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ROBERT BALDERAS

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interview

MR. KETAN ZOTA

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24

SUper 13 the world of X-men and super humans is here!

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Biotecnika magazine

EDITORIAL

T

he deadly wrath of Zika might soon be at rest! More treatments could be pouring in to cure it and more methods would be at its way to control its spread. All of this and more could be achieved now as the most gruelling task of decoding the entire structure of the virus has been achieved by a group of researchers from Purdue University. In an exceptional feat attained in a mere 3 months duration, the entire structure of the virus has been figured out, which is going to be a cherry on the cake for those who are working towards finding a cure for this deadly virus!

Shekhar suman chief editor

Not only are we featuring the story of how the virus structure was unveiled but it covers the proud moment of an Indian being the part of this extraordinary finding. Ms. Devika Sirohi, a PhD scholar at Purdue, was the youngest member of the team who decoded Zika virus structure. Read the exclusive coverage on this young scientist, the findings of the research and what it could hold in the future in this issue.

Other features included in the issue are “Super 13: the world of X-men and superhumans is here”, “GMO special article: Would losing on GMO take a toll on environment, economies too?”, “Why are billionaires investing if BT has no scope?”, “Top 10 body parts created outside body” and more.

Also would like to extend special thanks to Mr. Ketan Zota, Director, Zota Healthcare and Mr. Robert Balderas, VP, Market Development, BD Biosciences, USA who took out precious time from their busy schedule to interact with Biotecnika magazine.

We hope you have a great read. Look forward to your feedback and suggestion at editor@biotecnika.org.

our offices FEature writers MANAGEMENT TEAM Chairman Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha Managing Director Dr. Neha Suman mag.biotecnika.org

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I loved the feature on Mr. Niven Narain, CEO, Berg and learn more about their company and technologies that they adhere to. Use of artificial intelligence in drug discovery is indeed unheard of and brought in front of us a picture about how the industry is growing in terms of technology.

Nikenthan S, Bangalore

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I read the article on storing brain to computer that the researchers are currently working on. I was awe struck at the idea of being something this complicated be a reality someday. Kudos to Dmitry Itskov, who has taken a step in the form of “2015 Initiative” and opened the door to a very complex science that has never been explored before!

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The budget for life science sector this year looks promising as we could witness various efforts that have been pulled out to ensure growth in a positive direction. Thank you for compiling various points as that made it convenient to go through it.

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Letter of the month The feature on top 10 women in biotech was an interesting read and was truly an inspiration for all the girls out there who want to make an identity in biotech sector. It was encouraging to see that industry has many companies that run under the stewardship of these women. The article has truly motivated me to keep striving in the sector despite all odds.

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“

I read about the news about an Indian scientist who had invented a safer version of staining a nucleic acid. Being a researcher I could connect to the fact that we are at a risk of constantly being exposed to carcinogenic substances. First of a really good work by the researchers who worked tirelessly to find something this great and secondly have an eager wait to see it applying across the industry.

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08

CONTENTS

BIONEWS RASAYANIKA ZONE BIOEVENTS

super 13

24

the world of X-men & superhumans is here!

Interview MR. KETAN ZOTA Director, Zota Healthcare

technology trends

28

32

Advanced skin tissue 3D printed.. contains hair follicles & sweat glands

GMO special Would losing on GMO take toll on environment, economies too?

46

51 Interview ROBERT BALDERAS VP, Market Development BD Biosciences, USA

56 why are billionaires investing if BT has no scope?

COver feature 37 in conversation with

zika Decoder girl MS. DEVIKA SIROHI

61 synthetic cell with smallest genome ever!

64 top 1o body parts created outside body

68 guest corner Simple ways to get rid of cholesterol woes

Biotecnika magazine

PIG HEARTS TO RESCUE HUMAN LIVES

T

he patients with severe cardiac ailments can now be assured of a possibility of new life as scientists have found out a way to keep pig heart beating into their chest! It comes as big news for patients who fall prey to the imbalance between donors and recipients.

The use of animal organs has long been an alternative for the doctors but faced severe organ rejections making it an unlikely option.

Scientists from the United States and Germany have claimed to a successful transplantation of pig hearts into baboons, primate cousins of humans and have succeeded to keep it alive for a record 2.5 years. They used a combination of gene modification and targeted immunesuppressing drugs. Experimenting with five baboons, the hearts survived for up to 945 days, breaking previous records held by the same group of researchers.

“It is very significant because it brings us one step closer to using these organs in humans,” said study co-author Muhammad Mohiuddin of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Maryland. “Xenotransplants- organ transplants between different species- could potentially save thousands of lives each year that are lost due to a shortage of human organs for transplantation,” he added.

The researchers did not completely replace hearts of monkey but were connected to the circulatory system via two large blood vessels in the baboon abdomen. It was done to study organ rejection.

To negate the chances of organ rejection, pigs were genetically modified to have high tolerance to immune response making them invisible to the recipient’s natural defence system.

The scientists also added a human genetic signature to the pigs that help prevent blood clotting. Also the recipient baboons were given a drug that suppresses immune response.

Scientists have since long been trying to transplant primate kidneys, hearts and livers into humans but to no avail. Genetic proximity of humans with primates make them best donors but it posses challenges such as long time to grow and mature, some like chimpanzees being endangered, danger of inter-species disease transmission and ethical questions.

Pigs have since been used as donors since they have anatomically similar heart to humans, pose less disease transmission risk, grow up fast and are widely farmed.

“In our opinion, this regimen appears potentially safe for human application for patients suffering from end-stage organ failure who might be candidates for initial trials of xenotransplantation,” said the study authors.

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BIONEWS mag.biotecnika.org

Biotecnika magazine

I

talian scientists and GlaxoSmithKline have together developed the world’s first life-saving gene therapy for children, boosting the pioneering technology to fix faulty genes.

The therapy called Strimvelis has been endorsed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for children suffering with ADA Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (ADA-SCID) and for whom no matching bone marrow donor is available.

Around 15 children in a year are born with ultra-rare genetic disorder, which leaves them inefficient to make a type of white blood cell. This leaves into a low survival rate with hardly two out of those born making it into later years. The survival rate largely depends on their immune function being restored with a suitable bone marrow transplant.

FIRST EVER GENE THERAPY FOR CHILDREN GETS APPROVAL We’re on page one of chapter one of a new medicine text book.

-Martin Andrews

“

Commonly known as “bubble baby” syndrome these children have such weak immune system that they must live in germ-free environments.

Strimvelis is expected to secure formal marketing authorization from the European Commission in a couple of months, making it the second gene therapy to be approved in Europe, after UniQure's Glybera, which treats a rare adult blood disorder.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is yet to approve any gene therapies but a growing number of U.S. biotech companies, such as Bluebird Bio, have products in development.

Other large pharmaceutical companies are also eyeing the field, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, which has a tie-up with UniQure.

After years of setbacks in the application of gene therapy, researchers have found better ways to carry replacement genes into cells. Martin Andrews, head of GlaxoSmithKline's rare diseases unit, believes the technology is proving itself, although it remains at an early stage of development. "We're on page one of chapter one of a new medicine text book," he said.

Though it has brought an ample amount of good news in the industry, it has its own set of challenges that needs to be overcome such as the complexity of delivering a product like GSK's new treatment, which requires bone marrow cells to be taken from the patient, processed and injected back.

Another challenge is that of pricing. Since the market for therapy like Strimvelis is very tiny, it might be speculated to carry a huge costing. Though GSK has not yet put the pricing on its product but sources close to the company say that if approved, Strimvelis would cost “very significantly less than $1 million”.

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Biotecnika magazine

BIOPEN THAT LETS SURGEONS DRAW WITH STEM CELLS

T

he fraternity of surgeons could be in for a good news as researchers have found out a hand held 3D printing pen to “draw” human stem cells in freeform patterns with extremely high survival rates. The device developed out of collaboration between ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials science (ACES) researchers and orthopaedic surgeons at St.Vinent’s Hospital, Melbourne allows the surgeons to sculpt customized cartilage implants during the surgery. Though the device is not yet approved for medical use, it’s an example of how 3D printing may usher in new ways for treating common human ailments.

The pen delivers a cell survival rate in excess of 97%.

It uses hydrogel bioink to carry and support living human stem cells and a low powered light source to solidify the ink.

3D bioprinters have potentially revolutionized tissue engineering as they could be used to print cells layer-by-layer and to build artificial tissues for implantation but in some applications such as cartilage repair, the exact geometry of the implant cannot be precisely known prior to surgery. This makes it extremely difficult to pre-prepare an artificial cartilage implant. The BioPen is specially held in surgeon’s hands allowing them to in have unprecedented control treating defects by filling them with bespoke scaffolds.

Professor Peter Choong, Director of Orthopaedics at St.Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne said “the development of this type of technology is only possible with interactions between scientists and clinicians. Clinicians to identify the problem and scientists to develop a solution.”

The designing of BioPen came with practical constraints of surgery in mind and fabricated it using 3D Printed medical grade plastic and titanium. The device is small, light weight, ergonomic and sterilizable. A low powered light source is fixed to the device and solidifies the ink during dispensing.

“The Biopen project highlights both the challenges and exciting opportunities in multidisciplinary research. When we get it right we can make extraordinary progress at a rapid rate”, Professor Gordon Wallace, ACES Director said.

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Biotecnika magazine

THE MAKING OF “ANTI AGING PILL” MOVES A STEP FORWARD

A

nti aging pill seeing the doors of reality may soon be true as scientists have discovered a key component of the aging process. It may enable to extend lives by at least a decade!

According to the new study, protein molecules known as GSK3 are responsible for shortening our natural lives and hence switching them off could effectively prolong lives. Experiments with fruit flies have found out that GSK-3 could be inhibited by low level lithium use and can extend their lives by 16%. This has ignited a possibility that lithium or other similar drug with fewer side effects could eventually be turned into a tablet to prolong human life.

The knowledge about the molecule would also mean that researchers could unlock the secret to pushing back the onset of age-related diseases such as Alzheimers’s, diabetes, cancer and Parkinson’s.

"We're excited about GSK-3. It could mean that all sorts of diseases related to ageing could be prevented for the near future if it was to become a therapy starting in middle age. I think that's an even more exciting perspective than life extension," said Dr Jorge Ivan Castillo-Quan, lead author of the study.

We're excited about GSK-3. It could mean that all sorts of diseases related to ageing could be prevented.

“

-Dr Jorge Ivan Castillo-Quan, lead author

"There's a lot of controversy about lifespan extension. But this also concerns extension of health. For example if this drug could delay Alzheimer's from the age of 75 to the age of 90 that would be extremely good. We don't necessarily want to live to 110 or 120 but we want to live healthier for longer," said Dr Jorge, who conducted the research at University College London and has since moved to Harvard University.

The researchers claim that though GSK-3 related anti-aging pill is unlikely within next ten years and may not be available for several decades, it could potentially extend life by around seven to ten years when it appears.

The researchers will now conduct GSK-3 research in more complex animals such as mice before moving on to primates and then humans.

mag.biotecnika.org

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N POTENT ANTIBODIES AGAINST HIV IDENTIFIED

“

A vaccine that 'presents' the HIV sequence recognized by such antibodies would increase the chance that a large proportion of the vaccinated population could respond to the virus with a broad and potent antibody response.

