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127 

128 

134 

140 

CONTENTS 

To the Readers 

S. Natesh 

Feature 

Bioremediation 

Restoring Habitats 

T.Chakrabarti |T.K.Ghosh 

Feature 

Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award 

Opening New Doors 

T. Madhan Mohan 

Report 

Young Investigator Meetings & IndiaBioscience.Org 

Launching the Next Generation of Indian Biologists 

Ronald D. Vale 

Moving on !!! 

143 Conversation 

The New Crossroads 

126 BIOTECH NEWS VOLUME 5 | NO. 3 

146 

As you move on, please 

help us to keep track. 

Profile 

National Environmental 

Engineering Research Institute 

149 News Desk 

Please write to: The Circulation Manager (Biotech News) 

Communication and Outreach Division 

Aravali Foundation for Education 

Aravali House, 431/D-22, Chhattarpur Hills, New Delhi-110 074 

Email: info@biotechnews.in | Fax: +91-11-26301016 

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CHANGED CHANGED CHANGED ADDRESS ADDRESS ADDRESS ESS

JUNE, 2010 

To the Readers 

he feature article in this issue focuses on bioremediation (Pg.128) by T. Chakrabarti and T. K. 

Ghosh of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur. This is very 

Tenvironmental 

timely at a time when the country is still grappling, even after 25 years, with the horrendous 

fallouts of the Union Carbide catastrophe in Bhopal. Bioremediation offers the least-cost 

cleanup technology and involves several approaches including environmental and chemical engineering, 

earth sciences, chemistry, technology, ecology, microbiology, and biochemistry. 

We also bring a feature on DBT’s Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA), a career- 

oriented scheme to identify and nurture young scientists with innovative ideas in life sciences and 

biotechnology. Some of the awardees speak on how IYBA was helpful to them. 

One of India’s current challenges is to attract the right kind of human talent to its many existing 

and new premier institutions of science, including life sciences and biotechnology. How do bright young 

people working in Indian and overseas laboratories know what exciting changes are taking place in these 

institutions? Will they receive the mentoring needed to succeed in establishing their research 

programmes. Even if they are recruited into these institutions? 

DBT has been supporting the organization of national and international “Young Investigators 

Meetings” (YIMs) to promote the success of young investigators and to recruit new talent to India. Ron 

Vale at the University of California, San Fransisco has been at the forefront of these efforts with a 

number of Indian leaders in life sciences and biotechnology. With their efforts a website 

(www.indiabioscience.org) has also been set up. The website and the meeting are an effort to launch the 

next generation of Indian biologists (Pg. 140). 

You will find an interview with Miki Kapoor, U.S. Fullbright fellow to India and an investment 

banker on Wall Street for seven years by Gayatri Saberwal on the interface between the worlds of 

biotechnology and finance (Pg. 143). 

Other regular features include a profile of NEERI, Nagpur, and the News Desk. Happy reading. 

Reader’s Mail 

Volume 5 | | No.1 No.2 | | April February 2010 2010 

Genetically Bioimplants Modified and Crops Devices 

aDDING COMFORT TO YEARS 

Need for a meaningful dialogue 

S. Natesh 

Editor-in-Chief 

E-mail: natesh.dbt@nic.in 

I wish to compliment the team behind Biotech News for the recent issue 

focusing on Genetically Modified Crops. The content structure of the issue and 

choice of authors has led to a dispassionate and rigorous analysis of the issues 

involved. Many articles are superbly written. Congratulations! 

Dr G.P. Talwar,Director Research, Talwar Research Foundation, New Delhi. 

The April issue of Biotech News is excellent. It has covered the area of GM 

crops in a comprehensive, dispassionate manner. It would be worthwhile to 

have it reviewed in quality newspapers and magazines. 

Congrtaulations on a well-produced and informed issue! 

Professor D. Balasubramanian, Director of Research, L. V. Prasad Eye 

Institute, Hyderabad. 

BIOTECH NEWS 

127

FEATURE 



T.Chakrabarti 

Amongst knowledge-based 

technologies, biotechnology 

is a frontier technology, 

which has the potential to provide 

substantial benefits to society in a 

wide range of sectors such as 

agriculture, medicine and health, 

forestry, animal husbandry, 

environment protection, and 

improving the quality of products 

and services. Industrialization in 

developing countries is causing 

considerable environmental damage, 

as the conventional responses of 

end-of-pipe pollution controls are 

inefficient and expensive. The social 

and economic costs of 

environmental damage caused by 

the prevailing industrial growth in 

India have been estimated to be 

much higher than the required 

expenditure of 0.5 - 1.0 percent of 

GNP for pollution control. The 

clean up of xenobiotics and 

anthropogenic contaminants, which 

are introduced in the environment 

following rapid industrialization, is 

one of the environment related 

problems currently being 

encountered globally. The least cost 

clean up technology involving 

bioremediation originates in 

environmental biotechnology, which 

warrants interdisciplinary approach 

involving such disciplines as 

environmental and chemical 

engineering, earth sciences, 

chemistry, toxicology, ecology, 

microbiology and biochemistry. In 

addition, the demographic 

compulsions and declining per 

capita natural resources necessitate 

the developing countries to optimize 

land and water use and restore 

environmental quality but, at the 

same time, to produce more food, 

fibre, fuel, fodder and fertilizer to 

meet the growing demands. Thus 

inevitable rapid industrialization and 

higher production required for 

human survival call for adoption of 

technologies that are 

environmentally sustainable. 

Bioremediation is an 

environmentally benign technology 

that can be safely employed for 

ecorestoration. 

Environmental 

biotechnology has been around for 

almost a century, first adapted 

widely in the 1910s and 1920s, when 

wastewater was cleaned up by a 

bacteria-laden sludge that speeds up 

the breakdown of the organic 

material in sewage and industrial 

wastewater. The beginnings of 

microbial ecology started back in the 

1940s and 1950s, when microbial 

cultures were initially sorted by 

morphology encompassing mainly 

size and shape. The function of a 

microorganism was assigned by 

selective culturing on agar plates or a 

nutrient-rich broth and selecting on 

the basis of metabolic function, 

T.Chakrabarti Ph.D. and T.K.Ghosh are at the Environmental Biotechnology Division, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, 

Nagpur. 

E-mail: director@neeri.res.in | tk_ghosh@neeri.res.in 

128 BIOTECH NEWS 

T.K.Ghosh 

 

VOLUME 5 | NO. 3

which turned out largely to be a hitor-miss 

approach. The first use of 

modern molecular biology tools 

began in the early 1980s, with the 

advent of polymerase chain reaction 

(PCR) amplification of microbial 

DNA and a new view of the 

evolution of organisms based on 

their ribosomal RNA. 

There exists a relationship 

between soil contamination and air 

and water quality. Soil contaminants 

interact with air through 

volatilization and with water 

through dissolution and leaching to 

groundwater or runoff to surface 

water. Mobile soil contamination 

that is adding contaminant mass to 

air or water is automatically 

considered a source. Therefore it 

must be remediated, or the 

contaminant release from the soil 

must be controlled. 

Scope for Site Remediation in India 

The country has, so far, identified 

172 abandoned dump sites located 

in various states which require 

JUNE, 2010 

Main Investigation 

Phases 

Preliminary Site Investigation / 

Phase 1 Environmental Site 

Assessment (ESA 1) 

Detailed Site Investigation / 

Phase 2 Environmental Site 

Assessment (ESA 2) 

Site Clean Up / Phase 3 

Remedial Design and 

Implementation (ESA 3) 

Environmental Site Assessment 

Main Investigation Phases and Major Tasks 

remediation. So far, bioremediation 

in India appears technoeconomically 

feasible because of the 

prevailing tropical climate almost 

throughout the year in most of the 

States and Union Territories. 

Phytoremediation in India is being 

extensively used for restoration of 

environmental quality. However, 

there exists ample scope to modify 

the process through biostimulation 

and bioaugmentation as well as 

through better understanding of the 

behavior of microbial community. 

Also, the potential for generation of 

carbon credit through 

phytoremediation intervention as 

well as through solid waste 

composting (instead of land filling) 

needs to be identified and applied 

wherever possible. 

Biodegradation and Bioremediation 

The clean-up of xenobiotics and 

anthropogenic contaminants that are 

introduced in the environment 

following rapid industrialization is 

one of the most important problems 

Major Tasks 

Gathering and reviewing of available data (historical data,existing site data and assessment, 

regulatory agency file data) 

Site inspection (site walkover) and review of waste handling 

Interviews with site owners, personnel and tenants 

Data evaluation and reporting 

Does not normally include sampling and chemical analytical testing. 

Site-specific sub-surface investigation (may include drilling, test pits, monitoring wells, air, 

surface water, ground water, soil sample collection and chemical analyses) 

Data evaluation, delineation of contaminated area and Reporting 

Note: Phase 2 ESAs may require more than one stage, 

depending on the nature and distribution of environmental impacts. 

Discussion of remedial objectives (with owner and / or regulatory agencies) 

Establishment of Clean-up Criteria 

Reviewing of appropriate alternative remedial technologies 

Selecting and designing of Remedial Action Plan 

Obtaining required approvals 

Implementing Remedial Action Plan 

Conducting performance monitoring and verification sampling 

Report 



currently being encountered globally. 

The least cost clean-up technology 

involves biodegradation and 

bioremediation. 

Biodegradability of a 

compound requires that the 

compound in question must possess 

a chemical structure, that will be 

accepted by the existing catabolic 

enzymes of the microorganisms, 

present in the environment. The 

energy and the carbon released by 

the reaction are used to support 

microbial growth. Further, the 

compound must be capable of 

inducing or derepressing the 

synthesis of the enzymes, which will 

degrade it. When biodegradation is 

complete, the elements of which the 

original molecule was composed are 

released into the environment in 

inorganic forms. 

