Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Devastating Frog Disease: Chytridiomycosis

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Chytridiomycosis

Mains level : Not Much

frog

Central Idea

  • A multinational study has recently published a breakthrough method in the journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseases to detect all known strains of the amphibian chytrid fungus.
  • This method will enhance our ability to detect and research the disease and work towards finding a widely available cure.

Chytridiomycosis: The deadly frog disease

  • Chytridiomycosis, also known as chytrid, is a fungal disease that has been decimating frog populations worldwide for the past 40 years.
  • The disease has caused severe declines in over 500 frog species and led to 90 extinctions, making it the deadliest animal disease known.

How does it infect?

  • Chytrid infects frogs by reproducing in their skin, damaging their ability to balance water and salt levels.
  • The mortality rate is extreme, and the disease has affected a high number of species, causing devastating declines and extinctions.
  • The disease originated in Asia and spread globally through amphibian trade and travel.

Limitations in diagnosis

  • Researchers traditionally used swabs and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) tests, similar to COVID-19 testing, to detect chytrid in frogs.
  • The existing qPCR test could not detect chytrid strains from Asia, limiting research efforts.

New and Improved qPCR Test

  • Researchers in India, Australia, and Panama have developed a new qPCR test that can detect strains of chytrid from Asia.
  • The test is also more sensitive, allowing for the detection of low infection levels and expanding the range of species that can be studied.
  • The test can also detect a closely related species of chytrid that infects salamanders.

Understanding natural immunity in frogs

  • Some amphibian species, even those without an evolutionary history with chytrid, do not become sick when carrying the fungus, indicating natural immune resistance.
  • Frog immunity is complex, involving anti-microbial chemicals, symbiotic bacteria, white blood cells, antibodies, and more.
  • Research in Asia, where chytrid declines have not been observed, may provide insights into how resistance evolves and aid in finding a cure for affected regions.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Study reveals unique Nervous System in Comb Jellies

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Comb Jellies, Neurons, Neural Network

Mains level : Not Much

comb

Central Idea

  • Comb jellies, or ctenophores, are marine animals with jelly-like bodies and iridescent combs.
  • They represent an ancient animal lineage and have a distinct nervous system.
  • A recent study published in Science examined the comb jelly nervous system and made surprising discoveries.

What are Comb Jellies?

  • Comb jellies, also known as ctenophores, are marine animals that belong to the phylum Ctenophora. They are fascinating creatures with a unique and delicate appearance.
  • Despite their name, comb jellies are not actually true jellyfish.
  • They have a gelatinous, transparent body that is often luminescent and adorned with rows of cilia, or comb-like structures, which give them their characteristic shimmering appearance.

Findings of the new study

  • The researchers aimed to investigate how nerve net neurons in comb jellies connect.
  • Contrary to expectations, synapses (junctions between neurons) were absent in the nerve net.
  • Instead, nerve-net neurons were continuously connected by a single plasma membrane.

Significance of ctenophores

  • In the 1950s, electron microscopy confirmed the separate-cell nature of neurons connected by synapses.
  • Ctenophores challenge this notion by having a syncytial nerve net, as observed in the new study.
  • Ctenophores attracted attention due to their status as a potential early animal lineage.
  • Whole-genome sequencing studies supported the theory that ctenophores branched off early in animal evolution.

Evolution of ctenophore nervous systems

  • The evolution of ctenophore nervous systems remains unclear to biologists.
  • Leonid Moroz proposed a controversial theory of independent nervous system evolution in ctenophores and other animals.
  • Ctenophores exhibit a unique nervous system lacking classical neurotransmitter pathways and common neuronal genes.
  • The absence of muscle-based movement and reliance on cilia might have driven the evolution of a different signal conduction system.

Questions for further research

  • Researchers aim to study the development of nerve net neurons in ctenophores.
  • They seek to determine if adult ctenophores retain syncytial nerve nets or develop synapses.
  • The uniqueness of ctenophore nervous systems provides valuable insights into the evolution of the nervous system.
  • Comparative analyses of unique animal systems like ctenophores aid in understanding neuronal function and treating disorders.

Conclusion

  • Understanding the functional and evolutionary significance of syncytial nerve net neurons in ctenophores requires further research.
  • This study serves as a crucial foundation for investigating the evolution of nervous systems in animals.
  • Comparative studies on small marine creatures like ctenophores offer insights into the fundamental principles of brain function.