- James Crowe Jr. Lead Researcher

12

ow an effective immune response against HIV could effectively jumps tart as scientists have developed structure-based vaccine designs. It could give new hopes to the research which so far have been unsuccessful.

Previous studies have shown that the immune system can produce antibodies capable of "neutralizing" HIV, and stopping the AIDS-causing virus dead in its tracks. However, only less than a third of human bodies can produce "broadly neutralizing" antibodies in response to the HIV infection. In addition to it, the process might take a year or more before the production gets into full swing.

Researchers have isolated antibodies with a loop-like structure that binds tightly to HIV and disables it. They have re-engineered and optimized the antibodies’ neutralizing capacity using a computer modelling.

The finding has revealed that the structure might aid in swiftly introducing the broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV even in people who have not been exposed previously to the deadly virus.

"A vaccine that 'presents' the HIV sequence recognized by such antibodies would increase the chance that a large proportion of the vaccinated population could respond to the virus with a broad and potent antibody response," said lead researcher James Crowe Jr, professor at Vanderbilt University in the US. The antibodies' loop-like structure is made up of 28 amino acids that are strung together in different combinations.

The team used a computer programme called "Rosetta" to identify which amino acid sequences bound most tightly to HIV. They then used the same programme in silico (via computer modelling) to optimize the sequences in a way that simulated a vaccination event.

Finally, they fused these sequences onto a type of monoclonal antibody, called PG9, which is known to be a "broad neutralizer" of the virus. The results showed that the re-engineered antibodies effectively neutralized HIV.

mag.biotecnika.org

Biotecnika magazine

3

D mini retinas that mimic the organ’s tissue organization could now be developed more conveniently as scientists develop an efficient way to make it from mouse or human stem cells. It comes as a new hope for the growth, injury and repair of retina- the part of eye that is sensitive to light.

"The goal isn't just to make the closest thing next to a real retina, but also to possibly harness the flexibility of the system to create more diverse ways of studying retina tissue," said Mike Karl of the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE).

Human stem cells pops out 3D ‘mini-retinas’

Stem cells technologies which have the potential to develop therapies for the treatment of diseases such as age-related blindness have been exploited by researchers to understand the regeneration of neurons from lower vertebrates to humans, which can help in aiding regenerative medicine in a more efficient way.

For example, the 3D retinal organoids developed in Karl's lab efficiently replicate the formation of the retina. This specifically includes the light-detecting cone cells, which now can be produced in high quantities in their mini-retinas.

When it comes to potential future cell replacement therapies in patients affected by retinal degeneration, cone receptors play the most precious retinal cell type. It is responsible for high acuity and colour vision.

Researchers' comparative studies on pluripotent stem cellderived human and mouse retina organoids and mouse retina in vivo support the power of the new organoid protocol.

"Tissue heterogeneity is a major challenge in organoid systems, and here our work provides new insight, which will help to develop specific organoid-based models, specifically to reliably study retinal disease mechanism," said Karl.

The Karl Lab's change to the mini-retina protocol involves cutting a retina organoid grown from stem cells into three pieces at an early stage of eye development. Each of these pieces, which look like little half moons, eventually grows into the full suite of cells found in the retina, thereby increasing the yield of retinal organoids up to 4- fold compared to previous protocols.

These mini-retinas swim around in the dish and because they are not attached to a surface, better reflect the structure of retinal tissue during development.

mag.biotecnika.org

“

The goal isn’t just to make the closest thing next to a real retina, but also to possibly harness the flexibility of the system to create more diverse ways of studying retina tissue.

- Mike Karl, Researcher

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RASAYANIKA ZONE MERCK sheds GENEI back to founder

G

erman Pharma giant Merck has sold Bangalore GeNei, a firm that develops products for biological research, back to its founder S Chandrashekaran as part of an asset purchase deal. The deal is valued at below Rs 10 crore, less than a third of its purchase price.

In the year 2009, Merck had acquired the unit for about Rs 35 crore from Tamil Nadu based Sanmar Specialty Chemicals, which had bought the business six years earlier. Merck decided to decommission activities at the site in July last year.

The decision to off-load Bangalore GeNei comes after Merck’s acquisition of Sigma Aldrich for $17 billion last year as part of a global deal. Chandrashekaran said that his company Pushkar Bioscience has acquired the manufacturing facilities of GeNei. He is associated with a range of startups in genomic, proteomic and clinical research.

"We will retain the GeNei brand and continue to supply quality reagents to customers while adding new products to expand the business beyond domestic market," he said.

Bangalore GeNei, rebranded as GeNei, is likely to create innovative platform technologies for development and manufacture of new reagents, peptides, biopharmaceuticals and diagnostic reagents or kits.

Industry executives familiar with the matter said that the company will also focus on development of pre-clinical stage biosimilars, new molecular and protein-based diagnostics for neurological disabilities like autism.

“

We will retain the GeNei brand and continue to supply quality reagents to customers while adding new products to expand the business beyond domestic market.

- Chandrashekaran

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Biotecnika magazine

N

ow the health related search on Google might turn easy! Google has introduced an easy to read graphic or “card” for health related searches in India. Google will present the result for over 400 diseases. India is the third country after the US and Brazil to get this feature.

This health card would as a boon for all of them who go about Googling information about the symptoms for anything from stomach ache to a fever even before visiting a doctor! Banking on this trend, researchers have developed health cards that show up every time we search keywords related to any disease.

The health card carries an illustration, major symptoms, need for lab tests for diagnosis, most commonly affected age groups and indicates whether a disease is contagious, among other kinds of information. “One in 20 Google searches are for health-related information,” said a Google blog announcing the new feature.

The cards, which were introduced in the US last year, tells everything about a disease in layman terms— its prevalence, symptoms, diagnosis, the way it spreads and the age group it affects. The card also provides link to a PDF file of the same information to print or save it without any hassle.

The feature is available in English and Hindi and covers around 400 diseases. Google officials say they are working on introducing more local languages and more health conditions for the feature.

Google’s ‘health card’ makes disease search easier

“

This is just medically validated information, it is not a substitute for a doctor.

- Prem Ramaswami, Google’s Product Manager for Search

www.google.co.in/se

Malaria Also called: plasmodium infection

For those wondering how Google sourced the information and how credible they are, their algorithms find and analyze health related information from high quality sites across the web. Then team of doctors carefully review and refine the information and licensed medical illustrators create the visuals.

Google worked with a team of doctors led by Kapil Parakh and “the information has been checked by medical doctors at Google and the Mayo Clinic for accuracy”.

Google, however, makes it clear that these cards cannot be a replacement for medical consultation and is only aimed at helping you ask the right questions to your doctor and have quick access to basic information about a disease. "This is just medically validated information, it is not a substitute for a doctor," says Prem Ramaswami, Google's product manager for search.

Google has worked with AIIMS, Apollo hospitals and Columbia Asia hospitals for this feature in India.

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A disease caused by a plasmodium parasite, transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes.

Common More than 1 million cases per year (India) Treatable by a medical professional Spreads by animals or insects Requires a medical diagnosis Lab tests or imaging always required Short-term: resolves within days to weeks The severity of malaria varies based on the species of plasmodium.

Symptoms are chills, fever and sweating, usually occurring a few weeks after being bitten.

People travelling to areas where malaria is common typically take protective drugs before, during and after their trip. Treatment includes antimalarial drugs.

March 30, 2016

mag.biotecnika.org

Biotecnika magazine

IoT in healthcare

PFIZER AND IBM Partner to Study Parkinson’s

T

wo major firms in the world are teaming up to combat one of the deadliest diseases using analytics and the IoT. Pfizer and IBM are launching an innovative new research project focused on Parkinson’s disease, which the companies hope will ultimately help deliver better care to patients and speed up clinical trials for new drugs.

The study will span three years and pull data from wearable to monitor real-time patient data with the hope of advancing the way neurological diseases are diagnosed and treated. The companies also hope the study will speed up clinical trials to introduce new, effective drugs to the market.

earch?q=Malaria

"We have an opportunity to potentially redefine how we think about patient outcomes and 24/7 monitoring," said Mikael Dolsten, MD, president of Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development.

Data will be drawn from a series of wearables, sensors and other mobile devices worn by the patient at all times, which measure a wide range of metrics like movement patterns, cognition, temperature, daily activities and sleep cycles. It will be sent through IBM Watson's learning algorithms to determine the symptoms that correlate to clinical endpoints.

IBM officials say this data will create a better picture of how neurological patients are doing on a daily basis. Additionally, the data can help analyze the frequency and severity of symptoms, which can be translated into treatments tailored to the patient.

"With the proliferation of digital health information, one area that remains elusive is the collection of real-time physiological data to support disease management," said Arvind Krishna, senior vice president and director of IBM Research, in a statement.

"We're testing ways to create a system that passively collects data with little to no burden on the patient and to provide doctors and researchers with objective, real-time insights that we believe could fundamentally change the way patients are monitored and treated," he added.

We have an opportunity to potentially redefine how we think about patient outcomes and 24/7 monitoring.

- Mikael Dolsten, MD, President of Pfizer Worldwide R&D Page 1 of 2

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Biotecnika magazine

VEGETARIAN CAPSULES MAKE WAY!

I

n a surprising move, country’s top drug regulator is evaluating a proposal to introduce plant cellulosebased capsules to replace those made of gelatin. "A proposal has been received for plant cellulose-based capsules which are also safer for use than animal-based gelatin ones," drug controller general of India G N Singh said.

There are also issues about religious, cultural and personal preferences of patients. If there is an alternative available which is more natural or plant based and is preferred by vegetarians then it must be evaluated.

“

Gelatin is manufactured from processed bones, skin and tissue of cattle, pigs and other animals. Gelatin, a key element in capsules, is also widely used in food products as a gelling agent and in toiletries.

There have been talks with the stakeholders including the pharmaceutical industry and consumers to take a considered decision on the proposal. Regulatory sources said a final decision is likely by end of May. The proposal has got support from various quarters of the government.

The fact that veg capsules would be plant sourced, it is considered safer than gelatine. However, more scientific evaluation is needed before taking a final call," an official source said. As of now the Bureau of Indian Standards has already framed standards, norms and guidelines for manufacturing vegetarian capsules based on cellulose.

According to a senior executive in the industry, almost 80% of any pharmaceutical company’s products are either capsules or tablets and capsules make up at least 40% of the total. With over 1 lakh crore Indian pharmaceutical industries extensively depending on gelatine, the burden is quite evident.

While some in the industry and medical fraternity feel switching to cellulose may impact the cost of medicines as cellulose coating is more expensive than gelatin, many believe the difference may not be significant with easily available technology and expertise. Also, it would be adding to the choice available for consumers.

A proposal to switch to cellulose was discussed in the past as well. However, regulatory agencies and the government have so far failed to provide vegetarians with this option, primarily because of opposition from the industry.

"There are also issues about religious, cultural and personal preferences of patients. If there is an alternative available which is more natural or plant based and is preferred by vegetarians then it must be evaluated," the source said.

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Biotecnika magazine

Needleless control of Diabetes

R

esearchers have found that a wearable which is a graphene-based patch could one day maintain healthy blood glucose levels in people by measuring the sugar in sweat and then delivering the necessary dose of a diabetes drug through the skin.