Bioremediation may be 

defined as the use of 

biotechnological routes for 

transformation, degradation and 

detoxification of waste constituents 

that result in environmentally 

 

BIOTECH NEWS 

129



acceptable waste assimilation while 

assuring the protection of public 

health. The remediation should be 

based on the risk which the residual 

contaminant(s) is/are likely to pose. 

Risk based remediation goal is 

required to be set while delineating 

the strategy for remediation of a 

contaminated site. Ecotoxicity, 

genotoxicity, carcinogenicity and 

endocrine disruption potentials of 

contaminant(s) are considered while 

determining the risk. 

Out of available options, in-situ 

bioremediation has several 

advantages which include: 

Minimized 

site disturbance 

Less 

expensive compared to ex-situ 

bioremediation 

Application 

of bioventing which 

optimizes bioremediation of 

unsaturated zone with air & 

reduces volatile organic emissions. 

It is noted that the future belongs to 

sustainable technologies, which 

would optimize the full life cycle of 

products also including 

environmental, social and economic 

issues. However, there would remain 

great need to use in-situ 

bioremediation technology to restore 

already contaminated sub-surface 

water and soil for some time to 

come. 

The basic difference 

between the design principles of 

biological wastewater treatment 

processes and those for 

bioremediation lies in the 

bioreaction system. Bioremediation 

reaction is confined in a geological 

boundary whose size and geometry 

is different from that of bioreactors 

used in the wastewater treatment 

system. Further, the threshold for 

microbial system(s) suitable for 

bioremediation is usually much 

lower than that of wastewater 

treatment systems. The microbial 

systems in bioremediation, 

therefore, should essentially 

comprise oligotrophs compared to 

heterotrophs prevailing in waste 

Picture of a site before application of BioZapper, a bioremediation technology developed by TERI with support from DBT 

treatment systems. Thus, from the 

point of view of bioreaction system 

as well as microbial system, 

bioremediation is different from 

biological wastewater treatment. 

Hence, research is required to 

undertake a total system approach 

suitable for bioremediation. 

With recent advances in 

biology, materials, computing, and 

engineering, environmental 

biotechnologists now are able to use 

microbial communities for a wealth 

of services to society. These include 

detoxifying contaminated water, 

wastewater, sediment, or soil; 

capturing renewable energy from 

biomass; accelerating biocomposting 

process; sensing contaminants or 

pathogens; and protecting the public 

from dangerous exposure to 

pathogens. These technologies have 

advanced into high-throughput 

genomic and proteomic protocols 

that can detect specific genes and 

their metabolic functions with great 

precision and detail. The culture 

independent genomic analysis of 

microbial communities can now 

assist in reconstructing entire 

genomes of what were once 

"unculturable" microbes. 

Though biodegradation is a natural 

process, any ecosystem can be 

defined for its threshold assimilative 

capacity for any xenobiotic 

chemical. However, through 

appropriate biostimulation, the 

xenobiotic chemicals can become a 

substrate for assimilation by 

microorganisms in an ecosystem. 

Biochemical processes can be linked 

with: 

Stimulation 

of existing microflora 

via enrichment as well as by 

moisture, aeration and nutrient 

control (Biostimulation) 

Exogenous 

organism (natural or 

recombinant) addition to increase 

the versatility of the system 

(Bioaugmentation) 

Biodegradation 

which essentially 

requires microorganism(s), 

electron acceptor and electron 

donor which are required in right 

proportion a priori for successful 

bioremediation 

Paradigm 

Shifts in remediation 

which include conventional 

microbial approach to 

metagenomics, monitoring 

natural attenuation (MNA) to 

programmed remediation and 

conventional bioremediation to 

chemo-bio approach. 

130 BIOTECH NEWS VOLUME 5 | NO. 3

Picture of a site after application of BioZapper, a bioremediation technology developed by TERI with support from DBT 

 

Metagenomics: Application of 

Genomics to Uncultured 

Microorganisms 

The realization that most 

microorganisms cannot be grown 

readily in pure culture, forced 

microbiologists to question their 

belief that the microbial world had 

been conquered. It has been realized 

later that the uncultured microbial 

world far outsized the cultured 

world and that this unseen world 

could be studied. Metagenomics 

(also referred to as environmental 

and community genomics) has 

opened new avenues of research by 

enabling unprecedented analyses of 

genome heterogeneity and evolution 

in environmental contexts and 

providing access to far more 

microbial diversity than has been 

viewed in a petri dish. 

Metagenomics provide a second tier 

of technical innovation that 

facilitates study of the physiology 

and ecology of environmental 

microorganisms. Novel genes and 

gene products, discovered through 

metagenomics, include the first 

bacteriorhodopsin of bacterial 

origin; novel small molecules with 

antimicrobial activity; and new 

JUNE, 2010 

members of families of known 

+ + + 

proteins, such as an Na (Li )/H 

antiporter, RecA, DNA polymerase, 

and antibiotic resistance 

determinants. 

Reassembly of multiple 

genomes has provided insight into 

energy and nutrient cycling within 

the community, genome structure, 

gene function, population genetics 

and microheterogeneity, and lateral 

gene transfer among members of an 

uncultured community. The 

application of metagenomic 

sequence information will facilitate 

the design of better culturing 

strategies to link genomic analysis 

with pure culture studies. 

The diversity of soil 

bacteria, demonstrated with DNA- 

DNA reassociation techniques 

revealed that the complexity of the 

bacterial DNA in the soil was at 

least 100-fold greater than could be 

accounted for by culturing. So far, 

52 phyla have been delineated, and 

most are dominated by uncultured 

organisms. 

Bioremediation Process 

The process of bioremediation 

enhances the rate of the natural 



microbial degradation of 

contaminants by supplementing 

these microorganisms with nutrients, 

carbon sources or electron donors. 

This can be done by using 

indigenous microorganisms or by 

adding an enriched culture of 

microorganisms that have specific 

characteristics that allow them to 

degrade the desired contaminant at 

a quicker rate. Ideally, 

bioremediation results in the 

complete mineralization of 

contaminants to H2O and CO 2 

without the build up of 

intermediates. 

Bioremediation processes 

can be broadly categorized into two 

groups: ex situ and in situ. Ex situ 

bioremediation technologies include 

bioreactors, biofilters, land farming 

and some composting methods. In 

situ bioremediation technologies 

include bioventing, biosparging, 

biostimulation, liquid delivery 

systems and some composting 

methods. In situ treatments tend to 

be more attractive to vendors and 

responsible parties because they 

require less equipment, generally 

have a lower cost and generate fewer 

disturbances to the environment. 

However, the difficulties associated 

with implementing in situ processes 

have limited their application in the 

field. Bioremediation using white-rot 

fungi to innoculate contaminated 

media is a promising technology 

that is currently being researched. 

This technology can be used in an ex 

situ or in situ manner. Generally, this 

fungus is used to innoculate a 

composting process, but it does have 

other bioremediation applications. 

Composting involves the mixing of 

the contaminated soil in a pile with 

a solid organic substrate, which 

serves as a carbon source for the 

indigenous aerobic soil 

microorganisms. Composting is a 

means for the remediation of 

pesticide contaminated sites, and 

several large companies, such as and 

BIOTECH NEWS 

 

131



300ft 255ft 

420ft 

W.R. Grace and Astra Zeneca, have 

developed and patented successful 

composting technologies. For ex situ 

treatment, the soil is excavated, 

screened and formed into windrows 

or some form of pile. In situ 

treatment is also possible for 

composting but is not used as 

frequently. The soil is then 

supplemented with the organic 

substrates, nitrogen and 

phosphorous. Moisture, pH and 

redox potential are monitored while 

the soil is mixed on a regular basis to 

maintain homogeny and aeration. 

The piles may also be kept anaerobic 

by covering them with plastic sheets 

and encouraging the aerobic 

microorganisms to utilize all of the 

oxygen remaining underneath. Once 

the oxygen in the pile has been 

depleted, anaerobic microorganisms 

will become active, degrading the 

organic pollutants that were nondegraded 

by the aerobic microbial 

population. 

The terms land farming, 

land spreading, land application and 

land treatment are often used 

interchangeably to refer to the same 

process. It is a full-scale 

570ft 120ft 

510ft 

Land Treatment 

Area 

Typical lined-bed land treatment setup for the remediation of hazardous wastes. 

Source : Frazar, 2000 

bioremediation technology where 

contaminated solid media, such as 

soil, sludge or sediment, are applied 

to uncontaminated soil. Mixing of 

the contaminated media with the 

soil allows the indigenous 

microorganisms to interact with the 

contaminant and degrade it. The 

rate of application is calculated so as 

to avoid concentrations that would 

be unsafe in soil, groundwater or 

crops. 

Generally, the rate is similar 

to the label rate, which is the 

suggested rate of application of 

pesticide per unit of land or soil that 

is on the pesticide label. The size 

and location of the spreading 

operation is then chosen, based 

upon the application rate. Finally, a 

cover crop may be added to the land 

farming operation. A cover crop 

allows a farmer to continue to use 

these productive fields while 

remediation occurs, and it may 

enhance rhizosphere degradation, 

which will be discussed in the 

phytoremediation section. Often it is 

necessary to add nutrients in order 

to enhance biodegradation by these 

indigenous organisms. In addition, it 

Leachate 

Colection 

Temporary 

Storage Area 

is important to monitor soil 

moisture and oxygen levels. 

Although the land farming process is 

slow, it is a very low cost technology, 

which makes it attractive to small 

waste generators, such as farmers. 

Land spreading has been used 

successfully throughout the United 

States, particularly in the Midwest to 

remediate a variety of different 

pollutants. It is the most widely used 

ex situ bioremediation treatment 

process (USEPA, 1997). Before a 

farmer can begin land spreading, he 

must obtain a permit and fully 

outline his intentions, including the 

quantity of contaminant and the soil 

characteristics of the land where it 

will be applied. When land 

spreading, it is required that all 

guidelines on the label, including 

rate of application and season of 

application be followed. The state of 

Wisconsin requires the oversight of 

the land spreading process by a 

certified applicator. Because 

pesticides reach the soil through 

normal application, land spreading 

at application rates generally does 

not require a lined bed. However, 

land spreading of pesticides at 


significantly higher 

concentrations or land spreading of 

other hazardous wastes occurs on a 

lined bed to collect leachate. A 

typical system for the land treatment 

of hazardous wastes is shown in 

figure on pg.132. 

