News & Views - India Alliance · The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance’s two-year Research...

News amp Views Issue 5 September 2015

INDIA ALLIANCE

As we bring out this September issue our Science Communication workshop mentors Drs Lolitika Mandal Mahak

Sharma Anant Bhan Anurag Agrawal and Prof Sandhya Visweswariah conclude the 12th two-day workshop in

Hyderabad

We do not have any updates on the Fellowship front as currently all our fellowship competitions are closed and the

submitted applications are under review In this newsletter some of our Research Training Fellows write about why they

chose to pursue a career in clinical research and how the IA Fellowship scheme will be helpful going forward In our

Public Engagement section we give you an account of our recently concluded DNA70 Public Lecture Series and

announcement for our newly launched bdquoResearch Image competition‟ for Fellows Even though the Monsoon season

passed away quietly our Fellows made sure it rained publications In this issue we also feature recently published

works of our Fellows Drs Bushra Ateeq Sunish Kumar Radhakrishnan Rakesh Kumar Laishram Amit Dutt and Subba Rao

Gangi Setty in the bdquoIA Research Highlights‟ section

In this issue the feature article ldquoPeeking inside the HIV infected cellsrdquo by our Senior Fellow Dr Amit Singh provides

an insightful overview of the research strategies for HIV and TB eradication in the context of his current research Early

Career Fellows Drs Megha and Neha Vyas address the elephant in the room They pose important questions about the

future of postdocs to the scientific community in India in their opinion piece titled ldquoEarly Career Fellow What nextrdquo Dr

Shital Sarah Ahaley our Early Career Fellow at IISER Pune gives an interesting account of the EMBO Lab management

course she attended in Germany which helped her to understand the subtle difference between management and

leadership and reinforced the importance of scientific leadership for a successful research career in a report titled ldquo

Leadership and Management two sides of the same coinrdquo In our interview section we bring to you a very candid

and engaging interview of one our Public Lecture speakers Dr Ajit Varki who is a distinguished professor of medicine

and cellular and molecular medicine and co-director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at University

of California San Diego USA Our Early Career Fellow and newly appointed Assistant Professor at NIMHANS Dr

Urvakhsh Mehta shares with us what inspired him to transition from being an MD to a clinician researcher and what

keeps him going every day in the bdquoFellow in the Spotlight‟ section Last but not the least our Grants Adviser Dr Suveera

Dhup reminisces about her childhood days and tells us why it has been fun to work at the India Alliance in bdquoIA Staff

Corner‟ Also don‟t forget to check the announcements for Clinical training workshop organised by George Institute

and Young Investigator meeting 2016

My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all the contributors for this issue A special thanks to Dr Subba Rao Gangi Setty for

sharing a lovely image for the cover

We will continue to bring to you interesting scientific discoveries and discussions and as always look forward to your

comments and suggestions

Best wishes

Sarah Iqbal

Public Engagement Officer

EDITORIAL

1

CONTENTS

3 RESEARCH TRAINING FELLOWS

5 INDIA ALLIANCE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT CORNER

Conclusion of DNA70 Public Lecture Series- a report

7 INDIA ALLIANCE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Featuring recent research articles by Fellows Drs Bushra Ateeq Sunish Kumar

Radhakrishnan Rakesh K Laishram Amit Dutt amp Subba Rao Gangi Setty

11 INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOW IN SPOTLIGHT

Dr Urvakhsh Mehta Early Career Fellow NIMHANS Bangalore

13 FEATURE ARTICLE

ldquoPeeking into the HIV infected cellsrdquo

by Dr Amit Singh Intermediate Fellow IISc Bangalore

15 IN CONVERSATION WITH

Dr Ajit Varki distinguished professor of medicine and cellular and molecular

medicine and co-director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at

UCSD

17 VIEWPOINT ldquoEarly Career Fellow What nextrdquo by Drs Megha and Neha Vyas Early Career Fellows at NCBS and inStem Bangalore respectively

19 WORKSHOP ldquoLeadership and management two sides of the same coinrdquo by Dr Shital Sarah Ahaley Early Career Fellows IISER Pune

20 INDIA ALLIANCE STAFF CORNER

Dr Suveera Dhup Grants Adviser India Alliance

21 EXTERNAL EVENTS

2

The Wellcome TrustDBT India Alliancersquos two-year Research Training Fellowship was launched in 2014 and is a first-of-its-kind

programme for clinicians in India This mentored programme is unique in terms of the expectations it has set out for the structure of the training programme and involvement it demands from the research supervisors The provision to get trained under the dual supervision of a clinical and a basic science researcher and the flexibility to attend coursesworkshops allows Clinicians and Allied Health professionals to receive systematic training in research methodology Some of the awarded Fellows from the first round of these Fellowships share their views on this Fellowship and how it will help them in the career paths they have chosen to pursue Click on their images to find out more about their current research projects

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH TRAINING FELLOWS Clinical and Public Health Research Fellowships

