ANNUAL REPORT - Department of Biotechnology

wax related gene fragments having homology with
Arabidopsis have been cloned from mulberry. Under
a network project, screening of mulberry germplasm
for disease response to powdery mildew, tukra and
nematode has been completed.
Basic Research in Modern Biology
Support to R&D projects having fundamental
questions was continued to provide new vistas to the
knowledge required for understanding the intricacies
involved in applied research. Fifty-two projects
across various disciplines were sanctioned.
Significant achievement during the year are : NIPER,
Mohali showed promising results for improvement of
the oral bio-availability of cyclosporine and reduction
of nephrotoxicity associated with the commercial
formulation; Studies were carried out at Sree Chitra
Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and
Technology, Trivandrum, using an in vitro cell culture
model to evaluate the response of adult rat cardiac
fibroblasts to hypoxia; IISc Bangalore revealed that
UdgB plays a significant role in mycobacteria;
Scientists at IMTech., Chandigarh showed that phoP
promoter activity is negatively autoregulated by PhoP
through sequence-specific interaction(s) involving 3
direct repeat subunits with a 9-bp consensus binding
sequence; Studies carried out at IISc, Bangalore
indicated that both MBP and preMBP are more prone
to aggregation under crowded conditions with
preMBP showing a greater extent of aggregation;
Scientists at School of Life Sciences, JNU studied
delineation methods to explore the physiological role
of SMARCAL1; Scientist at IISc., Bangalore revealed
that the stabilizing contacts in the folded
conformations of glycodelins are different; Scientists
at CDRI, Lucknow used NMR spectroscopy to solve
structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
Escherichia coli, and Homo sapiens peptidyl-tRNA
hydrolase. A structural model based on E. coli Pth
crystal structure, was generated; Crystallographic
analysis of PfFabZ of Plasmodium falciparum carried
out at IISc., Bangalore revealed new strategies in the
design of novel antimalarials; Studies done at JNU,
New Delhi suggested that D. discoideum under
oxidative stress exhibits PARP mediated caspase
independent paraptotic cell death; Oxidative stress
induced DNA damage in ICSI being investigated at
IIT Kharagpur revealed a positive correlation
between ROS and sperm morphology and its DNA
damage; Scientists at ICGEB, New Delhi
characterized CIPK protein and showed that the
protein contain autophosphorylation activity;
Scientists at IIT, Kharagpur attempted to make folatenanoparticle
conjugate by grafting folic acid through
some biocompatible nonpolymeric coupling agent
and Scientists at University of Madras, Chennai are
using biophysical techniques, chiefly X-ray
crystallography, but also computer modelling, UV
spectroscopy and gel mobility, to study the structures
of DNA junctions, such as three-way and four-way
junctions, as well as unusual DNA packing modes
that lead to novel microstructures.
Medical Biotechnology
Concerted efforts have been made towards
development of vaccines and diagnostics for the
major infectious and non-infectious diseases
specially in the area of tuberculosis, avian influenza,
chicken guinea, rotavirus, typhoid, malaria, HPV .
New DBT-ICMR collaborative projects were initiated
on HIV/AIDS and microbicide research. About
fourteen projects have been implemented through
this joint effort. Brain storming sessions were
organized on future R&D efforts on Avian Influenza
(H5N1) and Chikungunya and other viral infections.
Emphasis was also laid on setting up of Virus
Research Centres/ Networks projects.
A Double-Blind Randomized Placebo Controlled
Dose Escalating Phase Ib/IIa study to evaluate the
safety and immunogenicity of live attenuated
rotavirus vaccine (vero cell based 116E) in healthy
non malnourished infants 8-20 weeks of age was
initiated. As an initial step, infants are screened for
eligibility (healthy, non-malnourished) for receiving
the vaccine. A total of 187 infants have been enrolled
into the study and vaccinated. The study is
progressive well. The cell bank and technology for
production of recombinant malaria vaccine
candidates i.e. PfMSP-119 and PfF2 were transferred
to BBIL, Hyderabad, for developing master cell bank
and master working cell bank for characterization.
The BBIL has successfully produced cGMP grade
material of three consistent batches at 10L scale for
7 An Overview