News & Views Issue 7 January 2016
INDIA ALLIANCE
EDITORIAL We, at the India Alliance, wish you a very happy and prosperous 2016. There were many highlights and events last year which we tried to bring to you through these newsletters, our brand new website, social media and emails. We hope to be able to do the same this year. The first issue of 2016 has announcements of our Fellowship schemes, updates on funded research and other IA activities. It also features interesting article, interviews and event announcements. Apart from our Fellows who are making waves in their fields, we are also very fortunate to have distinguished scientists on our fellowship selection committee. We wish to congratulate our committee member Dr Amit Sharma (ICGEB, New Delhi) for being awarded the Infosys Award 2015 for “for his pioneering contributions to deciphering the molecular structure at atomic level, of key proteins involved in the biology of pathogenesis of the malarial parasite.” In a move to encourage and support women scientists, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, along with Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Royal Society announced a program for women in STEM at JNU, New Delhi, earlier this month. Details of the program will be announced Feb end 2016. Last year ended with 25 Fellowships being awarded at the November 2015 round of interviews for Clinical and Public Health Research, Margadarshi and Intermediate Research (basic) Fellowship schemes bringing the total number of awards to 202 at 64 different institutions. We are happy to welcome the new awardees to the India Alliance Family. We are now accepting preliminary applications for the Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowships 2016. Please check our website for the call for applications for our Research Training Fellowship, Senior and Intermediate Fellowship (Basic scheme) and Margadrashi Fellowship early next month. On the Public Engagement front, we are very pleased to announce our support for the Art & Science Project at Khoj International Artists' Association, details of which can be found in this newsletter and on the Khoj website. It promises to be a great platform for interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange between scientists and artists and we encourage anyone interested to apply (artists) or get involved (scientists). In an effort to sensitize public about pressing health issues, India Alliance along with Public Health Foundation of India will be organizing a Health discussion series (Voices for Health) where the public, thought leaders and experts will be engaged in a series of panel discussions in multiple Indian cities across the year. More information on this series will be posted on our website in a couple of weeks. This issue also includes reports on a Public Lecture given by renowned cancer researcher and Noble Laureate Dr Harold Varmus in December at NII, New Delhi and the first one-day Foldscope workshop organized by the Department of Biotechnology. On the Science Communication front, we will be holding our biannual two-day SciComm workshop in Hyderabad on 21-22 March 2016. Applications for this workshop are now closed and selected participants will be informed shortly. Our SciComm team will be visiting Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda to hold the one-day SciComm101 workshop in March. In an attempt to strengthen and diversify its Science Communication activities, India Alliance has tied up with Nature India and Nature Jobs to launch a new workshop format, which would focus on science writing, communication and alternate science careers. Please write to us if you would like to know more about this workshop. In this issue, we feature interviews of our Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship Selection Committee member and eminent geneticist, Dr Aravinda Chakravarti; Senior Fellow, Dr Roop Malik, who is working on motor proteins at TIFR Mumbai; and Dr Sujatha Reddy, our Grants Adviser. Heartfelt gratitude to them for sharing interesting and useful insights on their work and life. In the piece titled, “A Sponge Against a Sword” Intermediate Fellow, Dr Partho Sarothi Ray writes about the molecular underpinnings of cancer and inflammation and the crosstalk between the two, in the backdrop of his recently published research on RNA-binding proteins. „Ask the Scientist‟ section is an attempt to make science more accessible and understandable and includes simple questions from non-scientists who are keen to know more about scientific principles underlying life processes, the human body etc. In this issue, questions on brain and its functions are answered by our Fellows- Dr Venkatasubramanian Ganesan, Dr Urvakhsh Mehta, Dr Supratim Ray and Dr Nixon Abraham. A big thank you to all of them. Last but not the least, thank you to our Early Career Fellow, Dr Srinivas Marmamula for sharing the image for the cover, which shows a vision technician assessing vision in a woman in a remote rural area as part of public research project in Telangana initiated by L V Prasad Eye Institute in India. Here‟s to a year of new possibilities, explorations and discoveries. Best wishes, Sarah Iqbal, PhD Public Engagement Officer
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CONTENTS
3 INDIA ALLIANCE CALL FOR APPLICATIONS Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowships 2016
4 INDIA ALLIANCE RECOMMENDED FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship , Intermediate (Basic) Fellowship 5 IN CONVERSATION WITH.. Dr Aravinda Chakravarti, Director, Center for Complex Disease Genomics & Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine 7 SCIENCE COMMUNICATION New! Nature India-India Alliance workshop, SciComm Hyderabad, SciComm101 workshop announcements 8 PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT CORNER Art & Science project, Harold Varmus Lecture report, Ask the Scientist 12 INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOW IN SPOTLIGHT Dr Roop Malik, Senior Fellow, TIFR Mumbai 13 FEATURE ARTICLE “A Sponge Against a Sword ” by Dr Partho Sarothi Roy, Intermediate Fellow, IISER Kolkata 15 INDIA ALLIANCE STAFF CORNER Dr Sujatha Reddy, Grants Adviser, India Alliance 16 EXTERNAL EVENTS First Foldscope Workshop in India- report, Medicine Corner Exhibition, Trick or Treat workshop
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INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOWSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS CLINICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS 2016 Preliminary Application Deadline: 1 March 2016 India Alliance invites applications for three Fellowship schemes: Early Career Fellowships, Intermediate Fellowships and Senior Fellowships Eligibility *Eligibility limit covers the entire range of Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship schemes • No age or Nationality restrictions. • The candidates need not be resident in India while applying but should be willing to establish an independent research career in India. • Clinicians and Public health researchers do not require a PhD to apply. • This competition is open for clinicians and public health researchers with up to 15 years of postMD/MS/MPH/PhD or equivalent clinical / public health research experience. • The Applicants are advised to choose the most appropriate scheme suitable for them based on their qualification, research experience, career trajectory and track record. Please refer to the guidance notes, provisions and mandate of the scheme for assessing your eligibility on the website. The Office reserves the right to advice on the suitability of the scheme accordingly. Early Career Fellowship: This scheme provides a unique opportunity for those, who have shown promise to pursue research and wish to further their efforts to build a research career under the supervision of a Fellowship supervisor. Guidance note: Suitable for applicants in the final year PhD/MD/MS/MPH or have up to 4 years of relevant experience Intermediate Fellowship: For those who have been successful in building a track record of pursuing a cutting edge research and wish to establish their own independent clinical/public health research program in India. Guidance note : Suitable for applicants with 4-7 years of relevant experience.
