Author: Biotech Express

1Simardeep Kaur and 2Mahesh Kumar Samota 1Ph.D. Scholar, Division of Biochemistry, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi-110012 2Scientist, Horticulture crop processing unit, ICAR-CIPHET, Abohar, Punjab-152116 Corresponding E-mail: Simar2809@gmail.com Agriculture being the lifeline of rural India makes it the second-largest food producer in the world. The ongoing agricultural activities are responsible for sustainable growth in agriculture, and making the country self-reliant. Indian agriculture sustains around 18% of the world population on just 2.3% of geographical area with only 9% of the land globally available for agriculture. With the beginning of the 21st century, India has become a global power in major economic sectors with…

July 21, 2020 | Dr Seema Pavgi Upadhyay As per google scholar, scientist who have h-index in the range of 20 are good scientist, 40 are outstanding, 60 are truly amazing but 100 or more are unimaginary, unbelievable etc. Prof Pandey is the only third Indian after Prof CNR Rao and Prof Kayanmoy Deb to achieve this feat. Link: Google Scholar profile of Prof Ashok Pandey This year Prof Ashok Pandey is also in the list of unbelievable scientists, according to the Google Scholar Citations public profiles. In the year 2019, the Professor Ashok Pandey was among the top 1%…

By Kamal Pratap Singh Fake news is travelling much faster than the coronavirus. The world is struggling with the deluge of misinformation about the evolving pandemic. The fake news surrounding the origin of the virus, its subsequent spread and threats it poses have nearly engulfed every nation, although with varied intensity. India is not an exception to the virus of fake news. Even before the country reported its first case on 30 January, social media was rife with fake posts, wild rumours, conspiracy theories, doctored videos about the disease’s origin, its subsequent spread and possible remedies. Once the country started…

by Sumit Kumar Dr K Vijayraghavan (PSA to PMO) was visible on national TVs to much extent until the announcement of 12 or 13 May, when he got 100 crore Rs. for the development of vaccine against COVID-19. Since then it is very difficult to find him on any national news platform to see what developments he is directing toward the assigned tasks of vaccine development, communicated Sumit Kumar to Biotech Express. (https://www.livemint.com/news/india/pm-fund-allocates-rs-3-100-cr-to-boost-fight-against-covid-19-11589391319927.html) As per the office’s press release the following tasks were facilitated but how they were unique and useful we will check them later. Here is the complete…

Dr Seema Pavgi Upadhye  |  Updated on July 16   We are witnessing COVID-19 pandemic since September 2019 when China first imposed lockdown and then every country had to do this because of growing number of cases and mortality. Since January, scientists all over the world are trying to develop a vaccine or cure against this deadly virus but there is no hope yet. Here, we are providing a list of drugs from India that are being considered for COVID-19 treatment with complete status till date. Note: This article does not endorse any drug/therapy for COVID-19 or any other condition. 1.…

by Anonymous Writer Summary Does FDA and WHO acted purely on the basis of reports of journals? These reports were challenged several times but FDA or WHO were not whistleblowers Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ/CQ) is the first drug that was accepted by global scientific community as a possible treatment for COVID-19. Soon after many countries started to stockpile the drug and India in this situation distributed it to many countries. This is because India is biggest manufacturer in world and supplies it on cheaper price. One more drug Remedesvir was also proposed as cure but could not do well in clinical trials,…

by Rama S Verma and Steffi SV Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, 600036, India. Corresponding e-mail: vermars@iitm.ac.in About the Author                    Rama S. Verma is Professor in Department of Biotechnology, IIT-Madras. He has authored more than 130 publications in several journals, has many books as author and co-author and is a fellow of reputed Indian societies. His team at the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, are researching on stem cell proliferation related studies and discovering novel treatment that uses a new class of molecules called immunotoxins, that could…

by Kamal Pratap Singh, Email-kamal9871@gmail.com Summary – Preprints publish articles without peer review. – Important articles are retracting from these servers too. – Unlike normal journal which shows only published articles, preprints accumulates unpublished and unverified research on their servers which becomes available for public interpretation. Introduction Like we post updates on fb/Ln/Tw etc. and expect audience’s response, preprints like bioRxiv/medRxiv platforms posts scientific research papers and leave it on readers to understand, accept or reject the research. Earlier it was task of peer reviewers who used to carefully analyze the study and then either approve study if it is…

By Seema Pavgi Upadhye Dr Peter Daszak, who is preparing the next Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’  (IPBES) assessment, writes that rampant deforestation, uncontrolled expansion of agriculture, intensive farming, mining and infrastructure development as well as the exploitation of wild species, all have created a “perfect storm” for the spillover of diseases. These activities can cause pandemics by bringing more people into contact and conflicts with animals, from which 70% of emerging human diseases originate. The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled us to think again that whether this all is due to heavy destruction of the natural world…

Sukanya Chakraborty1 , Aparajita Chattopadhyay2 1 Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Berhampur 2 International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai Corresponding e-mail: sukanya17@iiserbpr.ac.in Introduction The Novel Coronavirus 2019 has taken the world by a storm and brought life to a standstill. Caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the disease presents as mildly symptomatic in most afflicted individuals, with possibilities of complications in those with co-morbidities. The devastation does not end there. The socioeconomic landscape of the world has suffered irrevocable damages, particularly, in developing nations such as ours. A dearth of essential resources and an ineffective workforce, make it unlikely…