15 september 2005 265 - · pdf filefood and pharmaceutical the presence of deter- ......

15 SEPTEMBER 2005 265

CSIR NEWS266

R&D Highlights

NIO signs MoU with Myko Tech

THE National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, on behalf of itsparent body, the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research recently

signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with M/s Myko TechPvt. Ltd (MTPL), Goa. According to this agreement principal subjects ofresearch cooperation to be pursued are identified by both the parties.These include the isolation of marine fungi and bactera, screeningthem for commercial enzymes and compounds, scaling up growth ofpromising fungi and bacteria, purification and extraction of usefulcompounds.

Shri A. Muthukrishnan, Controller of Administration, NIO, andDr S. Raghukumar, Managing Director, MTPL jointly signed the MoU.The MoU will remain in force for three years with scope for renewal.

Patents granted to IHBT

THE Patents granted to the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, in therecent past include:

No. Patent Title Inventor Patent No. Advantages

1. A continuous type Srigurupuram Desikacharya 13020 Useful for sorting leaves,multipurpose shoot sorter Ravindranath, SRI LANKA flowers and roots of

Krishna Kumar Singh different aromatic andmedicinal plants

2. A convenient and versatile, Rajesh Thakur, Anil Sood 6623538 Light weight, small sizedcompact portable light weight, and Paramvir Singh Ahuja USA laminar flow ideal forlow power consuming sterile field work, demonstrationlaminar air flow system and teaching purposes.

NATIONAL Institute ofOceanography (NIO), Goa,

recently signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) with S.P.Chowgule College, Margao. This isNIO’s maiden attempt at formalcollaboration with an affiliated non-engineering college in Goa and anendorsement of NIO’s commitmentto partnering with teachinginstitutions, both big and small, inpursuit of excellence in teachingand research. The agreement is forfive years at present and coversvarious academic and researchdisciplines of particular relevanceto the college and of interest to NIO.

Established in 1962, ChowguleCollege has both postgraduateand undergraduate departmentsin pure and applied sciences. Theagreement wi l l encourageinteraction between students andfaculty of the college with scientistsat NIO. Dr S.R. Shetye, Director, NIOand Dr A.S. Kanade, Principal,Chowgule College signed the MOUat the Chowgule College.

NIO signs MoU withChowgule College,

Margao

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Shri A. Muthukrishnan, Controller of Administration, NIO and Dr S. Raghukumar, Managing Director, MTPL exchanging the

documents of MoU after signing


3. A novel isozyme of autoclavable Sanjay Kumar, 6485950 Enzyme can be auto-superoxide dismutage (SOD)- Rashmita Sahoo and USA claved. It retains activitya process for the identification Paramvir Singh Ahuja even at subzero tempera-and extraction of the SOD and ture, enables removaluse of the SOD in cosmetic, of superoxide radicals infood and pharmaceutical the presence of deter-compositions gents such as SDS in

tested ranges. Have widescale applications inpharmaceutical, food andcosmetic industry.

4. A process for production of Harsh Pratap Singh, 517600 A herbal wine with unique herbal wine (Palam Belle) Brajinder Singh and NEW taste and flavour.from ripe fruits of Varinder Singh Dhadwal ZEALANDPyrus pashia

5. A process for the preparation Arun Kumar Sinha, 6590127 Conversion of valueof pharmacologically active Ruchi Acharya, USA added molecule fromalpha-asarone from toxic Bhupendra Prasad Joshi toxic beta-asarone.beta-asarone rich Acoruscalamus oil via intermediated2,4,5-trimethoxy phenyl propene

6. An efficient method for Indra Sandal, Amita 6599743 A method suitable formicropropagation of tea Bhattacharya, USA direct organogenesis for(Camellia sinensis) plants Madhu Sharma and transformation studies.using leaf explants Paramvir Singh Ahuja

7. An efficient new method for Pratap Kumar Pati, 6569680 Cost effective method forprotoplast culture Madhu Sharma USA protoplast culture.

and Paramvir Singh Ahuja Suitable for somatichybridisation and tracking.

8. An efficient one step method Indra Sandal, 6548300 Efficient regenerationfor micro-production of tea Amita Bhattacharya, USA system from tea leaves.leaves Madhu Sharma and

Paramvir Singh Ahuja

9. An improved method of tea Om Prakash, Anil Sood, 11355 Provides simultaneouspropagation Madhu Sharma and SRI LANKA grafting and hardening of

Paramvir Singh Ahuja tea shoots on root stocks.

10. Anurag, Brick Beauty, Debashish Mukherjee, PP13353, New variety of gladiolusCute Munni, Grace, Devendra Dhyani and PP13417, having attractivePalampur Delight, Palampur Jai Chand Rana PP13591, colour and foliage.Pride,Palampur Princess, PP14979,Palampur Queen, Tushar Mauli PP15080,

PP14980,


R&D Highlights

CSIR NEWS268

R&D Highlights

PP14435,PP13418,PP13710

11. Identification of anti-viral Bikram Singh, Virendra 6444458 Good source for develop-activity of Tagetes minuta oil Prasad Joshi, Raja Ram, USA ing products having anti-and its components Anupama Sharma and A.A. Zaidi viral property.

12. Method for producing chiral Arun Kumar Sinha, 6833475 Flavouring agentdihydrotagetone and its Bhupendra Prasad Joshi USAconversion to chiral 5-isobutyl and Ruchi Dogra-3-methyl-4,5-dihydro-2(3H)-furanone

13. Microwave assisted rapid and Arun Kumar Sinha, 6544390 Conversion of toxic economic process for the Ruchi Dogra and USA cis-isomer intopreparation of substituted Bhupendra Prasad Joshi commerciallyphenylaldehydes from trans useful products.and cis-phenylpropenes: A commercial utilisation oftoxic cis-isomer

14. One step process for prepa- Arun Kumar Sinha, 1003654 Process for preparationration of substituted trans- Ruchi Dogra and BANGLADESH of natural yellow dye thatcinnamaldehyde, a natural Bhupendra Prasad Joshi can be used for ayellow dye from phenylpropane variety of purposes.derivatives

15. Process for preparation Arun Kumar Sinha, 6793957 A new flvaouring5-isobutyl-3-methyl-4,5-dihydro Bhupendra Prasad Joshi USA molecule.-2(3H)-furanone from and Ruchi Dogradihydrotagetone and its useas a flavouring agent.