Senior Fellowship: For those who have demonstrated their potential to lead an independent research program and want to expand it further to undertake pioneering research. Guidance note : Suitable for applicants with 7-15 years of relevant experience. Remit: Full spectrum of biomedical science involving clinical and public health research. Provisions: • These Fellowships would encourage interested clinicians to pursue their research goals in combination with their clinical duties. • Competitive personal support • Generous research support with flexibility to accommodate requirements of clinical and public health research. • Flexibility to request additional support staff • Support training cost and research sabbatical • Funds for International training and travel • Opportunity to pursue a PhD on the India Alliance funded research Essentials on the application: • A research proposal that seeks to answer an original biomedical research question • A not-for-profit Host Institution in India that will administer the Fellowship for the full duration of the award. A salaried position or commitment to a salaried position at the Host Institution is not required. • A Sponsor at the Host Institution, who can guarantee space and resources for the duration of the award. • In case of an Early Career Fellowship, a Fellowship Supervisor, who can guarantee access to laboratory space and resources required for the project as well as provide relevant scientific guidance for the tenure of the Fellowship. Application forms are available on the India Alliance online application System (IASys) at https://fellowships.wellcomedbt.org/Login.aspx
Please visit our website for further information on the application process. Please write to us with queries to info@wellcomedbt.org 3.
ANNOUNCEMENT
RECENTLY RECOMMENDED AWARDEES
India Alliance announced Fellowship Awardees of the Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship scheme and Intermediate Fellowship under the Basic Biomedical Research competition in December 2015. The interviews for these Fellowship schemes were held in November 2015. * indicates institution, that before this award, did not have any India Alliance Fellow MARGADARSHI FELLOWSHIP Prof. Satyajit Mayor, National Centre for Biological Science, Bangalore CLINICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS Early Career Fellowships Dr Jayanth Kumar Palanichamy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Dr Aparna Mukherjee, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Dr Deepak Kamath, St Johns National Academy Of Health Sciences, Bangalore Intermediate Fellowships Dr Aparna Rao, L V Prasad Eye Institute, Bhubaneswar * Dr Abi Vanak, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore * Dr Shivarama Varambally,National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore Dr Rashmi Rodrigues, St Johns National Academy Of Health Sciences Bangalore Dr Mahesh Kate, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana * Research Training Fellowships Ms Urvita Bhatia, Sangath, Porvorim * Dr Deepak Gautam, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Dr Sumsum P Sunny, Mazumdar Shaw Medical Center, Bangalore Dr Dhruva Ithal, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore Dr Rakshathi B, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore BASIC RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS Intermediate Fellowships Dr Sridharan Devarajan, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Dr Nitin Gupta, Indian Institute Of Technology Kanpur Dr Sachin Kotak, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore Dr Aravind Penmatsa, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore Dr Siddhesh Shashikant Kamat, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune Dr Mohan Joshi, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics Hyderabad Dr Satish Khurana, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram Dr Pinky Kain, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee * Dr Santosh Chauhan, Institute Of Life Sciences Bhubaneswar 4.
IN CONVERSATION WITH..
Dr Aravinda Chakravarti Dr Aravinda Chakravarti is a Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, Molecular Biology & Genetics, and, Biostatistics and Director, Center for Complex Disease Genomics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. He also has a long association with the India Alliance as a member of its Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowship committee.
What motivated you to become a scientist? I cannot say that it was any one person or one event or any one point of time that led me to consider doing science. Nor did I know what being a scientist would entail or how one prepared to become one. I was not interested in science, nor good at it, or anything else for that matter, before the 9th grade. But, subsequently, it was the concreteness and logic of mathematics and the sciences that appealed to me. I also began reading material outside my textbooks, such as books in the Nuffield Science Series and others I came across in the Calcutta British Council Library, which began giving me a broader look at the world of science. But, I was still clueless. This was evident in my applying for almost every conceivable program for college (Engineering, Medicine, Geology, Agriculture, Physics and Statistics), and being selected, but not necessarily into the best schools or programs. Thus „success‟ did not clarify my thinking any one bit. Finally, I did choose to attend the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) outside Calcutta…a then beautiful oasis of calm in the politically turbulent Calcutta of 1970‟s when being young, well-read and aware were enough to raise suspicions in the Calcutta Police. (For those who doubt the serious and mortal danger all young people in Calcutta were under during this time, read the daily newspaper reports from the 70‟s).
For me Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was an escape from reality, and an entry into a synthetic, artificial and manufactured world of quantitative ideas. Our courses over 4 years, in a US-style undergraduate ,were 50% Mathematics and Statistics and 50% an assortment of sciences and economics (to learn the various domains in which quantitative reasoning would be critical), where we were taught to ask „why,‟ not only „how‟ something worked. For the first time I found myself in an atmosphere where understanding mattered more than knowledge
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(don't worry, knowledge did matter greatly), the pursuit of a job was a side issue and we were encouraged to discover any area we wished (or, that's how I felt). I also had passionate teachers who were the very best in the world. For the first time I felt liberated, learning was fun and pursuing science as a life seemed like the only natural thing to do. It wasn't a one day transformation…by the time I left ISI I knew that I could ask and answer at least some questions. ISI was the institution where the famed British polymath and geneticist J. B. S. Haldane came to in 1957 and became one of the architects of my undergraduate program. Although Haldane died in 1964, his ghost was still around when I was a student at the ISI. That I would do genetics and be a scientist, particularly in human genetics, was therefore a no brainer. Could you briefly take us through your scientific journey and about your interest in genetics. My interest in genetics was established at the ISI but no less fueled by my reading of Jim Watson‟s The Double Helix in 1970, and, then, as credited by Watson and Crick, Erwin Schrodinger‟s What is Life? As a student of the quantitative sciences at ISI, the part of genetics that appealed to me (simply because I could digest it) was Population Genetics. Also, ISI had a Department of Human Genetics that performed numerous studies of human genetic molecular diversity across populations in India. So, my early training was in studies of human population diversity. Nevertheless, Haldane‟s research (that I was increasingly becoming aware of) was equally in family studies that exemplified mechanisms not evident in population studies. So, as a student, I conducted and published research into the inheritance of simply observable traits („hand clasping‟ or the phenotype where you classify individuals by whether they fold their left thumb over their right or vice versa…try it, only one way feels correct!) just to learn genetics and to attempt to combine the family and the population methods that are so common today. Fortunately, by this time I had left myself few opportunities to be interested in doing anything else but human genetics.
IN CONVERSATION WITH..
Dr Aravinda Chakravarti
Being rejected by several programs to study genetics in India (because I was not a biology undergraduate), I chose to do graduate work with the noted geneticist and molecular evolutionist Masatoshi Nei at the University of Texas, Houston where he had just moved. I arrived in Houston in 1974 and was immediately thrust into a small, intense center with brilliant people and expected to perform research at a level I was surely unaccustomed to. This group was the epicenter of the then neutralist-selectionist debate in molecular evolution, a problem that was exciting but not my cup of tea. I wanted to study human genetics, and finally fashioned a research project with Nei that explored the theoretical consequences of improved genetic counseling with linkage and association (linkage disequilibrium) markers and graduated with a PhD in 1979. This research was not only far ahead of its time, coming before the proposal of creating a human linkage map using RFLPs (restriction fragment length polymorphism) in 1980, but I was the only Nei student who worked outside molecular evolution. In many ways then my development in genetics became very broad and haphazard since I often focused on areas that were not my primary training grounds. By this time I was a geneticist but thought I needed further training in genetic epidemiology to understand human disease better. However, after an unsuccessful postdoc at Seattle, I abandoned this idea to take a non-tenured teaching position at the University of Pittsburgh thinking that the „free‟ time I would have would allow me to catch up on the revolution in recombinant DNA technology that was underway. I am glad I did since this
was one of the best professional decisions I made by forgoing the standard path. I taught at Pittsburgh for 5 years and subsequently obtained an NIH Research Career Development Award to pursue a research career. That began my standard research career in human genetics.
