| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 1

Frankli. Hook'd! …to Biotechnology

February 29, 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

"Science is not a boy's game, it's not a girl's game. It's everyone's game. It's about where we are and where

we're going; well said by the former NASA Ambassador; Nichelle Nichols, when you put yourself in science, it doesn't matter if you are woman or man: your mission is to find the solution and the important thing is your ability, your intelligence and your determination. And we’re in an age where science and technology are needed in day to day life, and the world demands young girls to have this understanding and pursue and discover in the enchanting world of science. When I opted Biotechnology People started asking me: 'What is it like to be a woman in the field of science?' I told them I am pursuing science like any other interested human being and I do Biotechnology in my lab with From Dr. Sr. Arpana, same intensity with which I make idly or bake a cake in my kitchen. The irony is, idly making and baking are Principal, M.C.C.- the ancient forms of Biotechnology. There is a long-standing biased perception that girls don’t perform as well

in science as boys. Why this ill-conceived perception, in a field where DNA discovery was triggered by the X- At the outset, I would like to congratulate the ray crystallogram by Rosalind Franklin? Department of Biotechnology for this As part of the Department of Biotechnology, Mount Carmel College, it is my privilege to claim that we newsletter. Biotechnology is a broad discipline teachers were able to create interest in students So that they are ready to shine in the revolutionary workplace in which biological processes, organisms, cells of tomorrow, with a perfect combination of theory and practical knowledge in the field of Biotechnology. or cellular components are exploited to develop As teachers our advice to future budding biotechnologists is--- Take risks with an entrepreneurial spirit; Be new technologies. This newsletter – Frankli.Hook’d effectively culminates the creative , encouraging teamwork; Seek knowledge and information with everlasting curiosity and moreover, essence of Biotechnology. At Mount Carmel balance personal and professional life . College, students have the opportunity to -Dr. Preetha Nair, H.O.D., Dept. of Biotechnology explore and broaden their horizons. We constantly encourage novel methods of learning, this newsletter being one such. I hope “Being a teacher is hard sometimes. But other times you remind me how lucky I am to be here; that knowing this newsletter helps pique the interest of you and learning with you is my greatest privilege.”-Anonymous students from different disciplines towards Biotechnology. I wish the department the best Thank You for this opportunity for letting me write this article for the journal. I am extremely happy and proud of luck in all their future endeavours. to be part of this wonderful department. I have spent almost close to a decade in this institution. Starting off my journey on this campus as a student and then taking charge of being on the other side of the classroom. It has “Mount Carmel College is a premier institution been a roller coaster ride so far and not to forget the best learning experience life has taught me. Growth can for women’s education in India. Established in never be seen or observed by mere chance, it’s the result of minds working together. In our department, this 1948, it is run by the sisters of the CSST order. The institution has stood the test of time which is growth that I have seen right from its inception is due to combined efforts of the staff and students. This journal reflected in its dynamism and energy.MCC has is a proof of one such growth, the department has moved forward with, letting others know about the always been the forerunner of constructive achievements and contributions made by the staff and students. My hearty congratulations to the entire editorial changes in academics to help generations enrich team for bringing out this informative journal highlighting the departmental activities. My best wishes are their knowledge and enhance skills to meet the always with you for all your future endeavors. challenges of a rapidly evolving world.”

-Ms. Nivedita Patil, Dept. of Biotechnology

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 2

Women, Science and Culture The Forgotten Woman Who Made Microbiology By Dr. Anusha Srikanth, Dept. of Biotechnology Possible By Ms. Roopa Sarah Paul, Dept. of Biotechnology

Any biologist reading the title of my essay might think about microbial, n the earliest days of microbiology, scientists were stumped about how to animal or plant tissue cultures and wonder what women specifically have to I do with culturing. What I would like to discuss in the subsequent paragraphs isolate . That is, until the family cook—a woman named is what this title would mean to a ‘layman’ as referred to in scientific jargon. Angelina —changed everything by bringing her culinary insight into the lab. Before Angelina, the work of classifying different bacteria seemed ‘Equality of Women’ is a well-fought out topic in all arenas, albeit hopelessly complex. Unable to differentiate them, Linnaeus classified all scientific. Women are proving themselves equal to men in all aspects of life, bacteria in the order Chaos in 1763. In the 1800s, scientists studying the be it scaling Everest, or scouring the deepest seas. Likewise, women have spots of fungus growing on moldy bread and meat began to realize that fared exceptionally in science too. A woman physicist stopped light in her each spot was an individual species of microorganism, which could be lab at Harvard. Another woman runs the linear accelerator at Stanford. A transferred to a fresh piece of food and grown in isolation. Inspired by woman discovered the first evidence for dark matter. A woman found the these early food-based studies, Robert Kochused thin slices of potatoes as top quark. The list doesn't stop there, but the point is clear. Does this mean naturally occurring "Petri dishes" when he began his studies of bacterial that women have reached the elusive ‘Equality’ status? pathogens. Only 16% of the total scientists in R&D in Indian research agencies are For Koch's legendary discoveries of the bacteria that cause diseases like women (Source: Indian National Science Academy). This statistic is, tuberculosis and cholera to be possible, he needed new techniques to however, not a reflection of the dearth of funding exclusively allotted for effectively isolate bacteria beyond carefully sliced potatoes. He needed the women. To read the stories of successful women is to understand how tools that were developed by his less-celebrated laboratory assistants, important it is that the barriers facing women in science be broken down as like Julius Richard Petri's dishes and Walther Hesse's solid growth quickly and entirely as possible. If just one of these women had given up medium. and quit—as many do—the history of science would have been But behind the talented laboratory technicians that supported Robert impoverished. Even the women who have stuck with it, even those who Koch's genius was an even more unsung heroine of microbiology. It was have succeeded spectacularly, still report that being a woman in this Walther Hesse's wife (who was often an assistant and scientific illustrator intensely male dominated world is, at best, challenging and, at worst, for the lab) Angelina Fanny Hesse who made the isolation of bacteria downright disheartening. Science, while professing honesty in its nature, is possible. In the early 1880's, Walther was struggling to find the right sort hardly a fair playing field. An excellent example is the woman whose name of gel for Petri's dishes. He was experimenting with using gelatin to graces the name of our Newsletter. From Rosalind Franklin not being congeal the nutrient broth that the bacteria ate, but bacteria also liked to eat awarded the for helping elucidate the DNA structure to the the proteins that congealed the gelatin, chewing through the gel and patent wars for the novel CRISPR/Cas 9, women always seem to be ruining the experiments. Gelatin also had another major drawback: it sidelined. would soften and begin to melt at the incubation temperatures required for Women have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Sciences 18 times since growing the bacteria. 1901, with Marie Curie winning twice. No Indian woman has ever won the Angelina, who cooked both the family's meals and the beef stock that the Nobel Prize for Physics, Chemistry or (). Can this bacteria ate in her kitchen, suggested that Walther use agar-agar, which is discrepancy be attributed solely to the inequality status that women face in more heat-stable than gelatin and used to make soups, desserts, and jellies, the scientific arena? Could there be any other reason that prevents women particularly in Asia. Agar is a sugar polymer derived from algae that most from faring well in science, especially in India? My interaction with three bacteria can't digest. Once it's boiled and cooled, it forms a tough matrix highly successful scientists: Dr. Kristen Bomblies-Yant, winner of the that stays solid at much higher temperatures than gelatin. Genius Award from the MacAuthor Foundation, Prof. Dr. Elisa Izaurralde, With agar, many of the technical problems hindering Hesse's—and winner of the Ernst Jung Prize for Science, and Nobel Laureate Prof. Dr. therefore Koch's—experimental progress were solved. Koch briefly Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard showed how their science was above all else. mentioned the development (though he fails to mention either Walther or They have dedicated their lives to their research and follow through till Angelina) in his1882 paper announcing the identification of the bacteria retirement and post retirement as well. There is no restriction on the time of that causes tuberculosis: "The tubercule bacilli can also be cultivated on day that they work, or the number of days they work in a week. other media...they grow, for example, on a gelatinous mass which was prepared with agar-agar, which remains solid at blood temperature, and I believe that the Indian culture plays a major role in shaping the scientific which has received a supplement of meat broth and peptone." career of women here. We have been brought up with the inherent knowledge that careers are secondary to family. It is taken for granted that a Angelina Hesse's creative insight was thus written out of history with the woman will sacrifice her career to raise her kids, and the Indian woman ever-present passive voice of the scientific literature. Even today, the does so willingly. Wikipedia article about masks Angelina's contribution to microbiological history, simply stating that Koch "began to utilize agar to Does the Indian Culture really dictate that women should not work? The grow and isolate pure cultures." In the late 19th century, the use of agar to words of Saint Manu immediately come to mind ‘The earnings of a woman isolate bacteria was initially referred to as "Koch's plate technique," but are of the worst kind.’ But what really Saint Manu is trying to say is that the since the early 1900s only Petri's name remains in common use. In their family should not solely run on the earnings of a woman, and this again article, Hitchens and Leikind suggested (seventy five years ago) that "plain would be a step towards equality where the woman and man contribute agar" be referred to as "Frau Hesse's medium" to acknowledge her equally to their household. It is, however, rare for Indian women to step up forgotten "service to science and to humanity." Perhaps it's finally time and make their scientific career primary. Again, research should be about that we remember Frau Hesse and celebrate all the ignored "bead passion rather than a means of livelihood. A person who does not have collectors" working in the laboratories and kitchens that make science absolute love for his/ her research will never have the patience to see it possible. through successfully.