16. Species specific DNA Mahipal Singh, 6465637 Species specific markersequences and their utilization Chandan Sharma USA for accurate, sensitivein identification of Viola and Brij Lal and efficient identificationspecies and authentication by of Viola odorataPCR reaction.

17. Species specific genomic DNA Mahipal Singh and 6541624 Enables detection ofsequence for identification of Bandana Dhiman USA cashew husk asAnacardium occidantale and the adultrants in tea.method for its utilization indetection of cashew husk inmade tea samples.

18. Use of tea leaf extract for field Indra Sandal, Amita 13019 Inhibits over growth ofinhibiting microbial transformant Bhattacharya, Ashu Gulati, SRI LANKA Agrobacterium during

Srigurupuram Desikacharya transformation process.


Ravindranath, Paramvir Singh Ahuja r


SAIL retains NEERI for EIA Study of Mining Project

THE Steel Authority of India Ltd(SAIL) proposes to increase the hot

metal production at Bhilai SteelPlant (BSP) to about 7 Million TonnesPer Annum (MTPA) by 2011-12 tomeet the increasing demand ofsteel. The existing supply of Iron-orefrom Dalli-Rajhara mines to BSP islimited and supply can last only forfive years. To sustain increase inproduction, iron ore mines arerequired to be developed in andaround Bhilai Steel Plant to reducethe cost of transportation. Rowghatmine in Bastar district, which cansustain 14 MTPA of ore productionis proposed to be developed formining. About 511 Million Tonnesiron ore reserve with an average of62% Fe content is available in thismine which is spread over 1700 ha.The infrastructural facilities such ascrushing plants, conveying system,beneficiation plant, loading yard,loading infrastructure, housingcolony, tailing pond, water reservoirare required to be created tosupport mining activity.Development of mine and creationof related facilities would causeenvironmental and ecologicalimpacts.

SAIL has retained the NationalEnvironmental EngineeringResearch Institute (NEERI), Nagpur,to carry out Environmental ImpactAssessment (EIA) studies fordevelopment of 14 MTPAmechanized mine and relatedinfrastructural facilities. The studywould involve assessment of existingbaseline environmental qualitycovering three seasons during2005-06 for air, noise, water, land,biodiversity, terrestrial ecology,forest, flora and fauna, social

aspects using the latest monitoringtechniques. The field surveys,satellite remote sensing data, surveyof India, toposheets, primary censusdata would be used for establishingbaseline environmental qualitystatus in the region. Theenvironmental hotspots due tomining and allied activities wouldbe identified using cause-conditioneffect relationship and potentialimpacts predicted usingmathematical models involvinglatest software for each componentof environment. Dam break analysisfor the water storage tank and theenvironmental risk associated withsuch storages would also bestudied.

The report will discuss pragmaticenvironmental and ecologicalplanning in the proposed miningarea. The cost effectiveenvironmental management plan(EMP) outlining preventive andcontrol measures to be adopted formitigation of potential adverseimpacts due to mining activities,

ore beneficiation plant and otherinfrastructure facilities would bedeveloped using NEERI’sexperiences at other mines andR&D studies that have been carriedout at NEERI.

The recommendations wil linclude the scientif ic andsustainable mining plans tomaximization of product.Mechanism for monitoring andreview of mitigation measures willbe developed so thatenvironmental damages duringthe process of construction andoperation could be minimized. Postproject monitoring plan will bedelineated to assess environmentalquality during the operation phase.The EMP would remain in practicetill the mines are scientifically closedand returned to pre-mining statusthrough practice ofbioremediation, which has beendeveloped by this Institute.

The studies will begin in October2005 covering post-monsoonseason. r

Seminar on Awareness of RecentAdvances in

Science & Technology

THE Regional Research Laboratory(RRL), Jorhat, recently organized

a two-day national level seminar onthe theme, ‘Awareness of recentadvances in science andtechnology’ with a view to focussingon the recent advances in Scienceand Technology and exchange ofviews amongst scientists, engineers,academicians from diverse fields

and institutions,. Prof P.C. Kesavan,Member RC and DAE-HomiBhabha Chair & DistinguishedFel low of M.S. SwaminathanResearch Foundation, Chennai,presided over the seminar. Dr G.Thyagarajan, Chairman, ResearchCouncil and former Director, RRL-Jorhat, formally inaugurated theseminar. Dr A.R. Balakrishnan,

R&D Highlights/Seminars

CSIR NEWS270

Member, Research Council, RRL-Jorhat and Professor of IIT, Madras,Chennai, spoke about thebackground of the seminar and itsimportance.

Earlier, Shri D.K. Dutta, Scientistand Area Coordinator of theEngineering Science welcomed theaudience. In his inaugural speechDr Thyagarajan underlined the factthat during the last three decades,the world has seen a great explosionof knowledge. There have beenrapid advances in Science &Technology, particularly in the areasof Biotechnology, Communicationand the Engineering sciences. Thetechnologies involved in theseareas are called crit icaltechnologies and innovation is theonly Mantra now. Such is the speedwith which these are evolving thatit has become almost impossible tokeep up even with the latestcomputers available. There has alsobeen sudden development andramification of nano-technologies.Seminars such as the one organizedare therefore necessary to keepabreast with latest knowledge. Thiswas a small effort but one with farreaching ambition behind it, heinformed.

