biotecnika magazine april 2016

8/18/2019 Biotecnika Magazine April 2016

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BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINEVol 3 | Issue 4April 2016

Price Rs.100/-

Storing Brain to Computer

the unrealistic way

cover feature

INTERVIEW

“Mr. Niven NarainCEO & President,

Berg Budget 2016what is in store for life science industry?

Monsanto - India Spat

complete coverage inside

Top 10 Womenwho made it

LARGE in

BT Industry

37


2/72

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EDITORIAL

Shekhar Suman

Cheif Editor

Management TeamChairman

Mr Ajit Kumar Sinha

Managing Director

Dr Neha Suman

Feature WritersSrishti Deoras

Sindhuri Chintakunta

Preety K

Advertising EnquiryDeepak Singh

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There is no denying in the act that the‘women-orce’ orms the most substan-tial and effective workorce, and thatthey have stood at par with the male

counterparts at every levels and at every field.In lie science sector too, they have not only

busted the popular belie that entrepreneurshipis a male dominated area but also proved theirprowess beyond exceptional. Beating themselvesup rom the odd and moulding through variouschallenges, women have garnered ame bothinternationally and at national levels. Celebrat-ing the success and opulence o women in thelie science industry, we have picked out 10 suchnames that made it big in the industry and withmuch aplomb. However with the ever grow-ing lie science and biotech sector, the success

stories are not limited to these 10 names butreaches ar beyond.

o keep the interest intact, the eature coversother interesting reads such as “Storing Brainto computer- the unrealistic way!” which talksabout the idea o being immortal by transer-ring brain to computer, “Monsanto- India spatand whether it would risk GM prevalence in thecountry”, “What Budget 2016 has to offer to thelie science sector” and much more.

We would like to express a special gratitudetowards Mr. Niven N Narain, CEO and Founder,Berg Heathcare or taking out time to interactwith Biotecnika magazine on Artificial intelli-gence and its usage in drug discovery.

Do grab your copy or enthralling read and eelree to write to us or any comments and sugges-tions that would help us improve or better. Weawait your response @ [email protected].



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

MAIL BOX

Letter of the Month

There is no second thought that pharma and

biotech sectors in the country are growing likenever before. And the reports such as India Skill

only validate it more. It is appreciative of Biotecnika

magazine to keep bringing fresh hopes on the

sector by highlighting such articles. The article

“Pharma employability brings good news” is worth

reading.

The article on “body parts that we might not need”

was quite an interesting one. It is pretty much awe

inspiring how the evolution keeps a check on

things that we need and on those that we may not

hence either modifying it or deleting it all together.

I wish Biotecnika all the very best to keep penning

down interesting articles.

I would like to congratulate Biotecnika on its recent

success of opening a centre at Pune. I have been

following Biotecnika since years and I have only

found it helpful for life science scholars whether inthe form of its newsletter or the magazine. I wish all

the very best to the company to keep growing and

keep nurturing biosciences.

The cover story on Zika virus gives

a thorough idea on the where-

abouts of Zika spread. From the

timeline of the spread to the recent

research on curing it, the article

was very informative. I only wish

that the companies all across the

globe come out with a viable andeffective treatment against the

deadly virus very soon. And that

the true cause of its spread is

identified by the researchers so

that more lives could be saved from

its wrath.

-

-Prakash Jenna, Bhubaneshwar

-Sunil Dutta, Kolkata

-Riddhi Kumar, Delhi

-Seema Jha, Ranchi


5/72

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BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

Bionews

Rasayanika Zone

Bioevents

08

23Storing Brain to Computer

the unrealistic way!

Interview

Mr. Niven NarainCo-Founder, President & CEO,

Berg Healthcare

27

Malaria Update

First ever human

vaccine trial for

Malaria

55

Monsanto-India Spat

would it risk GM prevalence in the

country?

32

Student Testimonials

Read the success

story of

Biotecnika!

50

46

Technology Trends

Stem cells facilitate power of vision

Lens & Corneas created



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

Cover story

Top 10

women who

made it large in

BT INDUSTRY

37

57

Budget 2016

what is in store for

life science industry?

DCGI & Drug Regulatory

system

interrrogated

GUEST CORNER

Would banning drug put

pharma industry in huge loss?

63 68


8/72

BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

BIONEWS

BIONEWS

A majority o experiments rom crop improvement and ood testing to orensic appli-cations involves the use carcinogenic and toxic nucleic acid stains and has been usedby the researchers since decades. Te basic utility o imparting colour to the tissuesand cells, it acilitates microscopic study.

o do away with this carcinogenic substance exposure abuse, Indian Institute o Science’s J

Fathima Benazir has invented a stain that claims to change the way research is conductedtoday. Te stain named “into rang” is claimed to be sae even on consumption. Afer anintense hard work through her doctoral and post doctoral research on the stain, she haslaunched her firm Azooka Lie Sciences which is an incubation supported by the institute’sSociety or Innovation and Development.

Te patent or tingo rang has already been filed which is yet to be granted. Te stain issupposedly sae even on consumption as it has been developed rom edible plants ound inSouth India which she reused to name owing to the pending patent.

"Te ocus o Azooka is to develop sae DNA/RNA fluorescent stains or applications in

biological sciences and genomics and tinto tang is sae even on consumption as it is a oodadditive making it the saest option currently available in the world," she said. "Te basicrequirement o stains was that the nucleic acid dye has to be ast, sensitive and selective tothe nucleic acid so that it can be used in various applications to detect minute quantity onucleic acids in a biological sample," she added.

Explaining why tingo rang is better, she said that the most commonly and widely used stainis a potent carcinogenic, mutagenic bio hazard and scientists in a lab are exposed to thesethreats all the time. Also these stains ofen alter the structure o DNA because o its stronginteraction with the DNA.

Benazir also said that ethiduim bromide requires at least 10 to 40 minutes to obtain resultsor visualise DNA but tinto rang stains DNA within a ew seconds or at best a minute, "...Te fluorescent intensity is seven times greater than the market gel stains," Alex D Paul,co-ounder o Azooka said. Te DNA can be recovered afer visualization and can be usedagain or multiple tests being a nucleic acid gel stain because the DNA won't be distorted.

India prides in inventing asafe nucleic acid stain

“The focus of Azooka is to develop safe

DNA/RNA uorescent stains for applications

in biological sciences and genomics andtinto tang is safe even on consumption.

-Fathima Benazir

08 mag.biotecnika.org



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

Researchers identify

new immune mechanism

against cancer

The researchers at the University o exasSouthwestern Medical Centre or the first timehave identified a new innate immunity pathway thatprotects mammals rom viral oncogenesis- the process

by which viruses cause normal cells to become cancerous.

Te finding could play a significant role in developing new can-cer therapies. "More than 20 per cent o human cancers as wellas a number o other diseases are linked to chronic viral inec-tions," said Xiaonan Dong rom University o exas Southwest-ern Medical Centre (USW).

Te study has ound that the autophagy-related protein beclin2 - also discovered by researchers can help break down the keyoncogenic viral protein associated with Kaposi's sarcoma, a typeo cancer most commonly ound in people with HIV inectionor transplant-related suppression o their immune systems.

Te findings showed that in addition to mediating autophagy,beclin 2 is also involved in a novel immune pathway that sup-presses viral inection and virus-caused cancer. "We ound thatbeclin 2 can promote the degradation o Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), andthereby suppress its cancer-causing signalling," said Dong.

"ransgenic mice deficient in beclin 2 are more prone to viralGPCR-driven oncogenesis that resembles human Kaposi's sar-coma," he said.

Te researchers aver that these findings can deepen understand-ing o the mechanisms that our immune system uses to protectagainst cancer and potentially against any serious diseasescaused by pathogenic viral proteins.

"Tey may contribute to the identification and developmento novel therapeutic targets and antiviral therapies," said Beth

Levine rom USW.

“We have testedit on rats andhave got positive

results, but now

it needs to be

tested on bigger

animals.

-Navin Khanna,

Senior scientist at

ICGEB



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

The advancement in cancer saw another eat when a young British woman became oneo the first cancer patients to be injected with new vaccine which is designed to stimu-late the immune system in such a way that it destroys tumours wherever they spreadin the body.