It will take goodwill and hard work to make science a good choice for a woman, but it is an effort at which we cannot afford to fail. The next Einstein or the next Pasteur may be alive right now—and she might be thinking it's not her priority or worth the hassle.

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 3

Women Empowerment through Science By Dr. Anusha Srikanth, Dept. of Biotechnology

Mount Carmel College strives for Women Empowerment through Education. We, from the department of Biotechnology, would like to do our tiny bit towards empowering women with scientific knowledge through this newsletter.

Our Newsletter, Frankli.Hook’d, is a tribute to Rosalind Franklin. Here I attempt to give a testimonial to Dr. Franklin. Though DNA was discovered by Friedrich Miescher in 1868, not much was done with it afterward. In fact, even Miescher moved to proteins as he saw more ‘potential’ in the said molecule contributing to heredity than DNA. Work on DNA picked up only after the World War II, with and being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1963 for elucidating its structure. Today, everyone knows that the famous X-Ray Diffraction images of DNA were in fact the work of Rosalind Franklin. Most assume that she was denied the ultimate honor since the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously. This however, is untrue as this rule was established only in 1974. She was simply not awarded for her contribution to DNA structure because this was not known till 1968, when James Watson published a rather candid autobiography on the discovery of DNA structure, 5 years after being awarded the acclaimed Nobel Prize.

Rosalind Franklin received her Doctorate of Philosophy from the Cambridge University in 1945 for her work on ‘The physical chemistry of solid organic colloids with special reference to coal.’ She then moved to Paris where she learned and performed X-Ray Crystallography of Amorphous substances. In 1950, she was awarded a three-year grant in Kings College, London to continue her X-Ray Crystallography work with . In late Feb 1953, she noted that the DNA has two strands. Two weeks later, Watson and Crick built the legendary double helix in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. Franklin was oblivious to the fact that her data was the source of Watson and Crick’s helix model, and hence when she published her X-Ray crystallography work on DNA in April 1953, she added an amendment to her manuscript stating ‘Thus, our general ideas are not inconsistent from the model proposed by Watson and Crick in the preceding communication.’ Ironically, her paper was published back to back with that of the infamous Watson and Crick, and Maurice Wilkins’ papers on the structure of DNA. Franklin left King’s College for Birkbeck College to study Tobacco Mosaic Virus in March 1953, even before the articles were published in Nature.

Franklin stayed in touch with Watson and Crick for the rest of her short life, till she died in 1958 of ovarian cancer, unaware of the deception that diluted her contribution to the revolutionary DNA structure. Watson’s autobiography shows a dismissive attitude, border lined with arrogance, alleviating “Rosy” as a scientist. Excerpts from the Double helix read ‘Rosy, of course, did not directly give us her data. For that matter, no one in King’s realized that they were in our hands.” “Clearly, Rosy had to go or be put in her place.” “Unfortunately, Maurice could not see any decent way to give Rosy the boot.”

Despite this negativity from her colleagues, Rosalind Franklin died proud of her contributions to science. It is definitely an honor to hold this “Wronged Heroine” as a guiding light to encourage women scientists to strive against all odds and decipher the vast unknown that science has to offer.

Editorial - The Baptism of Frankli.Hook’d By Saranya Jayaram, II MSc (B.T.)

“Efforts may drown in the profundity of the cosmic cauldron, but contributions always find a way to remain afloat with the buoyant forces of ‘Scientific karma’ even in the face of adversities”. In the pursuit of excellence and satisfaction in a research career, seldom do the awards come well in time to felicitate the awardees whilst they are still around to receive the accolades. Very often, and in reality, perseverance and hard work remain to be the only two stellar decorations on research scholars, and some do live to see their work reach the heights of global recognition. With this thought, it suffices to say that a research career fetches you intangible benefits that overweigh any amount of materialistic awards and recognition. On the one hand, Roslind Franklin was the catalyst in the ordeal of elucidating the structure of DNA, and on the other hand, Robert Hooke mothered the concept of ‘Cells’ and delivered the eyes to see microscopic cells through his invention of microscopes. Hooke’s scientific odyssey set sail very early in his life, and he began as a curator in various academic fields. With his early life being ornate, he had many thorns line his path, but he found his way amidst all the hardships and brought himself to the pinnacle of achievement. Drawing lines of similarity, Roslind Franklin was the lady who first ideated and conceptualized the structure of DNA. Her efforts could not earn her credibility, owing to her inability to make sense of the X-ray diffraction data of DNA and certain traits of her personality which made bitter relations with her comrades. Both these veterans have had two things in common – passion and perseverance. Their passion fueled their spirits and helped them persevere through all the thick and thins and culminate their intellectual journey at the peak of achievement. Life may not have awarded their work with due credits, but their work remains eternal and with every generation going by, their work catapults to greater magnitudes. Drawing inspiration from these idols, our newsletter has been named Frankli.Hook’d, with the pun being we are also frankly hooked to Biotechnology!!! Frankli.Hook’d is a humble attempt to put forth the kaleidoscopic world of Biotechnology and how it all started. This is a medium to translate the fascination of Biology that we share, to the world outside which is blissfully unaware of the wonderful nuances of cells and the infinite possibilities offered by the living systems. “Calm perseverance can clear out all cacophony and bring out colossal happiness and satisfaction!!!”

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 4

Women scientists who deserve greater notice By Pooja Kumari, III BSc (BtCB) History has not always been kind to women scientists. Many have passed long days and nights in the lab stirring noxious concoctions or gathering piles of data only to see the credit for their discoveries awarded to a male colleague. Sometimes the work was obscured by a famous mentor. Here is a selection of female scientists who deserve greater notice:

Lise Meitner (1878-1968). In 1938, after she escaped from the Nazis to Sweden, she carried out the key calculations that led to the discovery of nuclear fission. Her collaborator, Otto Hahn, who stayed behind in Germany, was the sole recipient of the in 1944. In 1997 Meitner was finally honored when element 109 was named meitnerium.

Emmy Noether (1882-1935). She devised a mathematical principle, called Noether's theorem, which became a foundation stone of quantum physics. Her calculations helped Einstein formulate his general theory of relativity. "It is really through her that I have become competent in the subject," he admitted.