Key Terminologies

  • Ctenophores: Another term for comb jellies, referring to marine animals belonging to the phylum Ctenophora.
  • Nerve Net: The diffuse nervous system found in comb jellies, composed of interconnected neurons.
  • Synapses: Junctions between neurons that allow for communication and transmission of signals in most animals, including humans.
  • Plasma Membrane: The outer membrane of a cell that separates its internal components from the external environment.
  • Neurotransmitter Pathways: The specific chemical signals used by neurons to communicate with each other in the nervous system.
  • Syncytial Nerve Net Neurons: Neurons within the nerve net of comb jellies that are interconnected without the presence of synapses.
  • Colloblasts: Specialized cells in comb jellies used for capturing prey by producing adhesive substances.

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Did Neanderthals shape our noses?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Neanderthals , Read the attached story

Mains level : Evolutionary features of Humans

Neanderthal

Central Idea

  • The human nose has historical and cultural importance beyond its practical functions.
  • Different societies have their own standards of beauty related to nose shape and proportion.
  • The nose is significant in art, literature, and remnants of ancient civilizations.

Who were the Neanderthals?

Description
Time Period Lived approximately 400,000 to 40,000 years ago during the Middle Paleolithic and Late Pleistocene epochs
Physical Appearance Robust build with a barrel-shaped chest, shorter limbs, and distinctive anatomical features such as pronounced brow ridges and a projecting mid-face
Tools and Technology Skilled toolmakers who used a variety of tools made from stone, bone, and antler
Culture and Behavior Complex social structures and likely lived in small groups or bands, exhibited advanced hunting techniques, made use of fire, and engaged in symbolic expressions through personal ornamentation and cave art
Adaptation to Environments Adapted to cold and temperate environments, had robust bodies, large noses, and other physiological characteristics were advantageous for survival in harsh conditions
Interactions with Modern Humans Interbred with early modern humans who migrated out of Africa. As a result, some individuals today carry a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA in their genomes, particularly in non-African populations
Extinction Around 40,000 years ago
Scientific Significance Closest extinct relatives, and understanding their anatomy, behavior, and interactions with modern humans helps reconstruct our shared past

Genetic association study on Human Nose

  • A recent study used 2D images and automated measurements of facial landmarks to conduct a genetic association study.
  • The study involved over 6,000 Latin American individuals and identified 42 new genetic loci associated with the human nose.
  • Some of these loci, including 1q32.3, were replicated in other populations like Asians, Europeans, and Africans.

Role of Neanderthal Genes and ATF3 Gene

  • The genetic locus 1q32.3, associated with midface height, has contributions from Neanderthals.
  • The ATF3 gene, located in this locus, is regulated by FOXL2, which is involved in skull and face development.
  • Changes in nose shape may have evolutionary implications, helping humans adapt to different climates.

Neanderthal Genomes and Human Traits

  • Genomic loci from Neanderthals and Denisovans have influenced various traits and diseases in modern humans.
  • Evidence suggests these genomic contributions affect pathogen response, skin conditions, blood conditions, cancers, and mental health.
  • Understanding the genetic interactions between archaic and modern human genomes aids in comprehending genetic diversity and adaptability.

Human Origins and Interbreeding

  • Human migrations out of Africa, interbreeding with Neanderthals and Denisovans, and extinct archaic hominids have shaped human traits.
  • Recent studies highlight that early humans diverged in Africa from multiple ancestral roots, with varying degrees of genetic components from archaic humans in different populations.

Implications and Future Research

  • Studying the interbreeding event and its consequences deepens our understanding of genetic heritage.
  • The knowledge gained could lead to new avenues for disease study, treatment, and appreciation of human genetic diversity.
  • Continued research on the interplay between archaic and modern human genomes is an exciting frontier in genomics.

 

Key Terminologies

Loci/Locus: The position of a specific gene on a chromosome.

Introgression: The transfer of genetic information between different species or populations through interbreeding.

Neanderthals: Archaic hominids closely related to modern humans, believed to have interbred with early humans.

Denisovans: A subspecies of archaic humans who lived until around 30,000 years ago.

