for selection. The decision of the Director, ICAR-IISR in. this respect will be final.

Canvassing in any form and/or bringing in any type of influence, political or otherwise, will be treated as a disqualification.

For inquiries, contact: hrdiisr@gmail.com/HRD.spices@icar.gov.in, Ph: 0495 2731410.

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See Notification Below

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AMITY POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA PROGRAM IN AGRICULTURE BIOTECH WITH MONTHLY STIPEND Amity Institute of Biotechnology Admission 2020-21 – Post-Graduate Diploma Program in Agriculture Biotechnology Post Graduate Diploma Program

by Amity Institute of Biotechnology. Admission for the Academic Year 2020-2021. Interested applicants can check out all of the details on the same below: AMITY UNIVERSITY LUCKNOW CAMPUS AMITY INSTITUTE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY ADMISSION IN “One year Post Graduate Diploma in Agriculture Biotechnology: Tissue Culture Raised Plant Material ACADEMIC YEAR: 2020-21 SUPPORTED BY: DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA SCHEME: SKILL PROGRAM

DEVELOPMENT

DURATION: ONE YEAR

PRESCRIBED BY MINISTRY Of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, GOVT. OF INDIA) APPLICATION FORM CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM DOWNLOAD APPLICATION FORM: www.amity.edu/lucknow See Poster Below

Eligibility Criterion: Applicant must be M. Sc in Botany/Plant Science/ Life Science/ Biotechnology/ Agriculture Science or B.Tech in Biotechnology with 55% marks.

NUMBER OF SEATS: 20 ONLY STUDENTSHIP: ALL THE SELECTED STUDENTS WILL GET SCHOLARSHIP RS.10,000/- PER MONTH *COURSE CERTIFICATION BY: Life Science Sector Skill Development Council (RESERVATION OF SEATS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RUlES

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