Frieda Robscheit-Robbins (1893-1973). Together with George Whipple, she discovered that a diet rich in cured in dogs, which in turn led directly to treatment for pernicious anemia in humans. Although she coauthored numerous papers with Whipple, it was he who was honored with the 1934 Nobel Prize in medicine.

Hilde Mangold (1898-1924). Under the guidance of , she carried out the experiments that led to the discovery of the organizer effect, which directs the development of embryonic cells into tissues and organs. She died after being set afire by an alcohol stove on which she was heating food for her baby. Eleven years later, Spemann won the Nobel Prize.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979). In her 1925 Ph.D. thesis—described by the noted astronomer Otto Struve in 1960 as "the most brilliant . . . ever written in astronomy"—she proposed that all stars are made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Astronomers dismissed her observations until four years later, when they were confirmed by a man. She was the first woman to become a professor of science at Harvard.

Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling (1909-1990). A prize-winning motorcycle racer and aeronautical engineer, she designed a small metal ring that fit onto the fuel line of an aircraft engine to keep the flow of fuel constant. This enabled World War II British fighter pilots to dive without fear that their engines would cut out.

Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997). In 1957 she and her colleagues overthrew a principle previously considered immutable in physics: that nature does not distinguish between right and left. Chien-Shiung found that this rule does not hold true for interactions between subatomic particles involving the so-called weak force. The Nobel Prize was awarded to two male colleagues.

Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958). Her X-ray photographs of crystallized DNA, taken in the early 1950s, proved that the molecule was a helix. This data was used, without her knowledge, by James Watson and Francis Crick to elucidate the structure of DNA. By the time they were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962, Franklin had died of ovarian cancer.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943-). With the aid of a radio telescope she built herself, she became the first astronomer to detect pulsars—rapidly spinning, extremely dense neutron stars. But she was deemed too inexperienced to receive the Nobel Prize, which was given instead in 1974 to her thesis adviser, Anthony Hewish—a man who later referred to her as "a jolly good girl [who] was just doing her job."

Regenerative medicine – A miracle in the field of stem cell research By Dr. Bannhi Das, Dept. of Biotechnology

Research in any field is the only way of improvement and progress, but until and unless that research has an implication in human life its importance is not appreciated properly. Regenerative medicine is an interdisciplinary approach that seeks to repair or replace damaged or diseased human cells or tissues to restore normal function. Regenerative medicine is a very interesting and emerging area of research which deals with the “process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function” and this is affecting the entire perception of medical science. The first known of organ transplantation without anti-rejection drugs was reported in animals in 1906. Kidneys from sheep, pigs, goats and primates were used. After 30 years, a Russian surgeon Yuri Voronoy, first attempted to transplant human-to-human kidney wherein the kidney from a deceased donor was transplanted to a recipient. The attempt met with a failure due to mismatch in the blood type of the donor and the recipient. The science of organ transplant got enriched with the work of a British scientist, Sir in the late 1940s regarding the involvement of immunologic factors in rejection of transplants. Eventually, this information transformed transplant surgery from a largely unsuccessful experiment to an accepted form of treatment. With the progress of science came up the existence of stem cells, the undifferentiated cells of a multicellular organism which are capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiation. The stem cell research has given a new hope and facet to the science of transplant and regenerative medicine. The stem cells or progenitor cells by proper induction through biologically active molecules can lead to the formation of specific organs. Thus the regenerative medicine includes the possibility of growing tissues and organs in the laboratory and safely implanting them. The advantage of the procedure lies in the fact that the organ’s cells are derived from the patient’s own tissues or cells that may solve the problem of organ transplant rejection and the availability of a perfect donor. Research is also being focused on the usage of the cord blood stem cells for the treatment of different diseases like brain injury, type-I diabetes, cardiovascular repair etc. The cord blood stem cells of an individual can be safely infused back into that individual without being rejected by the body’s immune system. This unique feature the cord blood stem cells compared to the other sources of stem cells have placed them t a center of focus for regenerative medicine research. Recently, a professor at Ohio State University, Dr. Rene Anand, reported of growing a brain from human skin cells equal in maturity to that of a five-week-old fetus in a lab dish. The advancement of regenerative medicine along with the progress of cell biology, immunology and related fields will certainly supplement the existing procedures of the age old techniques of bone marrow and solid organ transplant thereby giving answer to many complicated diseases.

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 5

Did You Know? Bird blood cell which destroys fatal fungal infection By Sarika Marathe, I MSc (B.T.)

Scientists have discovered that a specialized white blood cell found in birds can destroy a potentially fatal fungal infection which affects more than one million people every year.

Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungus that causes fatal infections in those with a weakened immune system. It is one of the most dangerous infections of individuals with AIDS and is thought to cause hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide, every year. Birds are known to carry the fungus and their droppings are thought to be a source of human infection; however it has been a longstanding mystery why the birds themselves do not appear to become ill. Now, a team from the University of Sheffield has shown that a particular white blood cell within the bird’s blood system, called a macrophage, is able to completely block the growth of Cryptococci. The scientists, led by Dr Simon Johnston, found that the fungus can grow slowly within the bird’s digestive tract, but if it tries to invade the bird’s body then the immune system immediately destroys it – which explains why healthy birds can still help spread the infection. Dr Johnston said: “Birds have a higher body temperature than humans, 42°C instead of 37°C, but this alone is not enough to fully stop the fungus. “By studying bird cells under the microscope, we have seen that macrophage cells have the ability to completely block the growth of the fungus, which can be fatal in humans”

“Understanding where the disease comes from and how it spreads is critical.  PCR is routinely used to identify the sources of new infectious diseases. If we can learn how some animals are able to resist infection we might be The technology was used during the SARS epidemic in 2002 and 2003 to able to gain insights into how we can improve the human immune response identify Coronavirus as the culprit and trace its origins work which took to this just one year to complete. Finding a similar needle (a tiny virus) in a haystack (Earth) would have been nearly impossible without PCR Source: Google Images .

“LIVER MATTERS” - Bengaluru Start-Up Prints

3d Tissue That Functions Like Human Liver By Seema.F III BSc (BtCZ)

In India, thousands of lives are lost every year because of failure of organ functioning and its unavailability.

To solve this problem, a Bengaluru based Biotech start-up Pandorum Technologies, has become the first Indian firm to develop artificial living tissue, which performs the function of human liver. This is going to be an affordable, full scale transplantable organs’-repository, in few years. These 3D printed tissues, with reduced animal and human trials, would also make it possible to develop new and vaccines. Did You Know?

Tuhin Bhowmick, the co-founder of Pandorum who has Ph.D from Indian  DNA fingerprinting, used in paternity testing or to identify criminals, is Institute of Science says, ''This is a significant milestone", and adds possible with the smallest amount of genetic material thanks to PCR. Of ''Development of artificial organs has numerous clinical uses. Cell based course, it can also be used to prove innocence. Last year, the 300th organoids can be used to develop artificial liver support systems for preserving life in patients who have developed liver failure. In the near prisoner in history was exonerated after DNA evidence future, such bio - printed organs will address the acute shortage of human showed he was convicted in error. organs available for surgical transplantation". Source: Google Images

Over 75,000 , 200,000 kidneys and 50,000 hearts are needed by hospitals for transplantation across the country. But through organ donation and cadaver transplants, 1500 livers, 7000 kidneys and just 50 hearts are available. Hence, country is in the hope of solving this problem to at least a little extent

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 6

Deodorants cut down bacteria’s life on skin By Manisha A Vashisht, I MSc (B.T.)