Land spreading of some 

hazardous compounds can result in 

their volatilization, which 

necessitates a cap for the system to 

control emissions. White-rot fungi, 

particularly those of the family 

Phanerochaete, are becoming 

recognized for their ability to 

efficiently biodegrade toxic 

contaminants. Most studies focus on 

the ability of Phanerochaete 

chrysosporium to degrade persistent 

compounds, but Phanerochaete 

sordida, Pleuotus ostreatus, Phellinus 

weirii, and Polyporus versicolor have 

also been successful in laboratory 

studies. These fungi are effective 

because of an extracellular enzyme 

that catalyzes a reaction that can 

degrade lignin, an aromatic plant 

compound. In order to catalyze 

these powerful reactions, the enzyme 

requires hydrogen peroxide which is 

produced by the fungus. These fungi 

are capable of degrading chlordane, 

lindane and DDT, which makes 

them useful for the remediation of 

pesticide-contaminated sites. Whiterot 

fungi could be used to inoculate 

a composting operation. However, 

large quantities of the fungus are 

required to remediate a site due to 

the very slow nature of compound 

degradation. Other studies have 

demonstrated the ability of white-rot 

fungi to degrade DDT in aqueous 

cultures. 

Bioventing and biosparging 

are very similar in situ processes. 

Both methods involve the 

introduction of O into permeable 

2 

soil to increase the activity of 

aerobic microorganisms. Bioventing 

introduces the O to the vadose, or 

2 

unsaturated zone, while biosparging 

introduces O below the water table 

2 

JUNE, 2010 

into the saturated zone. 

Neither of these processes is suitable 

for compounds which may volatilize 

too quickly. Biosparging can force 

volatile contaminants out of the 

water table and up into the 

unsaturated zone, where the vapors 

can be recovered. Because of this, it 

is necessary to monitor off gases. 

Biosparging also introduces O 2 to 

the saturated zone, which will 

increase the rate of biodegradation. 

These procedures have not been 

used frequently with pesticidecontaminated 

sites. 

Monitored natural 

attenuation is the remediation of 

contaminated media by indigenous 

microorganisms without active 

treatment. This remediation process 

requires a longer time frame to reach 

remediation goals than active 

bioremediation methods. Due to the 

longer time frame, a more intensive 

monitoring program needs to be 

implemented to assure that 

attenuation is occurring. 

Phytoremediation 

A significant amount of work has 

been conducted to examine the 

ability of plants to remediate heavy 

metal contaminated soils. Plants are 

often capable of the uptake and 

storage of significant concentration 

of some heavy metals and other 

compounds in their roots, shoots 

and leaves, referred to as 

phytoextraction. The plants are then 

harvested and disposed of in an 

approved manner, such as in a 

hazardous waste landfill. This 

technique results in up to a 95% 

reduction in waste volume over the 

equivalent concentration of 

contaminated soil. 

Phytotransformation occurs 

when plants transform organic 

contaminants into less toxic, less 

mobile or more stable forms. This 

process includes phytodegradation, 

which is the metabolism of the 

organic contaminant by the plant 



enzymes and 

phytovolatilization, which is the 

volatilization of organic 

contaminants as they pass through 

the plant leaves. The release of these 

pollutants into the air results in the 

exchange of one form of pollution 

for another. Phytostabilization 

immobilizes the contaminants and 

reduces their migration through the 

soil by absorbing and binding 

leachable constituents to the plant 

structure. This process effectively 

reduces the bioavailability of the 

harmful contaminants. 

At the soil-root interface, 

known as the rhizosphere, there is a 

very large and very active microbial 

population. Often the plant and 

microbial populations provide 

needed organic and inorganic 

compounds for one another. The 

rhizosphere environment is high in 

microbial abundance and rich in 

microbial metabolic activity, which 

has the potential to enhance the rate 

of biodegradation of contaminants 

by the microorganisms. Generally, 

the plant is not directly involved in 

the biodegradation process. It serves 

as a catalyst for increasing microbial 

growth and activity, which 

subsequently increases the 

biodegradation potential. However, 

the rhizosphere can be limited in its 

remediation potential because it 

does not extend far from the root. 

This process is often referred to as 

phytostimulation or plant-assisted 

bioremediation. 

Epilogue 

Bioremediation is a contaminant 

and site specific process which 

ranges from natural attenuation to 

programmed attenuation modes. 

Since the process is microbes 

assisted, it is techno-economically 

feasible to achieve. Chemobioapproach 

is often recommended 

where the contaminants are a mix of 

recalcitrant and biodegradable 

compounds. Phyto-remediation is 

one option when contaminants are 

present in the surface soil. 

BIOTECH NEWS 

133

FEATURE 



T. Madhan Mohan 

New biotech based products and processes have a critical role in helping a nation march 

ahead on the road of prosperity and progress. Human resources are a critical component 

of any strategy aimed at generating innovative ideas and translating them into useful 

outcomes. 

Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA) is an attractive, career-oriented scheme 

to identify and nurture outstanding young scientists with innovative ideas and desire for pursuing 

research in frontier areas of biotechnology. Conceptualised and introduced in year 2005 by the 

Department of Biotechnology, IYBA is an attractive, career-oriented scheme that seeks to 

identify and nurture outstanding young biotech professionals with innovative ideas, and, a desire 

for pursuing research in frontier areas of biotechnology. 

Since its inception, 48 young scientists have received the IYBA award. Several of the 

awardees have, in fact, returned to India from countries like USA, UK and Canada to pursue 

their research with IYBA support. 

A unique feature of IYBA is the support and guidance that the awardees receive from the 

expert committee specially constituted to review the work of IYBA recipients and to provide 

inputs and suggestions to the awardees to help them in realising their goals. Each year, the 

awards are given away by the Hon'ble Minister for Science & Technology, Govt. of India at an 

elegant ceremonial event organised by DBT at New Delhi. 

Biotech News got in touch with a few IYBA recipients to know how IYBA has helped 

them to boost up their pursuits in the research arena!. 

T.Madhan MohanPh.D. is Advisor at the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi. (Email: madhan@dbt.nic.in) 

134 BIOTECH NEWS VOLUME 5 | 

NO. 3

Kanury V. S. Rao 

Chairman, IYBA Expert Committee 

"IYBA is a dynamic and 

forward-looking initiative of 

DBT that provides a platform for 

bright young investigators to 

launch into their careers as 

independent scientists. The 

uniqueness of this program lies 

in the fact that it actively 

encourages the adoption of 

innovative approaches in 

research, and even gives a 

supportive window to those 

scientists who choose to explore 

risky avenues. The periodic 

review of progress in the 

awarded projects also doubles as 

a mentoring process, where the 

investigators often receive 

healthy and constructive pointers 

from the review committee. As a 

member of the IYBA committee, 

it has indeed been a privilege to 

be exposed to the emerging pool 

of talented young scientists of 

our country. And, thanks to 

DBT, it is also extremely 

gratifying for me to be a part of 

this exciting initiative that gives 

an opportunity for growth to 

such scientists. I am certain that 

IYBA will contribute in a large 

measure towards the 

strengthening pool of biological 

researchers in our country." 

JUNE, 2010 



Mukesh Jain, NIPGR, New Delhi (Fellow 2006) 

Innovative Young Biotechnologists Award (IYBA) 

scheme provides an excellent opportunity to young 

scientists who wish to start an independent research 

career in India even if they do not hold a regular 

position. I always desired to stay in India and work for 

my motherland. After completing PhD, I got selected for the 

prestigious IYBA award and started my independent research career 

at the University of Delhi South Campus, without any regular 

position and thereafter joined NIPGR at regular position. IYBA 

provided me reasonably good start-up grant money to initiate my 

research activities and a platform to lead my independent research 

program. It has also helped me obtaining other independent 

research funding and national awards. The flexibility provided in the 

scheme has helped in very smooth execution of the project and 

concentrate me more on the research work. IYBA has provided me 

an opportunity to contribute in the scientific advancement of our 

country. Email: mjain@nipgr.res.in 

Sneh L Singla-Pareek, ICGEB, New Delhi, (Fellow 2006) 

IYBA award from DBT has been extremely useful for me. 

I feel that this award has instituted in me a great deal of 

confidence and clarity as to what should be the approach 

for translational crop research. I have been able to raise 

transgenic rice plants with transgene pyramiding for 

improved performance under salinity stress conditions. My 

next dream is to see these plants in the hands of farmers. 

And I am striving hard to achieve this objective. 

Ellora Sen, National Brain Research Centre, Manesar (Fellow 2007) 

The mandate of IYBA is to support biomedical 

scientists at early stages of their careers with the 

aim to provide opportunities for innovative ideas 

and research. I am an early-career researcher with 

desire to understand the link between inflammation mediated 

aberrant signaling and regulation of genes associated with 

tumor progression. Support from IYBA has enabled me to 

pursue research in this exciting area of cancer biology. With 

findings resulting from this study, I am now looking forward 

to explore the complex relation between inflammation and 

epigenetic regulation of genes that confer resistance to 

apoptosis in Glioblastoma multiforme - the most malignant of 

brain tumors. 