ATOM-THIN Patch to monitor glucose

The current methodology involves the patient to keep a check on their glucose levels by pricking their fingers and testing a resulting droplet of blood. For people who must monitor their levels regularly, this can be a literal pain and there are a lot of people who might not like sticking things in their skin.

Earlier efforts have been made to bring a non invasive glucosemonitoring device such as the GlucoWatch Biographer, but it didn’t gain much publicity as it wasn’t user-friendly.

The recent research led by Dae-Hyeong Kim of Seoul National University, have efforted towards detecting glucose in sweat because previous studies had shown that levels of the sugar in perspiration match those in blood.

The new device uses layers of the fluoropolymer Nafion to absorb sweat and carry it toward the device’s sensors, which are built on modified graphene. The team doped the graphene with gold atoms and functionalized it with electrochemically active materials to enable reactions needed to detect glucose.

In the patch’s glucose sensors, the enzyme glucose oxidase reacts with the sugar and produces hydrogen peroxide, which, through an electrochemical reaction, extracts current from the doped graphene. This produces an electrical signal proportional to the amount of glucose present. The patch also contains pH and temperature sensors that help ensure that the glucose sensor’s signals accurately reflect the sugar’s concentration in sweat.

“

The new device uses layers of the fluoropolymer Nafion to absorb sweat and carry it toward the device’s sensors, which are built on modified graphene.

When two healthy volunteers wore the patch, the measured glucose levels—including spikes after meals—matched those from a commercial glucose meter. To monitor the levels, the patch sent its sensor signals to a device that analyzed them and then wirelessly relayed the data to a smartphone.

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Biotecnika magazine

TRILLIONS to be spent on life style diseases in India

A

ccording to an UN report, non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular, diabetes and cancer can cost the Indian economy a whopping $6.2 trillion during 2012-2030. These diseases are especially causing havoc in urbanizing countries like India and China.

"Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) present not only a threat to human health in cities, but also have significant economic implications," said the 'Global Report on Urban Health: Equitable, healthier cities for sustainable development', jointly released by the WHO and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

It said increasing urbanization pose a unique set of health challenges and the lifestyle and working patterns of urban residents have the potential to fuel an increase in NCDs in cities. Between 2014 and 2050, China is expected to add an additional 292 million people to its cities, while in India that figure is estimated at 404 million.

The report warned that inadequate planning for the "inevitable increase in urbanization" in India is creating a socially and environmentally "unsustainable" situation.

"The cost of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and mental health conditions has been estimated at $27.8 trillion for China and $6.2 trillion for India during 2012-2030," it said.

In China and India, cardiovascular disease and mental health conditions present the greatest economic threats, followed by respiratory diseases and cancer.

For India, the economic implications of cardiovascular diseases during the period are pegged at $2.25 trillion, the same as that of diabetes. The cost of mental health is estimated at $2.28 trillion.

"At one end, there is political resistance at the state government level to empowering towns and cities with a statutory urban local government that could articulate and deliver their demand for infrastructure and services.

WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation Marie-Paule Kieny and UN-Habitat Executive Director Joan Clos said in the report that in cities, progress in health depends not only on the strength of health systems but also on shaping urban environments.

With nearly four billion people living in cities and the urban population growing, there is an urgent need to address health disparities and identify creative ways to ensure universal health coverage, it said.

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Controlling Cancer Summit

2016

The

17th - 19th May 2016 London, UK

The annual Controlling Cancer Summit in an international academic event with plenty of opportunity for networking and debate. In an informal setting, this meeting will bring you up to date with current research and thinking regarding screening, prevention and treatment in this ever-growing ďŹ eld.

HASHTAG #Cancer2016

For more details Visit: www.lifescienceevents.com/Cancer2016

VENUE: Cineworld: The O2 Peninsula Square London SE10 0DX United Kingdom

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BIOEVENTS

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About BioPharm America™ Where partnerships start BioPharm America™ is where biotech industry partnerships get started. Meet face-to-face with biotech and pharma executives from around the world to identify and enter strategic relationships. Equipped with partneringONE®, the world’s leading web-based partnering system for the life science industry, BioPharm America is the only event in North America based on the same reputable formula as EBD Group’s acclaimed European events BIO-Europe® and BIO-Europe Spring®.

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SUPER 13 the world of X-MEN & SUPER HUMANS is here!

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n one of the most mind boggling work by the researchers, they have cracked the code of what could enable the making of super humans in the coming future! And they have done it by identifying the “super 13” who have been found to pose an incredible “something” that let’s them live normally despite having an abnormalities in their genome which would have otherwise left them at the mercy of diseases. The “Resilient project”, a retrospective study of more than 589,000 genomes, or complete genetic codes has led the researchers towards this finding.

How many lucky ones are there in this world that would be immune to the genetic variants in the body? Any normal body would have surrendered to the diseases it would trigger but lucky are those 13 who have been living a life of splendour despite being predisposed to the disease. So what makes these people have a DNA of a superhuman? Finding out that may be a gruesome task as scientists have no idea where these X-men are!!

The buzz around these super 13 started surfacing when researchers found that a few men could manage to become naturally immune to eight of the most severe debilitating diseases known to man. In a study involving close to 600,000 individuals and screening 874 genes, they were looking for a special few, individuals who did not develop “severe Mendelian childhood disorders that would normally be expected to cause severe disease before the age of 18 years.”

“It is the first study to try to systematically identify these unique individuals that are walking amongst us, that have genetic mutations that should result in a disease that they don’t have,” said Scott J. Hebbring, an associate research scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, who was not involved in the study.

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What did the researchers find?

It was a very startling fact for the researchers that each of these individuals appeared to be completely resistant to one of the eight Mendelian childhood conditions.

Under normal circumstances, anyone carrying such "completely penetrant" mutations will inevitably become ill. All of them should have been susceptible to Mendelian disorders which can begin in early childhood and are generally caused by defects in just one gene.

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It is the first study to try to systematically identify these unique individuals that are walking amongst us, that have genetic mutations that should result in a disease that they don’t have.

-Scott J. Hebbring, Associate research scientist, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation

The researchers had a series of exceptional findings jotted in the list.

Three of the adults did not have cystic fibrosis despite having mutations on both copies of CFTR gene, which normally causes the condition.

Three other adults identified in the study lacked a certain form of a skeletal condition called atelosteogenesis, despite carrying mutations on both copies of the gene called the SLC26A2 that is linked with the disorder. According to NIH, it is usually lethal at birth or shortly afterward.

A few others were found to be lacking conditions such as familial dysautonomia (which affects nerve cells, and can result in sudden death during childhood), Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (which causes widespread developmental problems throughout the body), and epidermolysis bullosa simplex (a severe skin condition).

With an impressive escape from a number of lethal diseases despite having mutations in the genes, researchers are left perplexed with the exact cause that saved these patients from developing the diseases that they were seemed genetically destines for.

Amidst a lot of speculations whirling around the same, the most probable explanation is laid by the study co-author Rong Chen, director of clinical genome informatics at the Icahn Institute of Genetics and Multiscale Biology in New York who says it could be due to the presence of ‘other gene’ that somehow suppress these disease-causing mutations, preventing these people form getting sick.

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How could the finding benefit?

What grabs these super special DNA a special eye is the fact that studying the genetic codes of these 13 individuals who seem to be miraculously resistant to severe inherited diseases could open the door to life –saving new treatments. Analysis of their genomes could uncover naturally occurring, protective mechanisms that might help scientists develop new treatments for severe inherited disorders.

Professor Eric Schadt, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City and the cofounder of “Resilience Project” said "Most genomic studies focus on finding the cause of a disease, but we see tremendous opportunity in figuring out what keeps people healthy”.

He believes that millions of years of evolution have produced far more protective mechanisms than we currently understand. Further adding to his comment he said that "Characterizing the intricacies of our genomes will ultimately reveal elements that could promote health in ways we haven't even imagined."

“ Most genomic studies focus on finding the cause of a disease, but we see tremendous opportunity in figuring out what keeps people healthy.

- Eric Schadt, Prof, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai

The challenges However convincing and tempting the idea looks, it might be eons away from the reality. There is just one minor hitch. The researchers had an access to the DNA but not the individuals themselves! That means researchers are at a major limitation, where investigators are not able to contact 13 people identified in the study because the researchers did not have the means to obtain consent from the people to do so. This means the scientists were not able to interview the individuals, physically examine them or verify the accuracy of the genetic information that the researchers got from the previously collected data sets.

It is therefore not possible to determine with certainty that these people are truly resistant to these diseases

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without further information, the researchers said.

“ There’s an important lesson here for genome scientists around the world - the value of any project becomes exponentially greater when informed consent policies allow other scientists to reach out to the original study participants.

- Prof Stephen Friend, Icahn School of Medicine

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Professor Stephen Friend, the other Resilience Project co-founder, also from the Icahn School of Medicine, said that “there’s an important lesson here for genome scientists around the world - the value of any project becomes exponentially greater when informed consent policies allow other scientists to reach out to the original study participants.”

He added that “If we could contact these 13 people, we might be even closer to finding natural protections against disease. We anticipate launching a prospective study in the future that will include a more broadly useful consent policy.”

Whether put blame on badly designed forms or the bad luck of researchers, it has put the research on stake for sure. The research was conducted using a consent form that was without a “recontact clause”.

Dr Daniel MacArthur, from Massachusetts General Hospital in the US, said that “the researchers could not re-contact the majority of resilient individuals for further study because of a lack of necessary consent forms.”

“Finding genetic superheroes will require other kinds of heroism - a willingness of participants to donate their genomic and clinical data and a commitment by researchers and regulators to overcome the daunting obstacles to data sharing on a global scale,” he added.

Though the research looks closer to success, it might take several years to solve the mystery and figure out the ambiguity of these 13 super humans.

The saddest part is that even these 13 might not be aware of their highly unique DNA composition!

We keep our fingers crossed that the whereabouts of these super 13 are found out soon so that the research could accelerate in the right direction!

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Initially patience is required. Hard work and dedication is required throughout. Focus for new entrants at present should be on Technology especially IT and quality products.

KETAN ZOTA, Director, Zota Healthcare 28

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Z

ota Healthcare, recipient of Business excellence award 2015 and company of the year by CIMA, is a wellknown group in the genre of manufacturing and marketing quality medicines since 1995.

It pioneers in providing eminent and affordable medicines to people. With a product line boasting from Tablets, Capsules, Oral Liquids, Dry Powders, Injectable, Oral Liquid Spray, Ointments, Creams, Lotions, Medicated Soaps, Eye/Ear / Nasal Drops, Ayurvedic Products, Tooth Gel, Mouth Wash, Gum Paint, Shampoos, Prefilled Syringes, Nutraceuticals, Cosmetics, the company stands to its idea of serving mankind, care for lives and to promote better health using technology and years of research.

“ The expansion is an ongoing process for us.

As of now we are looking to put our foot forward in Tanzania, Cambodia, Kyrgyztan, Boldova and Yemen.

It also offers a broad range of acute and chronic treatments for diseases like Liver Disorders, Osteoarthritis, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disorders, Neurological Disorders, Psychological conditions, Nutritional Deficiencies, Musculoskeletal conditions, Respiratory Disorders, Antipyretics and Morning Sickness during Pregnancy.