The seminar covered the twobroad areas of Engineeringsciences and Biological sciences. Agood number of participants fromall over India part icipated.Noteworthy among those whoattended were Dr G. Thyagarajan,Chairman, Research Council; ProfP.C. Kesavan, Member, ResearchCouncil; Dr A.R. Balakrishnan,Member, Research Council; ProfG.D. Sharma, Vice Chancellor,Nagaland University; Prof O. N.Mohanty, IIT Kharagpur; Prof G.D.

Yadav, Dr D.S. De, IIT Guwahati;Prof. G.K. Suraishkumar, IIT Madras,Chennai; Prof Rajat K. Chaudhuri,Calcutta University, Dr S.N. Dube,Director, Defence ResearchLaboratory, Tezpur; Dr G.N.Har iharan, Pr incipal Scient ist ,Lichen Ecology & BioprospectingLaboratory, M S SwaminathanResearch Foundation, Bangalore;Dr S.S. Malik, National Bureau ofPlant Genetic Resources (NBPGR),New Delhi and Dr P.S.V.V. Khan, IBSDImphal. Eminent experts delivereda total of nine lectures in therelevant fields. There were fourlectures in Engineering Sciencesection, viz. ( I ) Steel for NewMillennium Auto Body by Prof. O. NMohanty , (ii) Exciting opportunitiesfor Chemical Engineering in the 21st

Century by Prof G. D. Yadav, (iii)Combustion Generated Air Toxics-their Monitoring and Abatement byProf. D.S. De, (iv) The Culture in Bio-reactor by Prof G.K. Suraishkumarand five lectures in Biologicalscience viz. (I) Unraveling of HumanGenome : How it was done and itsimplication by Dr Amit Ghosh,former-Director, IMTECH,Chandigarh, (ii) Plant MolecularBiology Revisited—30 years ofdevelopment by Prof Rajat K.Chaudhuri (iii) Chemical Warfareby Dr S. N. Dube (iv) BioprospectingEcological and Economic Potentialsof Lichens by Dr G. N. Hariharanand (v) Biodiversity Managementof Sustainable Agriculture byDr S. S. Malik.

In the panel discussion forEngineering Sciences section,tremendous concern was expressedabout the growing use ofthermosett ing plast ics in theautomobiles as these might turn out

to be a major source of pollution.Similarly the extensive use of cellphones has the potential to lead topollution due to exhaustedbatteries. Likewise, excessive waterused by the textile industries, whichis the largest foreign currencyearner, is a source of majorpollutants in terms of toxic andhazardous chemicals. There wasconcern for the Brahmaputra withmunicipality drainage through theBharalu stream in Guwahati.Suggestions for the use of plants asfilters for the removal of organicpollutants were received. Emphasison green chemistry for reducingpollution at source was also stressedtogether with the use of membraneadsorption and catalytic chemistry.It is indeed a formidableengineering and technologicalchallenge to develop techniquesdeliverable and acceptable to thepeople.

In the panel discussion forBiological sciences it was opinedthat since the North East India is oneof the major biodiversity hotspots ofthe world there is need to convertthis biodiversity into economicventures. In the process there wouldbe the scope of emerging newsciences also. It was suggested thatGenome Literacy Clubs need to beorganized to protect the biodiversityof the region and its flora andfauna should be properlydocumented. It was felt that theresearch infrastructure in the existinguniversities and R&D institutions ofthe region are inadequate and thusnot able to take care of the rich butthreatened bio-resources of theregion. There are rules for protectionof biodiversity, but these are notstrictly implemented.

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Seminars


Workshops

THE National Institute of ScienceCommunication and Information

Resources (NISCAIR), New Delhi,hosted a three day Workshop onCSIR e-Journals Consortium – UserInterface from 28–30 July 2005.Thirty seven participants from 19CSIR laboratories/institutes/unitsparticipated in the workshop. Theparticipants comprised the NodalOff icers of CSIR e-JournalsConsortium from each of thelaboratories and also other libraryprofessionals.

Workshop on CSIR e-Journals Consortium – User Interface

The CSIR e-Journals Consortiumis one of the three Network Projectsbeing implemented by NISCAIRunder the 10th Five Year Plan. Theproject envisages providing accessto 4500+ full text electronic journalsto all the scientific and technicalstaff members of all the CSIRlaboratories. The Consortium hasalready entered into agreementswith 10 major S&T publishers viz.,Elsevier Science, Springer,American Institute of Physics,American Society of Mechanical

Engineers, John Wiley, CambridgeUniversity Press, Blackwell,American Society of Civi lEngineers, Oxford University Pressand Royal Society of Chemistry.Access to 3000+ journals isavailable to all the CSIR labs/institutes.

The Workshop was inauguratedby Dr R. A. Mashelkar, DirectorGeneral, CSIR who also deliveredthe keynote address.

I am absolutelydelighted to be here atNISCAIR, Satsang ViharMarg campus after avery long time. And it isa wonderful occasion tobe here at this Workshopon CSIR e-JournalsConsortium - UserInterface. I would like tobegin by congratulating,Mr V.K. Gupta, Director,NISCAIR and the entireteam for not onlysuccessfully implemen-ting the CSIR e-JournalsConsortium but also fororganis ing this veryimportant Workshop.

I went through theQuick Search ReferenceGuide that NISCAIR hasso beautifully preparedas a CSIR News

Keynote Address of Dr R. A. Mashelkar, Director General, CSIR

Supplement and I understand that15,000 copies of these will becirculated among the CSIR usersacross India. In the few minutes Ihave, I would like to share with youmy own perceptions about whatwe are doing in CSIR and wherewe need to go and what criticalrole this CSIR e-Journals Consortiumwill play in taking us there.

I don’t have to tell this audiencethe importance of the era that weare moving into. As it is rightly said,this is the century of knowledgeand many even say this is thecentury of mind. Knowledge playsa very critical role and thereforethose societies and those nationsthat are capable of producingcutting edge knowledge,disseminating it and valorizing it tocreate wealth and social goods willlead the world. And that is whereone has this hope in India’s great

Dr R. A. Mashelkar, Director General, CSIRdelivering the Keynote Address

Very Dear Members of my NISCAIR family, Distinguished Invitees, Ladies and Gentlemen,

CSIR NEWS272

promise in its talent that will give ourcountry a unique position as wemove along. In that context, accessto knowledge becomes extraordinarily important.