Te patient Kelly Potter, 35 was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer in July 2015 and wasamong the first to be enrolled on a cancer vaccine trial that will run over the next two years

involving up to 30 volunteers.

Te researchers have designed the vaccine in such a way so as to encourage the immunesystem to react against a part o the cancer cell that allows it to continuously replicate withoutever dying. At the same time, the patients on the trial will be prescribed a chemotherapydrug that should, at low doses, “lif the brakes” on the immune system so that it is no longerprevented rom attacking the body’s own cancer cells, scientists said.

Te survey required the patient to be having a cancer spread to various parts o the body andunortunately or Kelly who had a stage our cancer, despite a stabilized treatment at Guy’shospital; it had spread to spots on his liver and lungs. “When I was told that I may be eligibleor this trial, I was delighted,” Potter said.

“o be part o this trial has changed my lie or the better. It’s been a very positive experienceand really interesting. I eel honoured to be involved. You get the best treatment anyway atGuy’s but it’s antastic to be part o something that could be ground-breaking,” she said.She was injected with the vaccine on Feb 9, and has another seven visits to carry. Doctorshave warned her that she may experience flu-like symptoms, although none has appeared soar, she said. “My hope or the uture is to beat the cancer or as long as I can, and i I can’t, Ihave come to terms with that. I would like to go on and inspire others with cancer,” she said.

Te vaccine contains a small ragment o protein rom an enzyme called human telomerasereverse transcriptase, which allows cancer cells to divide continuously. It is hoped that byinjecting this antigen into the bloodstream, it will stimulate the immune system to make anti-bodies that attack cancer cells but leave healthy cells untouched.

“In this trial we are investigating a orm o immunotherapy designed to activate the body’simmune system by administration o a vaccine based on ragments to a key cancer protein,”said Proessor Hardev Pandah, principal investigator on the trial rom University o Surrey.

To be part of this trial has changed my life for thebetter. It’s been a very positive experience and

really interesting.

-Kelly Potter, Cancer Patient

TUMOUR DESTROYING VACCINE

GOES LIVE...



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

Scientists have or the first time unveiled the gene responsible or that grey hair oyours! Tis breakthrough by the team o researchers including one o the India ori-gins could lead to new treatments to delay or block the process.

Te finding has ound that there are more than just environmental actors responsible orgreying- the genetic actor! A population o over 6000 with varied ancestry across LatinAmerica was analyzed to identiy new genes associated with hair colour, greying, density

and shape - straight or curly.

Te gene, called IRF4, is involved in regulating melanin, the pigment responsible or haircolour as well as the colour o the skin and eyes. People with a certain version o the geneare predisposed to hair greying, according to University College London human geneticistAndres Ruiz-Linares, one o the researchers in the study.

Te researchers said hair greying is not driven exclusively by genetics, with other actors inthe mix such as stress or experiencing a traumatic event.

Scientists had known that a gene called IRF4 played a crucial role in hair colour, but or the

first time they were also able to link it to going grey.

“We already know several genes involved in balding and hair colour but this is the first timea gene or greying has been identified in humans, as well as other genes influencing hairshape and density,” said Dr Kaustubh Adhikari, rom the University College London (UCL).

“It was only possible because we analyzed a diverse melting pot o people, which hasn’t beendone beore on this scale. Tese findings have potential orensic and cosmetic applicationsas we increase our knowledge on how genes influence the way we look,” said Adhikari.

Tis finding serves as a big scientific achievement to not only help in developing cures to

delay aging but also would help develop orensic DNA technologies to build visual profilesbased on an individual’s genetic makeup.

SCIENTISTS PIN POINT GENE THAT

MAKES YOU GREY

These ndings have poten-

tial forensic and cosmetic

applications as we increase

our knowledge on how

genes inuence the way welook.

-Dr Kaustubh Adhikari.,

University College London



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

In good news or the treatment o dengue, an herbal medi-cine against it is doing the rounds which is claimed to havebeen developed by scientists in India. Dengue accounts or50 per cent o the global population being estimated to be

at risk rom the disease. Te researchers are taking up the next

step now to clear the clinical trials and toxicity studies beoreseeking permission rom the Ministry o Ayush and the DrugController o India (DCI) or commercial production.

Tis project which was undertaken jointly by the Departmento Biotechnology (DB), under the Ministry o Science andechnology, the International Centre or Genetic Engineeringand Biotechnology and Ranbaxy Research Laboratory (nowowned by Sun Pharma) employed Ayurveda in devising thedrug.

Using the knowledge o traditional Indian medicine, theydeveloped a systematic bioassay-guided screening approach toexplore the indigenous herbal bio- resource to identiy plantswith pan-DENV (dengue virus) inhibitory activity.

“Results showed that the alcoholic extract o Cissampelospariera Linn (Cipa extract) was a potent inhibitor o all ourDENVs in cell-based assays, assessed in terms o viral NS1 an-tigen secretion using ELISA, as well as viral replication, basedon plaque assays. Virus yield reduction assays showed thatCipa extract could decrease viral titres by an order o magni-

tude. Te extract conerred statistically significant protectionagainst DENV inection,” said Navin Khanna, senior scientistat ICGEB and the group leader o the project.

He added that preliminary evaluation o the clinical relevanceo Cipa extract showed it had no adverse impact on plateletcount and RBC viability. It also showed no evidence o toxicityin Wistar rats, when administered doses as high as 2g/Kg bodyweight or up to a week. “We have tested it on rats and havegot positive results, but now it needs to be tested on biggeranimals,” Khanna said.

A BREAKTHROUGH DENGUE

DRUG DEVELOPED BY INDIANSCIENTISTS

“We have tested iton rats and havegot positive results,

but now it needs to

be tested on big-

ger animals.

-Navin Khanna,

Senior scientist at ICGEB



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

Call us 1800-200-3757 netjrf.biotecnika.org

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RASAYANIKA

ZONE

India is soon set to have an indigenous and cost effective diagnostic tool or tubercu-losis in a year as claimed by Indian Council o Medical Research's Director GeneralSoumya Swaminathan.

"A Bengaluru-based company has made the new diagnostic tool which is going to bemore point-o-care and we hope it will be as good as GeneXpert test," she said. "I our

evaluation shows positive result, then it may replace GeneXpert. Te idea is to reduce thecost and have an indigenous diagnostic tool," Swaminathan added.

GeneXpert is a popular test or detecting B that provides result in a couple o hourswith minimal hands-on technical time. ICMR is ocused on research or better treatmentstrategies and diagnostics and is also working to speed up rapid diagnostics or B.

"Te evaluation will be over in the next three months. I it is ound to be good, produc-tion will be scaled up. Tat may take another six months or so. It maybe a year beore thediagnostic tool is available," she said.

ICMR is also working on developing vaccines or major inections, malaria and HIV.Te phase-one trial or malaria vaccine should start very soon as the necessary approvalshas been obtained, Swaminathan said. It has applied or regulatory clearance to start thephase-three trial or a new vaccine (a recombinant VCG vaccine) or B, Swaminathanadded.

India to have Indigenous

diagnostic tool for TB

“The evaluation will be over in the next three months. If

it is found to be good, production will be scaled up.

-Soumya Swaminathan

BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

mag.biotecnika.org 14



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

DR. REDDY'S and TR-PHARM

collaborate overBIOSIMILARS

“Turkey is a key emerging market and we are

pleased to partner with TR-Pharm to ensure

that patients in the region get access to our

portfolio of high quality biosimilar products.

-M V Ramana,

Executive Vice President & Head Branded Markets

Dr. Reddy’s

I

ndian pharma major Dr. Reddy’s announced that it has collaborated with urkey basedR-Pharm involving three biosimilar products. Dr. Reddy’s said in a statement that“We have entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with urkey-based R-

Pharm involving 3 biosimilar products. Tese products will be registered and subse-quently commercialized as a part o this agreement by R-Pharm in urkey”.