BIOTECH NEWS 

135




Salient Features 

The award consists of financial support for a project of 3 years duration, which can be extended for two more 

years based on the project requirements. Awardees holding regular positions receive a cash award of Rupees One 

Lakh per annum (as an add on salary) up to the end of project period. Awardees not holding regular positions get 

a fellowship of Rs. 40000/- per month up to the end of project period. In addition, a Grant-in Aid of Rs. 50 Lakhs is 

provided to each awardee for meeting associated research expenses (equipment, manpower, travel, 

consumables/ contingencies and other overheads). At the end of three years, and subject to promising results and 

recommendation of the expert committee, the awardee(s) may be considered for support to continue their work 

as Senior Innovative Young Biotechnologist Awardees (SIYBA). SYIBA recipients are eligible for a grant-in-aid 

of Rs. 100 Lakhs over three years, in addition to cash award/monthly fellowship as in IYBA. 

Age: Upto 35 years (5 years relaxable for SC, ST, OBC, Women and Physically handicapped Candidates), 

Publications: 10 Impact Factor Research Publications or 5 Impact factor publications with one international patent 

or two national patents. 

Qualification: Ph.D. in Science subjects or M.Tech. or M.D. (First class marks from the basic degree onwards). 

Over and above an innovative project in the field of Biotechnology is essential as part of the application. Nonregular 

candidates are required to apply through a mentor. 

Ganesan Venkatasubramanian 

NIMHANS, Bangalore 

(Fellow 2008) 

Under the IYBA programme, I have 

been working on the Neuro-Immuno- 

Metabolic Model for Schizophrenia 

pathogenesis over the past two years. 

This award has provided with vital support to establish 

a lab at the National Institute of Mental Health and 

Neurosciences for conducting cutting edge research 

integrating functional MRI and genomics. During the 

past two years, this research project has produced 8 

original research papers in peer-reviewed journals and 4 

award winning conference paper presentations. The 

review process has been excellent with critical and 

constructive feedback to optimize the research focus. I 

consider IYBA as a turning point in my research career 

on the clinical neurobiology of schizophrenia. 

Eligibility Criteria 

Reema Saxena, Program officer, IYBA 

T. R. Santhoshkumar 

Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology 

(Fellow 2006) 

The IYBA fellowship offered by 

DBT helped me to initiate new 

research programme to address the 

“point of no return of apoptosis” 

in cancer cells. With the flexible support under 

IYBA I could develop a high-throughput image 

based platform to visualize multiple events of cell 

death signaling in live cells and to identify rare cells 

that often escape from anti cancer drug induced cell 

death. This visualization tool coupled with 

regulated gene expression is expected to provide an 

innovative cellular tool to identify potential target 

proteins that help the cancer cells survive after death 

signalizing is triggered. 

The well structured fellowship programme 

and the timely technical evaluation by experts is an 

appreciable effort that definitely will help to build 

critical young talents in challenging biotech areas. 


JUNE, 2010 

Mohan Mondal 

NRC on Mithun, Nagaland 

(Fellow 2007) 

Though I had been 

selected for the IYBA in 

2007, due to my 

deputation abroad under 

DBT Long-term Overseas 

Award, I could only start 

my work in 2009. I 

personally feel that the 

IYBA of DBT is an 

excellent platform for the 

young talents to come out 

with new innovative ideas 

to solve several problems 

of the country using 

modern biotech 

approaches. 

After my failure in 

my first attempt in 2006, I 

got inspired and motivated 

further by the scheme and 

came out with an 

innovative idea to solve the 

problems of mismothering 

behavior 

(attachment/bond/love 

between mother and 

neonate) that result huge 

calf mortality in bovine 

population. Simple 

intranasal spray of 

oxytocin can now induce 

stronger attachment/bond 

between mother and newly 

born calf immediately after 

delivery leading to a 

significant reduction in 

calf mortality due to 

mismothering in bovine 

model. We are now in the 

process to test whether 

maternal behavior can also 

be induced in 

normal cyclic cows. 

With IYBA support, I have been working over the past one 

year to characterize the novel mechanism of drug 

resistance mediated by a morphogenic regulator in 

Candida albicans, an opportunistic dimorphic pathogenic 

yeast. The greatest advantage of IYBA is that it aids the 

young investigators with funds and manpower to start their 

own research laboratory. This award has played a pivotal 

role in shaping my scientific career and would contribute 

immensely to the existing expertise in the field of drug 

resistance and novel drug targets. 

Priti Saxena 

NII, New Delhi 

(Fellow 2008) 

IYBA has 

boosted my 

career and 

strengthened me for faster 

achievement of goals and 

facilitated this mission by 

providing a platform for 

independent research. The 

opportunity of collaborative 

working and scope for wider 

exposure are the key essentials 

of IYBA that can be utilized for 

a multi-pronged approach for a 

quicker and sound handling of 

project. IYBA has been a big 

support for working towards my 

aims of developing novel 

intervention strategies required 

to combat mycobacterial 

infections. 



Tulika Prasad 

JNU, New Delhi 

(Fellow 2008) 

Rajesh Kumar Gupta 

AIIMS, New Delhi 

(Fellow 2008) 

Over the last one 

year, as an 

Innovative Young 

Biotechnologist Awardee, I have 

explored the challenging area of TB 

drug development with special 

reference to latent tuberculosis. This 

fellowship provided me ample 

encouragement to work towards lead 

molecule identification against DevR, 

which is thought to be a key regulator 

of hypoxia-induced dormancy in 

Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The 

fellowship provided me with a highly 

structured plateform and learning 

experience in multi-disciplinary team 

environment in the area of drug 

development. DBT deserves kudos 

implementing this innovative scheme 

for young scientists. 

The IYBA award gave me an opportunity to start 

independent research without being in a regular position 

and in an area completely different from my doctoral and 

post-doctoral work. The flexibility and independence 

accorded under this scheme allowed me to freely 

experiment with different aspects of the problem without 

being tied up by the objectives laid-down at the 

commencement of the fellowship. The support and 

encouragement received from the IYBA committee during 

the fellowship has been exemplary and has helped me 

shape up into a confident researcher. IYBA has given my 

career the right momentum at the right time of my career, 

and I am now ready to explore problems in the area of 

human health and infectious diseases. 

Amita Gupta 

UDSC, Delhi 

(Fellow 2005) 

BIOTECH NEWS 

137



Jitender Kumar Thakur 

NIPGR, New Delhi 

(Fellow 2008) 

I have just moved to 

NIPGR, New Delhi as a 

scientist. Although, as an 

a institute NIPGR 

provides an excellent platform for 

research and gives generous support to the 

new faculties, the IYBA gave me 

confidence to start the sanctioned project. 

The stringent selection procedure and 

comments from the expert reviewing 

committee make sure that the project 

holds a strong ground and prospects. 

What I like most in IYBA is that it gives 

the awardee a JRF for the sanctioned 

project. This gave me complete 

independence in terms of making my own 

research team, and running the project. 

With the support of IYBA, I and my team 

research team is trying to understand the 

role of mediator complex in 

transcriptional regulation of plant gene 

expression. 

Firdous Khanday 

University of Kashmir, Srinagar 

(Fellow 2007) 

I received IYBA award 

immediately following my 

appointment at University 

of Kashmir, after returning 

from USA. It was the first grant that I 

received and helped my group in 

establishing the lab at Kashmir University. 

Doing science though is not that straight 

forward especially the circumstances we 

are in, but nonetheless I have been 

successful in executing the project to the 

best of my abilities. Through this project 

we have shown that human p66shc protein 

(involved in mediating longevity and 

oxidative stress) can be used as a marker in 

esophageal cancers (manuscript asked for 

revision by journal Cell Communication and 

Signaling). More work on the mechanism 

of regulation and action are being taken up 

using cell culture techniques. By recieving 

this award I have been atronsle to inspire 

for many youngsters of Kashmir valley to 

take Science and research seriously. 

Samudrala Gourinath, JNU, New Delhi (Fellow 2006) 

Over past two years, IYBA award has given the 

much needed boost to my research lab and thus 

enhancing our research productivity. The funding 

for IYBA has been very generous, encouraging and 

regular. The IYBA reviewing committee is very 

encouraging, critical and constructive. This award has helped me 

progress my research in the area of calcium binding proteins and to 

elucidate their structure function relationship. The calcium binding 

EF motifs could be predicted by several programs, but their calcium 

affinity could not be predicted. The methodology developed by us is 

capable of estimating the calcium binding affinity of these sites. So 

far, I have acknowledged IYBA in two of my publications and one 

more publication is under preparation. The IYBA award was a 

major turning point in my research career so far. 

Receiving the IYBA is an honor. It was amazing to 

receive this level of support for the development of 

my research program at the very beginning of my 

career. This grant helped me generate pilot data to 

obtain additional peer review funding and has 

ultimately led to some peer-reviewed publications. 

The application and review process is well 

organized and conducted in a friendly atmosphere. 

Such generous grants from DBT are essential for 

young investigators to pursue their research projects 

and to contribute to the advancement of 

biotechnology in India. 

Ashish Tendulkar, IIT, Madras (Fellow 2008) 

D. Sundar 

IIT, Delhi 

(Fellow 2005) 

IYBA provides an excellent opportunity to work on 

exciting scientific research projects. With following a 

rigorous, transparent and competitive selection 

process. It nurtures young scientific talent in the 

country by supporting their research with appropriate 

resources. IYBA award was a turning point in my career. I enjoy 

working on my project on functional genomics of orphan structure 

proteome. The project involves prediction of functional sites in 

novel proteins, building database of functional sites of known 

proteins obtained by prediction and by mining biomedical literature 

and incorporation of relevant biological information for betterment 

of functional site. The award also provided an opportunity to work 

with experimental biologists for validation of predictions in wet-lab 

and also to respond their computational needs for various stages of 

functional genomics. I started my project from January 2010 and 

look forward to exciting times with functional genomics activities. 


Applications are invited for “Ramalingaswami Fellowship”, a re-entry scheme of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. 

of India. 

Objective 

1.The scheme is aimed at bringing back researchers of Indian origin working overseas in various fields of biotechnology, including agriculture, health sciences, 

bio-engineering, energy, environment, bioinformatics and other related areas, and who are desirous of pursing R&D in an Indian institution. 

