Author: Biotech Express

The New Zealand government said on Tuesday that it would introduce new legislation to make it easier for companies and researchers to develop and commercialize products using gene technologies such as gene editing. Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins said in a statement that rules and time-consuming processes have made research outside the lab almost impossible. “These changes will bring New Zealand up to global best practice and ensure we can capitalise on the benefits,” she said. Current, regulations mean that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) cannot be released out of containment without going through a complex and vigorous process…

The muscle protein titin has long been the titan of the molecular world. Built of more than 34,000 amino acids and weighing in at a hefty 3.7 megadaltons, titin has long been considered the largest protein in the world—until now. A new group of toxin-making enzymes has been discovered inside the algae Prymnesium parvum, one of which—christened PKZILLA-1—dwarfs titin by more than 10,000 amino acids. P. parvum uses the monstrous PKZILLAs to manufacture a toxin that it secretes into the water, posing a threat to fish and human health alike. Biochemist Timothy Fallon, Ph.D., is mainly interested in giant toxic…

The Calcutta High Court has recently declared that employing contractual workers for performing “quasi-judicial functions” in the patents and trademark office is unlawful — potentially jeopardising the legitimacy of lakhs of patents and trademarks registered to date. In the last two years, the Quality Council of India (QCI), an independent non-profit organisation, has recruited contractual staff for the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks (CGPDTM). What has led to a chaos in the grant of intellectual property rights is the patent body’s decision to hire hundreds of employees “outsourced” through a single source, the Quality…

Amgen, an American multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California, and one of the world’s largest independent biotechnology companies, announced plans to open a new technology and innovation site in Hyderabad, Telangana. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Industries Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu met Dr. David Reese and Mr. Som Chattopadhyay at Amgen’s R&D site in San Francisco on Friday (August 09, 2024) to reaffirm their commitment to choose Hyderabad to open their next innovation site. Speaking after the meeting, IT and Industries Minister Sridhar Babu said he was thrilled to note that Amgen had chosen Hyderabad to establish…

Genome editing technology has revolutionized agriculture, bringing market-ready innovations such as high oleic soybean, low pungency mustard greens, and high GABA tomatoes. The potential of this technology to enhance agricultural sustainability is immense. In a pioneering study, researchers from the ICAR-National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack, headed by Kutubuddin A. Molla have developed a miniature plant genome editor that is only one-third the size of the widely used Cas9. This new genome editor protein, derived from the transposon-associated TnpB of Deinococcus radiodurans, has proven highly effective in editing multiple genes in both monocot rice and dicot Arabidopsis. Like Cas9, which…

Scientists from the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, have developed an enhanced genome-editing system that can modify DNA more precisely and more efficiently than existing CRISPR-based technologies. To enhance the fidelity without compromising its specificity, researchers led by Debojyoti Chakraborty and Souvik Maiti at CSIR-IGIB modified and engineered new versions of FnCas9. The researchers tinkered with amino acids in FnCas9 that recognise and interact with the PAM sequence on the host genome. “By doing this, we increase the binding affinity of the Cas protein with the PAM sequence,” Dr. Chakraborty said to the Hindu. “The Cas9 can…

Days after Mankind Pharma inked a ₹13,630 crore deal to buy Bharat Serums and Vaccines (BSV), its top management said BSV would run as an independent business, reporting to the Mankind board. Giving broad contours of the integration process, Juneja said, TTK Healthcare’s human pharma business – acquired by then Advent-backed BSV about two years ago – would be absorbed into Mankind’s consumer healthcare business. Mankind expects the BVS acquisition to bring in synergistic benefits of ₹50-100 crore in 12 -24 months, he added. Mankind had said last week, it was acquiring 100 per cent equity in BSV, a move…

Professor Chandrabhas Narayana is currently Director of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB). Prof. Narayana a Bangalorean by birth, born to parents from Kerala did his PhD from the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore after completion of his Bachelor and master’s in science education from Regional Institute of Education, Mysore (affiliated to Mysore University). He then went to Cornell University, Ithaca, New York for his Post Doctoral Research. Before joining as the Director at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), he was the Dean (Research and Development), the Chairman (Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit) and the…

This year, in budget 2024, the allocation for the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has been cut from Rs. 2,683.86 crore to Rs. 2,275.7 crore this year or around 16%. But if we see the unspent funds then it looks normal because DBT has more than 1000 crore Rs from last year. DBT was allocated Rs. 2683.86 crore in 2023-24 but could utilize only Rs 1607.32 crore. In 2022-23, the Ministry of Science and Technology has been allocated Rs 14,217 crore. This comprises: (i) Rs 6,000 crore to DST (42% of the total), (ii) Rs 5,636 crore to DSIR (40%), and…

Dr. A. S. Ninawe, Ex-Advisor, Department of Biotechnology, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003. E-mail: ninawe@gmail.com The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is the nodal agency supporting research and it’s applications in life sciences, promotes and accelerates the pace of development and large scale use of biotechnology in the country. The setting up of DBT in 1986 gave a new impetus to the development in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. In more than three decades of its existence the department has promoted and accelerated the developments in agriculture, health care, animal sciences, environment and industry. It has…