Genomic Loci: Specific locations on chromosomes associated with certain traits or characteristics.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Understanding a Human Pangenome Map

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Human Pangenome Map

Mains level : Genetic studies

pangenome

Central Idea

  • A study published in the Nature journal presents a pangenome reference map built using genomes from 47 anonymous individuals.
  • The individuals included in the study are from various regions, including Africa, the Caribbean, Americas, East Asia, and Europe.

Understanding Genomes and Reference Genomes

  • The genome refers to the collection of all genes and regions between genes found in our chromosomes.
  • Each chromosome is composed of millions of nucleotides (A, T, G, and C) arranged in different combinations.
  • Genome sequencing helps understand genetic diversity and susceptibility to diseases.
  • A reference genome is a map used to compare newly sequenced genomes and identify differences.
  • The first reference genome, created in 2001, had limitations and did not represent human diversity accurately.

What is Pangenome Map?

  • The new study focuses on building a pangenome map, which is a graph representing genetic diversity among individuals.
  • Pangenome maps use long-read DNA sequencing technologies to assemble sequences accurately.

Importance of Pangenome Map

  • Although humans are more than 99% similar in their DNA, there is still a 0.4% difference between individuals.
  • A complete and error-free pangenome map helps understand genetic differences and human diversity.
  • It aids in identifying genetic variants linked to health conditions, such as the discovery of 150 new genes associated with autism.
  • The current pangenome map lacks representation from certain populations, including Indians.

Implications for Indian Genomes

  • The pangenome map, despite not including Indian genomes, will assist in mapping Indian genomes against existing reference genomes.
  • Future pangenome maps with Indian genome data will provide insights into disease prevalence, rare gene discovery, diagnostic methods, and drug development.

 

Key Terminologies

Genome: The complete set of genes and regions between genes in an organism.

Reference Genome: A map used to compare newly sequenced genomes and identify differences.

Pangenome: A graph representing genetic diversity among individuals rather than a linear sequence.

Nucleotides: The building blocks of DNA (A, T, G, C).

Long-Read DNA Sequencing: A technology that produces longer and contiguous DNA strands for more accurate sequencing.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Strengthening Quad: The Need for a Biomanufacturing Hub in India

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Biomanufacturing, QUAD's CET working group, ICET and other such developments

Mains level : Strengthening Quad Cooperation in Biotechnology, India as a biomanufacturing hub

Central Idea

  • The Quad, comprised of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, established a Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group in March 2021 to foster collaboration and explore opportunities in critical and emerging technologies, including biotechnology. However, there remains untapped potential for Quad cooperation in the field of biotechnology. The need of the hour is to establish a Quad-led biomanufacturing hub in India to enhance cooperation and leverage the complementary strengths of Quad nations.

What is QUAD’s Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group?

  • The Quad’s Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group is a collaborative initiative established by the Quad countries.
  • It was formed in March 2021 with the aim of facilitating cooperation, monitoring trends, and exploring opportunities related to critical and emerging technologies. The working group focuses on identifying and addressing key issues and challenges in areas such as biotechnology, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, and other cutting-edge fields.
  • It serves as a platform for the Quad countries to share expertise, exchange information, and coordinate efforts in order to harness the potential of these technologies for economic growth, national security, and societal development.
  • For instance, in the field of 5G, the Quad members have worked on developing telecommunications networks to counter the pervasive presence of China’s Huawei through the use of open radio access (O-RAN) networks.

Facts for prelims

Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET)?

  • The ICET initiative was launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden in May 2022, to work together in developing important and new technologies.
  • The Prime Minister’s Office in Delhi and the White House in Washington will oversee and direct the ICET.
  • The ICET’s goal is to increase the technology interaction between the US and India while also potentially adding additional strategic depth and breadth to their growing partnership.
  • It involves collaboration in a range of areas including quantum computing, semiconductors, 5G and 6G wireless infrastructure, and civilian space projects such as lunar exploration.
  • Six focus areas of co-development and co-production includes, 1. Strengthening innovation ecosystems, 2. Defence innovation and technology cooperation, 3. Resilient semiconductor supply chains, 4. Space, 5. STEM talent, and 6. Next generation telecom.

What is mean by Biomanufacturing?