Under the strategic agreement, R-Pharm would also manuacture the drug substance anddrug product upon completion o its acility investment. It would also prove an importantcomponent o R-Pharm’s ongoing biological product development and manuacturingbusiness in the region and the company has already begun laying out the groundwork orthe technology transer.

Tis partnership also enables Dr. Reddy’s to widen the global ootprint o its biosimilarbusiness.

“Biosimilars are a key component o our investment strategy in urkey to establish biotech-nological API production or national use and regional exports. Tis agreement will notonly enable more affordable medication but also support our research and developmentinitiatives by building expertise within the country, R-Pharm General Manager MehmetGoker said.

M V Ramana, Executive Vice President & Head Branded Markets (India and Emergingcountries) o Dr Reddy’s said, “urkey is a key emerging market and we are pleased to part-ner with R-Pharm to ensure that patients in the region get access to our portolio o highquality biosimilar products.”



Lupin completes

acquisition of

US-based

GAVIS Pharma

Drug major Lupin which had announced the acquisitiono privately held US-based GAVIS Pharmaceuticals LLCand Novel Laboratories in July 2015 has completed the itstakeover. Tis deal would enhance the company's scale

in the US generic market and would also broaden its pipeline indermatology, controlled substance products and other high-valueand niche generics.

Te deal would mean that GAVIS' New-Jersey based manuactur-ing acility will become Lupin's first manuacturing site in the US."Te GAVIS portolio augments our US business and nichegeneric pipeline. We plan to leverage the ormulation expertiseo Gavis to enhance both Lupin's generic as well as specialty pipe-line”, said Lupin CEO Vinita Gupta.

GAVIS also brings to Lupin a highly skilled US-based manuac-turing and research organization which would complement itsFlorida-based R&D centre or inhalation products.

Te company has 62 abbreviated new drug application fillingspending approval with the US FDA and a pipeline o over 65 plusproducts under development; amounting to a market o over $9billion with just pending approvals.

Lupin and GAVIS combined would have a portolio o over 120in-market products, more than 185 cumulative filings pendingapproval and a deep pipeline o products under development orthe US.

It is also important to note that the acquisition creates the 5thlargest pipeline o ANDA filings with US FDA, catering to a$63.8-billion market.

“ We plan to lever-age the formula-tion expertise of

Gavis to enhance

both Lupin’s

generic as well as

specialty pipeline

-Vinita Gupta,

CEO, Lupin

BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE



Agilent echnologies Inc., a global leader in lie sci-ences, diagnostics and applied chemical marketsannounced that it would invest $80 million inLasergen, an emerging biotechnology company

with innovative next-generation sequencing technol-ogy. Tis acquisition allows Agilent to have a 48-percentownership stake in privately held Lasergen. Also, Agilenthas the option to acquire the remaining shares o Lasergen

until March 2, 2018, or an additional consideration o$105 million.

Te alliance aims on building a next-generation sequenc-ing solutions workflow or clinical applications, based onLasergen’s Lightning erminators™ sequencing chemistry.Lightning erminators offer potentially aster, more ac-curate and less expensive genome sequencing than othertechnologies currently on the market.

“Agilent is investing in a team and technology that holdgreat promise or the uture o genetic sequencing,” saidJacob Taysen, president o Agilent’s Diagnostics andGenomics Group. “Agilent has been clear about its stra-tegic intent to grow in the diagnostics space and, to thatend, build a complete routine clinical NGS workflow. Ourinvestment and collaboration are designed to accelerateLasergen’s work in commercializing their novel technol-ogy, ocused on developing a sequencing workflow aimedat clinical applications.”

“We’re excited to collaborate with a known leader in diag-nostics and genomics,” said Mimi Healy, Ph.D., presidentand CEO o Lasergen. “Agilent’s experience o providingleading products, combined with our expertise in NGSchemistry, will allow us to develop a comprehensive solu-tion designed to meet the needs o the routine clinicalNGS market.”

AGILENT INVESTS $80 MILLION

ON LASERGEN’S NEXT-GENERATION

SEQUENCING SOLUTIONS

“We Agilent is investing in a team and technology

that hold great promise for the future of genetic

sequencing.-Jacob Thaysen

President, Agilent’s Diagnostics & Genomics Group

BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

Person-on-chip

for better drug

testing

“Our system runs in a normal cell culture dish, and

there are no pumps; we use pressure heads to

perfuse media through the vasculature.

-Milica Radisic

In a significant finding, researchers at the

University o oronto Faculty o AppliedScience and Engineering have developeda new way to grow realistic human tis-

sues outside the body. Te “person-on-chip”technology called as AngioChip, is a power-ul platorm or discovering and testing newdrugs, and could eventually be used to repairor replace damaged organs.

Proessor Milica Radisic, student BoyangZhang and the rest o the team are amongstthose researchers who are striving to findways to grow human tissue in the lab un-der conditions that mimic a real person’sbody. Tey have created unique methods ormanuacturing small, intricate scaffolds orindividual cells to grow on that mimics thereal environment quite closely.AngioChip takes tissue engineering to awhole new level. "It's a ully three-dimen-sional structure complete with internal blood

vessels," says Radisic. "It behaves just like vasculature, and around it there is a lattice orother cells to attach and grow."

Te scaffold is made out o POMaC, a poly-mer that is both biodegradable and biocom-patible and is built out o a series o thinlayers, stamped with a pattern o channelsthat are each about 50 to 100 micrometreswide. Te layers, which resemble the com-puter microchips, are then stacked into a 3D

structure o synthetic blood vessels. As eachlayer is added, UV light is used to cross-linkthe polymer and bond it to the layer below.

When the structure is finished, it is bathed in

liquid containing living cells. Te cells quicklyattach to the inside and outside o the chan-nels and begin growing just as they would inthe human body.

"Previously, people could only do this usingdevices that squish the cells between sheets osilicone and glass," says Radisic. "You neededseveral pumps and vacuum lines to run justone chip. Our system runs in a normal cellculture dish, and there are no pumps; we usepressure heads to peruse media through the

vasculature. Te wells are open, so you caneasily access the tissue."

Researchers claim that a more realistic plat-orm like AngioChip could enable drug com-panies to detect dangerous side effects andinteractions between organ compartmentslong beore their products reach the market,saving countless lives. It could also be used to

understand and validate the effectiveness ocurrent drugs and even to screen libraries ochemical compounds to discover new drugs.

Te team still has much work to do. EachAngioChip is currently made by hand; i theplatorm is to be used industrially, the teamwill need to develop high-throughput manu-acturing methods to create many copies atonce. Still, the potential is obvious. "It reallyis multiunctional, and solves many problems

in the tissue engineering space," says Radisic."It's truly next-generation."



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

In what may come as a shocking

revelation, researchers have oundthat the ederal Medicare pro-gramme and private health insurers

waste nearly $3 billion every year buyingcancer medicines that are thrown outbecause many drug makers distribute thedrugs only in vials that hold too much ormost patients.

Most o the treatment requires specificamounts or specific patient and hence

nurses inject these expensive drugs anddiscard the rest because o saety concerns.Te burden could be reduced i drug makersdistributed vials containing smaller quanti-ties hence minimizing the waste.

According to researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering CancerCentre, the current scenario involves drug makers selling exclusively one-size-fits-all vials; making the patients to pay thousands o dollars or medicine they are nevergiven. "Drug companies are quietly making billions orcing little old ladies to buy enoughmedicine to treat ootball players, and regulators have completely missed it," said Dr. PeterB Bach, director o the Centre or Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Ketteringand a co-author o the study.

Researchers analysed the waste generated by the top 20 selling cancer medicines and con-cluded that insurers paid drug makers $1.8 billion annually on discarded quantities and thenspent about $1 billion on markups to doctors and hospitals.