More information on the India Alliance Clinical

and Public Health Fellowships can be found at

httpwellcomedbtorgfellowshiptypeclinical-

and-public-health-research-fellowships

Aiming at a surgical career I was fortunate enough to

get into post-graduation in the subject of Oral and

Maxillofacial Surgery at one of the premier institutes in India

SDM college of Dental Sciences is the first institute in India to

have a dedicated Craniofacial Surgery unit performing over

1500 surgeries every year The patient problems included but

not restricted to oro-facial clefts trauma head and neck

oncology facial esthetic surgeries and infections Facial

trauma remains one of the most common procedures

performed by the maxillofacial surgeons Joining Mazumdar

Shaw Medical Center as a fellow in Cranio-Maxillofacial

Surgery provided me the necessary niche to take this

clinical problem to lab Mazumdar Shaw medical Center

sports a dedicated state-of-the-art research lab facility with

numerous research projects currently underway Professor

Dr Paul C Salins the Chief of Cranio-Maxillofacial Services

and Medical Director of the hospital encouraged me to

take up basic science research in this field Dr Aditya

Chaubey the Chief Scientific Officer of Mazumdar Shaw

Centre for Translational Research who has been working

extensively in the field of stem cells and has already

developed excellent in vivo models for bone regeneration

and scaffold designing accepted to guide me in starting a

research career I feel this research training fellowship will

allow me to dedicate my time in this exciting field and may

in fact allow me to pursue a translational research career in

the future Though inexperienced I believe that undertaking

this fellowship at an early stage of my career will help me in

better understanding of the existing clinical problems and

developing a scientific problem solving attitude and apply

the newly acquired skills in patient care

Dr Muralidhara Nagarjuna Mazumdar Shaw Center for

Translational Research

Bangalore

Training in the prestigious Bangalore Medical College and

Research Institute gave me a strong foundation in clinical

medicine I stood 1st for the state in the UG Medical Karnataka

Common Entrance Test Right from the early days of MBBS I

was fascinated by a career in a field that involves treatment

and research of neuropsychiatric disorders I consider myself

privileged to have obtained MD Psychiatry at NIMHANS which

is a premiere multidisciplinary academic research and health

care institute in Brain - Mind - Behaviour Axis in India I

developed a keen interest in addiction psychiatry and did my

MD thesis dissertation and also a post-doctoral addiction

psychiatry clinical fellowship under the guidance of Dr Vivek

Benegal During this time I also trained myself in advanced

neuro-imaging analysis under the expertise of Dr G

Venkatasubramanian

Now I want to pursue a career of a clinician scientist and

train myself in basic science I have been fortunate that Dr

Ravi Muddashetty has kindly agreed to train me at molecular

genetics laboratory at inStem NCBS under this fellowship

Currently I am also pursuing PhD in Psychiatry at NIMHANS

During this proposed research I wish to further elucidate the

biopsychosocial vulnerabilities for substance misuse in alcohol

naive children from multiplex alcohol-dependence families

using Imaging-genomics approach

The RTF has provided the right platform for a young

clinician like me I hope to continue with translational research

and clinical work as an independent investigator the field of

neuroimaging and psychiatric genetics with expertise in

alcoholism

Dr Bharat Holla NIMHANS Bangalore

3

Medicine was an automatic career choice for me as no

other profession can boast of doing social good while

challenging one academically and giving one a sense of

purpose The choice of specializing in pathology was

spontaneous for apart from providing answers to my curious

questions on the why‟s and how‟s of most diseases it is a

subject so full of color and at times so full of instant satisfaction

besides providing scope for teaching and research which I

wish to be very actively involved in

The research projects I have taken up so far (through

MBBS Internship and MD thesis) have given me a small glimpse

into the world of research and have motivated me enough to

want to pursue a research based approach in my practice of

Pathology With this background after completing my MD

studies joining St John‟s as Lecturer of Pathology in 2013 was

an instinctive decision for apart from the pleasant work

environment it nurtures budding researchers through many

inspiring clinicians like my principle supervisor Dr Usha Kini

Having worked with her team on the diagnostics aspects of

Hirschsprung disease over the past 2 years we are now

studying the molecular aspects of the disease Realising the

need to tie up with a molecular biologist I now work in Dr

Sudhir Krishna‟s lab at the National Institute of Biological

Sciences where I am learning the various molecular

principles and techniques to carry out the proposed

research

My pursuit to learn and implement molecular biology in

Medicine took me to the Molecular Medicine unit head at

St John‟s who told me that in order to fulfill my quest I need

3 things 1 an interest to learn molecular biology 2

adequate time to learn (1 hour per day after clinical work

would not suffice) and 3 the financial resource to access

these techniques As a pathologist my interest in molecular

biology stemmed from the calling to go beyond

morphological diagnosis to understanding the projections of

molecular alterations that drive disease into the realm of

morphology And although morphological diagnosis is

challenging in itself I wanted to use my two-dimensional

morphological view of disease as a gateway to understand

the three (and higher) dimensional molecular world of

disease much of which may appear difficult to interpret but

never the less is the need of the hour to provide

personalized therapies to our patients It was along this track

that I came across this India Alliance RTF which would not

only provide me the financial resource but above all the

protected time to learn and apply the various molecular

techniques while still retaining my feet in clinical medicine

Dr Maria Frances Bukelo St Johnrsquos Medical College Bangalore

Dr Sanjay K Chilbule Christian Medical College Vellore

After fellowship in paediatric orthopaedics at CMC

Vellore under supervision of Dr Vrisha Madhuri I joined one

of her research project to design the compliance monitored

clubfoot brace (Padma Pada) in collaboration with

engineers from IISc Bangalore It was quite inspiring to see

the replacement of age old brace by newer better and

comfortable brace which parents are not ready to let of

due to its definite advantage for child This was possible due

to Dr Vrisha‟s scientific disposition and the fact that clinician

themselves with the help of collaborators can bring in the

changes in the patient management adapting the research

in their prospectus

While working with Dr Vrisha‟s for cartilage and bone

regeneration involving human and animal experiments we

started to extend our thinking to one more field Outcome of

the osteosarcoma (OS) which is a commonest bone tumour

in children is not very favorable due to heterogeneity and

variable response to chemotherapy With availability of

patients and advanced laboratory in same unit we started

exploring this field initially with collaboration with

radiotherapy and medical oncology units at CMC Vellore In

literature we found out that most of the CSC research work

done for OS is being done on cell lines We started working

on cancer stem cells (CSCs) from osteosarcoma tissue from

patients with definite aim of translating this knowledge for

management of the osteosarcoma in future

In addition of learning all the bench work related to

planned work the Research Training Fellowship is providing

the unique opportunity to a clinician like me to be part of

basic science arena and to be able to develop a scientific

temperament This RTF is definitely metamorphosing the

thinking process to apply the basic science for the

orthopaedic disorders and to opt research as a career

continuing the clinical work

The Wellcome TrustDBT India Alliance

RESEARCH TRAINING FELLOWS

4

INDIA ALLIANCE

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT CORNER

DNA70 Public Lecture Series

India Alliance organises several public lectures at various institutions across India to give those interested in science an opportunity to interact with eminent scientists from around the

world

In 1944 Oswald Avery together with Colin MacLeod and

Maclyn McCarty made the landmark discovery that

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and not proteins carry genetic

information and is therefore the basis of inheritance In the 70

years since Avery‟s discovery DNA has come a long way

India Alliance celebrated the discovery of DNA as a

hereditary molecule through a series of public lectures in

various cities in 2014-15 given by researchers who have done

pioneering work centered around the DNA molecule The four

lectures in this series were given by Prof W Ian Lipkin (Center

for Infection and Immunity Mailman School of Public Health

Columbia University USA) and Prof Nadrian Seeman

(Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor of Chemistry New York

University USA) Dr Karen Nelson (President J Craig Venter

Institute Rockville USA) and Prof Shankar Balasubramanian

(University of Cambridge UK)