Mr. Ketan Mehta, director of Zota Healthcare Ltd since 1995 has been always focused on achieving the mission to become globally acclaimed pharmaceutical company. He has always been on his toes for the betterment of the needy and has left no stone unturned in manufacturing and marketing quality medicines at an affordable price and this proved to be the driving force for the birth of Zota Healthcare.

With a Diploma in Pharmacy from L. M. College, Ahmedabad in the year 1983, he has contributed more than 24 years into this industry. He surely has come a long way and has taken the company to a new height starting his carrier with a small retail medical store in the year 1984. Apart from being strong and clear about his work, Mr. Ketan has made good health accessible to local communities and society by setting up Heath Camps, blood & Medical Donation Camps in villages and other remote areas of the nation.

He believes in keeping fit and fresh which he achieves with Cricket and Music.

In an exclusive conversation with Biotecnika Magazine, about the company’s growth, pharma industry in general, major challenges etc, we have excerpts as below:

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With the beginning of new financial year, we are hopeful of commencement of some new projects, two of which being online portals and few others under pipeline.

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The major challenges of this industry are, dumping of fake and low standard medicines by neighbouring countries.

Q. As the new financial year begins, what are the upcoming development plans?

A. With the beginning of new financial year, we are hopeful of commencement of some

new projects, two of which being online portals and few others under pipeline. Also we plan to come out with our IPO this year in SME segment.

Q. Could you elaborate on the proposed IPO offering?

A. We plan to come up with IPO in the SME segment. The RHDP is yet to be filed but it

will be done within a month or two. The amount raised with this IPO will be invested in the marketing of new upcoming brands under pipeline and new projects and also for the development of new factory and to expand export base.

Q. Being the fastest growing Indian Pharmaceutical group with a wide spectrum of products offered, what are the major challenges that you face?

A. The major challenges of this industry are, dumping of fake and low standard medicines

by neighbouring countries along with a few domestic players which is posing a serious challenge to the industry.

Indian Regulatory guidelines are far behind the benchmark compared to patents and innovation protections in other developed countries.

FDI policy-Drug Pricing. In 2013, Drug Pricing control order was amended and ceiling price of 348 molecules was fixed. By the time entire industry coped up with those changes, new molecules were added thus the process of restrategize has become frequent.

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Also Poor Patent and other intellectual property protection, Lack of common centralized taxation regime are the challenges which the industry faces on the regular basis.

Q. Since 1995 how well do you think the healthcare industry has progressed with respect to meeting the needs of people? What more does it need?

A. Average growth has been 30% of the industry and the regular needs are fulfilled of the

patient and the industry. However with advancement of technology more technology transfer is required in this sector so as to increase effectiveness of treatment and patient compliance.

Q. Do you face competition in the industry? How do you keep yourself a step ahead with the competitors?

A. Competition helps you to grow faster and keeps the organization dynamic. If you have

good product to offer and a strong brand then there is very less competition. We have a wide product portfolio which helps us to stay competitive in all segments.

Q. Could you elaborate on the export business of Zota healthcare? Which countries serve as company’s major clients?

A. The production facility for the export has been set up in Surat SEZ, Sachin and com-

pany strictly follows WHO-GMP and Schedule M regulations.

The export business has been well established in Kenya, Niger, Burundi, Srilanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmaar, Costa rica, Ethiopia, Libiya, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Somalia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and many more.

Q. Are there plans of expansion any time sooner?

A. The expansion is an ongoing process for us. As of now we are looking to put our foot

forward in Tanzania, Cambodia, Kyrgyztan, Boldova and Yemen.

Q. With the budget for this financial year out, how friendly do you think is it for the pharma industry?

A. A new patent regime has been proposed by FM that would help more patents to be

developed and registered that would boost R&D in India. Also, tax benefits on R&D has been reduced which in turn will affect R&D spending.

Q. Would you like to convey a message to our readers who are thinking about dwelling into this industry?

A. Initially patience is required. Hard work and

dedication is required throughout. Providing quality products is necessary. Focus for new entrants at present should be on Technology especially IT and quality products.

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The amount raised with this IPO will be invested in the marketing of new upcoming brands under pipeline and new projects and also for the development of new factory and to expand export base.

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ADVANCED SKIN TISSUE 3D PRINTED contains hair follicles and sweat glands

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hether the patient has a burn or looking forward to do away with balding, there could be a good news in store as the scientists have come up with an advancement in the area of bioprinting that could enable you have good skin plus hair!

The Japanese researchers in a very advanced move have developed complex skin tissue accompanied by sweat glands and hair follicles. That comes as a major piece of work by the researchers as the earlier grown lab skins were though epidermal in nature but were sans follicles. They had earlier created a more basic type of skin substitute successfully that had only one or two layers of tissue and totally lacked features such as hair follicles and the glands that secrete sweat and oil called sebum. These skin tissues were however successfully used in human patients.

The latest innovation in skin printing which is hundred times better than those previously developed comes with generation of skin which not only has hair follicles and sweat glands but also has three layers of tissues just like how normal skin has. The study

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Our present outcomes indicate a proof of concept of regenerative therapy of fully functional and integrated skin organ system that will have a potential for the application of the future clinical treatment.

-Tsuji

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We think that further studies … would lead to clinical applications for severe burned patients and severe hair loss.

-Miho Ogawa, Researcher, RIKEN

also suggests that these skin tissues could be implanted into living mice and forms connections with animals’ nerves and fibres. The finding sure comes as a major breakthrough as it would now enable researchers to create a better skin transplant for humans with severe burns and skin diseases.

Let’s give a further read to this research led by Takashi Tsuji, team leader at RIKEN Centre for Developmental Biology in Japan who had started with this exceptional work with stem cells made from mouse and magically converting it to skin with multiple layers and with sprouted hairs.

How was it done?

To be more precise, the research team began their experiment by taking cells from the gums of a bald, adult mouse and converting them into “induced pluripotent stem cells” or iPSCs using chemicals. The medical marvel discovered in 2006 allows the cells to go back the clock. The resulting cells, like those of an embryo, can divide again and again, and be guided down many developmental pathways to become nearly any type of cell in the body. In this case it was developed into a chunk of skin and successfully implanted back in the immunologically suppressed mouse where it thrived and grew hair. The skin and hair prospered over the entire 70 day period it was meant to last.

Since the beginning of the experiment, researchers were aiming at using these cells to generate three-layered, fully functioning skin tissue in lab dishes. And that happened to be the team’s real achievement- in how they coaxed these cells to form different layers of structures of deeply layered skin- the “integumentary organ” that protects our bodies, senses touch, regulates heat and does myriad other jobs as well.

Then, they transplanted this tissue, complete with hair follicles and glands that produce sebum, into mice. The researchers found that the tissue made normal connections with surrounding nerves and muscle tissues in the mice, and those connections allowed the tissue to function normally. The mice’s immune systems did not reject the transplanted tissues.

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Day 14

Day 16

Day 23 Moreover, 14 days after the tissue had been transplanted, the researchers noticed that hair had sprouted from the bioengineered hair follicles and started to grow.

“Our present outcomes indicate a proof of concept of regenerative therapy of fully functional and integrated skin organ system that will have a potential for the application of the future clinical treatment,” Tsuji said.

How would it be superior?

While there are culturing and grafting techniques that are currently available, they might not posses many of the components and functionalities that we are used to. The newly formed skin would be far superior in that aspect. This technique could also be adapted to manufacture realistic skin samples that drug or cosmetics companies could use to test their products - instead of using animals.

Takashi Tsuji said that the dream of re-growing personalized organs was beginning to materialise. “Up until now, artificial skin development has been hampered by the fact that the skin lacked the important organs, such as hair follicles and exocrine glands, which allow the skin to play its important role in regulation. With this new technique, we have successfully grown skin that replicates the function of normal tissue. We are coming closer to the dream of being able to recreate actual organs in the lab for transplantation.”

Although the new skin generating process has only been tested on rodents so far, “we think that further studies … would lead to clinical applications for severe burned patients and severe hair loss,” says Miho Ogawa, a researcher with the team at the private research foundation RIKEN, in Tokyo. Ogawa estimates the first human trials will come within the next 10 years.

The finding has made many researchers in the industry elated. John McGrath, a professor of molecular dermatology at King’s College London, said “This study was one that researchers in his field had been looking out for - and it was a substantial step forward”. “It’s recapitulating normal skin architecture,” Prof McGrath said. “So rather than having isolated bits of skin... here we’ve actually got a whole box of stuff.

He also added that “Today’s skin grafts function, but they don’t really look like or behave like skin. If you don’t have the hair follicles and you don’t have the sweat glands and things, it’s not going to function as skin.”

Though the technology might be 5-10 years away from translating into humans, it has raised high hopes amidst the scientific community. With a lot of potential in store, it can help with everything from healing burns, treating diseases and a substitute for drug testing. The challenge however remains to start with human cells and it still needs to be figured out how to grow skin tissue from those cells. It’s not all about the skin, but the scientists are also working to generate other organs associated with skin tissue such as teeth and salivary glands.

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MAGAZINE

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10MillionGMOChallenge “Day 149: Are we following

scientific methods to ensure the safety of our food supply?

Day 148: The truth is that US_FDA has not taken any position on the safety of GMOs.” -Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, Inventor of Email. Systems Scientist, Author, MIT, EchoMail, CytoSolve, Systems Health.

“BasicScience is the foundation for all progress in biomedical research.”

-Francis S. Collins NIHDirector

POWER TWEETS “India must pursue technological disruption n embrace change to boost economic growth. ”

“With technology, we help farmers to increase productivity and higher income. ” - Syngenta

-KM Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon

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COVER FEATURE

in conversation with

ZIKA Decoder Girl Ms. Devika Sirohi Exclusive Coverage

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in conversation with

Ms. Devika Sirohi

T

he world went off for a celebration as the news of decoding of the deadliest scare of the recent times- the Zika virus went on air. The long suffered miseries and pain saw new hopes of being at rest as the news broke. The tiny creature which has been spreading at devil’s speed across the countries have not only affected the adults but the newly borne and with much affliction. Microcephaly, mental retardation, high fever etc are some of the symptoms that the patients have to struggle with.

Amidst the deadly altercation with the virus, many research authorities took up to finding the cure. But there laid a major challenge- the structure of the virus was under wraps and had not been intervened with.

A team of researchers from Purdue University came in for a rescue as they unlocked the structure of this miniature felon opening up the barricades to finding a cure against it.

And what brings in more pride is the fact that there’s an Indian who was the part of the team that decoded the virus structure. The team gets the credit to be the first in determining the structure of Zika virus and reveals insights critical to the development of effective antiviral treatment and vaccines.

Research in a gist: The findings sure are exceptional as the team has identified regions within Zika virus structure where it differs spectacularly from other flaviviruses. This family is home to many notorious viruses such as those responsible for dengue, yellow fever, West Nile, Japanese encephalitis and tick-borne encephalitic viruses and has been creating havoc since long.