In one example, the study said that in the US, akeda Pharmaceuticals sells Velcade, a drugor the treatment o multiple myeloma and lymphoma, only in 3.5-milligram vials that sellor $1,034 and hold enough medicine to treat a person who is 6 eet 6 inches tall and weighs

250 pounds. Lena Haddad, 53, o Germantown, Md., who has been living with multiplemyeloma or our years, now gets a weekly dose o 1.8 milligrams o Velcade. Her nurse takesa vial o Velcade, injects a syringeul o saline into it, withdraws hal the contents and throwsout the rest.

akeda stands to earn $309 million this year on supplies o Velcade that are discarded, whichis 30% o the drug's overall sales in the US. I akeda provided a vial size o 0.25 milligram,waste would be cut by 84%, reducing Velcade's sales in the US by $261 million annually, theresearchers said.

Christopher Kelly, a spokesman or the FDA, said the agency objected to vial sizes only i it

believed that an excessively large volume "could lead to medication errors or saety issues."

$3 billion/year goes

waste in cancer

drugs in the US



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

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BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

The

ControllingCancerSummit 2

0 1 6

17th - 19th

May 2016London, UK

The annual Controlling Cancer

Summit in an international

academic event with plenty of

opportunity for networking and

debate. In an informal setting, thismeeting will bring you up to date

with current research and thinking

regarding screening, prevention

and treatment in this ever-growing

field.

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BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

4th GLOBAL MORINGA MEET

2016

Centre for Jatropa Promotion

2 days international workshop on

“Moringa production & application”

April 29 & 30, 2016, Jaipur, India

Moringa Oleifera, an Indian origin plant has gained its importance due to nutraceutical values and is consid-

ered as indispensable plant for health management. It is one of the most incredible plants to the mankind as

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BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

STORING BRAIN TO COMPUTERthe unrealistic way!

How do you like the idea o being immortal? And wouldn’t it be great i the memo-ries you have become immortal too? No, it isn’t the script o the movie that we arenarrating out o a sci-fi movie but an extraordinary work by Russian billionaireDmitry Itskov who seeks to attain immortality by uploading his brain to the com-

puter. It indeed is a quite intriguing eat!

Who says that money can’t buy you everything? Well, it can bring “immortality” or the

least. A billionaire Russian businessman, Dmitry Itskov, who made his ortune in inter-net media, is the ounder o the 2045 Initiative, an organization working with a networko scientists to develop 'cybernetic immortality' within the next ew decades. Foundedin the year 2011 with the participation o Russian specialists in the field o neural inter-aces, robotics, artificial organs and systems, it is a nonprofit organization that develops anetwork and community o researchers in the field o lie extension. Te company aims atcreating technologies that could enable the transer o an individual’s personality to a moreadvanced non-biological carrier, and extending lie, including to the point o immortality.It aims to enable ullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions,science and society".

"Within the next 30 years," promises Dmitry Itskov, "I am going to make sure that we canall live orever." While many tech moguls aim to change the way we live by techy inven-tions such as smart devices or social media app, he is trying to change nothing less thanour destiny. It definitely sounds unrealistic at the first go but there is no doubting theseriousness o this sofly spoken 35-year-old, who says he lef the business world to devotehimsel to something more useul to humanity. "I'm 100% confident it will happen. Other-wise I wouldn't have started it," he says.

Te company is aimed towards creating ‘avatars’ by 2020 which would be robots controlledby mind and could send eedback to the user’s brain, through a brain-computer interace.

In the ollowing five years, an avatar into which a human brain can be transplanted aferdeath will be created. An avatar with an artificial brain which can host a human personal-ity will be created by 2035, and a hologram-like avatar will ollow by 2045 - heralding anew age or humanity.

Whether what he is aspiring or a tangible goal? Tough the aspirations that he has laid outseem an exceptional eat, is it really achievable? Te inspiration behind it could make it so.Dmitri says “I there is no immortality technology, I'll be dead in the next 35 years. Deathis inevitable - currently at least - because as we get older the cells that make up our bodieslose their ability to repair themselves, making us vulnerable to cardiovascular disease andother age-related conditions that kill about two-thirds o us.” So he is putting a slice o his

ortune in to a bold plan he has devised to bypass ageing.



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

Within the next 30 years,I am going to make surethat we can all live for-ever. I’m 100% condent

it will happen. OtherwiseI wouldn’t have started

it.

- Dmitry Itskov

It is his idea o surviving till eternity, that he is efforting towards using cutting-edge scienceto unlock the secrets o human brain and then upload an individual’s mind to a computer,reeing them rom biological constraints o the body. "Te ultimate goal o my plan is totranser someone's personality into a completely new body," he says.

Inspiration behind the sci-fi idea!

While the idea o transerring brain to computer is intriguing, we might wonder that whatinspired this tech giant to ollow this path. Te interest behind making the impossiblepossible began as a child in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. "My biggest dream was to bea cosmonaut, to fly in to outer space," he says. One science fiction novel made a lastingimpression: "Te hero took some immortality pill and he ended up flying the orbit o Earth.I remember mysel questioning what I was going to do i I'm immortal."

What do the peers say?

o the path that this Russian entrepreneur has marched, it becomes mandatory that he getsenough support as achieving something like transerring memory to a computer cannot bedone with a one man army. Let’s find out what others have to say!

Dr Randal Koene - a neuroscientist who worked as a research proessor at Boston Univer-sity's Center or Memory and Brain - laughs off any suggestion Itskov might have lost touchwith reality. "All o the evidence seems to say in theory it's possible - it's extremely difficult,but it's possible," he says. "So then you could say someone like that is visionary, but not madbecause that implies you're thinking o something that's just impossible, and that's not thecase."

He believes that the theoretical possibility o this experimentation is rooted in questionsabout how our brain works, the complete answer to which neuroscience has yet to answer.

Te human brain is made up o close to 86 billion neurons andconnected cells that send inormation to each other

via electric charges that traverses like waves. Butexactly how the brain generates our mind is stilla mystery. "Te challenge is precisely how togo rom a physical substrate o cells that areconnected inside this organ, to our mental

world, our thoughts, our memories, oureelings," Pro Raael Yuste o ColumbiaUniversity said.

According to Dr. Ken Hayworth, aneuroscientist at the Janelia ResearchCampus in Virginia explains that totry to unlock the working o brainmany neuroscientist approach it as iit were a computer. In this analogy thebrain turns inputs, sensory data into


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Te obstacles

While there are many hopeul minds that believe in the concept, oth-ers realistic think that brain has a dynamic complexity rom where

human condition emerges and cannot be replicated. "You cannot codeintuition; you cannot code aesthetic beauty; you cannot code love orhate," says Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, who is developing a mind-controlledexoskeleton aimed at helping the paralysed walk. "Tere is no way youwill ever see a human brain reduced to a digital medium. It's simplyimpossible to reduce that complexity to the kind o algorithmic pro-cess that you will have to have to do that."

Tere are others who believe that brain is ar rom working like com-puter and that it might be never be copied in a machine. And i it could

be done and Itskov’s ambitions succeed and what shall be the consequences?

Since the complete idea about how brain gives rise to us is still under-explored,the experimentation might prove risky and hence its every aspect has to be ana-

lyzed thoroughly.

"Te pathway that leads with the new neural technologies to our understanding o thebrain is the same pathway that could lead, theoretically, to the possibility o mind upload-ing," says Yuste. "Scientists that are involved in these methods have the responsibility tothink ahead." Mind uploading would usher in a world raught with risks. "I you could rep-licate the mind and upload it into a different material, you can in principle clone minds,"says Yuste. "Tese are complicated issues because they deal with the core o defining what aperson is."

With the ideas ranging rom in avour o brain uploading to those in apprehensions, thereare plenty o views flowing in. But Itskov is quite sanguine about the idea and is ready toexplain 360 degree perspective o the idea. He says “I will answer you to the question oethics by the opinion which was given to me by his holiness the Dalai Llama when I visitedhim in 2013. His point was that you can do everything i your motivation is to help people."

Itskov who is already planning his immortal lie says that "For the next ew centuries I envi-sion having multiple bodies, one somewhere in space, another hologram-like, and my con-sciousness just moving rom one to another." But it might not be that an easy path as those

sitting on the ethics panel has a lot to question him beore it actually becomes a reality. "Iwould put mind uploading in the list o the topics that should be very careully discussedand thought through," said Yuste.