Or, how come the same mutation can act as either activating or lossof-function?
The biggest challenge in my field is to overcome the inertia that molecular description = etiological explanation. If you were not a scientist, you would be… I really have no idea. I presume the Bengali in me implicitly wants, or always wanted to be, a writer but that would be a great leap of faith and quite arrogant. Even good scientific writing is hard, very hard indeed. I have often read someone else‟s paper that I enjoyed and thought that I could have done the same work; a similar thought has not appeared after reading someone else‟s creative work except when it is quite bad. 5. What is the best advice you have ever received? Unfortunately, most advice that most people get, and give, is bad. More correctly, its difficult to know (what‟s the test?) when it is good and when bad. Each of us likely adapt a post-hoc explanation to our stories, all of which are likely revisionist. Nevertheless, two different people (a brother and a family friend), at about the same time (1979-1982), told me to abandon what I was doing (an unsuccessful postdoc and forcing myself to complete reading a fairly racist account of the Black Hole of Calcutta) because it was beyond my enjoyment. They both suggested that I drop it and do something else. One should not shoulder a burden that is great unless some higher purpose is at stake. One needs to learn how to apportion risk with benefit. Your message for young students and researchers.
What according to you are the challenges in your field of research? The field of human genetics is not the one I trained in since so much has changed with the sequencing of the human genome. Human genetics has two distinct themes, one descriptive, as to the causes of human variation be it molecular or phenotypic (the „how‟ question), and a second mechanistic, as to how variation in molecular mechanisms impact phenotype variation, particularly disease (the „why‟ question). The whole attraction of the human genome project to me, and others like me who spent more than a decade on building the now available community resources (maps, clones, sequences, variants, transcripts, etc.), was to move from the first set to the second set of questions. This transformation is difficult since it is not in the comfort zone of conventional human genetics, its hard and unpredictable, much more hypothesis-driven and much more experimental. The challenge in my field, and in many associated medical specialties, is that it‟s far easier to do the first, then the second. Scientists are voting with their feet! Human geneticists are far more content in sequencing human genomes, finding associations with disease and doing facile functional annotation than a serious investigation into why does this gene causes type 2 diabetes and the next one congenital cataract? Or why mutations in the same gene cause a neuroendocrine tumor when activating but congenital aganglionosis when loss-of-function?
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Science is difficult but exhilarating in its rare moments of success, and it‟s usually followed by long periods of stasis. It is a great but frustrating life and there are many worse ways of making a living. It is like other types of creative endeavors where discovery is real but rare. If you wish to do it be sure you can enjoy its moods. Science today is also multidisciplinary and translational: its application to humans and other benefits can also be tangible sources of pride. But do it not for these benefits, do it because the science gives you great
Consider, that you are one in an unbroken intellectual chain from Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton. If you choose science, you are special. joy. Yes, joy!
Dr Chakravarti‟s laboratory focuses on the development and applications of molecular genetic, genomic and computational methods for identification of human disease genes through "genetic dissection“. He has been a key participant and architect of the Human Genome, HapMap and 1000 Genomes project. Find out more about his research here
INDIA ALLIANCE
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION Science Communication and Career Workshop Series (In partnership with Nature India & Naturejobs )
Workshop at a glance: One-day workshop to equip young science researchers with tools and strategies for effective communication of their ideas, experiments and scientific results from a science communication perspective. Help them to make science career choices. Vision: Science communication plays an integral role in one‟s scientific career. Being able to effectively disseminate research findings within the community and to consider collective opinions in prioritising research needs is an important attribute of scientific maturity. In keeping with its mandate to empower future leaders of Indian science, the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance periodically conducts one-day (SciComm101) and two-day (SciComm Hyderabad) science communication workshops for the past four years. This complements seamlessly with Nature India‟s mandate to showcase India‟s science „as it happens‟ in laboratories and institutions across the country through in-depth coverage and analysis of research and science policy. The proposed workshop would be part of Nature India‟s many communication outreach activities as the one-stop media platform for India‟s science.
participation by PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and junior scientists will be a pre-requisite for holding this workshop. Organising this workshop as part of a conference will ensure participation from a wide range of institutions across India. The workshop will include 3 separate sessions: Session 1: Scientific Writing (moderated by WT/DBT Alliance) Topics to be covered: • Ethics in research • Presentation skills • Manuscript writing • Grants writing • CVs and letters Session 2: Science Communication (moderated by Nature India) Topics to be covered:
The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance and Nature India both represent possibilities for young PhD scholars and postdoctoral scientists to transition into academic as well as non-academic science careers. Information and advice on how to explore various career options will form an important part of these workshops with Naturejobs as the key organiser of the career session.
• Science journalism • Popular science writing • Effective press releases • Hands-on skills on dejargonising science
Structure & format
Topics to be covered:
The workshop will be a one-day event preceding a biomedical (or scientific) conference organised by reputed science societies/organisations/institutes and Universities in India. A large
• Career in the Industry • Career in Science Promotion/Intellectual Property • Career in Policy/Grant organizations / Journalism
Session 3: Alternate Science Career (moderated by Nature Jobs)
Please contact us at workshops@wellcomedbt.org to find out more about this series.
Upcoming Workshops
SciComm101 workshop
Two-day SciComm workshop
10 March 2016, MSU Baroda
21-22 March 2016, Hyderabad Applications under review
For more details visit "SciComm Workshop" under "Quick Links" on our website
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INDIA ALLIANCE
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT CORNER India Alliance is pleased to announce its support for Art & Science Project at Khoj International Artists' Association, New Delhi, details of which can be found below and on the Khoj website. It promises to be a great platform for interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange between scientists and artists and we encourage anyone interested to apply (artists) and get involved (scientists).
ABOUT THE ART & SCIENCE PROJECT CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: THE UNDIVIDED MIND | ART + SCIENCE RESIDENCY 2016 Residency dates: 5TH MARCH – 16TH APRIL 2016 APPLICATION DEADLINE: 31ST JANUARY Please send your applications to „applications@khojworkshop.org‟ Khoj invites proposals for 2016 edition of The Undivided Mind, a six – week international residency program for artists and creative practitioners whose work explores the intersections of art and science. The aim of the residency program is to carry forward Khoj‟s core mission of supporting experimental, emerging art practice from around the globe, and to provide an open platform for interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange. The Undivided Mind intends to bring together artists and scientists as equal partners, with an aim to create a space which pushes the boundaries of scientific research and creative expression. Selected artists will have an opportunity to develop new hybrid projects and proposals in the arts and to explore the idea of the science lab as an artists‟ studio.