Our first speaker in this series Prof W Ian Lipkin a well-known

expert on the use of molecular methods for pathogen

discovery gave a lecture titled ldquoBad bugs on the big screen

science fiction and fact in Hollywoodrdquo in New Delhi discussed

how filmmakers often mix fact with fiction when dealing with

science stories whereas his second talk ldquoSmall Game Hunting

disease control in the genome erardquo in Bangalore provided a

comprehensive review of pathogen discovery microbiome

research and zoonotic diseases Our second speaker in this

series inventor of the field of DNA Nanotechnology Dr

Nadrian Seeman gave lectures in New Delhi Hyderabad

Kolkata and Shantiniketan where his talks on structural DNA

nanotechnology received very many questions from both

eager scientists and curious nonscientists The third lecture in

this series given by Dr Karen Nelson focused on the human

microbiome emerging infectious diseases and implications of

both for human health which was very aptly titled ldquoThe Zoo in

Yourdquo The last lecture in the DNA70 Public Lecture Series was

given by Prof Shankar Balasubramanian of University of

Cambridge co-inventor of next generation genome

sequencing technology and co-founder of the company

Solexa His lecture ldquoDecoding Human Genome on a

population scalerdquo discussed the history of DNA sequencing

the method that was developed by him and his colleagues at

Cambridge University for rapidly decoding genomes and the

impact of these technologies on life sciences medicine and

society For those of you who missed his lectures in Delhi and

Bangalore here‟s a short report

Report Prof Balasubramanian‟s lecture began with a humble

yet engaging account of his scientific beginnings in the

Department of Chemistry at University of Cambridge

followed by his successful association with another chemist Dr

David Klenerman along with whom he developed the

genome sequencing technology He described how

5

contributions of various scientists in elucidating the DNA

code- one of them being the father of genomics Fred

Sanger- influenced and shaped his work in this field He

recounted how they accidently invented this

technology as what they had really set out to study was

the motion of the DNA polymerase as it synthesised a

single DNA molecule using fluorescent tagging He

took the audience through the chemical processes of

DNA polymerisation and how his lab exploited these

processes to attach a fluorescent molecule on the

nucleic acid bases which enabled them to visualize the

different bases in a DNA molecule This chemistry was

then employed to develop the sequencing technology

which is now being commercialized by Illumina after it

acquired the company Solexa originally formed by Drs

Balasubramanian and Klenerman in 1998 During his talk

at IISc Bangalore Prof Balasubramanian admitted that

the practical question of how the information derived

from the Human Genome Project can be made useful

in comparing genomes from different individuals

inspired him to invent this quick method of DNA

sequencing Towards the end of the lecture Prof

Balasubramanian described a few incidents where his

method of sequencing had been useful for physicians to

perform diagnosis and develop personalised therapies

to treat patients

He acknowledged among others the support of the

UK funding body BBSRC for giving wings to their idea

when it was in its most naiumlve and nascent stage almost

20 years ago

Both the lectures were followed by an engaging

QampA session with an audience of more than 250 in

attendance at both venues which covered scientific

ethical sociological and commercial aspects of the

genome sequencing technology Some of the questions

raised at the session intended to discuss the impact of

genome sequencing on society genome of a

bdquoperfectly‟ healthy individual future of epigenome and

protein sequencing and possibility of reducing the cost

of the existing sequencing technologies for which Prof

Balasubramanian offered optimistic but practical

answers Apart from senior scientists the audience

mainly comprised of young students and researchers

who continued to interact enthusiastically with the

speaker well after the talk was over

Public Engagement Competition for India Alliance Fellows

To enable our Fellows to effectively and creatively engage with the

society about biomedical science we announced the first rolling bdquoPublic

Engagement competition‟ in May 2014 This competition is a valuable

opportunity for our Fellows to showcase and share their Science with the

Public and collaborate with other members of the society The

engagement can be through research social activities teaching arts

moviesdocumentary and other modes of knowledge sharing with the

central goal of educating and improving public awareness of science

and human health issues To apply please download the application

form here and send the completed application form to

publicengagementwellcomedbtorg

Image Competition for India Alliance Fellows

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Research Image

Competition for our Fellows where we invite you to submit images related

to biomedical research and healthcare Images could include

photographs clinical amp scientific images hand-drawn illustrations

Images must convey a scientific principle or a relevant human health

perspective Images can be produced by individuals or by a team

However the Fellow has to play a key role in the production of the

image Images can be submitted for both science and human health

categories but only two for each category will be allowed

Submitting the images Email your high-quality image with an easy-to-

understand description and a short image title to

publicengagementwellcomedbtorg Please mention the names of all

the people who were involved in producing the image

Deadline to submit images 15 October 2015


6

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly

diagnosed cancer type approximately one million individuals

worldwide are diagnosed with the disease each year Anti-

epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapies such as

monoclonal antibody (cetuximab) against EGFR are either

administered as part of first-line treatment or as a final option

when other treatments fail However half of the CRC patients

who harbor mutations in KRAS NRAS and BRAF genes acquire

resistance to anti-EGFR drugs thus highlighting the necessity

for additional targeted therapies In the current study we

have shown that SPINK1 (Serine Protease Inhibitor Kazal type 1)

is highly expressed among CRC patients and demonstrated

the functional significance of SPINK1 in disease progression

and metastases SPINK1 over-expression in CRC has been

associated with advanced stage of the disease poor clinical

outcome and metastasis to liver

We have shown that silencing SPINK1 in BRAF mutation

positive WiDr colon adenocarcinoma cells demonstrate

decrease in cell proliferation invasion soft agar colony

formation and reduced tumor growth and distant metastases

in in-vivo model systems Importantly SPINK1 silencing led to

up-regulation of various metallothionein isoforms considered

as tumor suppressors in CRC which confers sensitivity to

chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin Taken together our

findings strengthen the rationale for using the combinatorial

treatment approach for the SPINK1-positive CRC patients Our

study also demonstrates an important role for the SPINK1 over-

expression in CRC disease progression a phenomenon that

needs careful evaluation towards effective therapeutic target

development

SPINK1 promotes colorectal cancer progression by downregulating Metallothioneins expression R Tiwari S K Pandey S Goel V Bhatia S Shukla X Jing S M Dhanasekaran and B Ateeq Oncogenesis (2015)

Image SPINK1-silenced or shSPINK1 colorectal cancer cells in the presence of anti-cancer chemotherapy drug doxirubicin

Novel insights into Colorectal Cancer Progression SPINK1 promotes Colorectal Cancer progression by down regulating Metallothioneins

expression DR BUSHRA ATEEQ Intermediate Fellow IIT Kanpur

Signal regulation at the mRNA 3rsquo-end Role of Phosphorylation Phosphorylation regulates gene specificity

DR RAKESH SINGH LAISHRAM Intermediate Fellow Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology Thiruvananthapuram

Gene expression in humans involves multiple steps from

messenger RNA (m RNA) synthesis in the nucleus to translation

in the cytoplasm 3‟-end RNA processing is an essential step in

mRNA synthesis that involves addition of a polyadenosine (A)

tail at the 3‟-UTR by enzyme called poly(A) polymerase (PAP)

Poly(A) tail is essential for stability and efficient translation of

the mRNA Star-PAP is a non-canonical PAP that selects mRNA

target for polyadenylation Star-PAP together with co-

regulator PIPKIα controls expression of genes involved in

oxidative stress response and apoptosis We showed that

phosphorylation of Star-PAP determines specificity of its target

gene expressions downstream of signaling pathways

7

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

This study reports an in vivo phosphorylation site on Star-PAP

at the N-terminus (serine 6 S-6) that determines Star-PAP

specificity for oxidative stress response genes The serine

kinase CKIα phosphorylates the Star-PAP at S6 in the nucleus

that retains Star-PAP within the nucleus S6 phosphorylation is

required for the Star-PAP-PIPKIα interaction and mRNA

binding both critical for target mRNA selection However this

phosphorylation is indifferent to the expression of other target

genes (apoptotic genes) regulated by DNA damage via

other phosphorylation site(s) on Star-PAP This is a novel

mechanism where specificity of a poly(A) polymerase (or

even a polymerase) for its target gene expression is

determined by phosphorylation status This study also shows a

signal-mediated stimulation of CKIα kinase activity that

regulates distinct mRNA

Star-PAP phosphorylation regulates PIPKIα interaction and determines target mRNA specificity Mohan N Sudheesh AP Francis N Anderson R and Laishram RS 2015 Nucleic Acid Res (doi 1011093nargkv676)

A global regulatory switch that controls cellular development in bacteria

Sunish Kumar Radhakrishnan Intermediate Fellow IISER Thiruvananthapuram

The circular nature of bacterial chromosomes leads to the

formation of catenated (intermolecular linkage between two

replicated molecules of DNA) daughter chromosomes at the

end of each replication cycle These catenated

chromosomes need to be resolved by decatenation to

enable the proper segregation of the chromosomes into the

dividing daughter cells The decatenation function is primarily

carried out at the end of each replication cycle by one of

the DNA cutters type II topoisomerases in bacteria

topoisomerase IV (topo IV) which is also a quinolone

antibiotic target Interestingly the activity of topo IV has been

shown to be restricted to the late stages of the cell cycle

despite it being associated with the chromosome even during

the early stages The question as to how the decatenation

activity of the topo IV is regulated during the early stages of

the cell cycle has remained unanswered

Through a genetic screen we have identified Negative

switch for topo IV decatenation Activity (NstA) as a novel

negative regulator of the decatenation activity of topo IV

during early stages of the cell cycle in the dimorphic

bacterium Caulobacter crescentus A combination of DNA

replication S-phase specific synthesis and proteolysis ensures

that the presence of NstA is confined to the early stages of the

cell cycle Mechanistically we show that NstA exerts its

function by directly binding to topo IV and that the activity of

NstA is controlled by the oxidation state during the cell cycle

Investigating further we discovered for the first time a cyclical

fluctuation in the intracellular oxidation-reduction (redox)

state of bacterial cells Based on these evidences we have

proposed the dynamic intracellular redox state as a novel

global regulatory switch that controls cellular development

which might have major implications on the cell cycle control

of bacterial pathogens exposed to the chemical warfare of

the host immune system

A cell cycle-controlled redox switch regulates the topoisomerase IV activity Narayanan S Janakiraman B Kumar L and Radhakrishnan SK (2015) Genes amp Development

8

Human papilloma virus (HPV) accounts for the most

common cause of all virus-associated human cancers

However despite large-scale genome wide DNA sequencing

efforts of the cancer genome there is no dedicated

informatics tool to rapidly detect the presence of HPV in these

genomes in an exclusive manner In this study we present a

novel freely distributable computational tool ldquoHPVDetectorrdquo

(through a weblink download-- httpwwwactrecgovinpi-

webpagesAmitDuttHPVdetectorHPVDetectorhtml) to

detect all known HPV types along with their sites of integration

in the host genome using next generation sequencing data

set along with a widely compatible annotated reference of

143 HPV genome as a resource This user friendly tool has

been designed for researchers who has limited computational

expertise using graphical user interface (GUI) that requires

minimal third party tools Using HPVDetector one can analyze

paired end whole exome whole genome or whole

transcriptome dataset to detect all known HPV types along

with their sites of integration in the host genome The tool can

run in two modes a quick detect mode can identify co-

infection of HPVs and their quantitative abundance while

integration mode can identify HPV integration loci in human

genome and provide comprehensive HPV specific

annotations (Fig 1)

Based on our evaluation with 116 exome 23 transcriptome

and 1 whole genome HPVDetector was able to identify

presence of HPV in 20 exome and 4 transcriptome data

Using the annotation module we could show that viral gene

E7 was most widely represented among all the reads

detected that is a known viral oncogene Additionally the

integration module allowed us to validate known HPV

integration sites identify known fragile sites of the human

genome as HPV integration site and novel integration sites (Fig

2) In summary HPVDetector is a simple yet precise and robust

tool for detecting HPV from tumour samples using variety of

NGS platforms including whole genome whole exome and

transcriptome-- first tool of its kind solely dedicated to detect

the presence of HPV types from a diverse variety of NGS data

set

NGS-based approach to determine the presence of HPV and their sites of integration in human cancer genomeP Chandrani V Kulkarni P Iyer P Upadhyay R Chaubal P Das R Mulherkar R Singh and A Dutt