Any regions within the virus structure unique to Zika have the potential to explain differences in how a virus is transmitted and how it manifests as a disease, said Richard Kuhn,

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Team Members: • Michael G Rossmann (Professor, Biological Sciences) • Richard J Kuhn (Professor and Head, Department of Biological Sciences, Director, Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious, Disease) • Theodore Pierson (Chief of the viral pathogenesis section of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) • Devika Sirohi, Graduate Student, Purdue University • Zhenguo Chen, Postdoctoral research associates • Lei Sun, Postdoctoral research associates • Thomas Klose, Postdoctoral research associates

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director of the Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Diseases (PI4D) who led the research team with Michael Rossmann, Purdue’s Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences.

“The structure of the virus provides a map that shows potential regions of the virus that could be targeted by a therapeutic treatment, used to create an effective vaccine or to improve our ability to diagnose and distinguish Zika infection from that of other related viruses,” said Kuhn, who is also the head of Purdue’s Department of Biological Sciences.

“Determining the structure greatly advances our understanding of Zika - a virus about which little is known. It illuminates the most promising areas for further testing and research to combat infection,” he added.

This mosquito-borne disease rose up to the unpopular popularity when it got associated with a birth defect called microcephaly that not only causes brain damage but an abnormally small head in babies born to mothers infected during pregnancy. It has also been associated with the autoimmune disease Guillain-Barré syndrome, which can lead to temporary paralysis. According to the World Health Organization, majority of infected individual’s symptoms are mild and include fever, skin rashes and flulike illness.

Reaching out to a total count of spread in 33 countries, 12 countries have reportedly marked an increased incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome, and Brazil and French Polynesia have reported an increase in microcephaly, according to reports by the WHO. In February WHO declared Zika virus to be “a public health emergency of international concern.”

“This breakthrough illustrates not only the importance of basic research to the betterment of human health, but also its nimbleness in quickly addressing a pressing global concern,” said Purdue President Mitch Daniels. “This talented team of researchers solved a very difficult puzzle in a remarkably short period of time, and have provided those

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“

This breakthrough illustrates not only the importance of basic research to the betterment of human health, but also its nimbleness in quickly addressing a pressing global concern.

-Mitch Daniels, Purdue President

working on developing vaccines and treatments to stop this virus a map to guide their way.”

Rossmann and Kuhn collaborated with Theodore Pierson, chief of the viral pathogenesis section of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Additional research team members include Purdue graduate student Devika Sirohi and postdoctoral research associates Zhenguo Chen, Lei Sun and Thomas Klose.

The four month long research work was made easier for the scientists by university’s $250 million investment in the life sciences that funded the purchase of advanced equipments allowing the team to do it in a couple of months which otherwise would have taken years, Rossmann said.

“We were able to determine through cryo-electron microscopy the virus structure at a resolution that previously would only have been possible through X-ray crystallography,” he said. “Since the 1950s X-ray crystallography has been the standard method for determining the structure of viruses, but it requires a relatively large amount of virus, which isn’t always available; it can be very difficult to do, especially for viruses like Zika that have a lipid membrane and don’t organize accurately in a crystal; and it takes a long time. Now, we can do it through electron microscopy and view the virus in a more native state. This was unthinkable only a few years ago.”

The study involved a strain of Zika virus isolated from a patient infected during the French Polynesia epidemic. On determining the structure of the virus it was found to be of 3.8Å.

At this near-atomic resolution, key features of the virus structure can be seen and groups of atoms that form specific chemical entities, such as those that represent one of 20 naturally occurring amino acids, can be recognized, Rossmann said.

The structure was found to be very similar to that of other flaviviruses with an RNA genome surrounded by a lipid, or fatty, membrane inside an icosahedral protein shell. “The strong similarity with other flaviviruses was not surprising and is perhaps reassuring in terms of vaccine development already underway, but the subtle structural differences are possibly key”, Sirohi said.

“Most viruses don’t invade the nervous system or the developing foetus due to blood-brain and placental barriers, but the association with improper brain development in foetuses suggest Zika does,” Sirohi said. “It is not clear how Zika gains access to these cells and infects them, but these areas of structural difference may be involved. These unique

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This talented team of researchers solved a very difficult puzzle in a remarkably short period of time, and have provided those working on developing vaccines and treatments to stop this virus a map to guide their way.

-Mitch Daniels, Purdue President

areas may be crucial and warrant further investigation,” she added.

The team found that all of the known flavivirus structures differ in the amino acids that surround a glycosylation site in the virus shell. The shell is made up of 180 copies of two different proteins. These, like all proteins, are long chains of amino acids folded into particular structures to create a protein molecule. The glycosylation site where Zika virus differs from other flaviviruses protrudes from the surface of the virus. A carbohydrate molecule consisting of various sugars is attached to the viral protein surface at this site.

In many other viruses it has been shown that as the virus projects a glycosylation site outward, an attachment receptor molecule on the surface of a human cell recognizes the sugars and binds to them, Kuhn said.

The virus is like a menacing stranger luring an unsuspecting victim with the offer of sweet candy. The human cell gladly reaches out for the treat and then is caught by the virus, which, once attached, may initiate infection of that cell.

“The glycosylation site and surrounding residues on Zika virus may also be involved in attachment to human cells, and the differences in the amino acids between different flaviviruses could signify differences in the kinds of molecules to which the virus can attach and the different human cells it can infect”, Rossmann said.

“If this site functions as it does in dengue and is involved in attachment to human cells, it could be a good spot to target an antiviral compound,” Rossmann said. “If this is the case, perhaps an inhibitor could be designed to block this function and keep the virus from attaching to and infecting human cells.”

The further study by the team involves further testing to evaluate different regions as targets for treatment and to develop potential therapeutic molecules.

Kuhn and Rossmann have been in to the studies involving falviviruses for more than 14 years and were the first to map the structure of any flavivirus when they determined the structure of dengue virus in 2002. It was followed by the determining the structure of West Nile virus in 2003 and now they are the first to do so with Zika virus.

The National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded the research through an existing grant to Rossmann and Kuhn together with colleagues Michael Diamond and Daved Fremont at Washington University, and an emergency supplement to support Zika virus research issued in February.

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About Devika Sirohi Along the news of Zika virus structure being decoded, a name which got popular as lightening was that of the youngest member of the team that cracked the structure.

Devika Sirohi, an Indian borne researcher made the country proud with this exceptional feat.

The Meerut girl who is currently a research scholar at Purdue University finished her schooling at Dayawati Modi Academy followed by bachelor’s in biochemistry from University of Delhi and master’s at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. With a strong hold in a variety of disciplines spanning immunology, cell biology, molecular biology and development neuroscience, her achievement is worth recognition.

It also is a proud moment for her parents Mr. SS Sirohi and Ms. Reena Sirohi who are both Meerut based doctors. Her father is a pathologist and mother is a pediatrician. “It is a matter of pride not only for my family, because she is my daughter, but for the whole country that an Indian was a part of the team that made this breakthrough.

In a further conversation of Biotecnika magazine with Devika Sirohi, we have excerpts as below: Q. How long did it take to unveil the complete structure of the virus? What efforts went behind it?

A. It took around 3 months to determine the structure of Zika virus. However, the expertise to do so was acquired over many years of work with other flaviviruses including dengue and West Nile.

We first optimized the ideal conditions and cell type for growth, amplification and purification of virus. We then scaled up the process and purified the virus for cryo-electron microscopy. Thousands of images were collected on our state of the art FEI Titan Krios electron microscope equipped with a Gatan K2 direct electron detector. These were used to create a three dimensional density map of the virus with the help of a variety of computational algorithms. Finally, an atomic model of the virus was built where the arrangement and structure of viral proteins could be examined.

Q. Would you like to elaborate on major highlights in the structure of Zika virus that has been found out?

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A. Zika virus is 50 nanometers in diameter with a shell of viral envelope (E) and membrane (M) proteins surrounding a lipid bilayer that was acquired from the host cell. It’s structure was similar to that of other flaviviruses such as dengue virus. The most notable difference is around the glycosylation site of the E surface protein. This region may serve as an attachment site of the virus to host cells and influence disease.

Q. How long could it take to come with an effective treatment? Is your team looking forward to working in direction of finding cure as well?

A. It is difficult to predict and is anyone’s guess at this time. A lot of groups are working hard and fast and there are lessons learned from other viruses to guide the way; so we hope its soon if there are no roadblocks.

Our team works at the interface of basic and applied viral biology and we are trying to tackle the problem from many different angles.

Q. Would decoding zika virus structure also prove fruitful to finding cure for diseases caused by other viruses of the same family such as dengue?

A. We know the structure of dengue virus and West Nile virus; these were also first determined at Purdue University by the laboratories of Richard Kuhn and Michael Rossmann in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Knowing the structure has helped tremendously in understanding the host antibody response to these viruses and guided vaccine research as well as the hunt for new antivirals. It is interesting that dengue, West Nile and Zika have similar structures but cause very different diseases. Is there a morphological basis for disease? We do not know yet but having these structures is one step forward in this direction.

Q. Having experienced an educational environment in both India and US, how different do you think they are?

A. They are similar in some ways and different in others. Pursuit of excellence is common; but the framework of academic programs is different.

Q. How difficult it is to get a PhD or Post Doc in US? How should one go about applying?

A. It is not easy but a PhD at Purdue is well worth the struggle! Having prior research experience is helpful to both secure a PhD position and to get a good head start in the program. Research, resources and faculty are what I looked at when I was narrowing in on

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Purdue is an excellent place for doing basic and/or applied interdisciplinary research in a variety of subject areas. There are a lot of talented scientists here supported by good infrastructure and a great learning environment.

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Zika virus is 50 nanometers in diameter with a shell of viral envelope (E) and membrane (M) proteins surrounding a lipid bilayer that was acquired from the host cell. It’s structure was similar to that of other flaviviruses such as dengue virus.

a graduate school for PhD research.

Q. Why you chose Purdue as your Research Destination? What were the major challenges you faced after reaching USA? A. Purdue is an excellent place for doing basic and/or applied interdisciplinary research in a variety of subject areas. There are a lot of talented scientists here supported by good infrastructure and a great learning environment. I first met Prof. Richard Kuhn at a conference in the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, where I was enrolled as a master’s student. I applied to Purdue, joined his laboratory and the opportunities for growth have been incredible!

I adjusted well in US and did not face any major challenges other than separation from family and friends back home and perhaps learning to drive on the right side!

Q. Where is Indian Research Fraternity lagging behind when it comes to encouraging newer talent to join it?

A. An increase in opportunities and grants should engage more minds to research.

Q. Do you have plans to come back to India?

A. Undecided at the moment; my next step is to pursue post-doctoral opportunities in United States after I defend my PhD thesis in the fall.

Q. What is your message to budding researchers of India?

A. Develop analytical thinking; be focused, persistent and relentless with your experiments and goals!

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GMO SPECIAL

Would losing on GMOs take toll on environment, economies too?

According to a Purdue University study, higher food prices, a significant boost in greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change and major loss of forest and pasture land would be some results if genetically modified organisms in the United States were banned.

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hile a huge chunk of population dedicate their entire lives in pinpointing what’s wrong with the GMOs, there are others who are striving towards proving at least one point that is in favour of GM crops. Opposition and criticism against GM crops is probably the most sought after fact and these apprehensions have many reasons as their opponents pose. While we were still thinking if GM is good for health or not, the tug of war between those “in favour” of it and those “opposing” it has come to a new level as the researchers in their recent study claim that losing out on GMOs could take a toll on environment and economies!