The following India Alliance Fellows will be participating in the project: (NOTE: If an applicant wishes to connect with any of the following researchers in advance of submitting their proposal, please contact the Khoj team at „applications@khojworkshop.org‟ for an introduction; please do the same if you are a scientist and would like take part in this project ) Dr Venkatasubramanian Ganesan, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore Dr Pallab K Maulik, The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi Dr Anurag Agarwal, CSIR-Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology (IGIB), New Delhi Dr Tavpritesh Sethi, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi Dr Lolitika Mandal, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali Dr Urvakhsh Mehta,NIMHANS, Bangalore Dr Sheetal Gandotra, IGIB, New Delhi
THEME The theme of the 2016 edition of The Undivided Mind is „Health‟. Within this broader framework, three curatorial frameworks or modes for exploration are suggested. Terrestrial Health refers to that which is on, or related to the earth. This sub – theme suggests an investigation into the physical health and structure of the body (both human and animal), the environment, the community and the interrelations between these spheres. Mental Health refers to that which is of or relating to the mind. This sub – theme focuses on a psychological investigation of what constitutes Health of the mind and raises questions about the „socially‟ defined state of well-being; where issues‟ surrounding the legal rights and entitlement of personhood, for those living with a mental disorder is open for debate. Finally, Extraterrestrial Health may refer to any object, being or idea beyond the planet Earth. This sub – theme opens up a space where the relationship between Earth and other planetary bodies can be studied. What does it mean for human existence when sending human life forms to Mars is projected to take place by 2020? What are the long term effects and solution to space debris if life projects out beyond Earth? This sub – theme also invites applicants to consider the abstract and metaphorical imaginings of health in contemporary and future societies.
Visit Khoj website to find out more about the residency and the application process.
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INDIA ALLIANCE
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT CORNER
LECTURE REPORT
Recent Developments in Cancer Research By Dr Harold Varmus Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA at National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi 16 November 2015 Nobel Laureate, Dr Harold Varmus, recognized for his research on retroviruses and the genetic basis of cancer gave a lecture on “Recent Developments in Cancer Research” at National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi, an event co-organised by NII, Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance and Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. His lecture largely gave an overview of the recent developments, challenges and the future directions in the field of cancer research, which included the current research of his group in this area. Dr Varmus, who had spent time in Bareilly as a young medical student, described cancer as a complex disease that requires innovative research and treatment strategies. At the outset, Dr Varmus introduced the key questions that drive the cancer research field- Is cancer one disease or many diseases? What makes the cancer cell grow so stably in such an inappropriate manner? How does a normal cell become a cancer cell? Providing answers to these questions formed the backdrop of Dr Varmus‟s lecture which drew from his research work till date and other advances in the field. Dr Varmus entered the field of cancer research in 1970s as a postdoctoral scientist in the laboratory of Dr John J. Michael Bishop at University of California San Francisco, USA, the same year National Cancer Act was signed in the country. Dr Bishop and Dr Varmus together received the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1989 “for their discovery of the cellular origins of retroviral oncogenes”. During his lecture, Dr Varmus confessed standing on the shoulders of giants of retroviral and cancer research such as Dr Peyton Rous, Dr Harry Rubin and Dr Howard Temin, to ask the question of how retroviruses transformed cells and cause tumours. This question led him to look for genes that make a normal cell behave like a cancer cell which initially involved studying cancer-causing RNA viruses/retroviruses in animals. The retrovirus that played a lead role in Dr Varmus and his colleague‟s work was the Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV), discovered by Dr Peyton Rous in 1911, which he showed caused a type of cancer in chickens. Dr Varmus and colleagues set out to prove the hypothesis that retroviruses enter host cells and capture normal genes in that cell by inserting their DNA, converting them into cancer-causing genes or oncogenes. Dr Varmus and his group employed various cellular, chemical as well as genetic tools to establish that retroviruses can indeed act as mutagens by inserting their DNA in host cells and turning them into cancer cells. After this, his group went on to identify the cancer-causing genes present in the virus and subsequently discovered many new oncogenes, v-Src (a gene of RSV) being the first one. Following these discoveries and subsequently many others, led to the belief that the genetic basis of cancer is highly heterogeneous. Dr Varmus told us that in order to catalogue these complexities, the Cancer Genome Atlas was established in 2005, which till today serves as a collection of the genetic mutations responsible for different cancers. Apart from the complexity and vastness of the cancer genome, other challenges in the field according to Dr Varmus are genetic heterogeneity and evolution of tumours due to various environmental factors such as, exposure to UV, pollution, tobacco use and other environmental carcinogens that are on the rise. He used the example
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of renal tumor evolution which illustrates Darwin‟s theory of “evolution of species” to show that this rapidly changing genetic repertoire can have significant impact on diagnosis, therapeutic interventions and prognosis. Another issue of concern highlighted by Dr Varmus was the absence of suitable drugs against many common targets for cancer, such as cancer-causing RAS genes and many transcription factors, which have been shown to contribute towards cancer formation. Dr Varmus opined that lack of understanding of the underlying complexity of resistance to cancer therapies is another roadblock in cancer treatment. He was also strongly of the opinion that there are not enough public health interventions to prevent cancer- this he felt, needs to go hand in hand with finding cure for cancer. Dr Varmus also offered solutions to these problems. He suggested that research needs to “look beyond genes and focus on patterns and pathways” and physiological changes taking place in cancer cells. He shared his group‟s current interest in studying “oncogene addiction” which is based on the premise that some oncogenes not only give rise to cancer but also maintain the cancerous state of the cells. Interpreting the downstream effects of these cancer genes on the pathways could be employed as a strategy to attack multiple targets by drugs in different cancers. Even though he hailed the successes of many commonly used and extremely efficacious anti-cancer drugs such as, Gleevec, Gefitinib, Erlotinib, but in light of growing complexity of the disease, proposed the need for adopting more innovative drug discovery and treatment approaches. Continuing on the topic of therapeutics, Dr Varmus mentioned the recent advances in immunotherapeutic approaches to treat cancer, which would require us to understand why the otherwise combative immune system does not kill cancer cells. He suggested that gaining understanding of these immune check points and accordingly targeting them by antibody inhibitors could serve as one more effective treatment strategyanother project his research group has undertaken. In addition to these therapeutic approaches, Dr Varmus very strongly asserted that “not everything we talk about cancer should be about cancer therapy but also about prevention” and that this disease ought to be on the global health agenda. Dr Varmus very eloquently concluded his talk by stating that “confronting cancer needs a balance between grasping its complexity and seeking simple solutions”. As expected, he received many questions from the audience after his lecture on the genetics and biology of various cancers, potential use of vaccines in cancer treatment, crosstalk of cancer with other diseases and many others, to which he responded with prudence and an underlying sense of optimism. Prior to his lecture, Dr Varmus, over an hour meeting with 10 young cancer researchers, discussed their work. This group included the following Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Fellows - Dr Reety Arora (ECF; InStem, Bangalore), Dr Anjali Bajpai (ECF; IIT, Kanpur), Dr Bushra Ateeq (Int Fellow; IIT, Kanpur), Dr Kundan Sengupta (Int Fellow, IISER, Pune) and Dr Sandeep Singh (Int Fellow, NIBMG, Kalyani). Dr Varmus also sought information on the India Alliance Fellowships and was impressed by its funding model and reach.