As we advance and our understanding towards working o brain becomes clear, we mighthave more clear ideas about how brain storage in a computer could be achieved? Or howsae it is? It is certainly an ambitious goal and there is bound to have a debate in the scien-tific community over whether the intricacies o the human brain can even be replicated ina machine at all. Only time will tell i Itsokov’s ambitions are strong visions that would acereality or are mere impossible dreams.



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

INTERVIEW

“

Berg Healthcare

MR. NIVEN NARAINCo-Founder, President & CEO

Utilizing AI reallycame out of a frustra-tion with the currentdrug development

paradigm which cantake 12 to 14 yearsto identify a singledrug treatment with

costs of over

$2 Billion.



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

B

erg, is a biopharmaceutical companywith divisions that include Analytics,

Pharma, Biosystems and Diagnos-tics. Our research ocus seeks tounderstand how alterations in metabolismrelate to disease onset. We have uncoveredkey insight into metabolic control actorsand namely into underlying elements inthe Warburg Hypothesis. Te company hasa deep pipeline o early-stage technologiesin CNS diseases and metabolic diseasesthat complement its late-stage clinicaltrial activity in cancer and prevention o

chemotoxicity. Armed with the use o thediscovery platorm that translates biologicaloutput into viable therapeutics and a robustbiomarker library, Berg is poised to realizeits pursuit o a healthier tomorrow.

BERG’s application o machine-learning(Artificial Intelligence) in biology and medi-cine allows or a combination o systemsbiology and systems engineering leading towell defined answers on human health. Te

BERG Interrogative Biology® platorm inte-grates molecular data directly rom a patientwith clinical and demographic inormationto learn predictive patterns. Te platormhas the potential to provide the physicianwith actionable inormation to recom-mend efficient and sae treatment pathways,insurance companies with health economicsanalyses to develop more relevant ormularyand governments with a data ecosystem orfinancial modeling o healthcare needs othe population.

Conversing with Mr.Niven Narain, Co-ounder, President and CEO, Berg, aboutAI and its application in drug discovery byBerg, we have excerpts as below:

A b o u t t h e c o m p a n y

“As you canimagine, thisconcept wasfairly radical

when introducedsince it went

away from thegrain but over

time as the dataand valida-

tion on variousassets matured,

some of ourharshest criticsbecame some ofour closest col-

laborators.



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

Q. Te idea o utilizing artificial intelligence or developing a therapeutic treatment isquite intriguing. How well does AI and medical research merge? How is it going to trans-

orm medical industry?

A. Te traditional mold o screening chemical compounds and arbitrary screening ochemicals has proven to be a costly, ineffective, and time-consuming proposition o 12-14years and over $2BN. AI allows the model to flip rom hypotheses generating data to datagenerating hypotheses. Tis is where merging math and biology allow or more insightinto the patient at the start o the process instead o waiting or a Phase II trial to showwhat the biological effect may be.

Our approach to drug discovery starts with examining patient biology. Each tissue samplewe collect generates over 14 trillion data points representing cellular activity and me-tabolism. raditional research methods are not possible with this level o big data. It’sonly through the use o artificial intelligence that we are able to analyze all o this data in

a timely ashion. AI also allows us to look at the biology in an unbiased way, instead otesting a hypothesis we are looking to the patterns o biological activity to find the nextgeneration o biology-based drugs. Q. How did the idea o utilizing artificial intelligence conceptualize?

A. It really came out o a rustration with the current drug development paradigmwhich can take 12 to 14 years to identiy a single drugtreatment with costs o over $2 Billion. Patients cannotwait that long or us to find a cure or treatment. Weneed to take a new approach that gets back to biology.We need to better understand human biology to studydisease and healthy states in patients and reveal theirbiological differences at a molecular level. Analyzingall o this data could take decades to complete but withthe power o high perormance computing and AIalgorithms, we are able to obtain valuable biologicalinsights in days to assess what areas o the biology hasgone wrong in a disease setting.

I had come to the realization that we do not unda-

mentally understand how drugs work and even worsedo not consider the patient biology in the traditionalparadigm. Q. Was it easy to etch a financial backing or this project?

A. BERG is privately unded by our two principalinvestors, Carl Berg and Mitch Gray. Teir support iswhat has allowed us to have the reedom to pursue thedevelopment o our novel drug discovery platorm.

Without their unwavering support this would not have



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

been possible. It has been an honor to be unded in this manner. Q. As we know Berg is working on a cancer treatment candidate. How close is the company towards cracking the cancer code? What exactly is Berg’s approach in achieving it?

A. Cancer as you know is an incredibly complex disease and not just one disease butmultiple diseases. Even within a single cancer tumor there are enough mutations over timethat most therapies are not effective and patients are subjected to multiple rounds o chemoor radiation to try to eradicate this moving target. Our approach is different we are look-ing at the metabolic activity o the cancer cells, the Warburg effect. Tis is where cancercells switch the kind o uel they run on to rely more heavily on glucose, shutting down thecells mitochondria and preventing the cell rom dying. Our cancer therapeutic is using anendogenous, naturally occurring molecule to restart the mitochondria which reactivates thecells normal metabolic unctions. With the cell normalized its own internal mechanismswill detect cell damage and start the process o cell death. So instead o trying to kill the

cancer with toxicity we are trying to reset its metabolic state, which will lead to a normalnatural process to remove the cancer cells.

We eel that this is one o the most important components in cancer and allow or the“metabolic” code o cancer to be unraveled.

Q. Could AI be exploited in finding cures or other deadlier diseases as well?

A. Our AI platorm is currently being used to find biomarkers and therapeutic targets in awide range o diseases, rom metabolic diseases like diabetes to neurological diseases likeAlzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Te beauty o our platorm is that it’s unbiased, you can inputbiological data or any disease and it will compare it to the healthy biology and reveal newinsights about that disease that can be developed into treatments or diagnostics.

Q. Are there other companies/ organizations that are using AI or drug development or

has the similar concept been explored beore? I no, is Berg’s technology patented?

“The beauty of our platform is that it ’s unbi-

ased, you can input biological data for anydisease and it will compare it to the healthybiology and reveal new insights about thatdisease that can be developed into treat-

ments or diagnostics.


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BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

STEM CELLS FACILITATE POWER OF VISION

lens and corneas created

What i a person suffering rom vision loss one day hascorneas and lenses made out o his own cells! While manywould underestimate the very idea o churning out some-thing capable out o the organs that has gone rail, a team

o researchers has managed to engineer corneas rom stem cells in thelab, while another regenerated lenses inside the human eye. “Tese twostudies illustrate the remarkable regenerative and therapeutic poten-tial o stem cells,” said Julie Daniels o the University College LondonInstitute o Opthalmology, who analyzed the work.

For our eyes to etch a proper vision it is required that the cornea andlens must be absolutely transparent. But sometimes due to diseaseor aging, these become opaque and are needed to be replaced with adonor or artificial transplant.

So what have the researchers achieved? And the answer is as simpleas overcoming the disadvantage o rejection. Te act that stem cellsare being derived rom patient’s own body, the chances that the organwould be rejected becomes largely eeble.

Tough the idea o harvesting stem cells is not new but until veryrecent, these stem cells were isolated only rom embryonic origin mak-ing it both cumbersome and controversial as it involved destruction othe embryo. But with the advent in technology, researchers have nowdeveloped induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs, which are mature

cells turned back to an earlier, versatile state rom which they can re-diversiy.

Let’s dig into the first idea that the researchers have accomplished. Teidea was not just to create the lens out o stem cells but to evolve thesurgical methods as well. Te current surgical method leaves a large in-cision which becomes easily inflamed. o deal with it, scientists in theUnited States and China developed a new way to remove and replacedamaged eye lenses in people with cataracts.

Te new procedure involves extraction o lens through a much smaller

hole than the existing procedure requires, and this also lef behind

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

many more naturally-occurring, lens-creating stem cells called LECs. Tese were stimulatedinto building a new lens. Te success o the method in rabbits and macaques, and later in 12human children has raised hope in this recently ound technology.