  • Biomanufacturing refers to the use of biological systems, such as living organisms (microorganisms, cell cultures, or plants), to produce commercially valuable products on a large scale. It involves harnessing the power of biological processes and utilizing them in industrial applications.
  • In biomanufacturing, living organisms are employed as “factories” to perform specific tasks or produce desired molecules. These organisms can be genetically engineered or naturally occurring, depending on the desired outcome.
  • The organisms are cultivated in controlled environments, such as bioreactors, where they are provided with optimal conditions for growth and production. They are fed with specific nutrients, and their growth and metabolic activities are carefully regulated.
  • Biomanufacturing can encompass a wide range of products, including pharmaceuticals, enzymes, biofuels, specialty chemicals, biomaterials, and more.
  • Biomanufacturing is often more sustainable and environmentally friendly, as it relies on renewable resources and has the potential to reduce waste and pollution.

Why India stands as the ideal choice to host the biomanufacturing hub?

  • India’s ambition of biomanufacturing: India’s National Biotechnology Development Strategy sets a target of reaching $100 billion in the biomanufacturing sector.
  • Existing Infrastructure: India already has existing infrastructure in place, including pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities and research institutions, that can be utilized to establish and expand biomanufacturing capabilities. This infrastructure provides a solid foundation for the development of a biomanufacturing hub.
  • Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Expertise: India has a long-standing reputation as a major player in the global pharmaceutical industry. The country has established expertise in manufacturing and quality control processes, which can be leveraged for biomanufacturing. The experience gained in pharmaceutical manufacturing can be applied to biomanufacturing, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and maintaining high-quality production.
  • Skilled Workforce: India possesses a large pool of skilled professionals in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors. The country’s workforce includes scientists, engineers, and technicians with expertise in various aspects of biomanufacturing. This skilled workforce can contribute to the success of the biomanufacturing hub by driving research, development, and production activities.
  • Research Output: India has demonstrated its research capabilities in biomanufacturing, ranking high in terms of the quality of research output and the share of research publications. The country’s strong research base provides a solid foundation for innovation and advancements in biomanufacturing processes and technologies.
  • Cost-Effectiveness: India has a competitive advantage in terms of cost-effectiveness. The cost of manufacturing in India is generally lower compared to countries like the United States, making it an attractive destination for cost-efficient biomanufacturing. This cost advantage can contribute to the affordability and accessibility of biomanufactured products.
  • Potential for Affordable Scale: India has the potential to provide affordable scalability in biomanufacturing processes. With its large population and manufacturing capabilities, India can meet the demand for biomanufactured products on a large scale, leading to cost-effective production and availability of essential biopharmaceuticals and other biotechnological products.

Complementary Strengths of Quad Nations

  • Advanced Biotechnology Innovation Ecosystems: Japan, Australia, and the United States have well-established and advanced biotechnology innovation ecosystems. These ecosystems comprise research institutions, universities, biotech companies, and startups that drive innovation and technological advancements in biotechnology.
  • Funding Capability: The United States, being one of the Quad nations, brings significant funding capability to the table. The U.S. government and private sector invest heavily in research, development, and commercialization of biotechnology.
  • Skilled Workforce: India, as a Quad member, offers a large pool of skilled manpower, particularly in the life sciences field. Collaborative efforts can facilitate knowledge sharing and capacity building to enhance the skills of the workforce across the Quad nations.
  • Manufacturing and Scale-Up Capabilities: India has well-established pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities. The country has a robust infrastructure and expertise in large-scale production, which can be harnessed for biomanufacturing purposes.
  • Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer: The Quad nations, particularly Japan and the United States, have strong intellectual property protection systems and expertise in technology transfer. Sharing intellectual property and facilitating technology transfer can accelerate the development and commercialization of biomanufacturing technologies, benefiting all Quad nations.
  • Research Output and Innovation: All Quad nations contribute significantly to global research output in the field of biotechnology. They produce high-quality research publications and drive innovation in various subfields of biotechnology. Collaboration within the Quad can facilitate knowledge exchange, joint research projects, and the development of innovative solutions in biomanufacturing.