INDIA ALLIANCE
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT CORNER
ASK THE SCIENTIST about
The Human Brain This section will bring to you answers to those burning scientific questions that you always wanted to ask the guys in the white coat. For this issue we asked some of our Fellows to shed light on the various operations of the brain. How can we measure attention? DR SUPRATIM RAY, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Intermediate Fellow Attention can be of different types, such as sustained (vigilance), selective (focusing at one stimulus in the presence of distractors) or alternating (involves switching), which can be measured using a variety of cognitive tests (such as test of everyday attention (TEA) or Posner cuing task). For example, in a classical Posner task, a subject is repeatedly shown two stimuli and cued to attend to one of them, and instructed to respond to a change in the stimulus (say, by pressing a button). The cue could be valid (change occurs at the cued stimulus, say for 80% of the trials), invalid (change occurs at the uncued stimulus) or neutral (ambiguous). Selection attention can be measured by comparing the accuracy and the time taken to press the button after stimulus change (called reaction time) for different cue types. Different components of attention such as orienting towards a location, detecting a target or maintaining vigilance are carried out by distinct brain areas in the prefrontal and parietal lobes and some sub-cortical structures (such as superior colliculus). Overall performance depends not only on how these areas perform but also how they communicate with each other, and on the levels of neuromodulators such as norepinephrine.
Brain waves measured by EEG
How can we 'sense' smell? Is it possible to live without this 'sense' of smell? DR NIXON ABRAHAM, Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISER), Pune Intermediate Fellow Once, Dr. Lewis Thomas (1913-1993), the poet and a philosopher of medicine, who also served as the dean of the medical schools at the New York University and Yale, was asked to select seven wonders of the modern world. Olfaction (olfactory receptor cell) was fifth in his list. How does the modern fifth wonder that brings us the smell of our surroundings – the good and bad, work?
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The process of making sense of smell start by binding the odor molecules to the olfactory receptors located in the olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in the nose. This binding triggers a series of signal amplification steps, which lead to electrical spikes (so called action potentials) in OSNs. This olfactory information, whose intensity is encoded by varying the number of action potentials, is then passed onto the projection neurons, named mitral and tufted cells in the olfactory bulb. These projection neurons, whose excitatory actions are controlled by various inhibitory neurons, carry the olfactory information to the higher centers in the brain so that we perceive the smell of spicy tasty food and putrid garbage – the good and bad, from the environment. Continued..
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PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT CORNER
What happens if we loose our sense of smell? Loss of olfaction can be caused by many reasons ranging from viral infections to neurodegenerative disorders. As our emotions and memories are strongly related to olfaction, the loss of this sense can lead to depressed state and even affect bonding with family members. Just imagine sipping from your morning coffee without sensing it‟s aroma - our taste could be badly affected by losing sense of smell. The ongoing research at the nasal stem cell level might provide clinical solutions for the disorders of the olfactory sensory neurons to regain this wonderful sense. Why are the mirror neurons called the 'Mind's mirror'? What do they reflect?
Mirror neuron activity in the brain, both when the monkey grasps an object and when it observes the experimenter grasping the object. Mirror neurons were first discovered by Rizzolatti and colleagues when they were studying motor actions in macque monkeys.
DR URVAKHSH MEHTA, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru Early Career Fellow Mirror neurons are specialized nerve cells that discharge when we perform actions, as well as, when we observe others perform the same action. Rizzolatti and colleagues accidentally discovered them in monkeys. These neurons also get vicariously activated when we perceive emotional states of others. This unique „experience sharing‟ property of mirror neurons perhaps enables us to decipher goals, intentions and emotions of others.
group of schizophrenia patients with that of healthy subjects; thus, these are group averaged findings that are currently not applicable for diagnosing schizophrenia in an individual patient in a regular clinical setting. In “a specific patient”, one may not be able to find any striking abnormality in the physical appearance of the brain (i.e. a routine CT or MRI brain scan may not be able to identify any obvious aberration). Several ongoing research studies are in pursuit to identify clinically useful biomarker to diagnose schizophrenia.
In several of our daily social interactions, we need to take perspectives of others, decipher deception, share feelings and empathize with others. The mirror neuron system is an important brain network that helps us peek into the minds of others and try to understand people. They translate sensory information (e.g., observation of an action) into a motor template, which is similar to the format an observer himself uses to perform that very action. This motor template can help us interpret the goals and feelings underlying observed actions. The definitive demonstration of mirror neurons in humans was as recent as 2010. There is also growing evidence of a dysfunctional mirror neuron system in psychiatric disorders like autism and schizophrenia. It is a long and exciting future ahead to decipher spatiotemporal, regulatory and genetic underpinnings of this unique neuronal network – this will possibly help understand and treat social brain disorders better.
Find out more about Dr Ganesan‟s research on schizophrenia here .
What is really happening inside the brain of a Schizophrenia patient? Does it look any different from a normal brain? Schizophrenia
DR VENKATASUBRAMANIAN GANESAN, NIMHANS Bengaluru Intermediate Fellow The brain of a schizophrenia patient is reduced in overall volume with increase in the size of the ventricles (parts of the brain that contain cerebrospinal fluid); however, certain parts like hippocampus, superior temporal gyrus and prefrontal cortex are more affected than others. Using certain advanced brain imaging research studies (for example, high resolution structural MRI, functional MRI, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Positron Emission Tomography and Diffusion Tensor Imaging and similar others) subtle brain abnormalities in structure, function, neurochemical profile as well as brain connectivity have been demonstrated in several brain regions in schizophrenia patients. It is important to note that these findings are obtained from advanced research studies that have compared brains of a
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Do you have a burning scientific question? Send them to public.engagement@wellcomedbt.org
INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOW
DR ROOP MALIK Senior Fellow, TIFR, Mumbai
Dr Roop Malik is a biophysicist based at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. Dr Malik’s research focuses on nanoscale molecular motor proteins that transport material such as virus, mitochondria, endosomes etc. inside living cells.
