Author: Biotech Express

Introduction The Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar was instituted by the government of India in 2023 to recognize the contributions of outstanding researchers in the fields of science, technology and innovation. The institution of this award was announced in January 2024 after scrapping more than 300 awards given by different institutions. The award consists of a medal and a citation; no cash prize is awarded. The objective of the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP) is to recognise the notable and inspiring contribution made by the scientists, technologists and innovators individually or in teams in various fields of science, technology and technology- led innovation.…

Prerna Mehta1* 1Department of Biotechnology, GD Rungta College of Science & Technology Bhilai-490024, Chhattisgarh, India Corresponding author: prernamehta326@gmail.com Abstract Gene remedy, a groundbreaking subject in biomedical research, holds first-rate potential to convert remedy procedures for a large number of sicknesses. This bankruptcy offers a complete exploration of gene therapy’s modern abilities and its profound implications for healthcare. Beginning with a ancient context, it traces the evolution of gene therapy and delves into the latest breakthroughs in gene enhancing technology, with a particular emphasis on CRISPR-Cas9 and viral vectors, facilitating specific genetic changes. The chapter illuminates successful applications of gene…

In November 2013, Elisabeth Bik reported five papers containing what she thought was “pretty obvious” plagiarized text in Karger’s Digestive Diseases to the journal’s editor in chief. Eleven years later, one of the bunch, “Inflammatory Bowel Disease as a Risk Factor for Colorectal Cancer,” has been retracted. The decision took “a ridiculously long time,” Bik said. “Perhaps they forgot to act, perhaps they lost my email, perhaps they thought it was too much trouble to check, or perhaps they were not sure what to do back in 2013, when I contacted them.” The recently retracted paper, by Milan Lukáš, a…

Former CSIR Director General Girish Sahni, known for developing clot busters for treatment of cardiovascular diseases, died on Monday, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research said. He was 68. Sahni, who specialised in protein engineering, molecular biology, and biotechnology, contributed significantly in the area of protein cardiovascular drugs especially ‘clot busters’ and their mode of action in the human body. The team led by Sahni was responsible for producing technology for India’s first indigenous clot blusters, natural streptokinase and recombinant streptokinase. He also developed clot-specific streptokinase, a drug whose licensing rights were sold to Nostrum Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey,…

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…