During my NCL days, I was closelyassociated with the library. In fact Iwas the Chairman of the LibraryCommittee for almost 10 years.Even at that point in time, the1980’s, our problem was that costof journals kept on increasing andour budget was more or less static.We just could not keep pace withthe budget and there was always abattle on which journal should becut. We have come a long wayfrom that.

Today when we say that CSIRscientists have access to 3,300journals, I think it augurs very well.Because there are approximately12,000 e-journals and if we aregetting a quarter of them, I think weare doing pretty well. Of course, we

should enhance this share and Ihave no doubt we will do so over aperiod of time.

I was stuck by the fact to learnthat CSIR and its laboratories altogether in 1993 were subscribingto 8,384 print journals, whereas thisfigure has drastically come downto 2,717 print journals in 2005. Andthe unique titles came down from5,126 print journals to 1,732 printjournals for the same years. Thattells you about this huge priceincreases and cost wars and thechallenges posed before us. So inthat particular context, I believewhat we are doing today under theCSIR e-Journals Consortium is veryimportant.

In 2002 after we signed theagreement with Elsevier, very franklyI was disappointed after we startedbecause I found that the use of thefacility was not what it should havebeen. I remember Mr V. K. Gupta

alerting all of you and putting asystem in place. Therefore, the datathat I now have with me whichshows that from 10,000 downloadsper month to 100,000 downloadsper month in 12 months timereflects that the usage hasincreased pretty well. But we needto do better and increase usagefurther.

CSIR is moving ahead as aknowledge based organization,generating competit iveknowledge and in many respectswe have turned a corner. As youknow, India itself is changing andCSIR is changing in line with whathas been happening to India. Fiftyyears ago, it was Brit ish MorrisOxford which was sold as IndianAmbassador on Indian roads.Today it is Indian Indica which isbeing sold as City Rover on Londonroads. So, the wheel has turned thefull circle. The auto industry hasgone into the gear of innovation increating new products which willglobally be competitive. Our drugsand pharma industry, for example,was based on reverse engineering.That is how we grew. But on 1/1/2005, we have put a new patentregime in place. We can’t copyanymore and we have productpatents regime now and thereforeyou will find that companies havemoved from imitation toinnovation. Investments in R&Dhave gone up by a factor of five inthe last five years.

The new R&D centres that arecoming up in India are world classand they are looking for 100s ofPhDs - structural biologists, systembiologists, medicinal chemists andso on. Why I am mentioning this isthat there is this new wave of

Dr R. A. Mashelkar, Director General, CSIR, releasing the Quick SearchReference Guide of the CSIR e-Journals Consortium. Seen on his right

is Shri V.K. Gupta Director, NISCAIR and on his left isDr Gian Singh, Head, ETTG, NISCAIR

Workshops


Workshops

innovation that is engulfing India.And therefore from the reverseengineering mode, we are movingin a forward engineering modeand this is pretty much true for CSIR.What it therefore means is accessto knowledge is going to be criticaland how to use that knowledge inorder to create new products, newprocesses and new servicescompetitively is going to be critical.

In 1976 when I came back toIndia, I remember thatprofessionally it was a very difficultlife. At that time we used to talkabout 32 K, 64 K and today we talkabout Gigabytes and Terabyteswithout any difficulty. I rememberour journals used to come by seamail. They used to arrive after 3-4months. So even before we beganour research, we were out of date,because we saw the journals solate. Today, the difference is such,I remember publishing a paper inScience on 4th of March and on 5thof March, my mailbox was full withemails from National Institute ofHealth, Bethesda to Seoul in Koreawithin 24 hours and that includedmany young people from India. So,today the speed with which thingshappen has changed remarkablyand therefore providing access isgoing to be extraordinarily critical.

Libraries have changed and sohas the role of the librarian. Theconventional role doesn’t applyanymore and I think we need torealize that library and informationscience also plays a critical role inthe Indian R&D. Today, libraries andlibrarians can by their interventionsdirect the speed and direction withwhich our scientists can move. Andtherefore our library professionals in

There is one more issue that I wantto emphasize and this has to dowith CSIR being uniquelypositioned. CSIR is not a university.CSIR is an organization that not onlygenerates new knowledge but usesit to create wealth and socialgoods. That means the applicationof that knowledge to createinnovative knowledge, processes

CSIR have to learn new areas likeInternational Patent ClassificationSystem and other Intel lectualProperty Systems. They have to benot only information providers butthey have to become a catalyst fordevelopment.

I am assuming a completely newrole for the CSIR library professionalsand I believe this is something weneed to take seriously. At thehighest level people are concernedabout libraries. I remember ourPrime Minister mentioning aboutlibraries in the CSIR Society Meetingon 25th May 2005 and I will quotehim

and services is the key. Therefore,the speed with which we do it isgoing to be very, very important.

I am very happy that you aregiving access to scientif icknowledge. But let us not forgetthat 80% of the knowledge thatnever gets published in scientificjournals is in patents. And patentsare a very valuable informationsource. It is something which wehave not recognized nor are weusing it.

NISCAIR has done anoutstanding job as usual. I keep ondemanding because NISCAIRdelivers. Therefore NISCAIR will bechallenged by me to do more andmore. The Traditional KnowledgeDigital Library has changed theworld and is expanding andcreating new paradigms. In thesame way, I believe that NISCAIRshould take this knowledge andinformation services in the broadestcontext. It should include not onlyscientific journals but all otherknowledge bases in theConsortium.