What is your research group working on and what impact do you hope it will have? We try to understand how the living cell achieves an organization that is well defined, yet dynamic. Most of the components within a cell have a lipid membrane boundary. This boundary is fairly well defined and visible under a microscope, yet it undergoes constant deformation to allow exchange of material between different parts of a cell. Motor proteins attach to the lipid membrane boundary and act as "transporters", physically carrying cellular material from one membrane to another in the form of a vesicular cargo. How do the motors and lipids collaborate to decide the fate of the cargo? We work on two such cargoes -- the Phagosome (may enclose pathogens) and the Lipid droplet (encloses fat). We hope that our research will help understand how pathogens infect us by modifying the lipid membrane and the motors attached to it. We also investigate how fat stored inside the Lipid droplets in our liver is circulated to different parts of the body. There is a tremendous change in the amount of fat stored in liver at every feeding/fasting cycle. This is visible in the form of Lipid droplet accumulation in rat liver sections after fasting. How does the liver handle this flux of fat? What special mechanisms are required? Answering these questions may help understand the progression of fatty liver diseases. What inspired you to become a scientist? To be frank, nothing in particular. It was an acquired taste. I started doing experiments and gradually realised I was doing well. I like the planning that is involved in investigating the unknown, and the surprises that crop up inevitably. These, force you to change your well-laid plans. That's when it gets really exciting. What role can/should scientists play in today's India? I think there is a lot of scientific freedom in India. Granting agencies are not as hawkish as in the western world. This freedom is an opportunity to do what drives you. There are many young scientists in the country who are keen to share ideas and resources. We should focus on solving difficult problems by taking advantage of this environment. If we do good science, it will inspire the public. The primary job of a scientist is to do science, and to do it well. Beyond that, we also need to think about how science can be propagated. We have to mentor students and give them the
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confidence and enthusiasm so that they go on to do better science than we did. We also have to communicate our science to common man and facilitate them. We must impress on students (and also on their parents) that they should not look at studying Physics or Biology or Chemistry in isolation. Those who want to take up science as a career should also understand that they must learn to deal with many failures before something succeeds. How has Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Fellowship helped you and your research? (your IA experience) I have been a Senior fellow with Wellcome Trust (UK), and then with Wellcome Trust/ DBT India Alliance since 2006. The rigorous selection process helped me fine-tune the questions that I wanted to ask. The subsequent evaluations and annual meetings helped in keeping my research on track. Last but not the least, we were given a lot of freedom in executing our science. I thank the India Alliance for this degree of trust in their Fellows. This has helped me to focus on the science. What keeps you going every day? Coffee, tea, and the excitement of planning and executing science with my colleagues. Regular breaks to get out into the hills for some adventure. Find out more about Dr Roop Malikâ€&#x;s work on motor proteins on his website. In order to make his research understandable to a wide range of people, he has put up translation of his research summary in Hindi and Marathi, in addition to Engalish, on his website.
A Sponge Against a Sword An RNA-binding protein Prevents Chronic Inflammation and Cancer By Dr Partho Sarothi Ray, Intermediate Fellow
Anyone who has had a bruise is familiar with the redness, swelling, warmth and pain that mark the site of the injury. This response, known as inflammation, has been recognized since ancient times and its hallmarks were first described by the Greek physician Galen, 2000 years ago. The process, which is often set in motion by specialized cells of the immune system, occurs whenever tissue is infected or damaged, as for example, when you have a pimple, or more seriously, suffer a heart attack. The latter condition is called sterile inflammation, which happens in absence of infection by a pathogen, and when it goes awry, it contributes to a wide range of seemingly unrelated diseases, from Alzheimerâ€&#x;s disease to diabetes to cancer. Inflammation is the primary protective response of the body to any infection or injury. However, as our common experience shows, the inflammation, after being triggered, goes away of its own, a process known as resolution. However, in certain cases, the inflammation fails to resolve and itâ€&#x;s continuation, known as chronic inflammation, acts as an underlying contributor to virtually every chronic disease- a list that, besides obvious culprits such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohnâ€&#x;s disease, includes diabetes and depression, along with major killers such as heart disease and stroke and especially cancer. Therefore, inflammation is a double-edged sword, it protects our body but can also harm it when it occurs in an uncontrolled manner. Over the past decade and half, this role of inflammation has come under intense scrutiny, and many research groups throughout the world are attempting to discover the underlying mechanisms which regulate the onset and resolution of inflammation. Connection between Cancer and Inflammation The connection between cancer and inflammation was recognized a long time ago. In fact in 1863, the renowned German pathologist Rudolf Virchow found the presence of white blood cells, cells which mediate inflammation, in tumors. In 1986, the cancer biologist Harold Dvorak of Harvard Medical School remarked that tumors are "wounds that do not heal". However, it is only over the last two decades that the connections between inflammation and cancer have transformed our understanding of how cancers develop. This transformation recognizes that the chronic inflammatory state serves as a key mediator of the middle stages of tumor development. Cancer begins with a series of genetic changes that prompt a group of cells to proliferate and then invade surrounding tissue, the point at which true malignancy begins. Eventually some tumor cells may break off and establish new growths (metastases) at distant sites. This has been understood for a long time. But cancer biologists and immunologists have begun to realize that the progression from diseased tissue to full-blown invasive cancer often requires cells that normally participate in inflammation to be diverted to the pre-
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malignant tissue, where they are hijacked to become co-conspirators that aid and abet carcinogenesis. As described by researchers: genetic damage is the match that lights the fire, and inflammation is the fuel that feeds it. Therefore, the aim of our lab is to understand the molecular processes and mechanisms that normally prevent chronic inflammation, and thereby prevent the transition from a pre-malignant stage to a full-blown cancer. Hopefully this understanding will allow, in not-so-distant future, to detect and treat cancers at the pre-malignant stage, which will make cancer treatment much easier and affordable. In addition to that, this understanding will possibly be helpful in the treatment of all chronic inflammatory diseases, as the basic cellular mechanisms underlying chronic inflammation are thought to be the same in all cases. Inflammation in cells At the cellular level, inflammation involves two types of cells, the cells of the tissue or organ that is injured, that is the "inflamed cells" and the cells that mediate the inflammation, that is the "inflammatory cells". The latter consist mainly of cells that are originally in the blood, such as monocytes and neutrophils, which migrate to the site of the inflammation and literally eat up (phagocytose) the infecting microorganisms or the injured cells. In many cases, there are monocytes present within the inflamed tissue itself, called macrophages or "big eaters", which form the first line of attack on the invading pathogen or damaged tissue. Now, both the inflamed cells and the inflammatory cells secrete special signalling chemicals, called cytokines, which attract more inflammatory cells to the site of the inflammation. Together with the cytokines, the inflammatory cells (the macrophages and neutrophils) also produce a variety of other factors that allow the cells to move through the wall of the blood vessels and then into the tissue, where they attack, engulf and destroy the invading pathogen or the damaged cells. It is obvious that many of these factors such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), metalloproteases, interleukins like IL6 and blood vessel growth factors like VEGF are toxic, and if continued to be produced, will damage the healthy tissue as well. That is why the production of both the cytokines, which attract these cells to the site of inflammation, and these factors which cause the death and destruction of the pathogens, ceases when the cause of the inflammation is removed, and allows the inflammation to resolve. Failure to stop the production of these inflammatory factors therefore leads to chronic inflammation and the chronic inflammatory diseases. The inflammatory factors, cytokines and others, are produced by genes which are called proinflammatory genes. Therefore ,the expression of these genes, that is the production of proteins from the genes, have to be tightly regulated, both in space and time.