A new and free computational tool for HPV detection DR AMIT DUTT Intermediate Fellow ACTREC Tata Memorial Centre Mumbai

Schematic representation of all HPV16 and 18 integration sites in the human genome detected across cervical cancer samples using HPVDetector Site of integration as determined by HPVDetector in cervical cancer samples is shown HPV16 integration sites are depicted by circles and HPV18 by rectangles Black open and grey circles or rectangles represent integrations at known fragile sites at known integration sites and at novel sites respectively

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Conceptual The flowchart represents workflow for HPVDetector Paired-end reads obtained from next-generation sequencing data are aligned to a combined HumanndashHPV reference database All discordant read pairs with one read aligning to human and other to the HPV genome are identified and annotated utilising human and HPV database using an inbuilt annotator module

9

Proteins regulating the formation of melanin-producing melanosomes DR SUBBA RAO GANGI SETTY Senior Fellow IISc Bangalore

Melanosomes are a class of lysosome-related organelles

(LROs) produced by specialised cells called melanocytes

which play a key role in skin color and photoprotection

against ionizing radiations Formation of this organelle requires

efficient and accurate transport of melanin synthesizing

enzymes from tubular or vesicular recycling membrane-bound

sacs called endosome to pre-mature melanosomes which

then undergo further maturation into fully pigmented

melanosomes This process is defective in Hermansky-Pudlak

syndrome patients due to the mutations in Biogenesis of LROs

Complexes (BLOC-1 -2 and -3) However the function of

these complexes in LRO biogenesis is only partially known In

the Journal of Cell Biology publication we have elucidated

the function of the three-subunit protein complex BLOC-2 in

relation to LRO biogenesis for the first time Our studies

demonstrate that BLOC-2 defines the specificity to the

melanosomal cargo containing recycling tubular endosomes

in targeting them to maturing melanosomes Furthermore

mutations in BLOC-2 mistarget the recycling endosomes to

multiple cell organelles such as plasma membrane

endosomes lysosomes Golgi and a subset to hypopigmented

melanosomes Moreover the SNARE proteins responsible for

mediating these membrane fusion events are unknown In the

Journal of Cell Science report we have provided the first clear

evidence that a recycling endosomal Soluble NSF (N-

ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor) Attachment Protein REceptor

(SNARE) protein regulates the cargo delivery and biogenesis

of pigment granules In addition our studies show that

mutations in a particular region of a SNARE protein STX13

increased its activity and redistributed it to melanosomes

indicating a role for that region in recycling the SNARE to

endosomes Our studies also found that another SNARE

protein VAMP7 localised to melanosomes controls the

trafficking of STX13 and its dependent transport steps Taken

together these studies show that BLOC-2 directs the recycling

of tubular endosomes to maturing melanosomes and STX13-

VAMP7 together mediate the membrane fusion between

these cell organelles

I STX13 regulates cargo delivery from recycling endosomes during melanosome biogenesis Jani RA Purushothaman LK Rani S Bergam P and Setty SR J Cell Sci July 2015

II BLOC-2 targets recycling endosomal tubules to melanosomes for cargo delivery Dennis MK Mantegazza AR Snir OL Tenza D Acosta-Ruiz A Delevoye C Zoger R Sitaram A de Jesus-Rojas W Ravichandran K Rux J Sviderskaya EV Bennett DC Raposo G Marks MS and Setty SR J Cell Biol May 2015

Dr Settyrsquos research image on the cover of

Journal of Cell Science

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Please email your research stories and publications to


10

Dr Urvakhsh Mehta is a clinician researcher and Wellcome TrustDBT Early Career Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore Urvakhsh works in the area of cognitive neuroscience and was recently recruited as an Assistant Professor at the same institute In this interview he tells us the impact of his current research how he came about to wearing a hat of a researcher along with that of an MD and what helps him to stay motivated

INDIA ALLIANCE FELLOW IN SPOTLIGHT

DR URVAKHSH MEHTA Early Career Fellow NIMHANS Bangalore

What are you working on And what impact do you hope it will have

My research is focused on understanding schizophrenia

from a ldquosocial brain disorderrdquo perspective This stems from

important observations we have had in India that are

shared by colleagues from around the world that individuals

with schizophrenia have difficulties in perceiving processing

and responding to social cues in day to day interactions An

important neural-marker of these bdquosocial cognition‟ deficits in

schizophrenia is a dysfunctional ldquomirror neuron systemrdquo Mirror

neurons have a dual role of firing while one performs an

action as well as while one observes the same action This

unique property may provide the brain with a template to

understand intentions underlying observed actions and

hence may be relevant in processing social information In

my IA-funded research I am using a combination of

functional imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation

(TMS) to understand plasticity of the mirror neuron system

and its role in supporting these complex social cognition

abilities in individuals with untreated schizophrenia

Results from this experiment will give us crucial information

regarding the connectivity of the mirror neuron system and its

relationship to social cognition in schizophrenia If transcranial

magnetic stimulation can adaptively modulate the mirror

neuron system this bdquoplasticity‟ can be further harnessed in

treating social cognition deficits using novel brain stimulation

techniques in future

What inspired you to become a clinician scientist

It has been a combination of factors that have inspired me

to choose the path of being a clinician scientist These range

from my upbringing and the freedom my parents gave me

to pursue my interests my long-standing curiosity with

cognitive neuroscience my training in psychiatry to the

excellent support and mentorship I have received from my

teachers and guides at NIMHANS The latter has actually

enabled me to pursue a single line of research over the last

8 years now Having trained in psychiatry and interacting

closely with individuals challenged with severe psychiatric

Urvakhsh with his current mentor Dr Jagadisha (Top) and with his

lsquogreat-grand mentor Dr MS Keshavan(below)

11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder provides us

with a unique vantage point to identify lacunae in our

understanding of these complex brain disorders from a

translational perspective I was introduced to the concept of

social cognition by a visiting professor ndash I continue to have a

very fruitful collaboration with him till date and he fondly

acknowledges me as his great-grand mentee I soon learnt

that this special cognitive ability had evolutionary salience in

humans ndash more so because of the well-documented co-

evolutionary association between brain size and social

complexity in several mammals Early in my training days this

ldquosocial brainrdquo framework to study schizophrenia excited me

as it provided an overarching conceptualization of

different symptom dimensions of this disorder ranging from

bizarre delusions and ego-boundary disturbances to avolition

and disorganized behavior I have since then studied the

clinical importance and neurobiology of these intriguing

cognitive abilities in patients with schizophrenia

How has Wellcome TrustDBT India Alliance funding helped you and your research

The India Alliance Fellowship could not have come at a

better time for me in my career It has certainly had a huge

impact First it was due to the IA-Fellowship that I could join

NIMHANS as a faculty in the department of psychiatry and

continue my line of research and clinical work in parallel

Second the financial grant through this Fellowship has helped

me start quite a complex experiment that is both technology

and manpower intensive The selection committee has been

sensitive to my needs and has made some really important

suggestions that I have been happy to implement Third this

Fellowship has given me an opportunity to train in novel

research applications of brain imaging and

neuronavigational TMS at Boston Both India Alliance and

NIMHANS have been supportive and permitted me to pursue

a PhD in psychiatry My training and experience over these

This image shows how target regions from functional MRI activation

maps superimposed on to the subjects structural brain image can be

precisely stimulated using infra-red camera guided TMS coil placement

Find out more about Urvakhsh‟s research here

four years will surely go a long way in shaping me as an

independent clinician scientist in India Lastly I have been

recruited as a regular faculty at NIMHANS (Assistant Professor of

Psychiatry) this year I am sure the recognition and the

opportunities provided by the IA-Fellowship have had a positive

impact on my selection process

What keeps you going everyday

This is something that is perhaps never a constant Over the

years I have learnt to draw inspiration and hope from wherever

I can ndash a sporting event a catchy song a new place I visit my

work and most importantly from people around me My family

friends teachers students colleagues and patients are always

there to give me so many ldquoahardquo moments that teach me

something new or generate ideas

Also music is something that keeps me going It is my default

mode ndash if I am not doing anything music is my constant ldquobrain

wormrdquo Anything from Shahid Parvez and Rashid Khan to Mark

Knopfler and Eagles can help me rewind

12

FEATURE ARTICLE

PEEKING INTO THE HIV INFECTED CELLS DR AMIT SINGH Senior Fellow

Since its discovery Acquired Immune Deficiency

Syndrome or AIDS has caused an estimated more than 36

million deaths worldwide Its causative agent the Human

Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has thus been an active topic