I welcome you all to thisWorkshop, in part icular ourdistinguished publishers. Eventuallywe should become partners with allmajor knowledge providers. I canassure you that money is not goingto be a constraint. It is what youhave and how you make use of itthat will be important. I am veryhappy that you have been able toget ten major publishers togetherand I am really looking forward toyour brain storming sessions. I hopejust as I am challenging you, at theend of the brain storming sessionyou wil l create a challengingagenda for me.

Thank you very much.

“ I a l s o w i s h t or e v i t a l i z e p u b l i ci n s t i t u t i on s i n t heknowledge secto rl i k e o u r l i b r a r i e s .Our libraries are in at e r r i b l e s t a t e o fn e g l e c t i n m a n yparts of the country.We cannot build aknowledge societywithout active andgrowing libraries.”

CSIR NEWS274

Foundation Day Celebrations

During the Workshop hands ontraining was imparted to thepart icipants. A brain-stormingsession was also held in which theparticipants discussed various issuesrelated to the consortium. The Web-based Monitoring System designedand developed by NISCAIR for all

the stakeholders of the Consortium,viz., the end user, publisher, nodalofficers and administrator was alsopresented and demonstrated at theworkshop.

The workshop held at NISCAIR,Delhi was the first in the series of sixworkshops planned to be organized

during the month of August 2005.The dates of the other workshops tobe held are: CDRI, Lucknow (2–4August 2005), IICT, Hyderabad (8–10 August 2005), SERC, Chennai(16–18 August 2005), IICB, Kolkata(23–25 August 2005) and NCL, Pune(29–31 August 2005).

THE Central Drug ResearchInst itute (CDRI), Lucknow,

celebrated its f i fty-fourthFoundation day recently. Thefunction commenced with a tributeto Sir Edward Mellanby the firstDirector of the Institute. This 30th

Mellanby Memorial Oration wasdelivered by Dr Sandeep K. Basu,Director, National Institute ofImmunology. His talk was entitled‘Chasing Ehrlich’s dream: Receptor-mediated manipulations ofmacrophage metabolism’. Dr Basuhighlighted the concept ofreceptor-mediated targeting as anew therapeutic approach againstmacrophage-associated infectionsand cancers that affect millions ofpeople in poor countries. He saidthat the scavenger receptor-mediated delivery of various agentsto macrophages not only provideda general principle forchemotherapy of the wholespectrum of macrophage–associated disorders including viral,bacterial, protozoal, metabolicand neoplastic diseases but also ageneralized tool for manipulatingthe metabolic activity ofmacrophages for a variety ofpurposes. This implies thatintroduction of target-orientedmedicines will reduce the intake ofquantity of medicine and hence

CDRI celebrates Foundation Day

minimize their side effects – amessage for the Indian pharma fordevelopment of targeted drugdelivery systems. It needs to bementioned that Dr Basu was part ofthe team that worked on a projectthat later received the Nobel Prizein Medicine in 1985. Dr M. S. Brownand Dr J. L. Goldstein from USAreceived the prize for thisoutstanding work in medicine.

Earlier, Dr C. M. Gupta, Director,CDRI, extended a warm welcometo all the distinguished members ofthe scientific and medical fraternitypresent on this occasion. With aspecial welcome to the Chief GuestProf. M. K. Bhan, Secretary,Department of Biotechnology (DBT)he acknowledged the longassociation and support of DBT tothe Institute’s R&D programmes andwished for further strengthening ofthis relationship.

Presenting the annual progress ofvarious R&D activit ies of theInstitute, Dr Gupta informed aboutthe successful licensing of three newproducts to the pharma industry forfurther development andcommercialization. These include anew herbal medicament fortreatment of cerebral strokelicensed to M/s Themis Medicare, anew antimalarial compound 97/78,a synthetic substitute for

artemisinine derivatives, licensed toM/s IPCA Laboratories and a lipidlowering synthetic compound 80/574 l icensed to M/s CadilaPharmaceuticals Ltd The post-marketing surveil lance studiesinit iated on the spermicidalcontraceptive cream, Consapmarketed by Hindustan Latex Ltd isexpected to cover a target of 1000women users during this year.Further cl inical t r ials on theant imalar ia l α β-arteether forpediatric use were initiated at fourmedical colleges and 47 caseshave already completed the trial.The reports received from Seth G.S. Medical College, Mumbai,indicate that the anti-relapseantimalarial compound 80/53exhibited strong gametocytocidaleffect and this study has beenexpanded to cover more humansubjects. Clinical trials with Picroliv,a hepatoprotective agent, and twoantihyperglycemic agents CT-1and CDR-134 D123 haveprogressed satisfactorily. Pre-clinical studies including toxicitystudies in rodents onantiosteoporosis compound 99/373, antidiabetic-cum-l ipidlowering herbal preparation CDR-267-F018, four promising syntheticantimalarials, two lipid lowering-c u m - a n t i - h y p e r g l y c e m i c

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compounds and one anti-ulcercompound are expected to becompleted this year.

Dr Gupta mentioned the severalnew initiatives taken by the Instituteduring this period. These includemonthly monitoring of the thrustareas viz. Malaria, Tuberculosis,Osteoporosis, Breast cancer,Cerebral stroke and Diabetes, andDyslipidemia. A number of cell-based screens and transgenicanimal models for screeningantihyperglycemic, dyslipidemic,antihypertensive and antiosteo-porosis activity have been adaptedand it is planned to acquire morecell lines as well as transgenicanimals to update the screeningprogramme. To make the new drugdiscovery programme inter-nationally acceptable, it has beenresolved to update practices inexecution and monitoring of clinicaltrials according to internationalstandards and also undertakepharmacogenomic studies todefine responders and non-responders in early stages of the trial.In addition, implementation ofGood Laboratory Practices in R&DLabs involved in regulatory studies,namely Pharmacology, Toxicology,Pharmaceutics, Pharmacokinetics &Metabolism and Laboratory AnimalFacility has been made mandatoryby 31 October 2005. The new unitof Computational Biology andInformatics has been set up tostrengthen rational drug design andpredictive tools and a 600 MHz NMRfacility has been established forsupport to the Structural BiologyProgramme. Basic studies in thearea of Molecular & StructuralBiology of infectious organismsespecially Mycobacteriumtuberculosis, Plasmodium

falciparum and Leishmaniadonovani made good progress andare likely to yield novel drug targetsagainst which new drugs may bedeveloped for management ofdiseases caused by these organisms.