Way ahead

  • Collaborative Research and Development: Foster collaborative research and development initiatives between the Quad nations and India. This can involve joint projects, knowledge sharing, and technology transfer to accelerate the development of biomanufacturing processes, products, and technologies.
  • Capacity Building and Skill Development: Establish training programs, workshops, and exchange programs to enhance the skills and knowledge of professionals in biomanufacturing. This can include specialized training in areas such as advanced bioprocessing techniques, quality control, regulatory compliance, and technology transfer.
  • Infrastructure Investment: Allocate resources for infrastructure development, including the establishment of specialized bioreactor facilities, research centers, and manufacturing capabilities.
  • Regulatory Framework Alignment: Collaboratively work towards aligning regulatory frameworks among the Quad nations and India. This involves harmonizing regulations, streamlining approval processes, and ensuring consistent quality standards.
  • Public-Private Partnerships: Foster public-private partnerships to leverage the expertise, resources, and capabilities of both sectors. Engaging industry stakeholders, academia, research institutions, and government agencies in collaborative initiatives can drive innovation, facilitate technology transfer, and accelerate the commercialization of biomanufactured products.
  • International Collaboration: Explore collaborations beyond the Quad nations to foster international cooperation in biomanufacturing. Engaging with countries outside the Quad can expand opportunities for knowledge exchange, market access, and research collaboration.\

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Must read:

QUAD and the Telecom network security

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

DNA Analysis in Criminal Cases: Ensuring Credibility and Admissibility

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : DNA analysis applications

Mains level : DNA analysis in criminal investigations and and issues

Central Idea

  • The recent judgments by the Supreme Court have raised concerns about the admissibility of DNA reports as conclusive evidence in criminal cases. Highlighting issues of suspicion, lack of examination of underlying findings, and reliable application of techniques, the Court has emphasized the need to establish a robust framework for the acceptance of DNA analysis.

What is DNA analysis?

  • DNA analysis, also known as DNA profiling or DNA testing, is a scientific method used to identify and analyze genetic material present in an individual’s cells.
  • It involves examining specific regions of DNA to create a unique DNA profile for identification purposes.
  • DNA analysis is widely used in forensic investigations, paternity testing, ancestry research, and other fields where genetic identification is required.

Facts for prelims: Basics

Characteristic DNA RNA
Structure Double-stranded Single-stranded
Sugar Deoxyribose Ribose
Bases Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G) Adenine (A), Uracil (U), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G)
Base Pairing A-T, C-G A-U, C-G
Primary Function Stores genetic information Transfers and expresses genetic information, protein synthesis
Types of RNA Not applicable Messenger RNA (mRNA), Transfer RNA (tRNA), Ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
Presence in Viruses Yes Yes
Stability Relatively stable More prone to degradation

 The process of DNA analysis

  • Sample Collection: Biological samples such as blood, saliva, semen, hair, or tissues are collected from the individual or the crime scene.
  • DNA Extraction: The collected sample undergoes a process of DNA extraction, which involves isolating the DNA from other cellular components.
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR): PCR is used to amplify specific regions of the DNA. This technique allows the production of numerous copies of the targeted DNA sequences.
  • Short Tandem Repeats (STR) Analysis: STR analysis is performed by examining specific regions of DNA called short tandem repeats. These regions consist of repeating DNA sequences that vary in length among individuals. The number of repeats at each STR locus is determined and used to create a DNA profile.
  • Electrophoresis: The amplified DNA fragments are separated by size using a technique called electrophoresis. The DNA fragments are placed in a gel matrix and subjected to an electric current, causing them to migrate through the gel. This process separates the DNA fragments based on their sizes.
  • DNA Profile Generation: The separated DNA fragments are visualized, and the resulting pattern is captured as an individual’s DNA profile. The DNA profile consists of a series of bands corresponding to the sizes of the amplified STR regions.
  • Comparison and Interpretation: The generated DNA profile is compared to known reference samples, such as those from suspects or victims. The comparison is used to determine if there is a match or exclusion. Statistical calculations, such as the random match probability (RMP), may be used to assess the significance of the match.