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This is not an argument to keep or lose GMOs. It’s just a simple question: What happens if they go away?

-Wally Tyner, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

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How was the study conducted?

The study which was conducted with the main aim of evaluating the economic and environmental consequences of losing GMO traits in the US for major crops of corn, soybean and cotton included a lot of research. The first step was to obtain a range of estimates of yield losses if we move away from GMO traits, mostly from the literature.

The next step was to introduce the yield losses obtained in the first step into a well known CGE model, GTAP-BIO, to quantify the land use and economic impacts of banning GMO traits in the U.S. Their analysis confirmed that if we do not have access to the GMO technology, a significant amount of land would need to be converted from other crops, cropland pasture, pasture and forest to meet global food demand. The land expansion likely is similar to the entire U.S. ethanol program.

According to a Purdue University study, higher food prices, a significant boost in greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change and major loss of forest and pasture land would be some results if genetically modified organisms in the United States were banned. In an endeavour to know the significance of crop yield loss if genetically modified crops were banned from U.S. farm fields, as well as to study how that decision would trickle down to other parts of the economy, researchers from Purdue University went on to this backbreaking experimentation. Wally Tyner, James and Lois Ackerman Professor of Agricultural Economics; Farzad Taheripour, a research associate professor of agricultural economics; and Harry Mahaffey, an agricultural economics graduate student formed a team to carry out the study.

Before we jump into concluding whether the research conducted was a bad or good one, Tyner said "this is not an argument to keep or lose GMOs. It's just a simple question: What happens if they go away?"

According to a data gathered by the economists, they found that 18 million farmers in 28 countries planted about 181 million hectares of GMO crops in 2014, with about 40 per-

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The model showed up that if all the GMOs in the United

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State were eliminated, corn yield declines of 11.2 percent on average, soybeans lose 5.2% of their yields and cotton faces a decline by 18.6%. cent of that in the United States.

These data were then fed into the Purdue developed GTAPBIO model, which has been used to examine economic consequences of changes to agricultural, energy, trade and environmental policies.

The results shown by it were quite intriguing. The model showed up that if all the GMOs in the United State were eliminated, corn yield declines of 11.2 percent on average, soybeans lose 5.2% of their yields and cotton faces a decline by 18.6%. To make up for that loss, about 102,000 hectares of U.S. forest and pasture would have to be converted to cropland and 1.1 million hectares globally for the average case! Isn’t that a huge number?

It is not just about a decline in the number of crops cultivated, what gets worst affected is the environment. Lower crop yields result in a significant increase in the greenhouse gas emissions worsening the environmental balance even further. This would in turn require a pasture land to be converted into a forest.

"In general, the land use change, the pasture and forest you need to convert to cropland to produce the amount of food that you need is greater than all of the land use change that we have previously estimated for the U.S. ethanol program," Tyner said.

In other words, the increase in greenhouse gas emissions that would come from banning GMOs in the United States would be greater than the amount needed to create enough land to meet federal mandates of about 15 billion gallons of biofuels.

That’s a slight exemplification of the environmental impact. Tyner said that “Some of the same groups that oppose GMOs want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the potential for global warming. The result we get is that you can't have it

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both ways. If you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, an important tool to do that is with GMO traits."

Now if we come to the economical impact of the “GM crops-gone” scenario, the commodity prices would be witnessing a steep high. With lower crop yields without GMO traits, corn prices would increase as much as 28% and soybeans as much as 22%, according to the study. Consumers could easily expect food prices to rise by 1-2%, or $14 billion-$24 billion per year.

If we get our figures right, in the United States GMOs make up 89% of corn, 94% soybeans and 91% cotton planted each year. Other disheartening result shows that some countries have already banned GMOs or have not adopted them or are considering bans. The researchers from Purdue University said that they would continue their research on understanding further the impact of GMOs and how its expansion or reduction is going to affect the economies and environment worldwide.

"If in the future we ban GMOs at the global scale, we lose lots of potential yield," Taheripour said. "If more countries adopt GMOs, their yields will be much higher”, he added.

GM crops have been a topic of debate since its very inception with controversies lingering around its safety, labelling and much more. Many countries have gone into the extent of banning it while others have Okayed only the introduction on non consumable GM crops. The ratio of people supporting and against the technology is definitely unbalancing and we hope that studies as conducted by Purdue University researchers help deal with common apprehensions against GMOs.

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Some of the same groups that oppose GMOs want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the potential for global warming. The result we get is that you can’t have it both ways. If you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, an important tool to do that is with GMO traits -Tyner

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Go green with Biotecnika

“Go Green” Initiative

By Biotecnika Magazine “Go Green” Switch to Biotecnika Magazine App Available on Playstore & App Store

“Go Green” initiative by Biotecnika Magazine is to promote greenery in the city of Bangalore.

We seek assistance from all the biotech/pharma/ healthcare organizations to join hands with us and aid in promoting the same. Biotecnika crew would wish to plant a sapling in the premises of your organization and make environment go green.

Join hands with us!

Write to us at editor@biotecnika.org or Call Us at 1800-200-3757 for more details.

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ROBERT BALDERAS VP, Market Development

BD BIOSCIENCES, USA

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We do have a lot of collaborations with Indian institutes to promote and aid capacity building in flow cytometry in India.

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ith a leadership experience of more than 35 years in both academia and biotech industry, Robert Balderas has served as a corporate scientist, site manager and marketer in the field of biotechnology and has contributed to the growth in both Pharmingen and BD Biosciences. He has championed multiple key successful product launches during his tenure at Pharmingen and BD Biosciences and is recognized for his success in growing sales and profits.

His experience in academic medicine accompanied by his strategic approaches as the VP of Research and Development is reflected in increased efficiencies within the Clinical and Research product development programs, with oversight in the development of more than 4000 reagents.

Robert Balderas’ track record of business process improvements is based on his expertise obtained while working at The Scripps Research Institute in the labs of Frank Dixon and Argyrios Theofilopoulos, where he focused 18 years in the field of autoimmunity.

He is known for his ability to motivate his technical staff, diagnosing impediments in product development programs, building his efforts and focused on both product execution and career development of his staff, as well as integrating functional programs across other business operations. Today, as VP of Market Development, Robert is focused on driving market adoption of new products and technologies into the Life Science Community and represents a core domain leader in the platform of Flow Cytometry.

In addition his scientific experiences, Robert also received an MBA from the University of San Diego. He also serves on the editorial board of Clinical Proteomics, has been involved with several business acquisitions, led two industrial/academic initiatives with CANVAC and the NCI, a member of the UCSD Industrial Liason Program, a member of the Deans Council for the UCSD School of Biological Sciences, a corporate member of the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering, Board Member of the Human Leukocyte Differentiation Antigen (HLDA), SAB member Inflamex (Paris, France), SAB Member UC Davis Photonics and leads BD Biosciences TLDP Recruiting Team for the BD Biosciences. He has shared in publishing over 80 scientific journal articles, and is a recipient of the BD Howe Award for “Sensing, Sourcing and Seeking New Technologies”.

Robert Balderas interacted with Biotecnika Magazine, the excerpts of which are as below:

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Q. Having years of experience with both industry and academia, how important is it to have a transition from a researcher to a marketer?

A. For any industrial scientist/marketer, experience in aca-

demia, pharma and biotech provide an ideal opportunity to better understand the broad scientific pressures and needs of scientists at the bench. For most all careers in the life science arena, customer focus will always provide the necessary foundation for success in the business.

Q. How have you seen the industry evolve in the past 10 years?

A. Flow cytometry has evolved over the past 40 years to the

necessary multiparametric analysis platforms in use today.

The use of more robust Photo Multiplier Tubes (PMTs) and new lasers, the development of new fluorochromes/dyes, and changes in analytical capacity (multidimensional analysis software) are examples of recent improvements.

The flow cytometry technology available today includes different devices with several configurations. Commercially available equipment can now be equipped with anywhere from one laser to fifty lasers that can determine five to fifty parameters respectively. Additionally, flow cytometry technology is evolving to enable the acquisition of a greater number of parameters in the same sample.

Today the application of flow cytometry is limited only by the researchers’ creativity.

Q. Do you have a research base in India? Do you have ties ups with Indian institutes?

A. We currently do not have an active research facility in

India, but we always look for key research collaborations.

It requires each side to engage far beyond the conventional exchange of research for funding. When they work well, strategic partnerships merge the discovery-driven culture of the university with the innovation-driven environment of the organisation.

“ One differentiator for BD Biosciences is our experienced and highly knowledgeable associates who provide information, training, application support and field services so that our customers can achieve optimal performance and productivity with their flow cytometry needs.

We however do have a lot of collaborations with Indian institutes to promote and aid capacity building in flow cytometry in India. To this end, we have successfully collaborated with higher center of learning and research centers like NCCS, Pune, NCBS-Bangalore, Calcutta University –Kolkata to name a few. These joint centers of excellence routinely conduct educational workshops for the student community

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and also high end flow cytometry work for the researchers.

• BD-NCBS CoE in Advanced Flow cytometry, Bangalore • BD-Calcutta university CoE in Nanosciences, Kolkata • BD-NCCS CoE in Pune in stem cell research and sorting • BD has a collaboration with PD Hinduja Hospital – Mumbai as a COE for Clinical workshops and training. We have conducted 9 trainings at this center and trained 30 pathologists and Laboratory technologists at this site.

We also have a 3000sq ft. BD-JH FACS TM Academy, which is an industry –academia collaboration between BD Biosciences India and Jamia Hamdard University in New Delhi .The aim is to develop and jointly organize workshops, seminars and training programs on flow cytometry. We have an annual calendar where we conduct training on a monthly basis on flow cytometry.

“ For any industrial scientist/ marketer, experience in academia, pharma and biotech provide an ideal opportunity to better understand the broad scientific pressures and needs of scientists at the bench.

BD FACS Academy has been running at Jamia Hamdard since 2011, under the name of BD JH FACS Academy, we have trained 600 plus participants at this facility including research scholars, laboratory technologist and Pathologist. We have conducted more than 70 courses for BD FACSOrientTM and BD FACSMasterTM. The center also conducts a certificate course in Flow Cytometry namely the BD FACS eLearn programme which has both on line course material prepared by Dr Mike Ormerod, UK based scientist renowned in the field of Flow Cytometry. On successful completion of online course and on line examination the participants are called for the practical course which is held for 5 days followed by final examination comprising of practicals and Viva by expert faculties in the field of flow cytometry.

(Visit our website: www.bdbiociences.com/in/services/training/ classrooms).

Q. Who are the major competitors in the market? And how do you keep up the pace of competition?

A. Danaher, Miltenyi and Thermo Fisher scientific are the key competitors in the space we play in.

One differentiator for BD Biosciences is our experienced and highly knowledgeable associates who provide information, training, application support and field services so that our customers can achieve optimal performance and productivity with their flow cytometry needs.

We also are different from the rest of the crowd owing to our training partnerships with high quality research institutes and our FACS Academy at New Delhi.

Q. What are the major challenges in the industry currently?

And how do you overcome them?

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A. Lack of awareness is one challenge that we intend to overcome with several educational programs like the recently concluded and a highly successful “The BD Global HorizonTM Tour” where we focus on the basics of flow cytometry, multi-color flow cytometry, panel design and cell sorting considerations .