of basic and translational research India has the third largest

HIV epidemic in the world accounting for ~ 21 million infected

people Socio-economic conditions such as malnutrition

smoking alcohol drugs and poor hygiene are some of the

factors increasing the risk of HIV infection Despite the

availability of multiple anti-retroviral therapies against HIV the

disease remains a chronic life-long infection due to the ability

of virus to stay hidden within infected blood cells These

cellular ldquoreservoirsrdquo maintain HIV in a latent state where body‟s

immune response is unable to sense their presence and

current anti-HIV drugs show limited activity

The cellular reservoirs of latent HIV are found in diverse

anatomical locations including the genital tract bone

marrow brain lymphoid and the lymphoid tissue These

reservoirs persist even in the presence of Highly Active

Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) today‟s standard of care

Understanding the fundamental basis of HIV-1 latency to

develop effective intervention strategies remains one of the

core research issues in the field Within this theme one

proposed eradication strategy is to activate these latently

infected cells followed by killing using HAART The

rationalisation for this kind of strategy can be two-fold First by

stimulating latently infected cells to reactivate the virus can

potentially lead to more rapid death of the infected cells due

to HIV replication Second once reactivated the cellular

reservoir producing HIV will be recognised by the immune

system Lastly simultaneous use of a reactivating agent along

with HAART can prevent subsequent spread of infection

However many of the research efforts in this direction yielded

no results due to generalised cytotoxicity associated with the

reactivating agents We believe that this is mainly due to lack

of basic tools to directly monitor the internal environment of

cells harboring virus in latent or reactivation state

In this context our research group is interested in

developing basic technologies to understand the physiology

of HIV infected cells during various stages of infection The

information generated from these methodologies can then be

exploited to develop high-throughput cellular screens (HTS) to

eradicate latent reservoirs of HIV Studies at both the cellular

and organismal levels revealed that HIV induces major

metabolic changes in the human host cells Some of these

changes include depletion of amino acids increased sugar

metabolism energy depletion and depolarised membrane

potential We found that in addition to metabolic changes

levels of reactive oxygen species and antioxidant glutathione

(GSH) are markedly influenced during HIV latency and

reactivation Healthy human cells produce oxygen free

radicals called reactive oxygen species (ROS) as a byproduct

of normal metabolism However various conditions including

chronic infection metabolic dysfunctions ageing and

prolonged chemotherapy can result in accumulation of these

ROS and generation of toxic levels of oxidative stress

Interestingly we discovered that heightened oxidative stress is

one of the primary causes of reactivation of HIV from the

latently infected cells Since GSH serves as a major cellular

antioxidant and functions as a protective shield against the

oxidative stress any changes in the cellular ROS levels directly

perturbs GSH balance Our team has devised a non-invasive

biosensor methodology new to the HIV field for precise

imaging and measurements of GSH levels within the sub-

compartments (eg mitochondria endoplasmic reticulum

and cytosol) of HIV infected cells Earlier methods use whole

cell or tissue extracts which destroy real-time information

related to the variations in GSH levels at a sub-cellular

resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE

PEEKING INTO THE HIV INFECTED CELLS

Eradicating HIV reservoirs by ldquoShock and Killrdquo strategy Cells latently infected with HIV can be

treated with small molecule redox modulators to decrease their antioxidant capacity This would

result in inactivation and elevated replication of HIV leading to HIV-induced cell death and

recognition of HIV infected cells by the immune system Simultaneous use of HAART can prevent

spread and transmission of new HIV particles to the neighbouring bystander cells

Using our novel biosensor technology we discovered that

latently infected cells have higher levels of GSH which may

facilitate the long term persistence of HIV In contrast active

replication of HIV rapidly depletes GSH levels We also

disclosed that a modest decrease in intracellular GSH levels

and associated increase in ROS levels are sufficient to

reactivate virus from latency without causing cytotoxicity

Our findings for the first time provide precise numerical

indicators of how much cellular physiology can be perturbed

to reactivate virus from the sleeping mode without eliciting

toxic side effects This may help researchers to adopt a

shock-and-kill approach in which virus could be reactivated

by redox modulating compounds and subsequently flushed

by current anti-HIV drugs The fluctuation of GSH levels

detected by our biosensor also helps to delineate cellular

pathways which control latent and active stages of infection

In addition to infection with HIV co-infection with another

human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) the

causative agent of tuberculosis (TB) is adversely impacting

the HIV and TB control programmes worldwide Number of

people dying with HIV-TB coinfection is increasing at an

alarming rate Because of this

World Health organisation (WHO)

has recently recommended

collaboration between HIV and TB

control strategies Therefore we

believe that studying the basic

biology of Mtb and HIV in co-

infection models is poised to make

more beneficial impact than

studying these pathogens alone In

light of this we exploited our

biosensor technology and

discovered that certain bioactive

molecules (eg complex lipids)

produced by Mtb specifically

interacts with HIV infected cells and

disturb GSH balance to facilitate

HIV reactivation Since TB is the

major cause of HIV related deaths

our findings have major mechanistic and therapeutic

potential for both TB and AIDS

Dr Amit Singh is an assistant professor at Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and WTDBT India Alliance Intermediate Fellow (2009) Hi research work focuses on understanding fundamental mechanisms regulating mycobacterial persistence and redox basis of HIV infection As also mentioned in this piece his research group has ldquodeveloped a

novel and noninvasive tool based on genetically encoded redox sensitive fluorescent probes to perform real-time measurement of mycothiol redox potential (EMSH) in Mtb during infectionrdquo

To find out more about his research visit his lab website

14

IN CONVERSATION WITH

Dr Ajit Varki

Dr Ajit Varki is a distinguished professor of medicine and cellular and molecular medicine and co-director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at University of California San Diego USA He is also a co-director for the UCSD Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny Dr Varki was one of the speakers of the India Alliance Public Lecture Series ldquoEvolution of Human mindrdquo in 2014 and gave fascinating talk titled ldquoAdventures in Anthropogeny What makes us Humanrdquo in different cities across the country In this interview he very candidly takes us through his scientific journey the multidisciplinary research he is involved in and shares some great advice for aspiring researchers

What motivated you to become a scientist

For as long as I can recall in my childhood I wanted to

become a physician ndash to be involved in the care and healing

of the sick However I was very fortunate to gain admission

into a very special medical school Christian Medical College

Vellore In those days (as it is today) the medical education at

CMC includes exposure to scientific inquiry and research

During my time there I had the good fortune to interact with

many prominent physicianscientists as well as basic scientists

Still I first and foremost wanted to be a physician But I

gradually came to realize that while medicine has many

aspects that are still an art form- a major aspect has to do with

understanding the human body biology and science

Realizing at the time that there were very few opportunities in

India for a physician to continue doing serious science I

decided to migrate to the United States where this type of

combination was very common I was very fortunate to

eventually gain access to training at one of the best centers at

Washington University at St Louis Thus I was able to combine

my continued interest in medicine with its scientific aspects

particularly in hematology and cancer biology Initially I

wanted to pursue the then exciting new approach of bone

marrow transplantation but I decided that before I got into

this I should learn more about the surfaces of human blood

cells Reading more about this I came to realize that all other

cells in cell sin the body are covered with a dense

complicated coating of sugar chains that very few people

were studying Eventually my postdoctoral training working

with Stuart Kornfeld ended up with the discovery of a genetic

disease in a rare human disorder that had very little to do with

blood or cancer But I became completely immersed in the

science of understanding glycans This of course is the nature

of science you never know where it leads you

Could you briefly take us through your scientific journey and about your interest in the human evolution How does that tie in with your research in the field of Glycobiology