“Each year, more than 20 million cataract patients worldwide undergo treatment with lessextraction and artificial implantation. Yet the current procedure “inadvertently destroys theintegrity o the lens capsule and the very LECs that hold the regenerative key to lens restora-tion,” said the authors o the study.

“We have developed a new, minimally invasive surgical method that allows regeneration oa unctional lens.”

Cataract is one o the leading causes o blindness affecting close to 20.5 million Ameri-cans aged 40 and older. Its treatment involves an expenditure o around $3.4 billion by theederal government. “Te study was one o the finest achievements in the field o regenera-

tive medicine until now”, said Dusko Ilic, a lecturer in stem cell science at King’s CollegeLondon.

In the second breakthrough, the researchers in Japan and Cardiff have used human iPSCsto create eye cells which they grew into healthy corneas in a lab dish and implanted intorabbits. In a preliminary trial, the Japanese researchers cultured and grew sheathes o rabbitcornea—the transparent cover o the eye— that restored sight in blind rabbits born withoutully-grown corneas.

“We are now in the position to initiate first in-human clinical trials o anterior eye trans-plantation to restore visual unction,” said Kohji Nishida at Osaka University in Japan. He

added that “I believe that within the next three years, we will be able to run trials to repairdisease- or injury-damaged human corneas.”

Tis new team discovered they could coerce these iPS cells into orming a simple proto-eye,rom which they could harvest a bounty o different eye tissues. Te researchers kick-startthe ormation o this proto-eye by growing iPS cells in a petri dish lined with the rightcombination o proteins and other molecules. Essentially, these proto-eyes amount to oursimple rings o different cell types that later transorm into different parts o the eye, likethe retina or lens. Tink o them as one o the earliest and simplest phase in biological eyeormation.

Tough both the studies are a significant achievement, the experts aver that or the treat-ment to become viable, it might take some time. Tere is also a need to cut down onthe cost effectiveness as it currently remains very expensive. While boththe therapies reported promise cornea or lens transparency, it stillneeds time to prove its long term effectiveness.

“We have developed a new, minimally inva-

sive surgical method that allows regenera-tion of a functional lens.



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

MAGAZINE


35/72

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BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

TOP 10 WOMENWHO MADE IT LARGE IN BT INDUSTRY

COVER FEATURE


38/7238

Top 10 women who made

it large in BT industry

cover feature

A well known cliché that men dominate the top ranks in the biotech industry hasbeen challenged in the recent times by the well deserving women who are guard-ing the helm o big organizations at all levels. From being the sole ounders omany big names in the industry to being the managers, every role that a women

plays comes with an aplomb! While the success o a women leader is celebrated in today’s

era, it was not always a very easy path. Tere had been times when she had to fight theodds, take the challenges and prove hersel at every step o her carrier. Well, the timehas evolved big time and there are not just a ew but many bigger names flaunted by awomen in biotech and pharma industry.

Celebrating the success o women in the industry, Biotecnika magazine has brought aew such names in this issue that has proved to be an inspiration to all those who thinkthat being a women could be an obstacle to a great career. Let’s dive in to find 10 suchwomen leaders in the industry and how they made it big in biotech!

Te name inevitably comes synonymousto the Indian biotech industry, or not

just being a women but being a leader oone o the most successul companies in the

country. From being eatured in the ‘IME’magazine’s 100 most influential people in the

world to being placed at the ‘Economic imes’India Inc’s top 10 most powerul CEO, she has

earned accolades and respect rom both India andabroad. Her endeavours have etched not only a name

or hersel but or Indian biotech industry at large.

She adorns many eathers on her cap such as chairingKarnataka’s Vision Group on Biotechnology, chairperson o

IIM-Bangalore, serving on the Advisory Council o the Gov-ernment’s Department o Biotechnology, being a part o Prime

Minister’s Council on rade & Industry in India and US-IndiaCEO orum to name a ew. She proves the much popular act that

women are the best at multi-tasking.

o acknowledge her work, she has been awarded with many prestigious

1 KIRAN MAZUMDAR SHAW

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mag.biotecnika.org


39/72mag.biotecnika.org

BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

39

awards till date including the Othmer Gold Medal, or outstanding contributions to theprogress o science and chemistry, 2014, Nikkei Asia Prize, 2009 or Regional Growth,Express Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit Award 2009 or Dynamic Entrepreneur, theEconomic imes ‘Businesswoman o the Year’ and many more. Her most cherished awards

are the prestigious national awards, Padamshri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005) pre-sented to her or the pioneering efforts in Industrial Biotechnology.

A graduate honors in Zoology rom Bangalore University, she qualified her Master inBrewery rom Ballarat University, Australia in 1975. She has also received honoraryDoctorate o Science in 2004 rom Ballarat University in recognition o her pre-eminentcontributions to the field o biotechnology. She has also been awarded honorary doctor-ates rom University o Abertay, Dundee, U.K. (2007), University o Glasgow, U.K. (2008)and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K. (2008). She recently received an honoraryDoctorate o Science by the National University o Ireland (2012) or her contributionto economic lie and was also conerred an honorary doctorate by rinity college Dublin

(2012).

Her leadership at Biocon has helped the company to grow into one o the largest bio-tech companies in India. Under her stewardship, Biocon has evolved rom an industrialenzymes company in 1978 to a ully integrated Biopharmaceutical enterprise encompass-ing a well-balanced business portolio o products and services with a research ocus onDiabetes, Oncology and Auto-immune disease. Her credentials also include spinning offtwo subsidiaries Syngene and Clinigene.

2

Starting her entrepreneurial journey in the year2010 when she decided to move back to Hyderabad

rom Chicago rom where she acquired Master oScience in Physics and MIS (Management Inormation

Systems) rom the University o Illinois, she has come along way. She ounded a company, called Ocimum Bio So-

lutions and over a period o 14 years, they continued growingthe company.

Her desire to be able to create a big impact on people’s lives di-rectly motivated her to start MapMyGenome. It was a tough thing

or them ‘to do something else’ because Ocimum Bio was already do-ing well in the same space. She had to work hard to float the idea to the

current investors and the board o Ocimum to make MapMyGenome asubsidiary. But in 2013, Anu lef Ocimum Bio to ocus on the sel-unded

startup MapMyGenome ull time.

Anu has been named by Red Herring Magazine to the list o 25 ech itansunder 35 in 2006. She has also received the Astia Lie Science Innovators Award

ANU ACHARYA


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She is a ounder o the Gopikrishna Piramal Hospital in Mumbai, and has launched publichealth campaigns against chronic disease, osteoporosis, malaria, B, epilepsy and polio.

As Director o the Piramal Foundation, she helps promote health in rural India with HMRI– a mobile health service, women’s empowerment projects, and supporting communityeducation that creates young leaders. She also serves as a Director o Sarvajal Foundation orclean water and has made immense contribution or supporting women in leadership roles.She has many prestigious accolades under her belt such as being on the Dean’s AdvisoryBoard o both the Harvard School o Public Health and the Harvard Business School,Boards o Indian and International Academic institutions such as II Bombay, and HarvardUniversity, served on the advisory board o UPenn and much more.

On April 2012, Dr. Piramal received the Padma Shri, at the hands o the President o India.She has also received the Alumni Merit Award, the highest award bestowed on Alumni rom

Harvard in September 2012 and the Lotus Award at New York, rom Children’s Hope India,or Leadership and Philanthropy in October 2012. Dr. Piramal has been the recipient o oneo France’s highest honours -“Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merite” (Knight o the Ordero Merit) in 2006, or medicine and trade. She received the Rajiv Gandhi Award or Out-standing Woman Achiever, rom the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, in 2007.

5

PREETHA REDDY

Te Managing Director o one o the orerun-ner in the integrated healthcare, Apollo Hospitals,

Preetha has been in a position o strength at everytouch point o the healthcare delivery chain. Since

its inception in the year 1983, Apollo Hospitals havebeen honoured with the trust o over 30 million patients.

Apollo extends its presence in the quaternary and tertiarycare hospitals in urban and semi-urban India, primary care

& diagnostic gamily clinics, pharmacies, health education toname a ew.