Eligibility 

2. The applicant should process a Ph.D., MD or equivalent degree with an outstanding track record as reflected in publications and other recognitions. 

3.Only candidates of Indian origin working overseas are eligible to apply. Those who have already returned to India and are working in India are not eligible. 

About the fellowship 

4.Selected awardees will receive a fellowship amount of Rs. 75,000/ pm (consolidated) and a contingency grant of Rs. 5,00,000 / year for purchase of 

consumables, minor equipment, international and domestic travel, engaging manpower and other contingent expenditure to be incurred in connection with the 

implementation of research project. However, the host institute/university where applicant proposes to work can consider giving additional benefits (e.g. 

HRA/housing, medical allowance, leave travel allowance and other benefits) as applicable to regular faculty. 

5.In case an awardee finds a suitable permanent position during the tenure of the fellowship at any research institute/ university, he or she can take up the job. 

In that case, he/she will have to opt for either the fellowship or salary. However, she/he can continue to avail the contingency grant with prior approval of DBT. 

6.Ramalingaswami Fellows could take up fellowship at any of the scientific institutes/ university in the country. However application should be duly forwarded by 

the competent authority of the host Institute. 

7.Awardees are eligible to apply for research grants to any of the funding agencies. However, the Co-PI has to be a permanent employee of the host institution. 

Duration 

8.The duration of the fellowship will be for a period of five years. This is extendable by another 5 years on a fresh appraisal. 

How to apply 

9.Applications may be sent as per Performa downloadable from DBT website (www.dbtindia.nic.in) and duly forwarded by the competent authority to Dr. Meenakshi 

th 

Munshi, Joint Director, Department of Biotechnology, Block-2, 7 Floor, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi -110 003, Email :- meenakshi29.dbt@nic.in latest by 

st 

31 July, 2010. Other details regarding the proforma may be seen at www.dbtindia.nic.in/www.dbtindia.gov.in 

JUNE, 2010 

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CLINCIAL) SERVICES AGENCY 

National Development (Clinical) Services Agency (NDSA) formed by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India as an 

extramural unit of its newly established autonomous institute “Translational Health Science & Technology Institute”, to assist and guide entrepreneurs in the 

biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors in India with the preclinical and clinical development of products in compliance with international standards. NDSA is 

Seeking Suitable Candidates For The Following Positions: 

Chief Operating Officer: The position will be the principal executive officer of NDSA and will provide leadership in assuring effective portfolio and business 

management of all projects executed by the agency. S/he will be an entrepreneur who will shepherd a world class institution in India for clinical services in India. 

Director Training: The position will lead in establishing an academy in clinical research for training of research professionals including clinicians engaged in 

preclinical and clinical development of products for public good. 

Director Services: The position will provide leadership in assuring high quality services to partners, clients and other stakeholders who associate with NDSA 

through its various service facilities like the Training Academy, Data Management and Biostatistics center, Drug Storage and Archiving facility. 

Director Project Management: The position will drive project management by assuring that all projects are designed, planned and executed in a timely fashion 

maintaining highest quality standards. 

Medical Director: The position will provide guidance and leadership in designing, implementing and monitoring clinical trial programs executed by NDSA or its 

partner organizations. 

Biostatistician: The position will work with clinical development team on the design and conduct of clinical studies; the evaluation, interpretation, and reporting of 

study results; and regulatory submissions. 

Grant And Contract Manager: The position will be responsible for managing grants and contracts that NDSA will enter into with partners. 

Administrative & Finance Manager: The position will support the financial management, administration and implementation of NDSA's activities involving 

multiple public-private partnerships. 

Executive Secretary: The position will provide administrative and secretarial support to NDSA senior management. 

All positions are currently based in the New Delhi office of NDSA and will report to the CEO of NDSA. NDSA offers an enabling environment with tremendous 

opportunities for growth. Interested candidates may please visit DBT website at http://dbtindia.nic.in/VacancyNew/viewVacancy New2.asp for detailed position 

description including compensation and send in their applications with a cover note, three references and current CV to jobs@ndsa.org 

as soon as possible. The 

selection committee of NDSA meets once every two months to review applications received, short list potential candidates and interview / recruit. Only 

shortlisted candidates will be contacted. 

RAMALINGASWAMI FELLOWSHIP 

BIOTECH NEWS 

139

REP ORT 

Young Investigator Meetings and IndiaBioscience.Org 


Ronald D. Vale 

The biological sciences are 

poised to expand rapidly in 

India. Many premier 

biological institutes are planning 

new buildings that will double the 

size of their faculty and several new 

research institutes/universities have 

been launched, or, are in the 

planning stage. However, the 

planned growth poses several 

challenges. Will India be able to 

recruit the very best young faculty to 

fill these buildings or will Indians 

continue to seek careers in the US 

and Europe? For the young faculty 

that come (and also for the faculty 

currently here), will they receive the 

mentoring that they need to succeed 

in establishing their research 

programs? These issues are related. 

The greater the success of the 

current young faculty in India, the 

easier it will be to recruit new 

faculty in the future. 

Speaker s at the Young Investigator Meeting at San Francisco (Feb. 2010) 

To promote the success of 

young investigators and recruit new 

talent to India, national and 

international “Young Investigator 

Meetings” (YIMs) as well as a new 

web site (www.indiabioscience.org) 

have been established. These 

programs, which have received 

generous funding from the DBT and 

the Wellcome Trust-DBT India 

Alliance, allow young Indian 

biologists to meet one another and 

become informed about research 

opportunities in India. They also 

have stimulated postdocs abroad to 

consider returning to India to 

establish their careers. These 

meetings also provide a setting for 

senior scientists to mentor young 

scientists on how to establish their 

research programs in India. The 

YIM and the IndiaBioscience.org 

are important and unique projects to 

help young scientists and indeed 

represent models that other 

countries may eventually replicate in 

the future. 

The Indian Young Investigator Meeting 

The first Indian YIM was held in 

Kerala (Feb, 2009) and the second in 

Kolkata (Feb, 2010), and the impact 

Ronald D. Vale is at the Dept. of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, The Howard Hughes Medical 

Institute, USA. (Email: vale@cmp.ucsf.edu) 


of these meetings has been 

considerable. The core audience of 

the meeting are ~40 Indian faculty 

members at the start of their careers 

(

Young Investigator Meetings and IndiaBioscience.Org 


YIM participants during a poster session in Bangalore 

audience is usually Indian 

postdoctoral fellows and graduate 

students and the goal is to inform 

them of the rapidly improving 

situation for conducting for life 

science research in India. These 

international YIMs have taken place 

in the Bay Area (June 2009; 

attended by Drs. Bhan and Natesh 

and several others), Boston (Sept. 

2009), at the Society for 

Neuroscience Meeting (Chicago, 

October 2009), and the Biophysical 

Society Annual Meeting (San 

Francisco, Feb. 2010). The latter 

two were organized by participants 

of YIM Kerala who took the 

initiative to orchestrate these events. 

IndiaBioscience.org 

The postdoctoral fellows at the YIM 

Kerala (Feb. 2009) felt that this 

meeting was eye-opening. However, 

they also expressed their prior 

frustration in learning about current 

developments in Indian biology, 

practicalities of career development, 

and how to apply for jobs. The YIM 

is an effective medium for 

communication, but only reaches a 

small portion of the much larger 

audience of Indian scientists that 

seeks this information. As a 

consequence of these discussions, 

we decided to create an exciting new 

web site called IndiaBioscience.org, 

which acts as a central portal of 

information on jobs, grants, 

education, collaboration and 

meetings. This web site also provides 

an interactive forum for Indian 

scientists to share ideas and 

opinions. If you have not done so, 

please look at this site: www.india 

bioscience.org 

IndiaBioscience.org will 

continue to grow and develop in the 

future. We are seeking a full time 

Ph.D. level director of this web site 

who will work on continually adding 

new content and posting job 

opportunities. 

Path Forward 

The YIM idea has created a new 

social network of young Indian 

biologists and has been influential in 

helping to recruit postdoctoral 

fellows back to India. A less 

obvious but perhaps equally 

important role of the meeting is in 

creating a next generation of leaders 

in Indian biology. As examples of 

leadership, YIMs and 

IndiaBioscience.org are organized 

by young Indian scientists. In 

addition, many of the young 

scientists who attend YIM are 

thinking of new ways to improve the 

environment of their institutions or 

even for young students at high 

school or earlier. We also want the 

YIM to embody the diversity of 

Indian science, which is why it 

moves to a different Indian state 

every year and also encourages the 

participation and exchange of ideas 

between scientists at institutes and 

universities. The YIM format also is 

flexible, allowing different topics and 

meeting styles to be accommodated 

from year to year. Thus, we feel that 

the YIM and IndiaBioscience.org 

serve important roles for the future 

of Indian biology and we are 

grateful to the DBT for their 

financial support and their interest 

in these endeavors. 

Corrigendum 

Bio tech News Vol. 5 No. 2 April, 2010 Page 80 

In the feature titled India's Agri-horticultural Diversity Conserving our Biological Heritage, the line "The ex-situ seed genebank at NBPGR comprises of 12 long term modules 

o o 

maintained at - 180 C for housing the base collections. The active collections are distributed in 22 medium - term modules maintained at 40 C for storing germplasm at active 

sites." 

should read: 

o 

"The ex-situ seed genebank at NBPGR comprises 12 long term modules maintained at -18 C for housing the base collections. The active collections are distributed in 22 medium - 

o 

term modules maintained at +4 C for storing germplasm at active sites." 

The error was inadvertent and is regretted. -Editors 


CONVERSATION 


In any field of human endeavor, inventions 

and innovations become useful only when 

they are taken up by entreprenuers and 

converted into products and services that 

serve unmet needs of the society. This 

phase of incubation most often needs a 

significant level of resources which often 

is the biggest hurdle for an idea to 

crossover and become a viable product, or 

a service. Biotechnology is no exception to 

this phenomenon. 