I decided to start my independent career combining

medicine with the study of the special class of sugars called

sialic acids Early in my stint as an assistant professor I

happened to see a patient being given a form horse serum for

the treatment of a disease called aplastic anemia Not

surprisingly she developed an allergic reaction to the horse

serum after a few treatments In reading the literature I was

very surprised to find that others had just reported the allergic

reaction was not against horse proteins but against horse sialic

acids At first this did not make any sense to me as sialic acids

are present in all mammals in horses as well as in humans

Eventually I realized there was one particular kind of sialic acid

present on horse serum glycoprotein that was completely

missing in humans It took me another ten years but I finally

discovered the first known genetic difference between

humans and chimpanzees (our closest living evolutionary

cousins) in a gene involved in modifying Sialic acid This in turn

led me to the field of anthropogeny or explaining the origin of

humans Thus as you can see science led me from medicine

to glycobiology then into anthropogeny and I now combine

all 3 disciplines in my scientific activities

If you were not a scientist you would be

Lead singer in a rock n roll band

15


Dr Ajit Varki

What according to you are the challenges in your field of research

Both fields in which I work face similar challenges In the first

case (anthropogeny) there is certainly a lot of interest in the

field but the amount of available information is very limited In

the second case (Glycobiology) you have an even bigger

problem in that most scientists are only dimly aware of this

ldquodark matter of the biological universerdquo which affects every

cell and every biological process in the body In the end the

biggest challenge faced by anthropogeny is not only the

difficulty in gaining new information but also in the synthesis of

information across many different fields of human knowledge

In the case of glycobiology the same two problems apply

Added to that is the difficulty that most scientists poorly aware

of even the basic information But in both fields things are

changing More and more information is becoming available

and I am fortunate and excited to be involved this phase of

development

What is the best advice you have ever received

There is a tendency to assume that much of science consists of

thinking up experiments quickly getting results and moving

on Two pieces of advice stick in my mind from my mentors

Stuart Kornfeld taught me that the most important thing about

doing an experiment is the amount of time you spent thinking

about what you want to do why you want to do it how you

are going to go about it maximizing the chance of getting

well-controlled interpretable results This used to be the norm in

the early days when reagents and resources were precious

Nowadays there is an unfortunate tendency for young

scientists to do ldquoquick and dirtyrdquo experiments to ldquoget an ideardquo

of what might be happening before doing the real

experiment In fact such ldquoquick and dirtyrdquo experiments waste

a huge amount of time and resources and one is often

back to square one In relation to doing experiments the other

important piece of advice I got was from a famous scientist

named Ray Lemieux a chemist in Canada Ray pointed out

to me that the great majority of experiments that we do are

ones in which we already sort of know what kind of result to

expect As Ray put it ldquoif you do an experiment and you get an

expected result you have not done an experimentrdquo In other

words experiments are often too predictable and those are

the kind we tend to do more often Another interesting

corollary is the most interesting outcome of an experiment is a

completely unexpected result As the famous science writer

Isaac Asimov put it The most exciting phrase to hear in

science the one that heralds new discoveries is not ldquoEurekardquo

but ldquoThats funnyrdquo Too often these days I find that young

people will do experiments and not getting the expected

result they become disappointed abandon their line of

reasoning and often do not even inform their advisors about

what they found thinking somehow that they have failed

Actually the time to get most excited is when the experiment

does not work out the way you thought even though you

designed it well and had all the right controls

Your message for young students and researchers

The pursuit of science (and the associated issues like winning

grants and getting papers accepted) can be sometimes slow-

going and frustrating and one usually lives for that occasional

day when the big breakthrough occurs But in the long run it is

hard to think of the most satisfying profession (other than that

of a successful rock n roll singer or orchestra conductor) Most

of my classmates who went through medicine and did not

pursue a scientific career are now bored with their professions

and trying to retire I wake up every morning and I cannot wait

to get to work

To find out more about Dr Varki‟s research visit his lab website

Dr Varki at Bangalore Science Forum

Dr Varki after his lecture at Indian Association for the Cultivation of

Science Kolkata with IA Grants Adviser Dr Ranjana Sarma IA Fellow

Dr Benu Brata Das (L-R)

