Author: Biotech Express

Suhana Mishra, Amir Mohammad Arsh , Varnit Chauhan School of Biotechnology, Gautam Buddha University, Greater NOIDA, UttarPradesh, India suhanamishra05@gmail.com, arsh786rizvi@gmail.com, 17ibt042@gbu.ac.in ABSTRACT With the Introduction of COVID-19 vaccine to the world, Proteomic studies of SARS-CoV-2 revealed that some regions are conserved from other human coronaviruses(CoVs) which leads to cross-recognition by the humoral immune response. Epitopes that are conserved among SARS-like coronaviruses are attractive targets for design of cross-reactive vaccines and therapeutics. The cross-reactivity of the antibodies can neutralise the SARS-CoV-2 strains on the basis of the conserved epitope regions in the structure. Considering the conservation a study found few sites…

Patanjali Ayurved Ltd founder Ramdev, ”again” at a press conference on February 19, had claimed that Coronil had received certification from the Ayush Ministry as a medicine supporting COVID-19 treatment as per the WHO’s certification scheme. Harsh Vardhan was also present at the ceremony. Later, WHO’s regional office for South-East Asia had clarified on Twitter that it has not “reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine” for the treatment of Covid-19 – a pointed reference to Coronil. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) hit out at the “blatant lie of WHO certification” made by Panjali Ayurved for its Coronil…

This year, Aditi Godara has secured rank 1 in CSIR -JRF-NET Life Sciences June 2020 exam. Biotech Express got in touch with Aditi Godara to learn more about her preparation strategy. Here are the excerpts. How you are feeling and how will you celebrate your success? The feeling is surreal. Its been a week now, since the results were out but still I’m euphoric about it. I think the happiness and pride on my husband and parents’ face is my celebration in itself. When did you start your preparations for the NET exam? Is this your first attempt?  I have…

The 18th edition of BioAsia will be conducted virtually from February 22 to 23, 2020. Minister for Industries and Commerce KT Rama Rao unveiled the logo, website, and theme – Move the Needle – for the event. “BioAsia, which is the State’s flagship event, has emerged as an important global meeting to deliberate on the opportunities, challenges, and solutions for the Life Sciences sector,” he said. “With the theme ‘Move the Needle,’ the event will provide a platform to deliberate on topics of paramount importance, essentially centered around dealing with Covid-19, preparing for new realities of healthcare, and much more.…

Altab Khan1, Mohd Riyaz Beg2*, Pramod Waghmare2 1. DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai 400019, Maharashtra, India 2. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai 400019, Maharashtra, India *Corresponding Author: Mohd Riyaz Beg Address: Dept. of Pharm. Sci. & Tech., Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai 400019,Maharashtra, India Email: mohdriyazbeg@gmail.com Abstract The use of low intensity ultrasound has gotten surprising consideration over the last decade as a method for enhancing the catalytic activity of enzyme.Ultrasounds have the potential to significantly influence the activity of the enzymatic processes, provided that the energy input is…

Germany-based Fresenius Kabi (FKOL) is the kid who was told to clean up their room before mom came home and instead hid the dirty laundry under their bed. Except in this case the dirty laundry was manufacturing records and the mom coming up for inspection was the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Right before the FDA came from an inspection of the company’s manufacturing plant in Kalyani, West Bengal in 2013, court documents say company “management directed employees to remove certain records from the premises and delete other records from computers that would have revealed FKOL was manufacturing drug…

Bihar health secy says huge discrepancies found in Covid-19 test data. Bihar’s principal health secretary Pratyay Amrit on Saturday stated that “serious discrepancies” in Covid-19 test data has been found in Jamui’s Barhat and Sikandra. He also said action has been initiated against concerned officials. Over three days last month, three Primary Health Centres (PHC) in Bihar’s Jamui district tested 588 residents for Covid — all were negative. The name, age and cell number of each person tested was put down in a chart and sent to Patna where it was aggregated with data from other districts to plot the state’s…

India’s finance minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the country’s budget Monday for the fiscal year that begins April 1 and ends March 31, 2022. In her speech to Parliament, she proposed more than doubling India’s health-care and wellbeing spending to 2.2 trillion rupees ($30.1 billion). That includes a new federal scheme with an outlay of 641 billion rupees over six years to develop the country’s capacity for primary, secondary and tertiary care as well as to strengthen national institutions and create new ones to detect and cure new diseases, Sitharaman said. The budget will allocate 350 billion rupees for COVID-19…

The European Commission authorized five genetically modified crops (three maize and two soybeans) and renewed the authorization for three maize crops used for food and feed. All of these GMOs have gone through a comprehensive and stringent authorization procedure, including a favorable scientific assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The authorization decisions do not cover cultivation. Member States did not reach a qualified majority either in favor or against the Standing Committee and the subsequent Appeal Committee. The European Commission has therefore the legal duty to proceed with the authorizations. The authorizations are valid for ten years, and…

While scientists and researchers have been calling for transparency in COVID-19 vaccine-related research data, the Centre, ironically, released the draft version of the Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (STIP) in December 2020 based on the ethos of “Open Science”. Open Science has emerged as a global movement amidst a growing crisis in science that has affected India as well, and includes issues such as fabrication and falsification of data, plagiarism, unethical authorship, failure to disclose funding sources and gender disparity in research institutions. An interesting example to understand the crisis is the “10,000 steps a day to remain healthy” goal,…