This month, we complete our 35 years on the present CCMB campus. This meant celebrating the day with senior PhD students talking about their research, meeting Prof Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser and enjoying an evening of Manipuri dance.
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Tracking the invasive species
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Invasive alien species are a serious threat to biodiversity, causing local extinction of native species, impacting ecosystem services, human livelihood, economy and health. The North African Sharptooth catfish is one such species which was illegally introduced in India for aquaculture purposes, has invaded most freshwater ecosystems. The ecological damage
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is staggering that the Indian government has eventually banned this species from culturing and selling. Yet the control and management of this species is an uphill task, which requires the primary task of detecting the presence of this species in waterbodies and mapping its distribution. While the conventional methods to detect invasive species like using nets, traps and visual observations are cumbersome, Environmental DNA (eDNA) based molecular methods provide a time and cost-effective alternative. Umapathy's lab has designed a molecular assay utilising eDNA to specifically detect this invasive catfish in Indian ecosystems which is affordable and quick, and will be a very useful tool in conservation management.
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Lipids interact with each other on membranes, in different ways
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Earlier work from Amitabha Chattopadhyay and others have shown that functions of receptor proteins such as GPCR depend on membrane lipids such as cholesterol and sphingolipids. But how lipids cross-talk, remains unclear.
In the latest work from Chattopadhyay's lab and Durba Sengupta's lab at CSIR-NCL, they have analyzed dynamic interactions between diverse lipids surrounding the transmembrane domains of the serotonin1A receptor. They have identified three distinct modalities of inter-lipid interactions: synergistic, competitive and independent. These results provide a window into the diversity of lipid interplay around GPCRs.
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Changing DNA interactions with nuclear matrix over time
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Nuclear matrix, made of various proteins and RNA, forms the skeleton of nucleus in a cell. In addition, DNA also binds to the matrix.
The latest study by Rakesh Mishra's lab details on the two kinds of DNA regions that are bound to the nuclear matrix called the Matrix Associated Regions (MARs). One is called the Core MARs. These are always found attached with the nuclear matrix and are necessary for the structural stability of the chromatin and maintaining its conformation. Then there is another group called the dynamic MARs. These DNA regions are found near genes which switch on/off in cells as need be during the cell's development. Interestingly, it seems that these DNA regions bind to the nuclear matrix when their neighboring genes are active in a cell. Thus, the MARs found with the nuclear matrix can be a good marker of active genes in a cell.
This is the first study of its kind that mapped MARs during development of a cell.
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Aditya Undru for the second prize in oral presentation at the Society of Neurochemistry India (SNCI) conference, conducted by the Central India Institute of Medical Sciences (CIIMS) and Indian Institute of Information Technology, Nagpur (IIIT Nagpur), held between 10-12 Nov.
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The CCMB team for the Tech Transfer Impact Awards 2022, by STEM Society for its "Dry Swab Technology for COVID-19 Diagnostics".
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Celebrating microbes and becoming antibiotics smart
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In the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, we celebrated with 30 students and teachers from Hyderabad and around to discuss how to use antibiotics correctly so that antibiotic resistance can be kept at bay.
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Hygiene - An easy way to stay away from infections
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Tooth cavities, pain, dentist and antibiotics! The microbes form formidable biofilms that house their colonies. Dental hygiene helps keep them away, and also keeps you from needing antibiotics.
Let's save the antibiotics for difficult times, and listen to Jigyasa and Utsuka discuss with Karishma Kaushik the details of biofilms in the latest India Asks Why podcast series.
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Probiotics - Harnessing microbes for healthy living
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Quite literally, probiotics are the opposite of antibiotics. But these so-called drugs are microbes themselves, which help us in healthier living. What makes them different from the more popular (though much smaller in proportion) the disease-causing ones? Do they special properties? Or is it just a consequence of millions of years of co-existence and co-evolution? In our recent article on SciTales, Vaidehi Rajguru deliberates on these.
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Milo CCMB starts for students of Telangana state schools
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Milo CCMB is a unique program that trains students from Telangana state government schools through an intensive online program with scientists at CCMB, and then selects some of them for a hands-on program at CCMB. This year, we are working with more than 300 Telangana Social and Tribal Welfare schools in the state.
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