Wearing an anti-perspirant or deodorant doesn't affect an individual's social life, and it substantially cuts down the microbial life that survives on a person, says a new study. Thousands of bacterial species have the potential to live on human skin, and in particular in the armpit, the researchers said, adding that anti-perspirant and deodorant can significantly reduce the influence of both the type and quantity of bacterial life found in the human armpit's "microbiome". "Just which of these species live in any particular armpit has been hard to predict until now, but we've discovered that one of the biggest determinants of the bacteria in your armpits is your use of deodorant and/or antiperspirant," said Rob Dunn, professor at North Carolina State University in the US. The study, published in the journal the PeerJ, focuses on the effect that anti- perspirant and deodorant have on the microbial life that lives on our bodies, and how our daily habits influence the life that lives on us, the researchers Source: Google Images said. To learn about the microbial impact of anti-perspirant and deodorant, the researchers recruited 17 study participants. They then launched an eight-day experiment in which all of the participants had swabs taken of their armpits. On day one, participants followed their normal hygiene routine in regard to Dutch open their first 'poop bank' to treat deodorant or anti-perspirant use. On days two through six, participants did gut diseases not use any deodorant or anti-perspirant. On days seven and eight, all By Manisha A Vashisht, I MSc (B.T.) participants used antiperspirant. The researchers then cultured all the samples to determine the abundance of microbial organisms growing on each participant and how that differed from day to day. The researchers found that fter blood and sperm banks, Dutch researchers have now opened the once all participants began using anti-perspirant on days seven and eight, very A few microbes were found on any of the participants, verifying that these country's first "poop bank" in a rare and cutting-edge branch of medicine to products dramatically reduced microbial growth treat people with chronic gut infections. "Our poop bank will help give doctors and hospitals access to transplants of fecal matter," Ed Kuijper, professor of microbiology at Leiden University, told AFP. The Netherlands Donor Feces Bank (NDFB) will collect, store and distribute the stools necessary to help with such transplants. Often this is the "only solution for people suffering from chronic intestinal infections, and in particular 'Clostridium difficile (CD)'," a bacteria which can develop in patients particularly after lengthy and heavy courses of antibiotics, Kuijper said. "Certain antibiotics destroy intestinal flora which allows bacteria to develop and spread," he explained. "Transplants of fecal matter allow healthy bacteria to be put back into the body, which then spread in the intestines and recreate healthy flora in the gut." There are about 3,000 people diagnosed with CD annually in the Netherlands, and about five percent of cases become chronic. About three to four transplants of fecal material are carried out in the country every month. In some cases, such infections can be fatal after triggering severe diarrhoea, inflammation of the colon and even intestinal perforations. Donors must be "in good health, neither too overweight nor too skinny and must have good intestinal flora," said Kuijper. Unlike in the United States, where the first Source: Google Images two poop banks were opened last year, donors are not paid. Donations are collected at home, and the donor remains anonymous. The donated stools are taken to the bank in western city of Leiden and then transformed into a product which can be transplanted either through a nasal endoscopy or implanted directly via a colonoscopy. It is hoped the "poop bank" will also aid research into other illnesses and may be adapted for other conditions such as the debilitating Crohn's disease. "Stool donations are not as accepted yet as blood donations," Kuipjer acknowledged. "But I think it's a question of what people are used to, and donors are offering the possibility of a safe treatment to patients suffering from what is a difficult illness."

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 7

Current Inventions in Biotechnology The Ladder of Life Field By Jannani.S, III BSc (BtCZ) By Rashmi.Y.C, I MSc (B.T.)

“Does he look like me or his daddy?” she asks As we know biotechnology is a upcoming field in INDIA. Earlier biotechnology harnesses cellular and biomolecular processes to develop I look into his wide, blue eyes

technologies and products that help improve our lives and also to And wonder does he know? preserve the food products and also it led to the development of How it all started? antibiotics.The field of modern biotechnology is highly innovative and is The first cleavage, on a strong growth trajectory. It provides breakthrough products and 8 cells, 12 cells, a ball of cells technologies for rare disease and to reduce our environmental footprint , and biotechnology is more efficient in industrial manufacturing A ball of life processes. INDIA is among the top 12 biotech destinations in the world A myriad of genes and ranks 3rd in the ASIA-PACIFIC region. INDIA has the 2nd highest A gene pool of hidden wonders number of US food and drug administration and is the largest producer A billion base pairs coding his story of recombinant HEPATITIS B vaccine.In recent studies of about biotechnology, the Asian biotechnology innovations are making their A billion rungs holding them in place impact in a wide range of applications like The ladder of wondrous life Winds and unwinds HEALING NANOGELS : instead of bandages and silicon dressings the Weaving his fate nanogels might be the future of wound healing. The nanogels were shown to heal burns more quickly compared to conventional wound Illustrating his journey dressings. These gels may someday be used as a topical gel , spray , Sealing his fate membrane patch or long-lasting dry powder formulation. 3D PRINTED The apple of his mother’s eye BONE: Researches at university of Wollongong in Australia have The pride of his father Source: Google Images developed a 3D printing device that can ‘draw’ new bone using a seaweed . Their genetic masterpiece – The genetic editing technology is used to snip out the desired stretches Smiles back at me of DNA where this processes first introduces double stranded breaks in As if amused, diseased genes, before replacing them with good copies of DNA.The His eyes twinkling like the stars researches from Fudan university have developed a new technology where our clothes can turn into a walking solar batteries. The solar cell “Neither” I reply fabric has already been used to power an LED light. “He is the sum of unique genetic variation The spark of a creation And also the Bluetooth enabled shoes were developed that uses google Hopefully the vision maps to help wearers navigate called as LECHAL shoes , this technology was originally designed to help visually impaired individuals achieve Of a better nation” mobility. And for to avoid the BAD BREATHE the toothfilm Biofilm innovation has developed a breathe freshener which is extracted from the exoskeleton of crustaceans , usually called as T-spray, it kills bacteria and removes plaque build-up and also helps to re-mineralize tooth Did You Know? enamel.The recent inventions in DRUG DISCOVERY for the treatment of deadly lives , which could perhaps save millions of lives.GLEEVEC  Some of the genetic material that makes you, well, you, isn't of human which is also known as Imatinib, is now greatly considered as a miracle origin. Viruses and bacteria can insert their DNA into your genome drug to many for in the treatment of cancer. through a process called horizontal gene transfer, or HGT. Scientists have discovered that HGT is much more common in certain cancer The scientist at the scripps research institute have devised a new strategy cells than healthy cells, perhaps pointing to possible causes and cures for the discovery of drugs that allows researches to choose the chemical compounds that can impact cells in a technique required for the  DNA isn't called the information molecule for nothing. Researchers treatment of a particular disease. In order to emphasize this power of have stored as much as 700 terabytes of data in a single gram of DNA, technique they used this strategy to determine a compound that has the while others have produced read write DNA technology. If scaled potential to treat diabetes linked to obesity and they were also successful properly, all of the information in the entire world videos, photos, in identifying the fat-cell enzyme that is inhibited by the compound. scientific papers, the Internet, and the like would fit in the back of a Interestingly , still this enzyme has not yet been thought to treat diabetes. single van, according to computational biologist Nick Goldman.

The US Food and Drug Administration had given the breakthrough  Of course, the title of "information molecule" was granted for DNA's therapy status to SERELAXIN, which is used in the treatment of acute ability to pass genetic information from one cell (or cells) to another. heart failure where the study also proved that the drug cut down the That seems obvious, but it won't be for long. Scientists at the J. Craig deaths of patient by 37%. Venter Institute created a living cell with a synthetic genome made from scratch in 2010 (although it was modelled after a living The Zmapp drug has being discovered used to treat patients those who organism), making it the first living cell on Earth in 3.5 billion years to are infected with the fatal Ebola virus. not have a living parent. The synthetic genome did, however, cost $40 million to build. Source: Google Images

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 8

Epigenetics and Inheritance By Sahar Ismail, I MSc (B.T.)

Most of us were taught that inheritance happens only through the DNA code that passes from parent to offspring. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance goes against this teaching and proposes that our experiences and environmental exposures can change the way our DNA works through epigenetic marks (i.e., DNA methylation, histone modifications) present on our DNA and this could be passed on stably to the next generation.