She has the responsibility o overseeing planning, designingand unding o new projects. With an aim to harness the grow-

ing mobile penetration in India, Preetha had initiated partnershipswith telecom providers. Tese are set to transorm the delivery o

healthcare across India and will accelerate Apollo Hospitals’ vision otouching a billion lives.

She was a Founding Member o the National Quality Council, an organization which hadprovided the guidelines on minimum quality standards to Indian Hospitals. In addition tobeing an Executive Member on the Board o Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, she is a Member o

the Wipro Business Leadership Council and a Governing Board Member o XLRI Jamshed-pur.

BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

She works with industry bodies and the Government o India to advance policy decisionson important healthcare issues. In 2009, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh invited herto join the Indo-U.S and Indo-Malaysia CEOs Forum to strengthen bilateral cooperationand trade.

Her list o awards include being ranked in the International list o “50 Most PowerulWomen in Business”, by Fortune in 2010 and 2011, and also in ‘Te Most Powerul Womenin Business’ List compiled by Fortune India – 2011. She has been a regular in the ‘Businessoday’s’ list o powerul business women since 2006. She was also a recipient o LieimeAchievement Award or distinguished service in the field o Social Science rom the LoyolaForum or Historical Research.

Dr. Preetha Reddy holds a B.Sc rom Stella Maris College Chennai, and a Masters in PublicAdministration rom Madras University. She received ormal training in fine-arts at Kal-akshetra, Chennai, and this helped her urther imbibe traditional Indian art and culture.

Preetha Reddy was conerred the Degree o Doctor o Science (Honoris Causa) by theamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai, in recognition o her outstanding workin the field o healthcare.

6

KAVITHA IYER RODRIGUES

Kavitha Iyer, who has an MS in clinicalmicrobiology rom Kasturba Medical Col-

lege, Manipal, and an executive MBA romIndian Institute o Management, Bangalore, is the

co-ounder o two biotech startups- inBiopro andTeramyt. Bringing in an experience o more than 12

years working in top notch names in the industry, thecombination o experience and managerial skills got her

the confidence to pursue entrepreneurship.

Afer acquiring her Master’s degree, Kavitha went straight towork at Biocon, which gave her hands-on experience o work-

ing with a global biotech major. Afer Biocon, she ollowed it upwith stints at Millipore India, where she gained valuable experi-

ence not only in R&D but in project management and processdevelopment.

Post that, she joined as project manager with a cross-unctionality inbusiness development at Avesthagen. While working there, she complet-

ed an executive MBA rom IIM Bangalore, which gave her an understand-ing o how to run a business. Tis was the time when she and her colleague



7 DR. SUDHA NARAYAN RAO

Dr. Sudha Narayana Rao, the ounder o Genotypic echnolo-

gies and Dhiti Omics echnologies has a Ph.D. in Biotech-nology rom Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai. She

has completed her Post-doctoral research in Neurobiol-ogy at the Medical Center in Cornell University, New

York and subsequently worked as consultant Neu-robiologist or QBI Enterprises, Israel. She has to

her credit several publications in peer-reviewed journals.

It was afer her postdoctoral Research inthe US and Israel and having experienced

hands-on what was hot and happeningin the genomic space, she and her hus-

band had two choices- take to academic research or start something new. Her decisionis or all to see. She has successully pioneered Genomics as a service in India with themotto “Genomics simplified”.

She has a keen interest on the working o the brain, multiple interests rom axonomyto journalism, and languages and is passionate about Music.

8&9AARDRA CHANDRA MOULI &

GAYATHRI

Te idea born 7 years ago at Sree Chitra Tirunal College o Engineering, rivan-drum, led these two young women achieve an exceptional eat o starting up an allwomen owned biochemical start-up venture, Aeka Biochemicals which is based outo rivandrum, Kerala, India.

Afer completing B.ech in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering together,they went on to pursue their own career, however afer a ew years they came back

Sohang Chatterjee, saw an opportunity with process development in biologics and de-cided to launch an entrepreneurial venture. “Sohang and I decided that we could ventureinto something that we co-create and add value to. Tis is how we started Inbiopro,” saidKavitha.

She has made it to the ‘Fortune India’s’ ‘40 under 40’ 2014 list and was the only one oseven women who made it.

BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE



BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

NIDHI SAXENA

Founder o Zoctr Health Pvt. Ltd, she currently servesas its Chie Executive Officer. She also ounded Kar-

mic Lie Sciences which was acquired by ClianthaResearch in the year 2014. Karmic Liescienceswas ounded in the year 2005 which boast offa successul track record o executing 150+Clinical rials and 75+ Clinical Data Man-agement & Bio-Statistics Projects (Phase Ito IV) in various therapeutic areas includ-ing Oncology, Cardiovascular, Diabetes,Neurology, Auto-Immune Diseases,Ophthalmology, and Medical Devices.

With an experience o over 16 years and a combination o strong entrepreneurial flair within-depth grounding o the liesciences and outsourcing industries, she definitely stands outthe list o women in biotech industry that made it big!

Her experience stretches across unctions rom Business Strategy, Sales & Marketing, Fi-nancial Planning to Offshore Consulting, ransitions, Operations and Quality.

She has received many business awards including ‘Emerging Business Woman o the Year2013’, ‘Clinical Data Management Company o the Year’, 'Indian Leadership Award or In-dustrial Development', ‘First Generation Woman Entrepreneur o the Year 2012’ and manymore. She has also a prolific Speaker, Invitee at the Global/Indian Business & Entrepreneur-

ship events such as Indo US ech, FICCI, CII, IE, II-G etc.

together to pursue their dream ostarting their own company.

Aeka Biochemicals undertakes themanuacturing o biotechnological,biochemical and enzymatic products,

chemical products or extracts o biologicalorigin. Te company started its operation

on October 3, 2014 and in November it wasshort listed and selected or the Kerala State

Entrepreneur Development Mission scheme othe Government o Kerala in association with the

Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC).

10



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with us!

& let your brand

OUTSHINE!

call 1800-200-3757 [email protected]


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BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

MONSANTO – INDIA SPAT

would it risk GM prevalence in the

country?

While the government o India is determined towards luring international in-

vestment to address employability and ensure growth in the country, other in-cidences such as bitter a row between Delhi and Monsanto tickles the nervesover. Te US GMO giant, which had set its oot in India and revolutionized

cotton industry, has now raised uelling concerns over how oreign companies are treatedin the country. Te heated row began when the government announced a sharp cut in theroyalty ee paid to Monsanto’s local joint venture Mahyco Monsanto biotech by a whop-ping 70%. Tere are many questions that ollow this controversial spat. How has the

decision being received? How could it potentially affect Indian agri industry?Would it bring a period to GM technology in the country?

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Latest Update

Te rif between Monsanto and In-dian government seems to have takena huge turn as a comment directedby the government said that “US

seed company Monsanto is welcometo leave India i it does not want tolower prices o genetically modifiedcotton seeds”. Te comments come asthe government expects to developits own genetically modified (GM)cotton varieties early next year to endMonsanto's dominance; it controlsover 90 per cent o cotton seed sup-ply.

Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Minister oState or Agriculture, said that thegovernment is trying to rectiy whathe called past mistakes that alloweda oreign company to dictate seedprices and stifled local crop research.

"It's now upon Monsanto to decidewhether they want to accept this rateor not," Mr Balyan said. "I they don'tfind it easible, then they are ree to

take a call. Te greed (o charging)a premium has to end. We're notscared i Monsanto leaves the coun-try, because our team o scientists areworking to develop (an) indigenous

variety o (GM) seeds," he said.

Te GM cotton variety by Monsantowas launched in India in the year 2002amidst strong opposition rom its criticswho questioned its saety. But to a greatextent it could prove them wrong bytransorming the country into the world’stop producer and second-largest exportero the fibre. Mahyco Monsanto Biotech, a

joint venture with India’s Mahyco, licencesa gene that produces its own pesticide toa number o local seed companies in lieuo royalties and an up-ront payment. Italso markets the seeds directly, though thelocal licensees together command 90 per

cent o the market.