So, where do the worlds of biotech 

and finance meet? To explore this question 

further Gayatri Saberwal spoke to Miki 

Kapoor, U.S. Fulbright Fellow to India and 

an investment banker on Wall Street having 

considerable exposure to the biotech 

industry. 

JUNE, 2010 

Gayatri Saberwal (GS): In India we do not yet 

have the same job diversification that one sees 

in the United States. For instance we do not 

hear of too many biology-related PhDs who go 

into the financial services sector. But as we 

try to build an environment that supports drug 

discovery companies similar to those that exist 

in the US, it will probably be essential to have 

the kinds of jobs here that exist in the US today. 

Since you have worked on Wall Street for 7 

years, could you tell me where you saw the 

bioscience PhDs? 

Miki Kapoor ( MK): As research analysts, 

some of the smartest guys I know are PhDs 

from Harvard, from MIT and so on who 

decided they didn't want to be professors, 

they didn't want to be CEOs, but they 

wanted to analyze companies. They are in a 

field called equity research which is driven 

by an understanding of the technical aspects 

of a discipline, in this case biological 

sciences alongside the business acumen, 

that enables them to understand which 

companies can take the science and translate 

it into a successful company. 

GS: Could you describe the kind of work these 

analysts do? 

MK: Their job is to analyze companies and 

publish reports which helps others 

understand the companies better and 

decide whether or not to invest in them. 

BIOTECH NEWS 

 

143


Miki Kapoor is a finance and global health professional with a background in investment banking, public 

health and health policy. Most recently, as a U.S. Fulbright Fellow to India, his research focused on the 

emerging biotechnology industry in India and venture capital investment into this industry. Prior to his 

work in India, Miki spent seven years on Wall Street as an investment banker in the healthcare industry, 

maintaining sole responsibility for a range of biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients. Upon leaving the 

bank and prior to moving to India, Miki completed a stint at the William J. Clinton Foundation as Director 

of one of the foundation's global health programs, where he led a group of twenty global health 

professionals to design and execute health and humanitarian initiatives in the developing world. Miki 

attended graduate school at Yale University, where he received a Masters in Business Administration from the Yale School 

of Management and a Masters in Public Health from the Yale School of Public Health. At Yale University, he was awarded 

the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization Fellowship that funded research in Botswana on enhancing Botswana's 

national response to HIV/AIDS. Miki is a graduate of Washington University, where he majored in biology and has studied 

comparative public health policy at Oxford University. 

So if you talk to them, you realize 

that they know everything about 

every company in their area of 

expertise. If a person is focusing on 

cancer, he (or she) will know every 

company in that space, when it was 

formed, who the CEO is, what its 

products are, which molecules are in 

clinical trials. They know 

everything about how that 

company's product has done in 

scientific clinical trials and what 

view the FDA has about the drug. 

Importantly, they can translate this 

knowledge of science into 

understanding the riskiness of an 

investment into the company which 

owns the product. These people are 

not just scientists, they are capable 

of analyzing businesses. 

GS: I understand that an analyst has 

access to the web site of a company and 

to the filings with the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (which are also 

online and freely available to the public). 

What else do they have access to that 

enables them to produce reports that an 

interested layman could not put 

together? 

MK: They have 

access to two 

other things. 

First, because 

companies want the analysts to do a 

thorough job on their company, the 

CEO of a company will always take 

the call of an analyst. If as an 

investment banker I call to talk to 

the CEO, I'll get through some of 

the time, but if my analyst colleague 

calls, he'll be connected right away! 

Companies rely on analysts to 

disseminate information about them 

to the investor public. Importantly, 

they also want analysts to have a 

positive opinion of the their 

company. So, the analysts have 

direct access to all members of the 

top management. 

Second, they have a 

comprehensive view of the industry 

that few people have. They live in 

this industry and their 

understanding of it is a crucial part 

of their jobs. This access to top 

management coupled with the rare 

ability to understand the whole 

industry in which the company in 

question operates, is a big part of 

why the reports published by 

analysts are so impressive. 

GS: Other than their science, what else 

do these analysts need to know to do 

such work? 

MK: Nothing very much before they 

start on the job. They may later take 

a few classes in accounting, but it 

isn't necessary that they have an 

MBA. If a person has an instinct for 

this kind of thing they can pick up 

the accounting, finance, and 

business stuff pretty quickly. 

GS: Could you name some of the well 

known companies where these analysts 

work? 

MK: They are everywhere-banks that 

are big and small. Some of the 

larger banks that have good 

biotech/pharma analysts are 

Goldman Sachs and Morgan 

Stanley. Some of the smaller banks 

with outstanding analysts are Cowen 

Group and Leerink Swann. 

GS: So, what are the 'levels' of jobs in 

this area? Obviously a person fresh 

from academia is not going to be asked 

to do something that would risk a lot of 

money. So perhaps there are different 

levels of expertise as an analyst? 

MK: Absolutely. They all start 

somewhere and build their 

credentials along the way. Some of 

the junior analysts I know have 

come out of academic institutions, 

but know that they'll be on a 4 or 5 

year trajectory during which they 

will have to prove themselves. If the 

recommendations they make are 

Gayatri Saberwal Ph.D. is at the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Bangalore. (Email: gayatri@ibab.ac.in. ) 


generally right, and if clients and 

Wall Street like them, they tend to 

do well. 

GS: Even if a person has a PhD in cancer 

biology, they would usually only know 

cancer from a certain angle; genetics or 

cell biology or modelling of pathways or 

whatever. But companies with novel 

science by definition are doing 

something this analyst wouldn't have 

training in. For instance, someone who 

got their PhD before RNAi was 

discovered may not be able to 

understand the full implications of RNAi 

for cancer. And of course the problem 

will get more acute with every decade 

that the analyst has been out of the 

academic environment. A lot of money is 

hinging on their decisions so it is 

important that they have a really good 

sense of the commercial implications of 

the science. How do you think these 

analysts cope with the barrage of new 

science? 

MK: What makes these analysts so 

good in my opinion is their desire to 

learn the cutting edge work 

happening at the intersection of 

academia and industry. They seem 

to have a thirst for knowledge at this 

intersection and learn what they 

don't know. Importantly, their 

backgrounds, experience and 

scientific instinct prepare them well 

to pick up new material with relative 

ease. 

GS: Do you know whether the analysts 

spend a lot of time at conferences or 

JUNE, 2010 

meeting with academicians in their area 

of interest to stay in touch and also to 

keep alive a network of experts whom 

they could call upon for an opinion if they 

needed to? 

MK: I don't think they spend a lot of 

time in academic circles, but they 

are at many scientific and industry 

conferences. I suspect they do have 

a very active and useful network 

upon which they can call when they 

have questions. I have also known 

of occasions when they have hired 

scientific consultants to help on 

topics outside their core areas of 

expertise. Additionally, while many 

of them are experts in areas of 

biological sciences, they have little 

knowledge about clinical practice. 

Some of these research analysts are 

medical doctors, but others often call 

on physicians to help them 

understand prescribing patterns and 

clinical decision making, for 

example. 

GS: Is there some other source of 

information about an analysts' job that 

we could point readers towards? For 

instance, are there any publicly available 

reports that readers could access? 

MK: These reports tend not to be 

publicly-available. Banks provide 

them to their clients and use them 

internally to make decisions. That 

said, everyone on Wall Street has 

access to every other bank's research 

through on-line databases we use. 

These reports are easily available in 

the financial services industry, but 


are tough to access for the general 

public. I get research reports fairly 

often in my inbox from an Indian 

investment bank called First Call 

Equity Advisors. I find those 

reports to be pretty good. Perhaps, 

those are available on their website 

and can be looked at as examples. 

G S Finally, : what is your sense of this 

kind of work in India? You've been here 

a few months now, studying the financing 

of the biotech industry, and you've met 

some analysts. Did you meet any with 

PhDs in the biological sciences? And did 

you get a feel for whether more of these 

jobs are likely to come up in India soon, 

whether analyzing the local industry or 

companies abroad? 

M K I : think jobs like this will 

increasingly move to India. There 

are few remaining reasons for this 

type of work to require that people 

be located in North America or 

Europe. One could have made the 

argument a decade ago that it helped 

to have a research analyst available 

to meet with clients and be an active 

and present contributor to 

relationships with clients. I believe, 

however, that with technology most 

of the work these days can be done 

anywhere, and that face-to-face 

interactions can happen periodically. 

This will require that analysts that 

follow North American or European 

stocks adjust to North American or 

European timings. A lot can happen 

in one trading day and the analyst 

need to keep up with that. 

CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN BIOTECHNOLOGY 

CALL FOR LETTERS OF INTENT 

DBT invites Letters of Intent for long-term R&D support in a group of schemes known as Centres of Excellence and Innovation in Biotechnology (CEIB). 

The scheme will provide funding to augment and strengthen institutional research capacity for promotion of excellence in interdisciplinary science and 

innovation in specific areas of biotechnology. The programme is intended for institutions with a substantial investment in, and commitment to, biotechnology 

research. The programme will provide flexible long-term support for highly innovative research (both basic and translational in nature) in biotechnology, 

which creates not only high-quality publications and intellectual property but also translational outputs through mid /high end innovation. 

th 

The last date for the receipt of letter of intent (one electronic copy in MS-Word format + three hard copies): 6 August, 2010 

For details on the scheme and the proforma for letter of intent, please visit DBT's website: www.dbtindia.nic.in or www.dbtindia.gov.in. 

BIOTECH NEWS 

145

PRO FILE 

National Environmental 

Engineering Research Institute 

Established as Central Public 

Health Engineering Research 

Institute (CPHERI) in 1958, 

and rechristened as National 

Environmental Engineering 

Research Institute (NEERI) in the 

year 1974 by (Late) Shrimati Indira 

Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of 

India, NEERI today has a nationwide 

presence with its five zonal 

laboratories at Chennai, Delhi, 

Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. 