The other indicators ofperformance of the Institute werealso quite impressive. There hasbeen substantial increase in thenumber of research publications—165 this year with an averageImpact Factor of 2.1. Twenty Indianand 21 foreign patents were filedand 21 Indian and eight foreignpatents have been granted.Twenty-one students were awardedPh.D. degree from various IndianUniversities and eleven of these wereregistered under the CDRI-JNUprogramme. The Institute at presenthas a strong force of 237 researchfellows working for the award ofPh.D. degree. Of these 173 areCSIR/UGC-NET qualified fellows. Toregulate quality inflow of researchfellows, it has now becomemandatory that only CSIR/ICMR/UGC–JRF/SRF would be permittedto join the Ph.D. programme.

Many CDRI scientists receivedhonours and awards for their R&Dcontributions. Dr C. M. Gupta waselected President, Society ofBiological Chemists (India). Dr A. K.Saxena received the honorarymedal (2004) from the ScientificPartnership Foundation, Russia. DrPratima Srivastava received theProf. B. K. Bachawat MemorialYoung Scientist award from theNational Academy of Sciences andDr Ashim Ghatak was selected forthe J. R. Vakil Oration. Dr SudhirSrivastava co-authored a WHOpublication entitled ‘Hand-book ofnon-cl inical test ing’, Dr RamRaghubir won the first prize in the

Molecular Neuroscience group forthe best paper and Shr i RitVatsyayan received the YoungScientist award of the IndianSociety of Parasitology.

An important milestoneachieved during this period was,the in-principle approval of thePlanning Commission for Creationof a World-class Drug ResearchInstitute at Sitapur Road, Lucknow.The final approval of the proposalby the Cabinet Committee isawaited and the construction workwould be initiated very soon. Thenew Institute would serve as aneffective public–private interfacewith policies to maintaincompetitiveness and sustainedinterests at the work place.

While delivering the KeynoteAddress, Prof. Bhan urged thescientists to be more creative andexplore ways to make the life of thecommon man more healthy anddisease free. He emphasized thechange required in schoolcurriculum especially in sciencesubjects to bring out leaders topropel drug research, as this wasvital in the wake of Trade-relatedIntellectual Property Rights. Hepraised CDRI for its contributionsand released the Annual Report2004-05 and a Compendium ofmajor facilities and capabilities atthe Institute. He inaugurated theBioinformatics and the 600 MHzNMR facilities. This facility costingabout Rs 5 crores is the third of itskind in the country and would helpin solving the structure of solubleproteins, which in turn would helpin rational use of some of theseproteins in drug design. Prof.Mahendra Bhandari, anoutstanding urologist and currentlyVice Chancellor, King George

Foundation Day Celebrations

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Dr Ashok Juwarkar Memorial Lecture

DR Ashok Juwarkar MemorialLecture was recently organized

at the National EnvironmentalEngineering Research Institute(NEERI), Nagpur. Dr B. M. Khadi,Director, Central Institute for CottonResearch (CICR) was the ChiefGuest on this occasion. Whiledelivering a lecture on “Agricultureand Environment”, Dr Khadiemphasized on proper use andtransfer of available technologies inagriculture to increase the foodproduction without harming theenvironment. He pointed out thatcultivated area in the country hasremained the same since 1950 butfood production has increased tomeet the demand of the ever-growing population. This has led tomore use of fert i l izers, mostlynitrogenous, followed by thosebased on phosphorus and potash,Dr Khadi further added that thoughthe nation has become self-suff icient in r ice and wheatproduction, their high yieldingfertilizer-responsive dwarf varietieshave adversely affected theenvironment by increasing salinity,alkalinity and water logging in soil.Illustrating the consequences ofexcessive use of fertil izers andpesticides, he informed that, in oneof the experiments, soil erosion intilled barren land was as high as oneunit whereas in virgin forest, besidesthe use of naphtha, soil erosion wasfound up to 0.001-0.0001 unit. DrKhadi highlighted the fact that thepercentage of oxygen has reduced

from air while that of carbondioxide, carbon monoxide andsulphur dioxide has gone up, whichmay be attributed to use ofchemicals in agriculture.

Dr Khadi opined that the issuesof air pollution, water pollution andthreat to biodiversity are also linkedto agriculture. To achievereclamation of polluted soil, heinformed that, agriculture scientistsare advising farmers to use themethods of bacterial seedinoculation, liquid inoculation andto grow drought and sal ini tytolerant crops like Acacia andEucalyptus in their fields. Dr Khadilaid stress on the importance ofintegrated pest managementprogramme and also advocated

promotion of eco-friendly varietieslike naturally coloured cotton. Hesaid that normally the cotton isdyed leading to water pollution dueto discharge by textile industry. Thedyeing also causes skin allergies,rashes and psychosomatic disordersamong users, but natural lycoloured cotton has no adverseimpact, he added. At theconcluding part of his presentation,Dr Khadi alarmed that agriculturecontributes to 14 percent in globalwarming. He further added that therate of carbon dioxide emission islikely to increase from present 1.29units to 5.47 units in 2025 indeveloping countries. Every year20,000 deaths were reportedworldwide due to pesticidepoisoning and 50 percent of themwere from developing countries, hesaid. Dr Khadi expressed concernover excessive use of fertilizers inIndia which result in emission ofammonia and green house gasesin to the atmosphere. He suggestedthat use of alternative fertilizers,organic farming, biotechnologyand genetic engineering couldsolve the problems related toenvironmental degradation due toagriculture. Earl ier, Dr ApurbaGupta, Scientist & Head,Environmental Systems Design &Modelling Division, NEERI, in hiswelcome address appreciated thevaluable contributions of LateDr A. S. Juwarkar in the field ofenvironmental science &engineering.