A Sponge Against a Sword By Dr Partho Sarothi Ray,
They should express as long as the cause of the inflammation is there, and at the site of inflammation only, and then stop to allow the resolution of inflammation. Gene expression is regulated in many ways, and of particular importance in the case of pro-inflammatory genes is the regulation of protein synthesis, what is called as translation. Our lab, therefore, studies the regulation of translation of pro-inflammatory genes and attempts to understand how such regulation might fail under certain circumstances which could lead to sustained expression of pro-inflammatory genes giving rise to chronic inflammation. The process of translation involves the binding of various proteins, called translation initiation factors, to the messenger RNA (mRNA) which ultimately recruits the mRNA into the translation factory, the ribosome, to synthesize the protein encoded by that particular mRNA. This process is regulated mainly by two types of molecules, a set of proteins called RNA-binding proteins and a set of small RNAs, called microRNAs. The concentration of both these proteins and microRNAs in cells, and how they function, will therefore determine how translation is regulated. The concentration of many of these proteins and microRNAs are known to change in chronic inflammatory conditions and cancers, thereby affecting the regulation of proinflammatory genes and ultimately the process of inflammation resolution. Our lab therefore studies the cross-talk between these RNA-binding proteins and microRNAs to understand their role in the regulation of proinflammatory genes. Recently, our work has focused on the regulation of translation of a particular pro-inflammatory gene called Programmed Cell Death 4 or PDCD4. This gene plays a crucial role in preventing chronic inflammation from turning into cancer. It is produced by cells when they are inflamed, but then it prevents the uncontrolled multiplication of these cells to avert the transition to cancer. Therefore, it acts as a tumor-suppressor gene. It has been found that it is absent or fails to function in various cancers. One major reason it is absent in many cancers is that its translation is stopped by a microRNA, called miR21. This microRNA is well known to be highly present in a variety of cancers, and therefore acts as an oncogene. This type of microRNAs, which are highly expressed in tumors, and prevent the expression of tumor-suppressor genes, are therefore called as oncomiRs. Interestingly, we found that an RNA-binding protein, known as HuR, can counteract the effect of miR-21 and thereby prevent the concentration of PDCD4 from going down. This means that in a condition, such as a chronic inflammatory state, when miR-21 level is high, then high level of HuR can prevent the stoppage in the production of PDCD4, and thereby help in preventing the transition to malignancy. Now, how do cells achieve the high level of HuR? Interestingly, we found that under inflammatory conditions, cells just don't produce more HuR, rather they transfer the HuR, which is normally present within the nucleus of cells, into the cytoplasm, where translation actually happens and where it counteracts the effect of miR-21. Now, when we tried to find the mechanism by which HuR counteracts miR-21 we found a surprising new phenomenon. HuR, on one hand, binds to the mRNA of PDCD4 and prevents the binding of miR-21. On the other hand, it directly binds to miR-21 and prevents its interaction with the PDCD4 mRNA. These RNA-binding proteins are known to bind to mRNAs, but their binding to microRNAs was not well known. Therefore, HuR's ability to bind to and sequester miR-21 and preventing its repressive action on PDCD4 translation, suggests a novel way in which HuR can function, like a "microRNA sponge" (Fig 1).
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This "microRNA sponging" function of HuR is therefore a mechanism which will prevent the level of PDCD4 from going down in inflammatory conditions, and thereby prevent the uncontrolled cell division which is the hallmark of the transition from chronic inflammation to cancer. This novel function has been described in a paper from our lab which was published in the journal Oncogene (Poria D.K. et al. Oncogene, 2015). This phenomenon now tells us that when genetic mutations or some other stress might increase the level of miR-21, and thereby induce a pre-malignant condition, HuR will move out from the cell nucleus into the cytoplasm, sponge up the miR21 and prevent the level of tumor suppressors like PDCD4 from going down. This will be a major way in which the cells will be prevented from transitioning from the pre-malignant to the malignant condition, and thereby prevent carcinogenesis.
Fig 1. The microRNA Sponge. HuR is a RNA binding protein which is normally present within the nucleus of cells. When the cells are exposed to an inflammatory stimulus, HuR moves out from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and binds to both the PDCD4 mRNA and to miR-21, acting as a “miRNA sponge”.
These exciting observations tell us quite a few things about how cells prevent the transition from chronic inflammation to cancer. Moreover they tell us what might contribute to this transition. If HuR fails to "sponge" miR-21, because of defects in HuR production or translocation to the cytoplasm, then miR-21 would suppress the translation of PDCD4, and other tumor suppressor genes like PDCD4, and thereby contribute to the development of cancer. On the other hand, it also tells us that in conditions where miR-21 is high, some therapeutic agent which will cause the translocation of HuR to the cytoplasm and "sponging" of miR-21, might prevent its action and thereby prevent the transition to malignancy. Therefore the "sponge" of HuR might be used to fight the "double-edged sword" of chronic inflammation and cancer. Discovery of such processes, that regulate inflammation, improves our understanding of the process of chronic inflammation and its role in cancer development. This will allow the development of antiinflammatory agents as part of anti-cancer therapy. Antiinflammatory cancer therapy will prevent premalignant cells from turning fully cancerous or impede an existing tumor from spreading to distant sites in the body, thereby making it much easier to detect, treat and cure cancer. DK Poria, A Guha, I Nandi and PS Ray*. RNA-binding protein HuR sequesters microRNA-21 to prevent translation repression of proinflammatory tumor suppressor gene programmed cell death 4. Oncogene 2015
INDIA ALLIANCE STAFF CORNER
DR SUJATHA REDDY, Grants Adviser
Dr Sujatha Reddy, joined the grants team in 2013 after finishing her Postdoc stint at CCMB, Hyderabad. Sujatha has been involved with many activities at India Alliance and is currently looking after India Alliance‟s Grants Management System, IASys, along with her grant advising duties.
What is your background? I am from Hyderabad and I hold a PhD in Genetics. My postdoc was in Tissue Engineering and my second postdoc was to study the epigenetics of adult neurogenesis. I joined India Alliance in 2013 after spending a considerable amount of time at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. Tell us about your India Alliance journey so far. Like any other researcher, I too was occupied with my bench work and have my share of experience of applying for funding, submitting progress reports, expecting fund release etc. Moving into science administration was a carefully thought-out decision and I was well aware that I would no longer wake up anxiously to look at the Ct values of my overnight run Real time PCR or the growth of my cultures. Nevertheless, at IA, I get to read science across the spectrum, which was otherwise restricted to my focus area. I certainly feel that scientific training and experience have been very handy at almost every aspect of my job profile as „Grants Adviser‟ at IA, as we need to understand projects and related requirements, have knowledge of ethical issues and understanding of the policies, and liaise with eminent international experts . Many a times the experience of being a researcher has helped me to closely comprehend the issues faced by candidates and Fellows. As a grants adviser I get to facilitate important processes of grants management, provide the necessary support to candidates and contribute to problem solving at several instances. Working at IA has not only helped me hone my existing set of skills but also develop several new ones. Some of the important skills that the job continuously teaches are multitasking, prioritizing and time management. With six rounds of competitions launched each year and several existing Fellowships awardees to manage, and other crucial responsibilities within the organization, the grants advisers handle multiple tasks at any given time point. Since all the activities are time bound and require high levels of attention and commitment, the experience has substantially contributed to develop my abilities to simultaneously perform multiple duties with efficiency.