In order for the zygote to develop into every type of cell in the adult organism, the epigenetics tags on the DNA must be erased through a process called "reprogramming” in the sperm and eggs. The methylation marks are hydroxylated which is then progressively diluted out as the cells divide. This process turns out to be remarkably efficient and seems to reset the genes for each new generation. However, in a small minority of genes, epigenetic tags are not erased but passed unchanged from parent to offspring. Such aberrant methylation could accumulate in genes during a lifetime in response to environmental factors, such as chemical exposure or nutrition, and can cause abnormal use of genes, leading to disease.

Proving epigenetic inheritance is not always straightforward. The possibility of genetic changes due to a single mutation must be ruled out and it must also be shown that the epigenetic effect can pass through at least four generations for it to be considered a change due to inheritance and not due to direct exposure. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance through the father are much less likely to be confused with behavioral factors as the father contributes far less than the mother to the environment of the fetus and newborn.

Following examples illustrate the phenomenon of epigenetic inheritance:

There are a small subset of genes called the imprint genes. In imprinted genes, either the maternal or paternal allele is methylated significantly such that only one copy produces protein. For example, the mouse Igf2 gene is methylated on the maternal gene and thus silenced while the paternal gene is un-methylated and thus expressed. Thus this gene is inherited only from the paternal side. The consequence of parental imprinting is that imprinted genes are expressed as if they were hemizygous (one allele instead of normal two) instead of homozygous.

More than 50% of male factor infertility cases still have no known cause. Numerous studies have found abnormal methylation of specific imprint genes of sperm are highly correlated to male infertility.

An example with endogenous gene is that of the agouti viable yellow (Avy) gene, in which coat color variation is due to epigenetic markers. The Avy locus is actually a retrotransposon (jumping gene) that is inserted upstream of the agouti gene. Normally, these Avy elements are methylated, thus, shut off. However in mice whose agouti gene is “on” (un-methylated) have a yellow coat and very pronounced obesity and are also more likely to suffer from diabetes and cancer as adults.

The epigenome can change rapidly in response to signals from the environment and are easily reversible when conditions change again without changing the DNA code. Through epigenetic inheritance, some of the experiences of the parents may pass to future generations. Epigenetics probably plays a major role in differentiating cell types within a given organism and “adapting” these tissues to environmental exposure. Epigenetics could be considered as a mechanism for “long-term adaptation” or “short-term evolution”. The inheritance of differential epigenetic information could potentially contribute to altered traits or disease susceptibility in offspring and future descendants. Understanding the mechanism of epigenetic resetting could be exploited to deal with adult diseases linked with an accumulation of aberrant epigenetic marks, such as cancers, or in ‘rejuvenating’ aged cells.

Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 9

Fun Facts about Biotechnology and farnesene, an important building block molecule. Farnesene can By Prerna Sharma I MSc (B.T.) & Pooja Kumari, III BSc (BtCB) be processed into everything from fuels to lubricants, synthetic rubber to cosmetic emollients. In fact, the emollient squalane is only found in  PCR is routinely used to identify the sources of new infectious diseases. limited quantities in nature in shark livers and olive oil.

The technology was used during the SARS epidemic in 2002 and 2003 to  Biotech crops are just the beginning. Oxitec is developing genetically identify Coronavirus as the culprit and trace its origins -- work which took engineered insects designed to control populations of pests that spread just one year to complete. Finding a similar needle (a tiny virus) in a disease and destroy crops. A carefully calculated number of sterile haystack (Earth) would have been nearly impossible without PCR. insects are released into the environment, where they breed with natural  Each cell in your body contains about two meters of DNA. If laid end-to- insects to drastically reduce the number of offspring produced. The end it would measure 200 billion kilometers. That's long enough to stretch company has already proven its technology for controlling Dengue from Earth to the sun 1,333 times. To put that in perspective, it would take Fever, which affects over 50 million people and costs $5 billion per 7.4 days for sunlight to travel the same distance. year globally, in live field tests. Wild mosquito populations were  Humans shares about 98% of their genes with chimpanzees, 92% with reduced by 80% and maintained at low levels for the final seven weeks mice, 76% with zebrafish, 51% with fruit flies, 26% with thale cress (a type of the trials. of weed), and 18% with E. coli bacteria.  Of course, we can't forget about "traditional" biotech. Roche had  Some of the genetic material that makes you, well, you, isn't of human owned a majority of Genentech since 1990 before acquiring the biotech origin. Viruses and bacteria can insert their DNA into your genome through pioneer in 2009 for $46.8 billion. Nonetheless, it is by far the largest a process called horizontal gene transfer, or HGT. Scientists have discovered merger and acquisition in the history of the biotech industry. The $15.2 that HGT is much more common in certain cancer cells than healthy cells, billion acquisition of MedImmune by AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) in perhaps pointing to possible causes and cures 2007 ranks a distant second.  DNA isn't called the information molecule for nothing. Researchers have  Talimogene laherparepvec, or T-VEC, was successfully developed stored as much as 700 terabytes of data in a single gram of DNA, while by BioVex and Amgen (AMGN) to treat melanoma. The others have produced read-write DNA technology. If scaled properly, all of immunotherapy is actually an engineered form of the virus that causes the information in the entire world -- videos, photos, scientific papers, the herpes, although it is no longer pathogenic. Instead, it is injected into Internet, and the like -- would fit in the back of a single van, according to cancer tissues, which it ruptures, while simultaneously rallying the computational biologist Nick Goldman. body's own immune system.  Of course, the title of "information molecule" was granted for DNA's ability to pass genetic information from one cell (or cells) to another. That seems obvious, but it won't be for long. Scientists at the J.

Craig Venter Institute created a living cell with a synthetic genome made from scratch in 2010 (although it was modeled after a living organism), making it the first living cell on Earth in 3.5 billion years to not have a living parent. The synthetic genome did, however, cost $40 million to build.  Why so expensive? Scientists at JCVI used first-generation genome engineering technologies, which resulted in many expensive discoveries for many more dead ends. Don't write-off the possibility of building fully synthetic organisms due to costs, however: next-generation genome engineering technologies can create one billion similarly sized genomes for just $9,000  What are some functional applications of synthetic biology? Spider dragline silk is incredibly strong and flexible, but impossible to practically mass produce with spiders -- they're simply too territorial. Researchers at the University of Wyoming solved the problem by inserting the silk gene from spiders into more docile creatures: goats. These special dairy animals produce milk containing long, long strands of spider silk, which is then harvested from the milk with a spool in large quantities. The goats are left

happy and unharmed.  The media went wild with "spider goat" headlines when the research Source: Google Images was announced, but using the building blocks of life (genes) to create efficient manufacturing processes is hardly new. In 1990 chymosin became the first food enzyme produced using recombinant DNA, or rDNA, technology. Researchers cloned the chymosin gene from cows into fungi and bacteria, which can produce the enzyme during fermentation in much larger quantities with much higher quality than the stomachs of dairy animals. As much as 90% of the hard cheese produced in the United States is produced with engineered chymosin.  Synthetic biology pioneer Amyris has developed yeasts for producing artemisinic acid, the world's most effective anti-malarial compound,

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 10

Biotechnology Crossword Puzzle By Kavya, III BSc (BtCZ) & R. Reshmi, I MSc (B.T.)

Across

1. Food and Drug Administration

4. A unit of heredity that is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring 7. An autonomous institute of Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi which is located in Pune and which focuses on basic research in area of cell biology 8. An organic acid and polymer composed of four nitrogenous bases--adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine linked via intervening units of phosphate and the pentose sugar. 9. According to Chargaff's rules: A+T = …. + ….. 12. The study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics. 13. An agent capable of initiating development of malignant For Answers, Please Refer Page - 20 tumors

Down

Source: Google Images 2. Destruction of most, but not all, microorganisms by means of heat, chemicals or UV light. 3. Biocon is India’s largest …… in area of biopharmaceuticals which produces pharmaceuticals and enzymes. 6. A technique which is used to measure the rate and regularity of heartbeats, as well as the size and position of the chambers, the presence of any damage to the heart, and the effects of drugs or devices used to regulate the heart. 10. The mitotic division of a progenitor cell to give rise to a population of identical daughter cells or clones. 11. Free of any microorganisms, viruses or other pathogens 13. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 14. A sensitive immunological technique used to measure Did You Know? the concentration of antigens in the blood. 15. An agency of the United States which was created for  There's a bigger bottleneck facing the industry than genome engineering. the purpose of protecting human health and the The world has become pretty good at DNA sequencing since completing environment by writing and enforcing regulations. The Human Genome Project in 2003 and now sports a sequencing

capacity of over 1 trillion kilobases a year. Unfortunately, the world's DNA synthesis capacity is less than 230 million kilobases a year. Genetic engineering and synthetic biology applications will become accessible to more people as technology improves and costs come down in the coming years.