16

Early Career Fellows DR MEGHA amp

DR NEHA VYAS

Early Career Fellows

For an academic research career in the life sciences

conventionally a highly productive postdoctoral stint is

considered necessary To meet this benchmark of productivity

as well as to hone their research skills the de facto route an

India-trained PhD student takes is to do a postdoc overseas

Other factors such as better salaries higher standard of living

and exposure to cutting-edge research also motivate this

migration Additionally the advice that overseas postdoctoral

research credentials are preferred for a faculty job in India

plays a significant role in this decision Reality underscores this

advice a majority of junior faculty hired in top Indian research

institutions have returned from a postdoc overseas Further

testament to the popularity of this status quo is that both DST

and DBT have Fellowships exclusively for those returning from

abroad

Shaking up this paradigm are researchers who choose to

pursue a postdoctoral career in India This option has gained

traction due to the increasing availability of institutions

laboratories and funding opportunities At the leading edge of

enabling this is the Early Career (EC) Fellowship scheme which

has done much to attract a cohort of ambitious postdocs to

research in India These Fellowships are generously funded

empowering Fellows to dream big set up and visit

international collaborations and tackle fundamental science

questions for a length of time that allows for rigorous pursuit

The EC Fellowships thus provide a great opportunity for a

fantastic early career start But this prompts an obvious follow-

up question what is the professional future of the EC Fellows

The mandate of the EC Fellowships is to support ideas that can

act as a springboard to the Fellow‟s future independent

research program This suggests the expectation that Fellows

would continue to pursue an academic research career

Given the lopsided supply and demand situation not just in

India but world over it should not be surprising that not all EC

Fellows would be successful in getting academic jobs Even

after taking this into account Fellows wishing to pursue this

professional path are struggling their interactions with the

Indian scientific community as prospective faculty applicants

reveal a dominant perception that EC Fellows should be

comparable to those who complete their postdoc overseas Is

this perception justified This article attempts to provide the EC

Fellow perspective and with the questions raised hopes to

start a conversation in the Indian scientific community about

the future of postdocs in India

The key yardstick used to assess scientific performance is

publication record Are the India Alliance and Indian faculty

screening committees expecting EC Fellows to deliver a

record similar to a postdoc in the West From the Fellows‟

point of view this is an apples-to-oranges comparison The EC

Fellow is working on an independent research idea right from

the start of their Fellowship while a conventional postdoc

typically works on ongoing projects in the Supervisor‟s

laboratory which may later morph into an independent

research project This research independence of the EC

Fellow though comes at a cost Experimental systems and

logistics have to be standardised and sometimes procured

and set up In some cases the Fellowship Supervisor‟s research

and the Fellow‟s project have little overlap and this further

exacerbates the time lag experienced to get publishable

results Another way to enhance research output is to build

collaborations within the laboratory and outside The EC

scheme allows for the latter but the former is completely

missing from the Indian laboratory landscape more than one

postdoc in an Indian lab is a rarity Even with international

collaboration the EC Fellows are working on their ideas and

not on the collaborators‟ ideas further reducing the chances

of the work in the collaborators‟ laboratory being

independently published These circumstances affect the

output that EC Fellows can have by the end of their tenure

and argues that EC Fellows may not have track records similar

to those doing a conventional postdoc in the West

OPINION ARTICLE

17

These parameters should not get masked in the shadow of the

sole currency of the current evaluation system ie ldquoimpact

factor of publication(s)rdquo

In the West a postdoctoral culture has existed for more than

30 years and postdocs are considered a major indispensible

work force in research This has resulted in a system for nurturing

postdocs and helping them transition to future careers

academic or otherwise A similar research environment is yet to

evolve in India simply because there was never a sizeable

cohort of postdocs But now since both funding agencies and

institutions are building postdoc cohorts a framework to foster

postdocs needs to be developed Managing a PhD is very

different from managing a postdoc and timely strategic

advice especially if the postdoc is interested in an academic

career will be valuable Skill development opportunities and

career planning resources for postdocs in Indian institutions

Post-doc India

International

Future Impact Factor Independent Research

Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science

Scientific Community Fellowships

Academic

Funding Collaborations

First EC Fellows‟ publication record can be benchmarked

against the limitations inherent to doing research in India To

do this Indian institutions can reflect on the publication

record of their own junior faculty in the first five years of

having set up their independent laboratory

Second the quasi-independence of the EC Fellow in

terms of research idea execution and future vision can be

acknowledged

Third new scientific directions created by the Fellows in

their Fellowship Supervisor‟s laboratory can be considered

Fourth the ability to innovate and deliver on projects

independently in an Indian research environment should be

valued The EC Fellowship experience provides the Fellows

with an opportunity to develop a realistic idea of what can

be achieved in India and how

would only be possible if the community recognises this

cohort To this end the NCBS-inStem campus postdocs have

formed a postdoctoral association which aims to assist

postdocs in developing themselves professionally through

teaching and other career-related activities A postdoc-

specific symposium is being planned to make postdocs

visible as a research cohort within the Indian scientific

community Although geographically restricted at present

the formal recognition of the association at the policy level

and its implementation in institutions would be helpful

To conclude the following questions require reflection by

the Indian scientific community policy makers and the India

Alliance is India ready to host a postdoctoral culture Are

the issues raised here of publication record and postdoc

mentorship important to the development of postdoctoral

culture in our country As a community should we

encourage postdoc-ing in India If yes are there sufficient

opportunities and mechanisms to enable India-trained

postdocs to successfully transition into a career of their

choice A brain-storming session on the points raised here

would be useful not just for the future of EC Fellows but all

postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision

If the India Alliance and the Indian scientific community

intend to encourage postdoc-ing in India a more nuanced

assessment of Fellows performance might be considered

Training Cutting-edge Output Culture Publications Junior faculty

Transition

Supervisor Opportunities

Authors of this piece Drs Megha (ECF 2013) and Neha Vyas

(ECF 2010) are India Alliance‟s Early Career Fellows based at

National Centre for Biological Sciences and inStem

Bangalore respectively

Disclaimer The opinions expressed within this article are the personal

opinions of the author(s) The information facts or opinions appearing in

the article do not reflect the views of the India Alliance

Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT

Postdoctoral association

18

Leadership and management two sides of the same coin DR SHITAL SARAH AHALEY Early Career Fellow

ldquoThere is a difference between leadership and management Leadership is of the spirit compounded of personality and vision its practice is an art Management is of the mind a matter of accurate calculation its practice is a science Managers are necessary leaders are essentialrsquorsquo Field Marshal Lord Slim

In the academic world we are trained to hold a pipette design an experiment write reports and papers formulate and test a hypothesis and yet when we establish a lab we are expected to manage the lab funds and graduate students lead a group and achieve goals I guess this is the only field where we are trained with a specific skill set and then need a different level of advanced skill set to run a lab We have to be

leaders and managers we have to practise the art of leadership and the science of management

In academia many learn management skills as and when they progress in their career The skills are acquired through experience There are times when one is successful at a task and other times where one fails One formula does not fit all situations or one type of training exercise does not apply to all graduate students Many have mentors in their respective institutes to whom they turn to for advice during difficult circumstances Others discuss with colleagues who may or may not have faced similar situations Yet there are some who are confident enough to handle situations without any help In any case one has to arrive at a decision the consequences good or bad have to be faced by the group leaderPI With trial and error the PI finally sets up a lab working ethics managerial techniques lab environment and eventually a leadership style The PI is definitely

managing a lab but may or may not be a good leader C J Fitzsimons the Leadership Sculptor who undertakes Laboratory Management course for EMBO defines leadership as bdquothe art of maintaining a dynamic balance between influencing others by word and deed to reach common goals and ensuring their development and well-beingrsquo

The EMBO management training for postdocs and group leaders addresses important skills including staff selection leadership and delegation effective problem solving and communication I attended the training for post-docs in May at Leimen Germany with C J Fitzsimons and Sabine Gramm as our guides If put in one sentence the skills that were addressed are the ones we are already aware of to some extent but the trainers put them as tangible formulas or theorems before us For example in ldquoMaking the Right Movesrdquo Edward O‟Neil provides us with an equation

Leadership = Vision + Relationships + Tasks

We all have an understanding of leadership and some ideas about how a good leader should be but this simple equation gives us a concrete perception of the term Additionally each term of this equation viz vision relationships and tasks were further spelled out to improve our understanding

Briefly the course covered the following topics such as impact of cultural differences leadership profile and skills PIgroup leader role impact of working environment working with values communication feedback and criticism team dynamics conflict management motivation delegation interview preparation We spent approximately 60 minutes on each of these topics Some topics like PIGroup leader role

required 120 minutes Each of the topics was elaborated based on extensive research done in the field by experts There were 17 participants of different nationalities- all of us were post-docs in different countries yet it was heartening and somewhat reassuring to see that we faced similar problems and had similar questions One thing I realised significantly during this workshop was the lack of post-doc culture in India

The principles that were discussed in the course are not only confined to an academic set-up but can be applicable in an industry or for that matter any situation that requires teamwork While we all possess certain leadership qualities this course helps us to identify and work on our qualities based on our personality type and circumstances All PIs have to run a lab and they do so to the best of their capability This course will definitely help you in discovering your leadership style and furthermore in setting up a high performing lab

Prof Katja Schmitz a participant of the course from Clemens Schoumlpf Institute puts it aptly

ldquoIf yoursquore only interested in acquiring a few tools read a book or visit a seminar If yoursquod like to find out more about yourself and how that impacts your leadership get a coachrdquo

For further information visit wwwleadershipsculptorcom and wwwemboorgeventslaboratory-management-courses

Dr Shital Sarah Ahaley is an Early Career Fellow based at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune Find out more about her here

REPORT

19

Dr Dipanwita Sengupta is one of the senior members in the grants team who joined this organisation in June 2012 as a Grants Adviser Since then Dipanwita has been juggling various grants-related responsibilities and outreach activities at the organisation In this interview she takes us through her childhood days her interest in music finding inspiration in prominent Bengali figures and more

What is your background

My family is quite multicultural with my mother who hails from

North West Frontier Province and my father from Lahore During

partition both my parent‟s families migrated to India and

made Delhi their new home Atmosphere at home was that of

discipline however it gave us freedom to explore the cultures

and traditions of both the families The best part of this was the

variety of food that my sister and I were exposed to I fondly

remember how as kids we used to wait the whole year for our

Dussehra holidays when we got the chance to visit our

maternal grandparents Every vegetable at their place was

grown in the small kitchen garden that my grandfather

maintained in the backyard ndash from tomatoes to bhindi (lady

finger) from mangoes to pomegranates ndash all these were

grown in-house After a whole day of mischief we used to get

dressed up in sweaters to go watch Ramlila at the colony park

ndash something which we don‟t see in the city anymore

Being in Delhi was an added advantage when it came to my

education the city being host to the best of schools colleges

and renowned universities in the country Even though I belong

to a family of engineers there was no pressure on us from our

parents to follow this family tradition I completed my studies

right from the schooling to PhD here in Delhi My first Postdoc

was at CNIC Madrid where I started a project on aging and

oxidative stress Economic crisis there took me to Pierre

Sonveaux‟s newly established group in Brussels where I worked

on tumor metabolism for 3 years In 2012 I decided to move

back to India and joined the Alliance as a grants adviser

How has your India Alliance journey been so far

Apart from working with an excellent team at the Alliance I

get to be in touch with the best minds in research Also it gives

me an opportunity to meet young PhD students and postdocs

through Scicomm workshops Their infectious energy and

questions drives me to keep myself updated with latest trends

in science Another good thing about our organization is its

capacity to evolve with time and situation without stagnation

When not busy on the job what do you enjoy doing

With the birth of my twin daughters last year my personal

interests have taken a back seat When not in office I am busy

attending to the whims and fancies of my little angels My

reading habit has changed gears from history and thrillers to

parenting books and articles I have a good collection of old

Hindi songs and ghazals which I think (and I hope) my

daughters like listening too

Who inspires you (living or dead)