Based on the complaint by India’s agricul-ture ministry that it was charging “unrea-sonably high” royalty ees, CCI asked itsdirector general (DG) to complete an in-

vestigation into the matter in two months.“Te DG shall also investigate the role othe officials/ persons who at the time osuch contravention (o the competitionact, i any) were in charge o and respon-

sible or the conduct o their business,” the CCI said.

While the debate over cutting down royalty charges has rebuked controversy in the industryand outside, there still remains a strong view rom both the ends that makes the controversyindecisive. A ew complained against high royalty charges, while others claimed that theroyalty charged rom Indian seed companies was the lowest in the world and that prices hadcome down over the time and that innovation had to be rewarded.

With government and Monsanto fighting over the prices, the lowered GM cotton pricewould only bring a good news or urther introduction on GM variety in the country suchas the mustards which is under trials to be examined by the experts. In a country like India

where affordability plays a major role, innovation at a best price could be the best thing thatthe industry could receive.

10

15

20

25

30

30

2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13-01 -02 -03 -04 -05 -06 -07 -08 -09 -10 -11 -12 -13 -14

Source: Cotton Advisory Board

India total cotton production | Bales (m)


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STUDENTS

TESTIMONIAL

And it’s the time to celebrate again! Like all the previous years, Biotecnikans

have achieved success with flying colurs in what is considered as the most

dreaded examinations of all- the CSIR NET. While Biotecnika is nurturinglife sciences in every possible way, coaching the aspirants with exams such as

CSIR NET, GATE, DBT and ICMR remains one of its strongly held domain.

With the results of December 2015 and GATE 2016 out, let’s have a look at

what these achiever’s have to say!

My six months journey at Biotecnika completely changed my life. e

immense guidance, support and faith of teachers at Biotecnika made me

achieve AIR 41 in CSIR NET and AIR 55 in GATE. Each and every faculty

here is a masterpiece in their respective topics. I would especially like to

thank Biochemistry and Molecular Biology faculty because now I am able

to understand Biochemistry very clearly. Also, aer becoming a part of

Biotecnika, I have developed a keen interest and firm grip on cell signal-

ling and cancer part which most of the students generally are not able to

understand. I owe my success to Biotecnika without which I would have

never achieved whatever I did.

Biotecnika coaching has helped me cope up with

the huge CSIR NET syllabus very well. e teachers

are really good with their topics and always ready

to help the students with their doubts. I have

contacted the staff for my doubts many times &

they were resolved within 24hrs each time. especial classes for Developmental Biology and

Ecology were of immense help. e teachers know

that students come from various backgrounds and

hence they always taught each topic from the zero

level, ensuring that the basic principles were well

understood by each of us. I was a part of online

classes and I never felt le out or neglected by the

teachers. ey have been very efficient in dealing

with both online and offline students together.

Aer completing my post graduation, it wasdifficult to sit back and prepare myself, Biotecnika

has helped me a LOT to prepare for the exams. I

owe my success to the entire team of Biotecnika.

Alka Gupta, CSIR NET AIR 20

Akanksha Patna, CSIR NET AIR 41, GATE AIR 55

Biotecnika was really worth

attending. e weekly and

monthly tests and discus-

sions were so thorough that

they helped me to not only

revise the topic but to

correctly select the most

probable answer to the

questions.

Shruti Marathe

CSIR NET JRF AIR 52

I would like to thank all the teachers and

staff of Biotecnika for their guidance and

support. e coaching provided for CSIR

NET is excellent and all NET aspirants

should join it.

Alka Kumari, CSIR NET AIR 23

I am very glad to inform that I have got AIR 15

in CSIR NET held in December 2015 and also

AIR 96 in GATE XL held in Feb 2016.

Biotecnika helped me a lot in this achievement.

Committed teachers helped me to make my

concepts crispy clear. Quest and regular tests

helped to identify my shortcomings and

remove them.

Ashutosh Sharma

CSIR NET AIR 15, GATE XL AIR 96

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Suruchi Dixit, CSIR NET JRF 45

I am grateful to all the teachers at Biotecnika for their support

and help. Weekly and monthly tests were a great help in the

preparation. Biotecnika helped me to remain consistent in the

studies and to work on weaker areas more and more. Dr.

Sangeeta’s classes on Plant Physiology and Ecology were mosthelpful for me because those were the subjects not taught to me

in my UG or PG courses. Once again I would like to thank

Biotecnika for their help.

Your study material helped

me a lot to qualify CSIR

NET and GATE. With the

help of study materials I

hope to qualify JRF in

future. ank you so much

to the teachers. I will

recommend everybody to

study from Biotecnika. e

collection of study materials

proved very efficient for the

preparation of papers.

Shefali Mishra

CSIR NET LS 38, GATE BT AIR 910

Biotecnika has provided me with a framework of thetopics that needed to be studied from the myriads of

topics laid down in the syllabus. e classroom course

at the Bangalore branch had a bunch of excellent faculty

members who were very approachable, solved our

doubts, no matter how silly it would be and most

importantly they would always keep us motivated for

the examination. I am very glad that I joined Biotecnika

and that it provided me a good exposure to the gaps I

had in my studies and also helped me overcome them.

Arpita Sarkar, CSIR UGC NET AIR 72

Biotecnika helped me avail my

buoyancy. I appreciate the

support from all faculty

members. I found them very

friendly. Before coming here I

wasn’t that confident and I

found myslef building it in no

time. All the matter given

here is genuine. Simply I am

very grateful to Biotecnika

team and all my batch mates.

Mukkesh Kumar

CSIR NET AIR 55

I am Ashasmita Subhadarshine Mishra and I am

pleased to inform that I have cleared GATE exam

for XL, AIR 585. I had not been keeping well

much ahead of the exams and I wasn’t sure if I

could pull it off. It’s been possible all because of

the efforts of the teachers and their encourage-

ment and constant support. My sincere thanks to

Rohit Sir, Vijesh Sir, and Sumit Sir for their

guidance tireless efforts. I joined Biotecnika in

December 2015 and within 2 months of

hardwork and support from teachers, I could

crack it.

My sincere thanks to all the staff members of

Biotecnika who helped me in making this

happen.

Ashasmita, GATE XL AIR 585

Your course books and

CDs helped me a lot in

cracking GATE.

Indranil Mukherjee

GATE XL AIR 168

BIOTECNIKA MAGAZINE

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I have qualified CSIR NET JRF December with merit rank 59. I would like to thank

Biotecnika for this achievement which has given me a new identity. With all my

heart I thank the entire staff of Biotecnika (teaching and non teaching). It would

have been impossible without Biotecnika. All the staff members have put all their

efforts in making us clear the exam with a good rank. I was a classroom student

from Bangalore Branch for 6 months. Each and every query was solved with all theefforts. Brilliant staff, Brilliant facilities. My best wishes to Biotecnika.

Poorwa Badola, CSIR NET JRF AIR 59

First of all thank you for helping out all

the students through your website and

coaching. I have been followingBiotecnika from past four years.

ough I didn’t take any coaching still

I found the information on your

website valuable. Tips and tricks for

clearing CSIR really worked out for me.

I was taking the mock tests as well.

ank you for providing such services.

Safi Syed, CSIR NET JRF AIR 51

I attended Biotecnika’s

3 month crash course

(Late evening batch-

Online), cleared CSIR

NET this December.

e classes were quite

good. e late eveningbatch was a blessing

for those who work

like me. I thank all the

faculties and Biotecni-

ka team members.

Sukhdeep Kaur, CSIR NET AIR 37

I found Biotecnika faculty very approachable, helpful and

knowledgeable. I thank them whole heartedly for all the

efforts they had taken in teaching the subjects in the most

efficient way possible. e test conducted regularly contribut-

ed greatly in my CSIR preparation. I thank entire Biotecnika

teachers and staff members for their help.

Sora S, CSIR NET AIR 46

Divya Rajendran, CSIR NET AIR 65, GATE BT AIR 210

I am very glad to inform that I have qualified Dec

2015 CSIR Life Sciences. I have secured 37th rank.

I just want to thank Biotecnika team for their

guidance and help t

biotecnika magazine april 2016

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