 What are some functional applications of synthetic biology? Spider dragline silk is incredibly strong and flexible, but impossible to practically mass produce with spiders they're simply too territorial. Researchers at the University of Wyoming solved the problem by inserting the silk gene from spiders into more docile creatures: goats. These special dairy animals produce milk containing long, long strands Source: Google Images of spider silk, which is then harvested from the milk with a spool in large quantities. The goats are left happy and unharmed. Source: Google Images

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 11

Climate Change and Mitigation Seminar The art of ART at IISc By Princy A., I MSc (B.T.) By Reshma, III BSc (BtCB)

The world is dealing with a serious climate change from a decade. Though “There is a unique pain that comes from preparing a place in your heart for the neglected initially and exploited carelessly, it is now the biggest concern of child that never comes” the world. Even the biggest nations are now taking the steps towards finding -David Platt its solution; the Paris summit was one such most recent successful step. A family begins on a couple’s wedding day. While a child causes the family to grow, a family of two is no less a family. Infertility is a loss- it is the loss of a dream, it is the loss of an assumed future. And like every loss it will be grieved. The World Organization of Students and Youth (WOSY) held a seminar on Infertility refers to an inability to conceive after having regular unprotected sex. Climate Change and Mitigation on 31st December 2015 at IISc, Bangalore. It It can also refer to the biological inability of an individual to contribute to was an effort made to involve youngsters from all over the world into this conception, or to a female who cannot carry a pregnancy to full term. problem and draw solutions to it. Students from around 20 countries Is there a solution to this problem??? ……… YES!! Definitely there is. participated in the seminar. The program was inaugurated by Dr. Verman Acharya, Former Chairman Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. Life is an art, henceforth formation of a new life is also an art. When formation of this art fails in natural circumstances due to various reasons, another ‘ART’ The session on climate change started in the morning and the speaker comes into picture. professor Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Chairman of Centre of Earth Science IISc CONFUSED??? Let me put it this way. Bangalore who discussed the impact of climate change on the water Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is used to treat infertility. It includes resources. The importance of underground water, conserving lakes and fertility treatments that handle both a woman's egg and a man's sperm. It works preventing its pollution were the highlights of his talk. by removing eggs from a woman's body, which are then mixed with sperms to make embryos. The embryos are then put back in the woman's body. Later in the day, there was an interactive session with young researcher Dr. ART is a blanket term used to cover in vitro fertilization (IVF). But in real IVF Durga Madhab Mahapatra IISc Bangalore and Dr. Mohammad Sahil Ali, JNU is the most common and effective type of ART. Delhi. The discussion highlighted upon the Paris agreement and the global ART procedures sometimes use donor eggs, donor sperm, or previously frozen impact of it. The necessity for the world to use an alternative method to embryos. It may also involve a surrogate or gestational carrier. A surrogate is a prevent further damage to the mother earth and still develop. woman who becomes pregnant with sperm from the male partner of the couple. A gestational carrier becomes pregnant with an egg from the female partner and The afternoon session had Prof. Dr. TV Ramamchandra of IISc Bangalore the sperm from the male partner. With ART, the process of sexual intercourse is bypassed either by artificial insemination or fertilization of the oocytes in the who spoke about Urbanization and greenhouse gas emission and its impact. laboratory environment. The effect of glass building and wrong architectural construction were discussed. We pledged to save environment and also to create awareness  Artificial insemination: It involves sperm being placed into a among people. female's uterus (intrauterine) or cervix (intra cervical) using artificial means rather than by sexual intercourse. Sperm donors may be used The valedictory was presided by Shri. Prakash Javadkar, Honoree Minister of where the woman does not have a male partner with functional Climate change and forest govt. of India. He gave an insight to the sperm. government’s policy to take a deviation from the unusual method of  In vitro fertilization(IVF): It is the technique of development and instead take an environmental friendly path. He urged us to letting fertilization of the male and female gametes (sperm and egg) do a little bit effort at personal level as well. occur outside the female body. After the embryos are fertilized, they are placed back inside the woman’s uterus. It is the most common For me and many others who attended the seminar it was the best way to ART available today. It is used by more patients than any of the celebrate the New Year’s Eve and start the New Year with the resolution of other ART’s on the market today. o making the world greener yet modernized. I would like to share, the message Embryo transfer: It is the step in the process of IVF whereby one or several embryos are placed into the uterus from the seminar which made me think and act towards it, with all of you of the female with the intent to establish a pregnancy. ,”it’s high time now, so we should stop expecting the nature to adjust and Embryo splitting can be used for twinning to increase the compromise for our ‘needs’. It has given us everything to fulfill our needs and number of available embryos. maybe a little more. Thus, now we should take pledge to stop expecting too o Trans-vaginal ovum retrieval (OCR): It is the process much from the nature and exploiting its beauty, rather we should respect what whereby a small needle is inserted through the back of the it had already given and conserve the rest as sustainably as possible. Hence vagina and guided via ultrasound into the ovarian follicles from today onwards let us try to make this world a better place to live for now to collect the fluid that contains the eggs. and forever.” o Assisted zonal hatching (AZH): It is performed shortly before the embryo is transferred to the uterus. A small opening is made in the outer layer surrounding the egg in order to help the embryo hatch out and aid in the implantation process of the growing embryo. o Autologous endometrial co-culture: It is a possible treatment for patients who have failed previous IVF attempts or who have poor embryo quality. The patient's fertilized eggs are placed on top of a layer of cells from the patient's own uterine lining, creating a more natural environment for embryo development. o Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD): It involves the use of genetic screening mechanisms such as fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) or comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to help identify genetically abnormal embryos and improve health outcomes.

Source: Google Images

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 12

 ZIFT: ZIFT is short for Zygote Intra-fallopian Transfer, and it is much like GIFT. The eggs are mixed with the sperm in a lab, and "This is important not only because it gives us a potential way to attack then placed back inside the woman’s fallopian tubes. The difference MERS, but also because it provides evidence that using these transgenic with ZIFT is that the eggs are not inserted back into the woman’s body until the eggs have already been fertilized. As with GIFT, this cows can rapidly produce therapeutics," said Frieman. process was once very popular, but has now become less common with the increased success of IVF. SAB, a biopharmaceutical company based in South Dakota, provided the  ICSI: ICSI is short for Intra cytoplasmic Sperm Injection, and it is genetically modified cows, a technology that it invented. most commonly used for couples with serious problems with the man’s sperm. In ICSI, only a single sperm is placed inside a mature Novavax, a vaccine biotech company based in Gaithersburg in US, provided egg. Then this embryo is implanted into the uterus or fallopian tube the vaccine that triggered the antibody production in the cows.  GIFT: Gamete Intra fallopian transfer, once a very common and popular form of ART. However, it is not used that much anymore. The next step, which will occur in the next three to six months, will be a GIFT is where the woman’s eggs and man’s sperm are combined in human clinical trial to test the safety of the therapeutic, researchers said. a lab. The eggs are then inserted into the fallopian tubes. In GIFT treatments, the fertilization takes place inside a woman’s body and If that works, a Phase 2 trial will follow, to test whether it is effective for use not inside a lab. GIFT is a good option for couples who want a more in humans, in emergency situations. natural ART treatment, that allows the fertilization to take place inside the woman’s body naturally. MERS was first discovered in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. It appears that the disease spread to humans from camels, who may themselves have been infected by bats, researchers said. Not all the ART techniques are 100% effective. Each type comes with its own pros and cons. The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The most common complication being multiple pregnancy and that, it is expensive.