Actually two people First being my Nanaji paternal

grandfather He was a self-made man During partition he

came to India barefoot with his family Without any aid he

rose from extreme paucity to becoming a very successful

businessman I never saw him relaxing he worked till the very

end He was a freedom fighter philanthropist and a strong

believer in girl education

The second is the renowned astronaut late Kalpana Chawla

From an ordinary girl born in Haryana to the first Indian-born

woman in space She fought for her dreams and realized them

too A quote from her last email - The path from dreams to

success does exist May you have the vision to find it the

courage to get on to it and the perseverance to follow it

inspires many Interestingly I share my birthday with her

INDIA ALLIANCE STAFF CORNER

DR SUVEERA DHUP Grants Adviser

Dr Suveera Dhup is one of the senior members in the grants team who joined this organisation in September 2012 as a Grants Adviser Suveera has been involved with many aspects of IA from grants-related work to SciComm workshops and website and is currently the secretary of the Margadrashi scheme In this interview she takes us through her family history reminisces about her childhood days her love for ghazals people who inspire her and more

20

EXTERNAL EVENTS

9 travel awards were made to PhD students Postdocs and Young Investigators to cover travel expenses for this meeting

These were announced on 1 August 2015 The list below is the final list of Travel Awardees (excludes those who could not accept the award) The list is according to the Submission Number and not according to priority

The following will receive travel support of up to euro 500 each 1528 Uzma Saqib IIT Indore 1533 Mirza Saqib Baig IIT Indore 1540 Swarnendra Singh NII New Delhi 1572 Abhinita Borah IIT Bombay

India Alliance Travel Awards

Datetime 31 October - 0900 to 2 Nov 2015 - 1715

Event location The George Institute for Global Health New Delhi India

Clinical Research Training 2015

This training course has been developed to provide an overview of research study design and methods to young

researchers who have just completed their clinical training or are in the early stages of a research career The primary aim of the course is to provide knowledge with emphasis on practical experience in basic epidemiology and biostatistics so that clinicians can feel confident in their approach to conducting a research project and taking the output to the next step ie publication For more information on this workshop and how to apply visit the website

1588 Manika Kargeti IIT Bombay 1591 Yasir Khan Aligarh Muslim University 1598 Alok Pandey CIMAP Lucknow 1623 Arun Prakash Mishra CCMB Hyderabad 1632 Thangaselvam Muthusamy NCBS Bangalore

Click on the image to find out more about YIM2016

21

Please send your feedback suggestions and contributions to publicengagementwellcomedbtorg

Follow us on

IMAGES IN THIS ISSUE

Cover image (original) by Dr Subba Rao Gangi Setty Senior

Fellow IISc Bangalore

Image description Bright-field and immunofluorescence

microscopy image of wild-type mouse melanocytes expressing

mutated STX13 (a recycling endosomal Qa-SNARE) which results in

its mislocalisation to melanosomes Green mutant STX13 red a

melanosome-resident protein TYR black dots melanosomes

captured with bright-field microscopy

Credit R Dourmashkin Wellcome

Images

HIV particlesHuman immunodeficieny

virus (HIV-1) particles showing the core

and the envelope

Transmission electron micrograph

Collection Wellcome Images

Credit Dr Ajit Varki From Cell Reports

Nidoviruses attached to sialic acid (in

blue hemagglutinin esterase)

22

As we bring out this September issue our Science Communication workshop mentors Drs Lolitika Mandal Mahak

Sharma Anant Bhan Anurag Agrawal and Prof Sandhya Visweswariah conclude the 12th two-day workshop in

Hyderabad

We do not have any updates on the Fellowship front as currently all our fellowship competitions are closed and the

submitted applications are under review In this newsletter some of our Research Training Fellows write about why they

chose to pursue a career in clinical research and how the IA Fellowship scheme will be helpful going forward In our

Public Engagement section we give you an account of our recently concluded DNA70 Public Lecture Series and

announcement for our newly launched bdquoResearch Image competition‟ for Fellows Even though the Monsoon season

passed away quietly our Fellows made sure it rained publications In this issue we also feature recently published

works of our Fellows Drs Bushra Ateeq Sunish Kumar Radhakrishnan Rakesh Kumar Laishram Amit Dutt and Subba Rao

Gangi Setty in the bdquoIA Research Highlights‟ section

In this issue the feature article ldquoPeeking inside the HIV infected cellsrdquo by our Senior Fellow Dr Amit Singh provides

an insightful overview of the research strategies for HIV and TB eradication in the context of his current research Early

Career Fellows Drs Megha and Neha Vyas address the elephant in the room They pose important questions about the

future of postdocs to the scientific community in India in their opinion piece titled ldquoEarly Career Fellow What nextrdquo Dr

Shital Sarah Ahaley our Early Career Fellow at IISER Pune gives an interesting account of the EMBO Lab management

course she attended in Germany which helped her to understand the subtle difference between management and

leadership and reinforced the importance of scientific leadership for a successful research career in a report titled ldquo

Leadership and Management two sides of the same coinrdquo In our interview section we bring to you a very candid

and engaging interview of one our Public Lecture speakers Dr Ajit Varki who is a distinguished professor of medicine

and cellular and molecular medicine and co-director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at University

of California San Diego USA Our Early Career Fellow and newly appointed Assistant Professor at NIMHANS Dr

Urvakhsh Mehta shares with us what inspired him to transition from being an MD to a clinician researcher and what

keeps him going every day in the bdquoFellow in the Spotlight‟ section Last but not the least our Grants Adviser Dr Suveera

Dhup reminisces about her childhood days and tells us why it has been fun to work at the India Alliance in bdquoIA Staff

Corner‟ Also don‟t forget to check the announcements for Clinical training workshop organised by George Institute

and Young Investigator meeting 2016

My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all the contributors for this issue A special thanks to Dr Subba Rao Gangi Setty for

sharing a lovely image for the cover

We will continue to bring to you interesting scientific discoveries and discussions and as always look forward to your

comments and suggestions

Best wishes

Sarah Iqbal

Public Engagement Officer

EDITORIAL

1

CONTENTS









13 FEATURE ARTICLE






UCSD





21 EXTERNAL EVENTS

2



INDIA ALLIANCE







































Bangalore















Venkatasubramanian














alcoholism


3


























research



































in their prospectus

























4

INDIA ALLIANCE




world



















































5


























to treat patients




20 years ago












































6

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






























development



















7

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






















































8
























annotations (Fig 1)















set




INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS


9












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

CONTENTS









13 FEATURE ARTICLE






UCSD





21 EXTERNAL EVENTS

2



INDIA ALLIANCE







































Bangalore















Venkatasubramanian














alcoholism


3


























research



































in their prospectus

























4

INDIA ALLIANCE




world



















































5


























to treat patients




20 years ago












































6

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






























development



















7

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






















































8
























annotations (Fig 1)















set




INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS


9












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22



INDIA ALLIANCE







































Bangalore















Venkatasubramanian














alcoholism


3


























research



































in their prospectus

























4

INDIA ALLIANCE




world



















































5


























to treat patients




20 years ago












































6

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






























development



















7

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






















































8
























annotations (Fig 1)















set




INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS


9












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22


























research



































in their prospectus

























4

INDIA ALLIANCE




world



















































5


























to treat patients




20 years ago












































6

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






























development



















7

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






















































8
























annotations (Fig 1)















set




INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS


9












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

INDIA ALLIANCE




world



















































5


























to treat patients




20 years ago












































6

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






























development



















7

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






















































8
























annotations (Fig 1)















set




INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS


9












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22


























to treat patients




20 years ago












































6

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






























development



















7

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






















































8
























annotations (Fig 1)















set




INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS


9












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






























development



















7

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






















































8
























annotations (Fig 1)















set




INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS


9












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS






















































8
























annotations (Fig 1)















set




INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS


9












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22
























annotations (Fig 1)















set




INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS


9












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22












































INDIA ALLIANCE

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS



10











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22











































11


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22


URVAKHSH MEHTA

























































12

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

FEATURE ARTICLE






































































resolution

13

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

FEATURE ARTICLE




















































14


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22


Dr Ajit Varki



























































15


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22


Dr Ajit Varki

















development















































to get to work






16


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22


DR NEHA VYAS
















abroad

























































OPINION ARTICLE

17

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

















Post-doc India

International


Productivity

Early Career

policy

Indian Science


Academic









acknowledged





























postdocs in India

Post-docing Vision





Transition









Neha Vyas Megha

Alliance

DBT


18

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

















REPORT

19
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22
































































20

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

EXTERNAL EVENTS












21


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22


Follow us on











Images



and the envelope






22

News & Views - India Alliance · The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance’s two-year Research...

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Transcript of News & Views - India Alliance · The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance’s two-year Research...