With an ISO 9001:2000 

certification, NEERI has a 

competent and experienced team of 

about 104 scientists in various core 

disciplines of relevance to 

environmental science and 

engineering. 

Vision and Mission 

With a vision to provide 

“Leadership in environmental 

science and engineering for 

sustainable development”, NEERI 

envisions a world in which all have 

capacity to act in a manner that 

ensures achievement of sustainable 

environment and economic goals; 

and where the natural balance is no 

longer threatened, and all share the 

benefit of a healthy environment. 

Research Focus at NEERI: 

The research initiatives at NEERI 

reflect the complexity of problems in 

the environmental and natural 

resource arena that needs urgent and 

effective S&T solutions. R&D 

programs at NEERI are clubbed 

under six main thrust areas: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Environmental Monitoring 

Environmental Biotechnology and 

Genomics 

Environmental Impact and Risk 

Assessment 

Environmental System Design and 

Modelling 

Environment Materials and 

Solid and Hazardous Waste 

Management 

In addition to its R&D 

efforts, NEERI is regularly called 

upon for advice on issues pertaining 

to management of the environment 

by a variety of bodies like industries, 

Government Ministries / Boards, 

and the Judiciary. 

In the area of 

environmental monitoring, the 

Institute has been operating a 

nationwide air quality monitoring 

network. Sponsored by the Central 

Pollution Control Board (CPCB), is 

important to maintain and update 

the database on Indian air quality as 

it enables the assessment of long- 

term air quality trends for health 

related critical air pollutants. This 

also forms the basis for air pollution 

management plans. The Institute is 

carrying out ambient air quality 

monitoring and emission source 

apportionment studies for Delhi and 

soon will be launching for Mumbai. 

Stack emission characterization 

studies, monitoring of gaseous 

pollutants including VOCs, in 

indoor and outdoor air, and 

environmental audit studies have 

also been carried out for various 

industries and locations. The 

Institute has been involved in 

monitoring of pesticide residues at 

national level. The primary objective 

of this project is to evaluate the 

status of pesticide residues in 

vegetables, water, meat and marine 

products covering the entire nation. 

The pesticide residue data generated 

would be instrumental in justifying 

India's presence in World Trade 

Organisation (WTO) and in 

CODEX in foreign trade. 

Environmental 

biotechnology has emerged as a 

useful tool for environment 

management and remediation. The 

areas of R&D in this field include, 

to name a few are 


development of biotechnological 

methods for treatment of 

nitrogenous wastewater using 

anaerobic ammonia oxidation 

process; 

remediation of degraded 

ecosystems through 

biotechnological approaches; 

biotechnological applications of 

novel hybrid zeolitic material for insitu 

remediation of contaminated 

soils; 

phytoremediation and 

bioutilization of industrial wastes; 

biodegradable plastic production 

from wastewater using activated 

sludge; 

anaerobic production of hydrogen 

biological deodorization of 

industrial emissions. 

The Institute has also 

significantly contributed in the field 

of environmental genomics by 

evolving the use of genomic tools to 

address environmental pollution 

problems. The microbial and 

functional diversities of effluent 

treatment plants have been analysed 

to improve the efficiency of 

treatment of wastewater generated 

in various industries. The hitherto 

unknown microbial population of 

activated biomass has been assessed 

and bacteria identified by 

sequencing the 16S rDNA, and 

JUNE, 2010 

National Environmental Engineering Research Institute 

National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, 440020, India. www.neeri.res.in 

sequences deposited in the public 

database of GenBank. A library of 

more than thousand bacteria with 

the catabolic capacity for varied 

target pollutants is a part of the 

institute. A battery of PCR primers 

have been developed that can assess 

the catabolic potential of any niche. 

Mathematical and statistical tools 

are used to address specific 

problems, e.g. biodegradation of 

mixed waste stream for pesticides, or 

designing signature specific probes 

for bacteria. 

In the field of solid and 

hazardous waste management, 

NEERI has pioneered significant 

R&D activities for various 

industries. A process for 

biomethanation of municipal solid 

waste with two-phase approach to 

generate bio-energy from the 

municipal solid waste is being 

developed on bench scale. The 

Institute is keen to develop 

appropriate technologies for 

treatment and recycling of industrial 

wastes and sludges, for which 

various R&D activities are being 

carried out at the Institute. The 

Institute is also undertaking studies 

related to assessment, remediation 

and management of hazardous 

wastes for various industries. 

The thrust for R&D in the 

field of environmental systems 

design, modeling and optimization 

was mainly on the development of 

cost-effective and resource recovery 

based technologies suitable to socioeconomic 

conditions prevailing in 

the country. Such technologies 

which have been developed by the 

Institute include: development of 

Ventury Scrubber (VS); Turbulent 

Bed Contactor (TBC); and Airlift 

Loop Reactor (ALR) for controlling 

NOx emissions from nitric acid 

plants, development of GIS-based 

modeling tool for assessment of 

non-point source pollution in a 

watershed, development of air 

pollution model for interfacing with 

multi-scale meteorological modeling 

platform etc. NEERI in 

collaboration with UNICEF has 

provided the design for construction 

of greywater recycle plants in a few 

schools in water scarce areas of 

Dhar and Jhabua districts of 

Madhya Pradesh. The use of these 

recycle/reuse plants has resulted in 

saving of freshwater resources in 

these schools. 

The R&D activities on 

environmental materials include 

BIOTECH NEWS 

 

147


development of novel functionalized 

materials for C02 capture, 

development of nano structured 

zeolitic materials for artificial 

photosynthesis vis-a-vis control of 

green house gases (alternative route 

for non-renewable energy sources), 

development of catalytic materials 

for diesel exhaust emission control, 

development of advanced materials 

for environmental applications, 

development of catalytic materials 

for selective catalytic reduction of 

NOx by hydrocarbons for the 

control of NOx from stationary 

sources, target oriented zeolite 

analogues for monitoring and 

Biotech News (BTN): What are the three most 

important research findings at the Institute 

during the last five years? 

Microalgal CO 2 Sequestration & 

biofuel production 

Endosulfan biodegrading organism 

isolation, characterization & 

metabolite identification 

Tracking catabolic genes in 

microorganisms in contaminated 

sites A new site assessment criteria 

BTN: Which are the five best publications during 

the last three years? 

Koel Kumar, Saravana Devi, S. 

Krishnamurthi, K., Chakrabarti T. 

“Decolorisation and detoxification of 

Direct Blue-15 by a bacterial 

consortium” Bioresource 

Technology, Vol. 98, 3168-3171, 

2007. 

Bafna, A. and Chakrabarti, T. 

“Lateral Gene Transfer in Phylogene 

of Azo Reductase Enzyme”, 

control strategies for organo toxins, 

molecular imprinting for detection 

and monitoring of phenolics and 

development of novel photocatalytic 

materials for water splitting reaction. 

NEERI was called upon by 

several organizations and industries 

to carry out Environmental Impact 

Assessment (EIA) studies to identify 

and evaluate the impacts of various 

proposed activities and delineate 

Environmental Management Plans 

(EMPs). The Environmental Risk 

Assessment (ERA) studies assist in 

identification and evaluation of 

potential hazards in industries 

enabling suggestion of remedial 

Computational Biology and 

Chemistry, 32, 191-197, 2008 

Kapley Atya and Purohit Hemant. 

“Diagnosis of Treatment Efficiency 

in Industrial Wastewater Treatment 

Plants: A Case Study at a Refinery 

ETP”, Environmental Science & 

Technology, 43, 3789-3795, 2009 

Banerjee, S., Mudaliar, S.N., Sen, R., 

Giri, B., Satpute, D.B., Chakrabarti, 

T. and Pandey, R.A. 

“Commercializing Lignocellulosic 

Bioethanol: Technology Bottlenecks 

and Possible Remedies, Biofuels, 

Bioproducts and Biorefining”, 4, 77- 

93, 2009 

Fulke, A.B., Mudliar, S.N., Yadav, 

Raju, Shekh, A., Srinivasan, N., 

Rishiram, R., Krishnamurthy, Devi, 

S.S. and Chakrabarti, T. “Biomitigation 

of CO 2, 

calcite formation 

and simultaneous biodiesel precursors 

production using Chlorella sp., 

Bioresource Technology, Accepted 

measures to reduce or eliminate 

such hazards. The Institute carries 

out EIA studies for developmental 

projects in the different sectors of 

industries such as, hydrocarbon, 

power, port and harbour, chemicals 

and fertilizers, and mining, etc. The 

Institute also provides significant 

contributions to these industries by 

carrying out Environmental Risk 

Assessment (ERA) studies for 

proposed /existing projects. 

NEERI also carried out 

Environmental Audit (EA) studies 

for various industries so that their 

manufacturing activities and 

products do not adversely affect the 

(Contd. on page 150) 

A Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Nagpur University, Dr. Tapan Chakrabarti joined NEERI as 

CSIR-Senior Research Fellow in December 1973. In his long years at NEERI, he has worked in 

the areas of environmental monitoring, management and mitigation with special reference to 

toxic wastewater and hazardous sludges, bioremediation of contaminated sites, biotechnological 

production of value-added chemicals from wastes, genotoxicity of toxic wastewaters and 

leachates, and toxicogenomics and proteomics. 

Dr. Chakrabarti is a recipient of many awards and honours. Among these, the 

noteworthy are: Pitamber Pant National Environment Fellowship Award conferred by the 

Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India. He is also a Fellow of the Maharashtra 

Academy of Sciences. He has authored 100 peer-reviewed publications, produced 20 Ph.Ds, 

guides 7 Ph.D students and holds 5 patents. He is a Life Member of a number of professional 

bodies which include Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers. 

BTN: Which technologies have been transferred 

to industry/user agencies recently? 

Phytorid 

assisted wastewater system 

has been transferred to a number of 

user agencies 

BTN: How is NEERI promoting innovation? 