Regardless of which method adopted, ‘ART’ brings in a HOPE for most of those infertile couples who want to complete their family and lead a happy life. Lifespan of mice extended by as much as

35 percent; No adverse effects found

By Geethanjali Gowda, I MSc (B.T.)

Cellular senescence is a biological mechanism that functions as an 'emergency brake' used by damaged cells to stop dividing," says Jan van Source: Google Images Deursen, Ph.D., Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular biology at Mayo Clinic, and senior author of the paper. "While halting cell division of these cells is important for cancer prevention, it has been theorized that once the New antibody treatment for MERS virus 'emergency brake' has been pulled, these cells are no longer necessary." developed The immune system sweeps out the senescent cells on a regular basis, but By Sarika Marathe, I MSc (B.T.) over time becomes less effective. Senescent cells produce factors that damage adjacent cells and cause chronic inflammation, which is closely associated with frailty and age-related diseases.

Scientists have developed a potential new treatment for Middle East Mayo Clinic researchers used a transgene that allowed for the drug-induced elimination of senescent cells from normal mice. Upon administration of a Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the form of an antibody that blocks the compound called AP20187, removal of senescent cells delayed the deadly virus in mice. formation of tumors and reduced age-related deterioration of several organs. Median lifespan of treated mice was extended by 17 to 35 percent. They also The study by researchers from the University Of Maryland School Of demonstrated a healthier appearance and a reduced amount of inflammation Medicine (UM SOM) found that the treatment protected mice from MERS in fat, muscle and kidney tissue. infection. The treatment - an antibody that blocks the MERS virus - was produced in cows that had been genetically modified to mimic certain "Senescent cells that accumulate with aging are largely bad, do bad things to aspects of the human immune system. These cows were given a new your organs and tissues, and therefore shorten your life but also the healthy MERS vaccine that led to production of anti-MERS antibodies in large phase of your life," says Dr. van Deursen. "And since you can eliminate the quantities. These antibodies were then purified to produce the therapeutic cells without negative side effects, it seems like therapies that will mimic our that was tested in the MERS-infected mice. findings -- or our genetic model that we used to eliminate the cells -- like drugs or other compounds that can eliminate senescent cells would be useful "Last year, a South Korean epidemic of MERS killed more than 30 people. for therapies against age-related disabilities or diseases or conditions." Overall, MERS has killed nearly 600 people since it was first discovered four years ago in Saudi Arabia," researchers said. Darren Baker, Ph.D., a molecular biologist at Mayo Clinic, and first author on the study is also optimistic about the potential implications of the study The researchers tested the treatment for MERS, a disease that can cause for humans. severe respiratory symptoms and has a death rate of 40 per cent. "The advantage of targeting senescent cells is that clearance of just 60-70 "These results are very promising," said one of the lead researchers on the percent can have significant therapeutic effects," says Dr. Baker. "If study, Matthew B Frieman, an Associate Professor of Microbiology and translatable, because senescent cells do not proliferate rapidly, a drug could Immunology at UM SOM. efficiently and quickly eliminate enough of them to have profound impacts on health-span and lifespan."

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1

Plant Tissue Culture

By Pooja Kumari, III BSc (BtCB)

The department of Biotechnology has a well-equipped Plant Tissue Culture Lab.

Every year final year B.Sc. students are given an opportunity to perform in vitro culture of different explants of their choice and submit it as an assignment, where in, they get the exposure to the art of reading and referring to research articles. This activity gives the students a hands-on experience on the basics of Plant Biotechnology applications & also on other aspects such as:

 Importance of the safety measures to be taken while performing the experiments, including the importance of sterilization,

 Importance of nutrient media composition and growth hormone concentration for the proper growth of the desired plant.

Few plants obtained from in vitro culture are as followed:-

1. Arachis hypogaea: Seed culture 2. Capsicum annum: Seed Culture 3. Capsicum annum: Callus Culture 4. Arachis hypogaea: Synthetic Seed Culture 5. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis: Nodal Culture 6. Datura stramonium: Anther Culture 7. Tinospora cordifolia: Callus Culture

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 14

- Shailayee Chakraborty, I MSc (B.T.)

Cheers!!

-Saranya Jayaram, II MSc (B.T.)

-Shailayee Chakraborty, I MSc (B.T.) Thank you, Drosophila!! -Saranya Jayaram, II MSc (B.T.)

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 15

The CRISPR-cas 9 technology: A revolution in the field of biology By Bedhya Sethia, I MSc (B.T.)

Scientists, or should I say Molecular biologists, invented a new technology for editing genomes. It's called CRISPR-Cas9. The CRISPR technology allows scientists to make changes to the DNA in cells that could allow us to cure genetic disease.

CRISPR technology came about through a basic research project that was aimed at discovering how bacteria fight viral infections. Bacteria have to deal with viruses in their environment, and we can think about a viral infection like a ticking time bomb -- a bacterium has only a few minutes to defuse the bomb before it gets destroyed. So, many bacteria have in their cells an adaptive immune system called CRISPR that allows them to detect viral DNA and destroy it.

Part of the CRISPR system is a protein called Cas9, that's able to seek out, cut and eventually degrade viral DNA in a specific way. And it was through the research to understand the activity of this protein, Cas9, which they realized that they could harness its function as a genetic engineering technology - a way for scientists to delete or insert specific bits of DNA into cells with incredible precision - that would offer opportunities to do things that really haven't been possible in the past.

The CRISPR technology has already been used to change the DNA in the cells of mice and monkeys, other organisms as well. Chinese scientists showed recently that they could even use the CRISPR technology to change genes in human embryos. And scientists in Philadelphia showed they could use CRISPR to remove the DNA of an integrated HIV virus from infected human cells. The opportunity to do this kind of genome editing also raises various ethical issues that we have to consider, because this technology can be employed not only in adult cells, but also in the embryos of organisms, including our own species.

How does it work?

When viruses infect a cell, they inject their DNA. And in a bacterium, the CRISPR system allows that DNA to be plucked out of the virus, and inserted in little bits into the chromosome -- the DNA of the bacterium. And these integrated bits of viral DNA get inserted at a site called CRISPR. CRISPR stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”. It's a mechanism that allows cells to record, over time, the viruses they have been exposed to. And importantly, those bits of DNA are passed on to the cells' progeny, so cells are protected from viruses not only in one generation, but over many generations of cells. This allows the cells to keep a record of infection, the CRISPR locus is effectively a genetic vaccination card in cells. Once those bits of DNA have been inserted into the bacterial chromosome, the cell then makes a little copy of a molecule called RNA, which is orange in this picture, which is an exact replicate of the viral DNA. RNA is a chemical cousin of DNA, and it allows interaction with DNA molecules that have a matching sequence.

So those little bits of RNA from the CRISPR locus associate -they bind - to protein called Cas9, which is white in the picture, and form a complex that functions like a sentinel in the cell. It searches through all of the DNA in the cell, to find sites that match the sequences in the bound RNAs. And when those sites are found - this complex associates with that DNA and allows the Cas9 cleaver to cut up the viral DNA. It makes a very precise break. So we can think of the Cas9 RNA sentinel complex like a pair of scissors that can cut DNA -- it makes a double-stranded break in the DNA helix. And importantly, this complex is programmable, so it can be programmed to recognize particular DNA sequences, and make a break in the DNA at that site. The scientist recognized that the activity could be harnessed for genome engineering, to allow cells to make a very precise change to the DNA at the site where this break was introduced. That's sort of analogous to the way that we use a word-processing program to fix a typo in a document.