Role of DNA analysis in criminal investigations

  • Identification: DNA analysis is used to identify individuals involved in a crime. By comparing DNA profiles from crime scene samples to reference samples, such as those collected from suspects or victims, investigators can establish or exclude a person’s presence at the crime scene.
  • Linking Suspects to Crime Scenes: DNA evidence can be compared to a suspect’s DNA profile to determine if they were present at the crime scene. If a match is found, it provides strong evidence connecting the suspect to the crime.
  • Exclusion of Innocent Individuals: DNA analysis can be used to exclude individuals who are not connected to a crime. If a DNA profile from the crime scene does not match a suspect’s DNA, it can help establish their innocence.
  • Cold Case Investigations: DNA analysis has been instrumental in solving cold cases where conventional evidence has been limited. Revisiting old DNA samples or re-analyzing evidence using advanced techniques can lead to the identification of previously unknown suspects or the exoneration of wrongly convicted individuals.
  • Establishing Biological Relationships: DNA analysis is employed in cases involving missing persons, unidentified bodies, and disputed paternity or maternity claims. By comparing DNA profiles, investigators can determine familial relationships or confirm parentage.
  • Sexual Assault Cases: DNA analysis is particularly significant in sexual assault cases. DNA evidence collected from the crime scene, victim, or perpetrator can provide crucial information for identifying and convicting the offender.
  • Decoding Crime Scene Evidence: DNA analysis can help decipher complex crime scene evidence. By analyzing DNA profiles from different sources, such as mixed DNA samples, touch DNA, or degraded DNA, forensic experts can unravel critical information about the sequence of events and potential contributors.
  • Corroboration of Witness Testimony: DNA evidence can corroborate or challenge witness testimony. When witness accounts are in question, DNA analysis can provide objective evidence to support or refute their claims.

Critical Examination of DNA Reports

  • In recent judgments, such as Rahul v. State of Delhi, Ministry of Home Affairs (2022) and Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh (2022), the Supreme Court has raised concerns about the reliability and admissibility of DNA evidence in criminal cases.
  1. Rahul v. State of Delhi:
  • In Rahul v. State of Delhi, the Court expressed reservations about the reliability of DNA evidence based on the suspicion surrounding the collection and sealing of samples sent for examination.
  • Despite a match result and other findings, the Court acquitted all three individuals accused of rape and murder.
  1. Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh:
  • In Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh, the Court identified the likelihood of contamination in the DNA analysis due to the absence of mentioning the random occurrence ratio.
  • The Court emphasized the importance of considering the statistical ratio or ‘random match probability’ (RMP), which indicates the frequency of a particular DNA profile in a population. The lack of mention of RMP led to the exclusion of the DNA evidence in this case.

Concerns over the admissibility of DNA reports

  • Reliability of Techniques: The Court has questioned whether the techniques used in DNA analysis were reliably applied. It is crucial to ensure that the methods employed are scientifically sound and that the experts conducting the analysis possess the necessary expertise.
  • Examination of Underlying Findings: The Court has criticized the failure of trial courts and higher courts to examine the underlying basis of the findings in DNA reports. It is essential to scrutinize the methodology, procedures, and conclusions drawn from the analysis to determine the accuracy and reliability of the results.
  • Chain of Custody: The Court has expressed concerns about the integrity of DNA samples and their handling throughout the chain of custody. Proper documentation and maintenance of the chain of custody are vital to establish the authenticity and reliability of the evidence.
  • Possibility of Contamination: Contamination of DNA samples can significantly impact the reliability and accuracy of the analysis. The Court has highlighted instances where contamination may have occurred, such as improper collection, storage, or handling of samples.
  • Random Occurrence Ratio (RMP): The Court has emphasized the importance of including the random occurrence ratio or RMP in DNA reports.

Way ahead

  • Standardized Guidelines: Establish standardized guidelines for DNA analysis in forensic laboratories, including protocols for sample collection, handling, storage, and analysis. These guidelines should encompass best practices to minimize the risk of contamination and ensure the integrity of DNA evidence.
  • Quality Control Measures: Implement rigorous quality control measures in DNA analysis processes. This includes regular proficiency testing, accreditation of forensic laboratories, and adherence to international quality standards.
  • Chain of Custody: Emphasize the importance of maintaining a proper chain of custody for DNA samples. Accurate documentation and strict adherence to protocols will help ensure the integrity and admissibility of DNA evidence in court.
  • Research and Technological Advancements: Encourage research and development in the field of DNA analysis to further enhance the reliability and accuracy of techniques. Explore emerging technologies, methodologies, and advancements in forensic genetics that can improve the analysis of DNA evidence.
  • Expert Testimony: Enhance the understanding of DNA analysis among legal professionals, judges, and juries. Training programs and workshops can help educate stakeholders about the principles, limitations, and significance of DNA evidence. This will facilitate better comprehension and assessment of DNA reports during legal proceedings.
  • Collaboration and Peer Review: Foster collaboration among forensic laboratories, DNA experts, and legal professionals to promote knowledge sharing and peer review. This will help maintain high standards of DNA analysis and ensure continuous improvement in the field.