Innovation is promoted through bringing 

in paradigm shifts such as: 

Waste to wealth through value 

addition 

substitution of non-renewable 

resource base with renewable 

resource 

use of modern biotechnological 

tools to improve existing processes 

BTN: What measures is NEERI taking to attract 

first-rate human resources? 

NEERI is attracting first rate 

scientific & engineering talent 

through aggressive recruitment and 

a promise of a productive working 

environment. 



(Contd. from page 148) 

environmental quality and energy 

resources are used efficiently. 

As part of an environmental 

awareness programme, the Institute 

has a "Science Motivation 

Programme" for teachers and 

students. The Institute is also 

involved in different societal 

missions from time to time. 

The Institute has registered 

a significant growth in number of 

research publications. During 2008, 

NEERI published 110 research 

papers including 86 in peer reviewed 

SCI journals with a cumulative 

impact factor of 160.57. The 

Institute filed 2 patent applications 

in India and 4 international patent 

applications during 2008. 10 patents, 

nine national and one international, 

were granted in the same period. 

NEERI brought out a series 

of documents / books / manuals 

covering various fields of 


engineering. These include: Urban 

Air Pollution in India - Status and 

Future Challenges (INSA), 

Handbook on Indian Environmental 

Standards (NEERI), Greywater 

Reuse in Rural Schools, 

Environmental Biotechnology. 

NEERI has entered into 

agreements and MoUs with various 

agencies and organizations to retain 

its unique identity in R&D 

capabilities in the field of 


engineering. This year has been 

remarkable for the Institute as it had 

programmes with international 

agencies/organizations like Alcoa 

(USA) for defluoridation, World 

Bank (DPWH, Philippines) for 

training on EIA, USEPA for air 

quality, water surveillance etc., 

UNICEF for water safety plan and 

defluoridation, and WHO for water 

surveillance. The Institute 

transferred to the country the know- 

how on 'NEERI Zar' a portable 

instant water filter unit for use in 

emergency situation such as flood. 

The Institute also developed a 

technology of solar powered 

defluoridation of contaminated 

drinking water.The know-how 

related to “phytorid wastewater 

treatment technology” developed by 

NEERI has been transferred to M/s 

General Techno Seervices. Process 

know-how for chitin based 

adsorbent is being developed for 

defluoridation of wastewater at 

present. 

The diversity and depth of 

skills available at NEERI have 

helped the institute strengthen its 

finances through external earnings 

which are now almost upto 45 % of 

its total budget. In 2008-2009, the 

Institute earned Rs. 19.78 crore, 

whereas the CSIR grant for the year 

was 23.84crore.

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JUNE, 2010 

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Region-wise Public Consultation on 

the Guidelines for Stem Cell Research 

and Therapy 

The guidelines for stem cell research 

and therapy have been formulated 

by the Department jointly with 

Indian Council of Medical 

Research. The copy of the 

guidelines is available on the 

websites of both the agencies. 

In order to get the wider 

opinion, region-wise public 

consultations were organized jointly 

by DBT and ICMR. The details of 

the public consultations held so far 

are as follows: 

Region Place Date 

Western 

Southern 

Eastern 

North-East 

Mumbai, Maharashtra 

Bangalore, Karnataka 

Kolkata, West Bengal 

Dibrugarh, Assam 

20.2.2010 

10.4.2010 

17.4.2010 

14.5.2010 

During these events, various 

issues related to stem cell research 

and therapy were raised by the 

Public and discussed by the experts 

in detail. The Public Consultation 

for the Northern Region has been 

planned in the last week of July, 

2010 in Delhi. A comprehensive 

report will be developed after 

completion of the public 

consultation. 

Alka Sharma, DBT 

Indo Australia Biotech Cooperation 

A delegation led by Dr. M.K. Bhan, 

Secretary, DBT and comprising of 

Dr. R.P. Sharma, Agriculture expert, 

Dr. Alok Ray, IIT, Delhi and Sh. 

Sundeep Sarin, Joint Director, DBT 

th th 

visited Australia during 12 - 15 

April, 2010 for attending the 

meeting of the Joint Biotechnology 

Committee (JBC) at Canberra to 

review and consider the joint Indo- 

Australian proposals received under 

the collaboration. The JBC 

recommended 8 new proposals for 

funding. Prior to JBC, a meeting 

with Queensland Government was 

also organized at Brisbane to 

announce the collaborative 

programmes. Two programmes: (i) 

Joint Research projects and (ii) Early 

Career Fellowships have been 

launched. Committee also visited 

the concerned institutes in Brisbane, 

Canberra and Adelaide to develop 

collaborative programmes for future. 

Five Indian experts from various 

institutes in the field of agriculture 

and medical biotechnology attended 

the themed workshops and 

discussions on collaborative 

opportunities at Queensland, 

th th 

Australia on 12 -13 April, 2010. 

The objective of the workshop was 

to profile Queensland's and India's 

research capabilities in agricultural 

and medical biotechnology through 

targeted presentations and site visits. 

Sundeep Sarin, DBT 

National Institute of Animal 

Biotechnology 

The Department of Biotechnology, 

Government of India is establishing 

a National Institute of Animal 

Biotechnology (NIAB) in the 

campus of Central University of 

Hyderabad, Hyderabad. The 

Cabinet has also given its approval. 

The NIAB will focus on 

translational research and foster bioentrepreneurship 

in the animal 

biotechnology sector through (i) 

research in the cutting edge areas of 

biotechnology for enhancing 

productivity and improving animal 

health, (ii) production of animal 

bioreactors in order to strengthen 

India's role as a global player in 

pharma, vaccine and enzyme 

production, 

CALL FOR INDO-US JOINT PROPOSALS IN THE AREA OF LOW COST DIAGNOSTICS AND MEDICAL DEVICES 

INDO-US COLLABORATION ON LOW COST DIAGNOSTICS 

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) signed a joint statement in October, 2007 with National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and 

Bioengineering (NIBIB) of DHHS, USA to develop low cost diagnostics and therapeutics technologies for evaluation and improvement 

of global health. The DBT and NIBIB, NIH reviewed the programme implementation and finalized Request for Application (RFA) to 

invite proposals in the area of low cost medical device development, low cost diagnostic and imaging technology, etc. 

The DBT invites joint project proposals from interested scientists and scientific organizations. The interested investigators may 

th 

apply to Dr. T.S.Rao, Adviser, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Block2 (8 Floor), CGO Complex, 

Lodi Road, New Delhi 110 003 Telefax : 011-24364065, Fax : 011-24362884, E- mail: tsrao@dbt.nic.in,. 

The Report of Indo-US Workshop on Low-Cost diagnostics and Therapeutic Medical Technologies and other details are available in 

DBT website: www.dbtindia.nic.in and NIBIB website : www.nibib.nih.gov as Notice of Availability of Administrative Supplements for 

Research on Collaborative Projects with India on Low-Cost Medical Devices. 

BIOTECH NEWS 

149

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(iii) development of high producing 

livestock and poultry from 

indigenous and global resources, (iv) 

development of strategies for conservation 

of indigenous livestock and 

poultry (v) establishment of gene 

banks for genes of interest. The 

institution will also act as an 

interface between public institutions 

and industries in animal 

biotechnology. A key feature of 

NIAB is that it will function as an 

incubator for start up companies and 

also develop trained manpower for 

industry. It will forge partnership 

with national and international 

institutions and industry involved in 

medical, veterinary and animal 

science research and product/ 

process development. 

A.K. Rawat, DBT 

Indo-EU collaboration in 

Biotechnology 

Strengthening Indo-EU cooperation 

in Science and Technology, the 

European Commission and the 

Government of India announced 

two new co-funded research projects 

in the area of Food and Nutrition 

research. These projects will bring 

together Indian and European 

research teams in the areas of 

“Development of functional foods 

and Ingredients” and the 

“Valorization of by-products in food 

processing”. Both European 

Commission (Research Directorate 

General) and the Government of 

India (Department of 

Biotechnology) will invest 3 million 

Euros each (Rs.17.5 crores each) on 

these projects which are expected to 

be completed in 3 years. The two 

joint projects are expected to 

increase the innovation potential of 

both the European and Indian food 

industry, in particular SMEs. Such 

projects would also help engage in 

India-EU exchange of researchers, 

for mutually beneficial capacity 

building. 

Shailja Gupta, DBT 

150 BIOTECH NEWS VOLUME 5 | NO. 3 

JUNE, 2010 

In Rememberance 

Dr M. R. Heblé (76 years), a distinguished scientist and DBT's long-time Task Force 

Member passed away on 19 May 2010 after a brief illness at Mumbai. A post-graduate in 

organic chemistry, Dr Heblé did his PhD in botany and worked at the Bhabha Atomic 

Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai for most of his active life. He worked with some of the 

world's leading scientists such as Professor E. J. Staba at the University of Minneapolis 

and Professor E. Reinhardt at the University of Tubingen. Dr Heblé established a unit of 

medicinal and aromatic plants at BARC. His pioneering work on demonstration of 

cellular heterogeneity for biosynthetic pathways and bioreactor systems for cell, tissue and 

organ culture has paved the way for many others who followed him in this area. His major 

contribution spread over 80 publications include better understanding of plant-based 

drugs such as camptothecin, artemisinin, digoxin, ajmaline, ajmalicine and several 

steroids. Following his retirement from BARC, Dr Heblé established strong research groups at Kelkar's Scientific 

Research Centre, and the Institute of Agriculture and Biotechnology for Rural Youth, both at Mumbai. 

Always courteous and easy to approach, Dr Heblé was ever ready to share his knowledge and experience 

with his peers and younger scientists, and generously gave his time and talent toward shaping national policies. He 

served with distinction as a member of DBT's Task forces on Plant Biotechnology (three terms) and Medicinal & 

Aromatic Plants (two terms). His sudden death is a shock to all of us. DBT will miss an old friend and wise 

counsellor. May his soul rest in peace! 

BIOTECH NEWS 

151

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