The reason it was envisioned to use CRISPR system for genome engineering is because cells have the ability to detect broken DNA and repair it. So when a plant or an animal cell detects a double-stranded break in its DNA, it can fix that break, either by pasting together the ends of the broken DNA with a little, tiny change in the sequence of that position, or it can repair the break by integrating a new piece of DNA at the site of the cut. So if we have a way to introduce double-stranded breaks into DNA at precise places, we can trigger cells to repair those breaks, by either the disruption or incorporation of new genetic information. So if we were able to program the CRISPR technology to make a break in DNA at the position at or near a mutation causing cystic fibrosis, for example, we could trigger cells to repair that mutation.

Genome engineering is actually not new, it's been in development since the 1970s. We've had technologies for sequencing DNA, for copying DNA, and even for manipulating DNA. And these technologies were very promising, but the problem was that they were either inefficient, or they were difficult enough to use that most scientists had not adopted them for use in their own laboratories, or certainly for many clinical applications. So, the opportunity to take a technology like CRISPR and utilize it has appeal, because of its relative simplicity. We can think of older genome engineering technologies as similar to having to rewire your computer each time you want to run a new piece of software, whereas the CRISPR technology is like software for the genome, we can program it easily, using these little bits of RNA.

So once a double-stranded break is made in DNA, we can induce repair, and thereby potentially achieve astounding things, like being able to correct mutations that cause sickle cell anaemia or cause Huntington's disease. It is thought that the first applications of the CRISPR technology are going to happen in the blood, where it's relatively easier to deliver this tool into cells, compared to solid tissues.

Right now, a lot of the work that's going on applies to animal models of human disease, such as mice. The technology is being used to make very precise changes that allow us to study the way that these changes in the cell's DNA affect either a tissue or, in this case, an entire organism.

We will see clinical application of this technology, certainly in adults, within the next 10 years. I think that it's likely that we will see clinical trials and possibly even approved therapies within that time, which is a very exciting thing to think about. And because of the excitement around this technology, there's a lot of interest in start-up companies that have been founded to commercialize the CRISPR technology, and lots of venture capitalists that have been investing in these companies.

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 16

The pros are done... now comes the cons.....

But we have to also consider that the CRISPR technology can be used for things like enhancement. Imagine that we could try to engineer humans that have enhanced properties, such as stronger bones, or less susceptibility to cardiovascular disease or even to have properties that we would consider maybe to be desirable, like a different eye colour or to be taller, things like that. "Designer humans," if you will. Right now, the genetic information to understand what types of genes would give rise to these traits is mostly not known. But it's important to know that the CRISPR technology gives us a tool to make such changes, once that knowledge becomes available. This raises a number of ethical questions that we have to carefully consider. And actually, there is an important precedent for such a pause from the 1970s, when scientists got together to call for a moratorium on the use of molecular cloning, until the safety of that technology could be tested carefully and validated. So, genome-engineered humans are not with us yet, but this is no longer science fiction. Genome- engineered animals and plants are happening right now. And this puts in front of all of us a huge responsibility, to consider carefully both the unintended consequences as well as the intended impacts of a scientific breakthrough.

Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 17

Departmental activities June 2015- April 2016 By Pooja Kumari, III BSc (BtCB)

Conducted events during Fresher’s Week, Cul-Week and Culah

Fresher’s Week

Cul-Week

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 18

Culah

EVENTS (P.G.):  P.G. Science Fest – Aikya :

Event conducted – Do we relate?

ACTIVITIES (P.G.):  Guest Lecture on ‘Flow Cytometry’  Talk on ‘Biotechnology’, from a senior scientist from NCBI  Industrial visit to ‘Biozeen’ (on fermentation technology)  Workshop on ‘Molecular Biology – Cloning & Transformation’ by Credora Life Sciences  Guest Lecture by Dr. Uma, Dean of Sciences, on ‘NMR’  Guest Lecture by Dr. Praveen on ‘Bioinformatics in Drug Designing & Delivery’  Attended International Conference on ‘Higher Education’

 Attended National Conference on ‘Nanoscience’

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1

Hand sanitizer, antifreeze can preserve DNA Industrial visit to Nandini milk factory Mandya and Heritage winery By Geethanjali Gowda, I MSc (B.T.)

This is great news because unlike high-concentration chemicals, such as 95 percent ethanol or pure propylene glycol -- which are expensive and hard to access -- these products are inexpensive and are commonly sold at grocery stores," said Andrea Lucky, an assistant research scientist at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, and supervisor of Sedonia Steininger, the master's student who led this study.

In the study, published in the journal Invertebrate Systematics, Lucky, her collaborator, Jiri Hulcr, assistant professor in the UF/IFAS School of Forest Resources and Conservation and his graduate student, Caroline Storer, checked several products for their ability to preserve the DNA in ambrosia beetles. These beetles are "notorious forest pests," the study says. For example, ambrosia beetles transmit the laurel wilt pathogen to avocado trees and are a major threat to Florida's $100 million-a-year avocado industry.

To test the effectiveness of different preservatives, UF/IFAS scientists experimentally preserved 33 ambrosia beetles collected from an avocado tree in ethanol, hand sanitizer, pure propylene glycol and automobile antifreeze and coolant. To check how well the preservatives kept the DNA intact, scientists used polymerase chain reaction to amplify the genetic material. They found that alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and propylene and ethylene glycol-based automobile antifreeze can preserve DNA.

"This finding opens the door for much broader participation in citizen science," Lucky said. "Now, there is an easy way for anyone who is interested in preserving insects for a project to get the materials themselves. It also means that professionals can sample more widely, at a lower cost and with fewer concerns about safety. This also offers a big boost for scientists who collect samples in remote locations, where accessing laboratory-grade materials can be difficult or impossible. We hope this encourages many more projects to incorporate a citizen science component without worrying about cost of or access to preservation materials."

 UG dept. of Biotechnology organized a one day industrial visit to Nandini milk factory, Mandya and Heritage Wineries Bangalore.

 45 students accompanied by two teachers witnessed this enthusiastic and fruitful educational trip.

 At first students were taken to the Nandini milk factories, Mandya wherein they saw the collection, processing, purification, production and packaging units.

 All the units were maintained well and had well organized manual as well as automatic equipment operated by trained workers.

 It was a very encouraging trip and the students learnt a lot.

 Later the students were taken to Heritage Wineries were they learned about the various types of wines, how they are produced, what are the criteria for selecting good quality raw material and various other factors influencing wine production.

 It was really a very nice and encouraging trip.

| February 2016: Volume 1, Issue 1 20

Principal Dr. Sr. Arpana

Head of the Department Answers for “Biotechnology Crossword

Dr. Preetha Nair Puzzle”:

Teacher Co-ordinators

Dr. Anusha Srikanth Ms. Nivedita Patil Dr. Bannhi Das

Student Co-ordinators Heartfelt gratitude to our sponsors - Saranya Jayaram (II MSc – B.T.)

Parin Tetarwal (II MSc – B.T.)

Kavya V.P. (III BSc – BtCZ)

Pooja Kumari (III BSc – BtCB) H L SCIENTIFIC TECHNOLOGY

Distributors of all types of Lab chemicals, glassware & Diagnostic kit. Editorial & Designing Contact: 9880677699, 9480090537 E-mail: [email protected] D. Suresh (Senior analyst, Price Waterhouse & Co., Bangalore, LLP)

Saranya Jayaram (II MSc – B.T.)

OZONE SCIENTIFIC Mount Carmel College, Bangalore #22/23, Room no. 24, st Address: No., 58, Palace Rd, Bengaluru-560052, Karnataka 1 Main Excel Kalyana Mantapa road, Opp. Krishna Hospital, Behind Rockline Telephone Number : +91-80-22261759 Mall, Jalahalli Cross, T. Dasarahalli, Tele Fax Number : +91-80-22286386 Bangalore – 560 057 Website : www.mountcarmelcollegeblr.co.in Contact: 9481319074 E-mail: [email protected] Email : [email protected]