Medical University, Lucknow, in hisPresidential Address reiterated theneed for personalized drugs tailoredaccording to the genotype of an r

individual. He declared that forscience to flourish a greaterautonomy to scientific institutionswas important.

The function concluded with avote of thanks by the OrganizingSecretary, Dr D.K. Dikshit.

Dr B. M. Khadi, Director, CentralInstitute for Cotton Research,delivering Dr Ashok Juwarkar

Memorial Lecture

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Lectures


Dr Baban Ingole holding two push core samples collected by remotely operated vehicle

Push core and box core samples beingprocessed in the ship’s laboratory.Clockwise: Drs. Baban Ingole (NIO,wearing white T-shirt), Paul Tyler & JohnCopley (Census of Marine Life, NationalOceanography Centre, Southampton)and Tim Masterklark (ScienceApplications International Corporation).

DR Baban Ingole, a seniorscientist of the Biological

Oceanography Division of theNational Institute ofOceanography(NIO), Goa, wasinvited to participate in SumatraEarthquake and Tsunami OffshoreSurvey (SEATOS), an internationalexpedition to the epicenter of thetsunami earthquake that occurredon 26 December 2004 in the IndianOcean off the coast of Indonesia.The expedition consisted of 27scientists from six nations and a widerange of scientific fields, includingtsunami modelers, marinebiologists, seismologists, geologists,and scientific visualization experts.The team spent 17 days on stationat the epicentre. The expedition hasprovided scientists with uniqueimages showing ruptures that led tothe devastating waves. Analysis ofthe new data collected will help inbetter understanding of tsunamisand may prevent the loss of the lifeand property in the future.

Earlier, an international team of

Dr Baban Ingole included inInternational Tsunami Epicenter Research Expedition

geologists studied, since February2005, the site off the coast ofSumatra in Indonesia onboardBritish Navy’s survey vessel, HMS Scottin order to help predict the patternof future tsunamis. The team useda deep submersible vehicle,remotely operated from onboard

ship and successfully tookphotographs of the seabed 4.4 kmdown and retrieved samples fromthe vicinity of the epicenter of theearthquake that caused thetsunami. Dr Kate Moran,Geotechnical Engineer, Universityof Rhode Island and Dr DavidTappin, Geotechnical Engineer,University of Rhode Island and BritishGeological Survey, who hadreturned from the HMS Scottexpedition were the Co-chiefScientists leading SEATOSexpedition. Using geophysicalsurvey tools and a unique deep-water remotely operated vehicle,

Honours & Awards

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FARMERS, entrepreneurs andpeople from all walks of life

converged at the ‘CIM-Utsava’ with‘Kisan-Mela’ organized recently bythe Central Institute of Medicinaland Aromatic Plants (CIMAP),Lucknow. Lectures and l ivedemonstrations on medicinal andaromatic plants, interaction,exhibitions and plant health andknowledge competitions were themajor attractions of the mela.Welcoming the participantsDr S. P. S. Khanuja, Director CIMAPsaid that this year the ‘CIM-Utsava ’was organized as ‘Gyan-Utsava(knowledge festival). Dr Khanujafurther said that ‘CIM-Utsava ’ wasinitiated to give shape to theinstitute’s capabil i ty transfermechanism among the growers ofmedicinal and aromatic plantsand entrepreneurs. He announcedthat a specially prepared souvenir,‘Gyanya ’ was being madeavailable to each participant thisyear. Dr Khanuja said that worldover the consumers are ready topay any price for health promotingproducts made from plants and this

‘CIM-Utsava’: From Kisan Mela to ‘Knowledge Mission’

concept could directly benefit thefarmers and entrepreneurs. Such‘Gyan-Utsava’ could ensuretransformation of green technologyinto reality. The biovillage mission ofCIMAP launched in UP, Uttaranchaland Karnataka is promotingindustrial cultivation. These efforts

are helping CIMAP to disseminateits technologies among rural peoplefor income generation, economicupliftment and improvement in life,he added.

The Chief Guest Dr S. C. Rai,Mayor, Lucknow, praised the effortsof CIMAP and said that technology

Farmers participating in plant health competition in CIM-Utsav

with the SEATOS team’s mission, forthe first time marine scientists havebeen able to find and film suchcrit ical ruptures at such anincredible depth in the IndianOcean. The faults, which were foundon the outer edge of thecontinental shelf, provide importantevidence for reconstructing theevents of December 26. Theobserved seafloor fault surface isreferred to by geologists as striatedbecause it is smoothed by rocksmoving against each other as theseafloor is r ipped open. No

evidence of deep-sea animals atthe site, during a 14 hour dive withthe ROV submersible was found,which is an indication of freshlyformed seafloor. The expedition wascoordinated by Prof. Sara Hickox,Director, Office of Marine Programs,University of Rhode Island GraduateSchool of Oceanography. DarlowSmithson Productions, in collabora-tion with Blue Water Recoveries andfunding from BBC-TV, Discovery USAand Discovery Channel Canada,conducted this expedition. Unliketraditional academic expeditions,

this one was organized, crewed,and executed such that high-quality factual scienceprogrammes (targeted forbroadcasting in the Fall 2005, onBBC1, the Canadian DiscoveryChannel, and Discovery USAChannel) are produced.Broadcast-quality video andadvanced computer graphics anddramatic reconstructions areaccurately captured. The Universityof Rhode Island spearheadedassembling of the science team forthis expedition.

