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 bacteria. 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 Nobel Prize 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 Physiology (Medicine). 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.