The application of this platform technology focuses on Immunology, cell biology and stem cell biology. Another major development is the culmination of mass spectrometry and flow cytometry. The recent progress has helped in the evaluation of many parameters that was not possible in case of traditional flow cytometry, but today we have flow cytometers that can go up to 50 parameters. On the other hand, introduction of less complicated and simple to use personalized flow cytometers are witnessing greater application outside the academic setup.

Q. With the advancement in technologies, how closer are we to cracking the code to many infectious diseases and especially cancer?

A. The role of the technology in driving faster drug discovery too cannot be ignored.

Over the past few years, screening the compound libraries to identify how they influence the living cell has interested many researchers worldwide. It is considered to be a crucial step even in drug discovery program. Screening by considering the cell – based assays provides the most obvious benefits of testing the impact of compounds as opposed to the molecular targets, within the living cells.

Flow cytometry also enables a much broader and system biology approach that offers a complete understanding of the cellular functions involved in any disease processes. Definitely, such cell-based screening techniques have encouraged many scientists to design model systems that are associated with cellular pathways.

Today extraction of crucial data for certain disease models and information on companion diagnostic program involving cellular biomarkers for cancer and immune therapies are made possible by flow cytometry.

Q. What new technologies and innovation from BD Biosciences is expected in the coming years?

A. Over the past 40 years, BD has been honored to be the brand our customers have trusted to facilitate and speed up their work to discover more about life and improve the human condition using BD FACS brand of Flow cytometers.

We are in a very exciting phase of innovation at our company. We have just launched several state-of-the-art research system optimized for use with BD Horizon Brilliant™ Dyes for enhancing multicolor research applications. These include BD FACSCelestaTM and the BD FACS Symphony A3 and A5.

We also have introduced an improved version of the most popular and widely used personal flow cytometers called the “BD AccuriTM C6 Plus”. It is an ideal solution which brings flow cytometry within reach for both faculty research and student excellence.

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WHY ARE BILLIONAIRES INVESTING IF BT SECTOR HAS NO SCOPE?

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Whether Microsoft, Infosys or Facebook, Cognizant or Wipro, all major IT/ non IT companies are either investing in life sciences or have a fully function life sciences arm.

In fact the BioPharma Sector is slated to become multi trillion US Dollars ($) sector!

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hat hurtful remark of “BT has no scope”, that skirmish dialogues with a non bio guy who said “BT is a waste”, those uninformed seniors who guided you “against biotech”- all these might be familiar confrontations if you are a Biotech professional. At least once in your academic or professional lives you might have been suggested of leaving the field and look for something more “promising”. Well, unfortunately so, “no scope” is the tagline comes free with biotechnology field in many countries including India.

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But the recent numbers point out to a completely different picture. Need to know how!

While the academia struggled to find a place in the industry, the companies are flooding with billions of dollars. Whether Microsoft, Infosys or Facebook, Cognizant or Wipro, all major IT/ non IT companies are either investing in life sciences or have a fully function life sciences arm. In fact the BioPharma Sector is slated to become multi trillion US Dollars ($) sector!

Talking about the big money flowing in, we often assume the scope is restricted to western counterparts such as the US and Europe. But there are many more funding and investments happening in all major economies such as India and China. The underlying problem could be a probable gap between what we understand about BT industry and academia. Let’s term it as demand and supply gap. While the companies are investing heavily on biosciences, there exists a skill set gap among the graduates, post graduates coming out of the college and that of the industry requirements.

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As we say it happens only in India, the dominance of this skill set gap is the most persistent in India. Call it the fault of curriculum or badly designed practical exposure; it eventually takes a toll on placement of these students in the industry. In the early 2000s when the seed of ‘biotech’ was roped in, little was the realization that just a formal degree in biosciences wouldn’t suffice. Result? There were thousands of graduates out of college sans industry specified skills.

While the companies are investing heavily on biosciences, there exists a skill set gap among the graduates, post graduates coming out of the college and that of the industry requirements.

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So what are these skills that we are talking about? To be absorbed in the industry we need specific skill sets such as in QA/ AC (Quality Assurance/ Quality Control), Pharmacovigilence, IPR, hands on experience on various instruments and bioinformatics tools, medical coding and much more. Amidst a plethora of knowledge to be gained in the field of science, it is always advisable to gain expertise and a practical experience in ones area of interest.

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We might ask ourselves what might be the scope once these skills are attained? Not too long back, the comment by DBT secretary that “BT industry will be 100mn dollars by 2025 made the industry hopeful of the new highs that it might see. Attaining that height would mean more companies opening up, more people being recruited and hence more skills being utilized. Additionally government jobs in this sector have been booming off late which might come as good news for all those who want the tag of “stable government job”.

Now the question can be asked again that why are the millionaires investing? Their foresightedness and belief in the industry would definitely be a reason. Increase in population which would eventually lead an increasing demand of food, an increasing need to do away with the disease burden, an increase in med-tech space and much more. All these would need an investment in biotechnology and its applications. It surely is the business of the future.

“Over the next 50 years bioscience will undergo a radical transformation as advancement in life sciences converge with mathematics, physical sciences and engineering”, said newly appointed head of the Paul G. Allen Frontiers group, Tom Skalak.

The time is now to make this type of transformative investment in biosciences to advance the field and ultimately to make the world better.

A LOOK AT THE INVESTMENTS IN BT SECTOR

Facebook cofounder invests $250 millions for cancer cure Facebook got its association with the life science sector when it pocketed out $250 millions for cancer cure. With almost 4 decades into cancer research and billions of investment into research, survival rates haven’t improved to a promising number. In 2014, more than 1.6 million Americans were diagnosed and close to 600,000 died from cancer. By 2030 cancer is expected to surpass heart disease and become the leading cause of death in the United States.

It came as a relief to this excruciatingly painful scenario of cancer when an investment of $250 millions was made by Sean Parker to institutes such as Stanford Manhattan’s Memorial Sloan Kettering, ULCA, UCSF, University of Pennsylvania and more.

Sean Parker said that he is putting money behind cancer immune therapy because it is at a turning point and would benefit from research that is done without regard for the costs. Parker’s cash infusion is the largest ever for cancer immunotherapy and one of the largest ever for cancer research and comes three months after President Obama called for a $ 1 billion federal cancer research program “moonshot”.

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Andreessen Horowitz Launches $200 Mn BT Software In one of the instances where biotech and information technology was seen converging, Andreessen Horowitz, US based venture capital firm launched a new $200 million fund to invest in software in biology and medicine, led by its ninth general partner, Vijay Pande.

“The nature of the ideas is getting really interesting,” Andreessen says. With Digital therapeutics, the data that can be gathered through health and physiology with smart trackers, computational pharmacology, machine learning with drugs. The real world potential is very profound. So it’s exciting to go deep into these companies now.

Excitement for software in bio is industry-wide, he argues, from startups to Google, which restructured as Alphabet in a move Pande believes will open up more opportunities for its bio units. Andreessen says the fund will work closely with Y Combinator as the startup hub spots and grows more companies in the space as well. The fund wouldn’t have come together without Pande’s involvement, Andreessen admits: “We had no plan B.”

Infosys funded $ 2 Mn for Dengue vaccine development In October 2015, Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy and Infosys Foundation funded 2 billion dollars for testing dengue vaccine developed by team of researchers at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB).

The experts have earlier estimated that dengue infections are taking a toll with current official numbers witnessing a new high in dengue infections. “A recent study estimated an annual average of almost 5.8 million clinically diagnosed dengue cases in the country between 2006 and 2012. This was almost 300 times the officially reported numbers for the same period,” said Dr Anita Shet, a professor at St John’s Medical College Hospital.

The research was also supported

by Department of Biotechnology (DBT). Prof K VijayRaghavan, Secretary, DBT said that “DBT has put in huge money on vaccine research. We welcome the Infosys Foundation’s contribution to the project.”

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Microsoft co-founder donates $100 million Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen donated $100 million of his fortune to launch what he calls an “industrial-scale” effort to understand the basic building block of all living things: the cell.

The funds would be utilized for the creation of new institute based in Seattle that will construct a comprehensive visual database and predictive model of different types of cell from cancer ridden ones to neurons.

"Cells are fundamental to every known human disease... If you can get a better understanding of how those cell processes come into focus that can give you further insight into normal cell functioning and disease states that everyone wants to attack,” Allen said.

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H

ow about designing a life from scratch with components of the cell limiting to bare essentials? While we might wonder why the need is; researchers have already brought it to reality. However incredible it sounds, Genomics entrepreneur Craig Venter has created a synthetic cell that contains the smallest genome of any known, independent organism with 473 functional genes! This comes as a major milestone in his team’s 20- year quest to reduce life to just what is required to line- nothing more, nothing less.

The creation of these synthetic cells have opened the door for creating synthetic organisms with customized sets of genes aimed at specific tasks, such as eating oil, making drugs, fuels and other products. Mycoplasma laboratorium, the newly formed bacteria can metabolize nutrients and self-replicate (divide and reproduce), bringing the team one step closer to building custom artificial life with particular functionalities. But again the question arises; that with the current scenario of powerful explosion of “gene editing” techniques, what is the need to go to the trouble of making new life when you can simply tweak what already exists?

“The idea of building whole genomes is one of the dreams and promises of synthetic biology,” says Paul Freemont, a synthetic biologist at Imperial College London, who is not involved in the work.

Back in the year 2010, Venter’s team at the J. Craig Venter Institute had copied an existing bacterial genome and transplanted it into another cell but there is nothing like the genome of the minimal cells in nature.

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Our long-term vision has been to design and build synthetic organisms on demand where you can add in specific functions and predict what the outcome is going to be.

-Dan Gibson, Study Co-Author

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“We’re showing how complex life is even in the simplest of organisms,” said Craig Venter, founder and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), where the study was completed.

“These findings are very humbling in that regard.”

Synthetic Cell with Smallest Genome ever!

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If you want to make a few changes, CRISPRs are a great tool, but if you’re really making something new and you’re trying to design life, CRISPRs aren’t going to get you there.

-Creg Venter

A look at the past!

It all began with Venter’s team sequencing the genome of Mycoplasma genitalium, a sexually transmitted microbe with the smallest genome of any known free-living organism and mapping its 470 genes. It was during this time that Venter, Hamilton Smith and Clyde Hutchison, the study’s author had discussed that what it would take to answer basic questions about the way life functions. And their answer laid in building an organism with the smallest genome possible.

So the experiment was further extended by inactivating genes one by one and testing to see whether the bacterium could still function. They could finally slim down to 375 genes that seemed essential.

To confirm the hypothesis, they set out to build a minimal genome from scratch, by joining together chemically synthesized DNA segments. The team tried to make essentially an exact copy of M. genitalium genome that also included dozens of non-functional snippets of DNA ‘watermarks’. But the sluggish growth of natural M. genitalium cells prompted them to switch to the more prolific Mycoplasma mycoides. This time, they not only synthesized its genome and watermarked it with their names and with famous quotes, but also implanted it into another bacterium that had been emptied of its own genome. The resulting ‘JCVI-syn1.0’ cells were unveiled in 2010.