CIM-Utsava


Honours & Awards/Appointments

DR Amalendu Sinha(born 5 July 1955),

Scientist ‘G’, has takenover as Acting Directorof the Central MiningResearch Institute(CMRI), Dhanbad. Hetook over charge uponthe superannuation of DrC. Banduopadhyay. DrS inha did M.Sc. inapplied geology in 1976 and M. Sc.(Tech) in mineral exploration in1977. He received his Ph.D. inApplied Geology in 1988 fromIndian School of Mines, Dhanbad.Dr Sinha joined CMRI in 1977 asScientist ‘B’ and has been engagedin R&D work in the areas of geo-mechanics and mining technology.His areas of research coverdevelopment & application of geo-mechanical classification system forsupport design in coal mineroadways; evaluation of in-situ stress

Dr A. Sinha takes over asActing Director, CMRI

DR R.A. Mashelkar DirectorGeneral, CSIR, has been

ranked amongst ‘top most 50influential people in the world’ inrespect of intellectual propertyr ights created by theinternat ional magazine‘Managing Intellectual Property’for the year 2005. Others sohonoured include Pascal Lamy,WTO Director General (elect); WuYi, Chinese Vice-Premier andAlain Pomindou, President ofEuropean Patent Office. Thecitation says : Dr Mashelkar isIndia’s foremost IP specialist,whose influence spans the local,the national and theinternational.

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Dr R.A. Mashelkarhonoured

transfer in rural areas would resultin increase in production ofmedicinal plants besidesgeneration of addit ional jobopportunities. CIMAP is progressingwell on its mission of Green path tobetter health and life. He alsoreleased three newly developedvarieties: ‘CIM-Megha’ ofAndrographis paniculate, ‘CIM-Liv’of Silybum marianum and ‘CIM-Chandni’ of Salvia sclorea. TheGuests of Honour Dr NavneetSehgal, Secretary, Science &Technology, UP, Shri S. P. Singh,Municipal Commissioner, Lucknow,and Shri Anil Vidyarthi, Chief GeneralManager, SIDBI, also addressed the

gathering. Oriental Bank ofCommerce, Bank of India, Sri RamFert i l izers, Naryana Agrotech,Biotech Park, Lucknow, PCTILimited, Premier Irrigation andCIMAP put up stalls for the benefitof the visitors. A concurrentworkshop on production technolo-gies of economically importantmedicinal and aromatic plants wasalso held for a group of progressivefarmers. Sponsored by the Councilof Science & Technology, Govern-ment of UP the workshop wasattended by about 70 progressivefarmers of UP. Shri P. L. Loi, PrincipalSecretary, S&T, UP Government,inaugurated the workshop. r

f ield for stabi l i tyanalysis; in situ stressmeasurement inunderground coalmines and i tsapplications tostability analysis andassessment of groundbehaviour and stabilityfor planning anddesign of non-coal

mines. He has coordinated andguided a number of R&D projects,industry sponsored projects, grants-in-aid projects in the field of miningtechnology, geo-environment,coal-bed methane, and blastingand explosive. In addition, he alsocompleted successfully a goodnumber of consultancy projects. Healso visited various countries likeUSA, Germany, Czech Republicand Iran on deputation/assignment.Dr Sinha has to his credit a largenumber of research papers

published in Indian and foreignjournals of repute. He also editeda few proceedings. He has filedsome patents also. He is a memberof Academic Council of IndianSchool of Mines, Dhanbad, andNational Expert Committees on roofsupport in coal mines constitutedby Directorate General of MinesSafety. He also represents CMRI asa member in a number ofcommittees constituted by differentgovernment organizations andacademic institutions and industriesin the country. Dr Sinha is member/associate member of the pioneerprofessional bodies like MiningGeological & Metallurgical Instituteof India (MGMI), Indian Geo-technical Society ( IGS), Inter-national Society of Rock Mechanics& Tunneling Techno-logy, (ISRMTT)etc. He is presently the Vice-President of the National Institute ofSmall Mines (NISM).

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CSIR NEWS280

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THE Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow, on the occasion of 27th AnnualMeeting of the Plant Tissue Culture Association of India, will be holding a three day National Symposium on

Plant Biotechnology; New Frontiers (NSPB 2005), at CIMAP during 18-20 November 2005. The symposium isdesigned to bring together biotechnology research from advanced laboratories, institutes, universities, andprivate sector laboratories working with the biotechnological applications for crop improvement and humanwelfare. The national symposium is intended to review the progress made in these areas and to formulate newstrategies and priority areas for biotechnological interventions in important crops, legumes, fruits, vegetables,plantation crops, spices, medicinal and aromatic plants.

The symposium includes following sub-themes:· Tissue culture research: new perspectives

Clonal propagation, regeneration, haploid culture, somaclonal variation somatic, hybridization, in-vitrosecondary metabolite production, in-vitro conservation, hairy root, bioreactor technology, industrialapplications

· Plant metabolomicsModulating metabolic pathways in plants for designer genotypes producing secondary metabolites aspharmaphytoceuticals.

· Gene mobil ization and genetic modif ication for crop improvementDirect gene transfer, vector mediated gene transfer, chloroplast transformation, cloning of genes, encodingfor salinity, drought, insects and pathogen resistance

· Molecular markers and genomicsGenetic fingerprinting, DNA marker technology, clonal fidelity, biodiversity informatics, marker assistedselection and gene tagging. Functional genomics approaches to link functions with genetic expressionand regulation

· Transgenics in agricultureStatus and technological advances, transgenic crops, bio-safety concerns and regulatory aspects oftransgenics, commercialization and ethical issues.

For further information please contact :

Dr S.P.S. KhanujaChairman and DirectorNational Symposium on ‘Plant Biotechnology: New Frontiers’Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic PlantsPO CIMAP, Lucknow-226016, Uttar PradeshTelephone 91-522-2359623, 2357134Fax-91-522-2342666E [email protected]

Symposium SecretariatDr A.K. KukrejaConvenerNational Symposium on ‘Plant Biotechnology:New Frontiers’Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic PlantsP O CIMAP, Lucknow-226016, Uttar PradeshTelephone 91-522-2359624, 2359632, 2357073 Ext. 361E [email protected]

National Symposium on Plant Biotechnology:New Frontiers (NSPB 2005)

Announcements

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