Author: Biotech Express

Introduction The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world. As early as in 1911, the Government of India set up the Indian Research Fund Association (IRFA) with the specific objective of sponsoring and coordinating medical research in the country. After independence, several important changes were made in the organisation and the activities of the IRFA. It was redesignated in 1949 as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) with considerably expanded scope of functions.…

Introduction Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (2 August 1861 – 16 June 1944) was an eminent Bengali chemist, academician and entrepreneur and the father of Chemistry in modern India.  The Royal Society of Chemistry honoured his life and work with the first ever Chemical Landmark Plaque outside Europe. He was the founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, India’s first pharmaceutical company. He is the author of A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of Sixteenth Century (1902). Download Full Article PDF

Introduction Virus is an obligate intracellular parasite with a non-cellular structure composed mainly of nucleic acid within a protein coat. Most viruses are too small to be seen with the light microscope and thus must be studied by electron microscopes. In one stage of their life cycle, in which they are free and infectious, virus particles do not carry out the functions of living cells, such as respiration and growth; in the other stage, however, viruses enter living plant, animal, or bacterial cells and make use of the host cell’s chemical energy and its protein- and nucleic acid–synthesizing ability to…

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialization in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It was set up in 1986. The setting up of a separate Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Ministry of Science and Technology in 1986 gave a new impetus to the development of the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. In more than a decade of its existence, the department has promoted and accelerated the pace of development of biotechnology in the country. Through several…

Acharya Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was a Bengali polymath, physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist, as well as an early writer of science fiction. Born in Bikrampur (present day Munshiganj District near Dhaka in Bangladesh) during the British Raj, Bose graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta. He then went to the University of London to study medicine, but could not pursue studies in medicine due to health problems. Instead, he conducted his research with the Nobel Laureate Lord Rayleigh at Cambridge and returned to India. He then joined the Presidency College of University of Calcutta as a Professor of Physics. Download Full…

Introduction E.coli is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic organism, Bacillus (shape) rod-shaped, spore forming bacterium that is commonly found in the lower gastrointestinal tract of warm-blooded organisms (endotherms). Morphologically cells are typically rod-shaped, and are about 2.0 microns (μm) long and 0.5 μm in diameter, with a cell volume of 0.6– 0.7 (μm)3. History The genera Escherichia and Salmonella diverged around 102 million years ago (credibility interval: 57–176 mya), which coincides with the divergence of their hosts: the former being found in mammals and the latter in birds and reptiles. This was followed by a split of the escherichian ancestor into…

Timeline 1895: Born on January 12 in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh 1919: Married Seshagiri on May 10 1922: Went to America and took admission in Harvard School of Tropical Medicine 1930: Discovered the role of ATP and obtained PhD degree 1940: Joined Lederle Laboratories at Director of Research 1945: Discovered world’s first tetracycline antibiotic, Aureomycin and method to syn thesize folic acid 1948: Died on August 9 in America, aged 53 Download Full Article PDF

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR), an autonomous body, was constituted in 1942 by a resolution of the Central Legislative Assembly. The functions assigned to CSIR were: • Promotion, Guidance and Coordination of scientific and industrial research in India. • Establishment and development of institutions and assistance to departments existing institutions for specific study of problems affecting particular industries and trades. • Establishment and award of research studentships and fellowships. • Utilization of the results of the researches conducted under the auspices of the Council for the development of industries in the country. • Establishment, maintenance and management of laboratories,…

Introduction C. elegans is a nematode—a member of the phylum Nematoda. Nematodes are roundworms and threadworms, a phylum of smooth-skinned, unsegmented worms with a long cylindrical body shape tapered at the ends; includes free-living and parasitic forms both aquatic and terrestrial. C. elegans  is a non-hazardous, non-infectious, non-pathogenic, non-parasitic organism. It is small, growing to about 1 mm in length, and lives in the soil—especially rotting vegetation—in many parts of the world, where it survives by feeding on microbes such as bacteria. What makes C. elegans best model for biomedical research? Simple anatomy Easy to grow in lab Short life…

Dr. Hargobind Khorana was born on 9th January 1922 at Raipur, Punjab (now in Pakistan). Dr.Khorana was  responsible for producing the first man-made gene in his laboratory in the early seventies. This historic invention won him the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1968 sharing it with M.W. Nuremberg and R.W. Holley for interpreting the genetic code and analyzing its function in protein synthesis. They all independently made contributions to the understanding of the genetic code and how it works in the cell. Apart from the Nobel Prize, Khorana has won many awards and honors for his achievement. Distinguished Service Award,…