But there were a few glitches in the model as the organism’s genome was built by copying existing plan and not through design. It also had a bloated genome of more than 1 million DNA which was nowhere close to minimal.

To further cut down the number of genes the team used syn1.0 genome as a template.

From there they designed a set of possible genomes for the bacterium and broke them into shorter strings. To check onto which genes were absolutely necessary for life, transposons were inserted which disrupted the functioning of a given gene. If cell stayed alive, then it was considered nonessential and snipped out, while if the cell died, whatever was taken out was essential. Looks like an easy yes or no, apparently it wasn’t so simple. In a few cases single gene could be removed by itself, but when coupled with another, it could become essential.

The next step was to build a synthetic genome that could be inserted into another Mycoplasma, which on its own was able to grow and live like a normal cell. They called the result syn3.0. With nearly all of its nutrients supplied through growth media, syn3.0’s essential

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genes tend to be those involved in cellular chores such as making proteins, copying DNA and building cellular membranes.

Astoundingly, Venter says that his team could not identify the function of 149 of the genes in syn3.0’s genome, many of which are found in other life forms, including humans. “We don’t know about a third of essential life, and we’re trying to sort that out now,” he said. The team plans to keep working on adding genes to the synthetic genome to tease out the functions of the unknown genes. “We want to get to where we understand 100 percent of the genes in the organism, not just 66 percent.”

Though a lot has been achieved, even researchers acknowledge that syn3.0’s genome, although new was designed by trial and error and they aim for it to be more on the basis of fundamental understanding of how to build a functioning genome that being fluke. Further addressing to CRISPR Venter said “If you want to make a few changes, CRISPRs are a great tool, but if you’re really making something new and you’re trying to design life, CRISPRs aren’t going to get you there.”

That being said, the scientific community is eagerly waiting for the high promises that the technology could deliver. It would be a dream to see it making better avenues for making germs and do everything from eating oil to making biofuels.

The greatest advantage of a minimal cell would be to able to devote the maximum amount of energy into whatever is designed for the cell to do.

“Our long-term vision has been to design and build synthetic organisms on demand where you can add in specific functions and predict what the outcome is going to be,” said study co-author Dan Gibson, an associate professor at the Venter Institute.

We don’t know about a third of essential life, and we’re trying to sort that out now.

We want to get to where we understand 100 percent of the genes in the organism, not just 66 percent.

“

-Creg Venter

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ear Debuting in the year 2013, reproducing something as complex as ear came as a major challenge for bioengineers but proved blissful for those borne with missing ear for whom the reconstruction process is slow and painful, involving harvesting cartilage from the patient’s ribs.

A team of researchers at the Princeton University made a functional ear from calf cells and electronic materials. The ear artificially developed has greater efficiency than normal ones as they can pick radio frequencies well beyond the range that human ears can normally detect.

TOP 10

BODY PARTS created outside body!

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he day might soon be there when the internet would be flooding with the news of an entire human being created outside body! Well, that sounds does sound like fantasy overloaded, but the speed with which researchers are fabricating body parts one after another might be indicative of the making of an in-vitro human very soon!

That might be eons away; researchers have surely started making exceptional feat in terms of creating functional body parts outside of body! Read along to find a few such exceptional works!

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tear gland

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Researchers stepped one step closer towards the era of bioengineered organs when they created tear gland and salivary glands in lab dish using stem cells from mice. The project spearheaded by researchers at the Tokyo University of Science gave a new hope to those with “dry eye” or “dry mouth” syndromes, which are caused by the malfunctioning glands. Takashi Tsuji, along with a team, grew the two glands in the lab dish from precursor cells, and transplanted the primitive organs into mice in 2013. The new salivary and lacrimal glands connected to nerves and ducts and were able to successfully secrete tears and saliva.

kideny

In 2015, researchers reported development of a surgically implantable, artificial kidney – a promising alternative to kidney transplantation or dialysis for people with end-stage kidney disease. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 10 American adults will have some level of chronic kidney disease and around 600,000 patients in the U.S. have chronic kidney failure. While dialysis and kidneys transplants are an option, they aren’t always reliable. The Kidney Project team has prototyped and begun testing key components of the coffee-cup-sized device, which mimics functions of the human kidney. The project led

by UCSF nephrologist William Fissell and bioengineering Professor Shuvo Roy, aims to begin testing the kidney device in 2017.

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Biotecnika magazine

skin

heart

While replacing this complex organ in living humans is a no easy feat, researchers have been working hard to develop heart from the scratch outside of the body.

It has been attempted by various organizations such as Carmat and MIT where they used cow heart to rodent cells to print heart tissue.

Recently researchers from the University of California have grown heart as tiny dots which when looked through microscope could be seen sporting its own ventriclelike chamber. Measuring around half a millimetre in diameter it’s the first time that three-dimensional heart-like organs have been created from stem cells alone.

When the news of first artificial skin being grown in labs did the rounds, it brought with it the hope of replacing animals in drugs and cosmetic testing. Researchers across UK and US were able to produce one centimeter wide fragments of epidermis - the outermost skin layer - from stem cells with the same properties as real skin. It came as major achievement for tissue engineers who were till then unable to grow an outer skin layer with the functional barrier needed for drug testing. It could also prove useful for investigating skin conditions such as eczema.

The attempt of producing artificial skin production dates back to 2011 when the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology introduced a system that can rapidly manufacture two-layer artificial skin models.

Their Tissue Factory has the capacity to make 5,000 skin sheets in a month.

blood vessels

liver Six years down the line when this highly complex organ was first attempted to be engineered outside body, researchers have surely achieved great results. In 2010 bioengineers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center grew miniature livers in the lab using decellularized animal liver and later it was modified by researchers from Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine and grown as liver “buds”.

3D printing technology saw a new high when the researcher bioprinted blood vessels without which new parts and implants cannot integrate and grow successfully into the human body. Making blood vessels in the lab from a patient’s own cells would also mean a better treatment for cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and diabetes.

Recently, the Chinese scientists have been able to produce the most realistic lab-grown liver tissue yet.

The team led by Jinyi Wang at Northwest A&F University has been able to use human cells taken from a real liver and aorta to construct a microfluidics-based tissue that’s very similar to that found in the body.

In 2011, the head of California-based Cytograft Tissue Engineering reported progress in a study where three end-stage kidney disease patients were implanted with blood vessels bioengineered in the lab. After eight months the grafts continued to work well, easing access to dialysis.

Lately, Massachusetts General Hospital found a way to encourage stem-like cells to develop into vascular precursor cells, a key step on the way to becoming blood vessel cells. They generated long-lasting blood vessels in living mice.

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limb

The team of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital grew an entire rat arm in a dish in a recent achievement. Forelimb created by a technique called “decellularization,� uses living donor cells to regrow organ tissue. The bioengineered rat forelimb contained bone, cartilage, blood vessels, tendons, ligaments, and nerves, and could pave the way for entire limb transplants for amputees.

breast tissue In an effort to study the development of breast cancer better, researchers at Helmholtz Center for Health and Environmental Research in Germany grew miniature mammary glands.

Healthy tissue taken from women undergoing breast reduction surgery was turned into a gel that allowed the cells to divide and spread much like the mammary gland would during puberty.

intestine

Another similar research has been carried out by Zev Gartner, PhD, University of California where he is building fully functional 3-D human tissue, cell by cell.

Scientists from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and the University of Pittsburgh have been able to successfully grow healthy intestine atop a 3-D scaffold made of a substance used in surgical sutures.

In a further step that takes their work well beyond proof of concept, researchers report their laboratorycreated intestine successfully regenerated gut tissue in the colons of dogs with missing gut lining and also in mice.

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Simple ways to get rid of cholesterol woes

GUEST CORNER

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he term ‘cholesterol’ has a bad reputation and most of us fear falling prey to it. Yes, high levels are considered to be the cause for a host of illnesses, including heart disease, blood pressure and diabetes, but did you know that cholesterol is not the culprit. This lipid produced by the liver, is vital for many body processes, such as insulating nerve cells in the brain and providing structure for cells. The problem starts because of lower levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL). On the other hand, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) form deposits on the walls of the arteries, thus limiting blood flow and causing cardiovascular diseases. It must be noted that it is the higher LDL and lower HDL levels, and not the cholesterol they carry, that raise the chances of developing heart disease.

Dr. Simran Saini, Nutritionist and Weight Loss Consultant, Fortis Shalimar Bagh Hospital says, “It is important to incorporate healthy changes in lifestyle and identify & reduce consumption of foods which may increase your risk of heart disease. And this is applicable to everyone with any body type. High cholesterol levels can result in heart ailments for any body type. Therefore, have your cholesterol checked regularly regardless of your weight, physical activity and diet.”

To reduce your bad cholesterol levels, start by limiting food with high levels of saturated fat and trans fat. Many packaged foods,

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such as potato wafers and bakery products, which use refined grains such as maida (all-purpose flour), are low in fibre and contain trans fats.

Additionally, reusing of cooking oil also increases trans fat levels. Again, frequent consumption red meat, whole milk products, ghee and coconut oil, can increase LDL as they are rich in saturated fats. Limit the intake and substitute them with fresh unprocessed foods.

There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Increase your intake of soluble fiber. Both have heart-health benefits, but soluble fiber also helps lower your LDL levels. So include oats and oat bran, fruits, beans, lentils, and vegetables in your daily platter. Similarly, during winters, fresh home

It must be noted that it is the higher LDL and lower HDL levels, and not the cholesterol they carry, that raise the chances of developing heart disease.

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“

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Biotecnika magazine

made soups, green leafy vegetables and salads have a good role in helping you with an improved lipid profile.

“Another very effective change you can make is to replace products high in saturated fats like butter with lower fat alternates like low fat table spreads.

Low fat table spreads are good for health, but, make sure that when selecting a table spread, choose the one that has 0% Cholesterol and 0 g trans fat on the Nutrition Facts label”, added Dr Saini To further enhance your efforts in improving your cholesterol to healthy levels include nuts in your diet, especially pistachio. A recent study by the Diabetes Foundation of India (DFI) and the National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation found that pistachios have a low glycemic index, are naturally cholesterol free, and are source of protein, fibre and antioxidants. These properties make consumption of pistachios potentially useful for those at risk for obesity and heart disease. Other than these, opt for wholegrains, unprocessed food, fruits and vegetables daily in your daily diet. Include flaxseed, sunflower seeds and fatty fish in the diet to increase good cholesterol. Replace high-fat dairy products with low-fat milk products.

Daily exercise for at least 30 minutes is also essential. A simple brisk walk daily, riding a bike, swimming or just playing your favourite sport is helpful. Even taking the stairs instead of the elevator or doing a few sit-ups while watching television can make a difference.

Remember your health is your responsibility. Only you can take its best care.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: “Simran Saini has done a bachelor's in alternate medicine and completed her diploma in dietary counselling from the Institute of Health Science in Ireland. With a rich experience of approximately 7 years in the field of nutrition, she has been working with the Fortis group of hospitals and two private clinics in Delhi. Author of numerous articles with the Times of India and leading magazines. She is member of the federation of nutrition therapist in Ireland and the International college of holistic medicine, UK. Her main moto has been to help people feel more fit, active and healed through dietary guidance pertaining to various kinds of ailments and weight loss as well. Her website is www.simransainislimsolution.com”

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