Conclusion

  • Despite recent concerns, DNA analysis continues to be a valuable tool in criminal cases. By addressing the raised issues through standardized guidelines, quality control, and improved understanding, the admissibility and reliability of DNA reports can be enhanced, contributing to a fair administration of justice.

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Also Read:

What is DNA Fingerprinting?

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Scientists help find new kind of Molecular Motor

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Molecular Motor

Mains level : Not Much

motor

Central Idea: Researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences have discovered a new kind of molecular motor that has potential applications in biology and medicine.

What is a molecular motor?

  • Cells use molecular motors to move things like organelles and molecules, and disruption of these processes can lead to diseases.
  • Molecular motors use biochemical energy to do mechanical work.

What did the new study find?

  • The study found that EEA1, a long protein, can regain its rigid shape to create a new kind of two-part molecular motor.
  • EEA1 regains its rigid shape through a reaction called GTP hydrolysis, mediated by enzymes called GTPases.
  • The researchers believe this could mark a new class of molecular machines that operate as motors in a unique way with novel collective effects.

Why is the finding significant?

  • The motor is different from most motors because it doesn’t produce a lever-like back-and-forth action and it uses GTP instead of ATP (Adenosine Tri Phosphate) for energy.
  • EEA1 exerts an entropic force on the membranes that it pulls, which is a unique feature.
  • The finding could have potential applications for understanding membrane fusion and for many other mechanochemical proteins or assemblies.

What are the potential applications?

  • The discovery of the molecular motor could have potential applications in biology and medicine.
  • The study provides a general mechanism that is applicable to many mechanochemical proteins or assemblies that harness chemical energy for mechanical work in cells.

 

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Microbes found near Mt. Everest

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Microbes

Mains level : NA

Central idea

  • Researchers conducted a genetic analysis of microbial communities on the South Col of Sagarmatha (Mount Everest).
  • The article examines the human microbiota on the inhospitable slopes of Mount Everest esp. the South Col ridge.

Microbial Communities on the South Col

  • Microbial communities were collected from sediment samples left by human climbers on the South Col, 7,900 meters above sea level (msl).
  • The South Col is inhospitable due to low oxygen, strong winds, high levels of UV radiation, and temperatures below minus 15 degrees Celsius.
  • Visible signs of life are absent above 6,700 msl except for a few species of moss and a jumping spider.
  • Microbes are carried to high altitudes by birds, animals, winds, and dust particles.

Microbes found

  • Using sophisticated methods such as 16S and 18S rRNA sequencing, the microbe hunters were able to identify the bacteria and other microorganisms found on the South Col.
  • 16s rRNA is a component of the 30S subunit in prokaryotic ribosomes while 18s rRNA is a component of the 40S subunit in eukaryotic ribosomes.
  • 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing is an amplicon sequencing technique used to identify and compare species of bacteria present within a given sample.
  • 16S rRNA gene sequencing is used to study phylogeny and taxonomy of samples from complex microbiomes or environments that are difficult or impossible to study.
  • Microbes like Modestobacter altitudinis and the fungus, naganishia, which are known to be UV-resistant survivors are found there.

History of Mount Everest and Naming

  • Nepal’s eminent historian, late Baburam Acharya, gave the Nepali name Sagarmatha to Mount Everest in the 1960s.
  • Andrew Waugh, British Surveyor General of India, discovered Mount Everest in 1847 and named it after his predecessor, Sir George Everest.
  • Radhanath Sikdar, an Indian mathematician and surveyor, was the first person to show that Mount Everest was the world’s highest peak in 1852, with the help of a special device.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Novel compound to treat Kala-Azar Infection

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Kala Azar

Mains level : Not Much

kala-azar

Central idea: The Kolkata-based Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) have established the potential of quinoline derivatives to treat drug-resistant leishmaniasis, which is also called kala-azar or black fever.