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The culture of Team work at IA is yet another thing which I feel good about. The grants team comprises of people from different specialties and the office has been a great place for knowledge exchange and some interesting discussions. Each member has unique expertise and experience, thus bringing in multiple outlooks and varied views on every aspect during our discussions. As a team we share responsibilities and support each other on an everyday basis which has grounded a healthy atmosphere within the organization. Being a grants adviser with IA has not only given me a rich experience to manage grants along the lines of international standards but also benefit immensely from the experience which came with varied responsibilities that I was entrusted with. The job also requires us to provide necessary guidance to candidates, and timely support to Fellows, which I personally have a liking too, as I consider it as a unique approach to help researchers towards their effort to progress further. In this regard I am happy to have several good memories to cherish, at IA. I would say that managing science from the other side of the bench by facilitating funding process is indeed interesting and more so if one has the fervor to contribute in some way to the growth of science. When not busy on the job, what do you enjoy doing? I enjoy music of all kinds and I grew up listening to MS Subbalakshmi and also the melodies of the 70‟s and 80‟s. My mother was a Veena teacher and I learnt Carnatic music as a child. I enjoy singing light classical and bhajans. I find a lot of pleasure in painting, mostly seascapes and landscapes with acrylic medium. Going on a holiday with my family is also something I always look forward to. Who inspires you (living or dead)? Several people have been a source of inspiration for different reasons. My father, however, remains as one of the important individuals to have inspired me enormously. He was a self-made man with high moral standards and had touched several lives with his benevolence. Quite often I recollect his words and ways of living. In the recent times I found Nick Vujicic to be highly inspiring. His confidence and determination are simply amazing.
OTHER EVENTS
FIRST FOLDSCOPE WORKSHOP IN INDIA Stanford researchers urged Indian students to „look at the world more closely‟ at the first Foldscope Workshop held in New Delhi Stanford University based Assistant Professor, Dr Manu Prakash and his team conducted the first one-day Foldscope workshop in India at Sri Venkateshwara College, which was followed by a Public Lecture by Manu at Gargi College in New Delhi on 16th December 2015. This workshop was jointly organised by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India and Stanford University, USA and was part of DBT‟s celebratory events leading up to February 2016 that marks 30 years since its foundation. Manu‟s wish to „make the world a more curious place‟ along with his deep-rooted interest in providing solutions for global health problems, led him to develop the $1 microscope, dubbed Foldscope, along with his PhD student Jim Cybulski. Foldscope is an origami based print and fold paper microscope with magnification capabilities of up to 2000 times and weighs about 8 grams, which makes it one of the lightest and the cheapest basic field microscope available today. One can explore the biodiversity around or the „microcosmos‟ as Manu likes to refer to it, with this scope by simply attaching it to a camera phone. A typical Foldscope kit contains a sheet of foldable paper, lens, an LED light and instructions. During the morning session of the workshop, Manu and his team guided groups of students from various colleges of Delhi University on how to assemble and use this paper microscope to view samples on a slide. In the second half of the workshop, students were encouraged to go outside, explore and pick up samples to observe under the Foldscope they had assembled and the best image was given a prize and microcertificate, which, as the name suggests, could only be viewed under the Foldscope.
Apart from serving as an ideal tool to educate students about microscopes and their use to view the diverse „microcosmos‟ around them, Manu and his group have developed different Foldscopes to diagnose different diseases. The Foldscope can have different imaging capabilities depending on the light source and lens, which includes bright-field, reflected light, dark-field, polarisation,
fluorescence and projection microscopy. The examples of these imaging capabilities can be seen online , where Foldscope users from around the world have uploaded their images. Manu‟s public lecture at Gargi College after the workshop, lucidly summarised his scientific work and journey, inspiration behind the Foldscope and his other research endeavours. In his talk he shared five lessons with the students, which were, learn to make original observations, value of stupidity in science, find your own taste in science, importance of frugal science and amoeba (a pun on elephant) in the room- the microcosmos. These lessons were shared in form of Manu‟s own experiences in the lab and the field. For instance, he recounted how his interest in entomology as a kid led him to develop a very simple and cost-effective assay, which could be used to genetically identify mosquitoes. The data from this assay, he hopes, can be useful for developing therapeutic tools against malaria and other infectious diseases. Manu stressed on the importance of doing frugal science, his favourite of the five lessons, and its deep impact on the global community. Apart from drawing in from his own work on the Foldscope and other projects, he further supported the case of frugal science by giving examples of other successful models- one such was that of an American startup company Tribogenics that developed a portable X-ray source from scotch tape. Manu opined that frugal science is not merely about bringing the costs down but intellectually, it is about exploring completely different approaches of achieving what we set out to achieve. Throughout his talk, Manu repeatedly urged the students to make their own observations and not just rely on books to seek answers for their scientific curiosities. Manu concluded his lecture by saying “it is not just for the scientists to know the world, curiosity needs to be nurtured and kept alive.” In the Q&A session, Manu enthusiastically answered questions related to Foldscope applications, limitations, effectiveness in controlling disease outbreaks in a country like India, it‟s availability in a store and many others. Foldscopes are not available commercially yet but Manu and his group have dispatched 10,000 Foldscopes to interested individuals in 130 different countries in the hope that this citizen science initiative will help us in gaining a much wider understanding of the world around us. The active participation and questioning by the students at the workshop and lecture clearly suggests the need and importance of such workshops and experiences in igniting interest in scientific explorations at a very young age. One student at the workshop remarked “this is has been my favourite kind of classroom”, a sentiment shared by many students, both young and old, at this event. Following the Delhi event, Manu and his group conducted two other workshops at Guwahati and Kaziranga which were facilitated by DBT. The novel findings of the microcosmos by the new users of the Foldscope in India will be uploaded here.
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OTHER EVENTS
“„Tabiyat: Medicine and Healing in India‟, examines the history and contemporary practice of sustaining human health in one of the world‟s great civilisations. The exhibition will feature dazzling antiquities and modern vernacular art in an aesthetically seductive, intellectually rich mix of art, science, history and the ordinary made extraordinary. ” Find out more about Medicine Corner and this Exhibition here .
“ Trick or Treat is a year long project of discovery and synthesis of diverse practice and practitioners of healthcare systems in India. Sweeping through urban and rural contexts, as well as researching a wide spectrum of healing approaches, the project pitches the use of digital art and techniques to create various public engagement experiences. ! The intention of the project is to raise an awareness and engagement with the plurality of health-related experiences in the country, with intended audiences from the public and scientific community. Some of the key media outputs from the project include a microsite, a publication, a workshop/seminar, a performance and a pop-up exhibition. ” If you would like to know more about Trick or Treat project and their upcoming Seminar & Workshop at British Council click here
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Images in this issue
Credit S. Gschmeissner, K. Hodivala-Dilke & M. Stone, Wellcome Images Blood vessel in a melanoma, Scanning electron micrograph
Credit Annie Cavanagh, Wellcome Images Breast cancer cells: A cluster of breast cancer cells showing visual evidence of programmed cell death (apoptosis). Scanning electron micrograph
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