What is Kala Azar?

  • Kala-Azar is a vector-borne (sandfly) neglected tropical disease caused by the protozoan parasites of the genus leishmania.
  • It afflicts the world’s poorest populations in over 90 countries throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America.
  • Current annual estimates of kala-azar are about 1,00,000.
  • More than 95% of cases reported to the WHO are from India and other tropical countries, most importantly co-infection with HIV, which leads to an immunocompromised state.

How does Quinoline work over this?

  • The quinoline derivative is a potent inhibitor of an enzyme called topoisomerase 1 (LdTop1).
  • This enzyme is essential for the maintenance of DNA architecture in parasites and is distinct from the one found in humans.
  • Poisoning LdTop1 imparts significant cytotoxicity to both Leishmania parasites found in the gut of sandfly vectors (promastigotes) and those found in infected humans (amastigotes) of both the wild type and the antimony-resistant isolates.
  • This is done without inducing lethality to human and mice host cells.

Significance of quinoline treatment

  • Overcoming drug resistance in clinical leishmaniasis is a severe challenge in rural India.
  • The current treatment regimens against kala-azar use formulations that are toxic and induce high levels of drug-resistance.

What is the breakthrough?

  • The novel inhibitor targeting the leishmania parasites was identified by screening them against recombinant Leishmania topoisomerase 1 enzyme.
  • In all, 21 derivatives were prepared and evaluated for their antileishmanial activity, and one of them was found to be effective.

 

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Scientists devise ‘Glowscope’ to bring fluorescent microscopy to schools

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Fluorescence Microscopy

Mains level : NA

microscope

Central idea: Researchers at Winona State University, Minnesota, have created a design for a rudimentary fluorescence microscope.

Why in news?

  • The development can be put together at a cost of $30-50 (Rs 2,500-4,100) using products purchased on online marketplaces.
  • The device aims to democratize access to fluorescence microscopy.

What is Fluorescence Microscopy?

  • An optical microscope views an object by studying how it absorbs, reflects or scatters visible light.
  • A fluorescence microscope views an object by studying how it reemits light that it has absorbed, i.e. how it fluoresces.
  • The object is illuminated with light of a specific wavelength.
  • Particles in the object absorb this light and reemit it at a higher wavelength.
  • These particles are called fluorophores; the object is infused with them before being placed under the microscope.

How does it work?

  • The setup consists of two plexiglass surfaces, an LED flashlight, three theatre stage-lighting filters, a clip-on macro lens, and a smartphone.
  • The smartphone (with the lens attached) is placed on one surface that is suspended at a height (say, a foot above).
  • The second sheet is placed below and holds the object.
  • One of the stage-lighting filters is held between the flashlight and the object and the other two were held between the object and the smartphone.
  • The sources of illumination were also LED flashlights emitting light of correspondingly different wavelengths.

Key observations

  • With this setup, the researchers were able to image the creatures’ brain, spinal cord, heart, and head and jaw bones.
  • They were able to zoom in and out using the smartphone camera and the clip-on lens.

How accessible is this?

  • Using a ‘glowscope’ still requires access to fluorophores, suitable biological samples, the know-how to combine the two, and some knowledge of physics to work out which LED flashlight to buy.
  • The Foldscope was truly remarkable because all its required components were simple to understand.
  • However, the fact that a simple fluorescent microscope can be set up with a few thousand rupees means researchers can prepare samples and take them to schools, where students can observe them.

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What are ‘Bio-Computers’ and what can they tell us about the human brain?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Bio-Computers

Mains level : Not Much

bio-computer

Central idea: Johns Hopkins University scientists have proposed creation of Bio-Computers’ using a new area of research called “organoid intelligence”.

Background

  • JHU scientists will harness the processing power of the brain and help understand the biological basis of human cognition, learning, and neurological disorders.
  • Traditional methods of studying the human brain involve using rat brains, which are structurally and functionally different from human brains.

Building brain organoids in the lab

  • Scientists are building 3D cultures of brain tissue in the lab, called brain organoids, using human stem cells.
  • Brain organoids capture many structural and functional features of a developing human brain and are being used to study human brain development and test drugs.
  • However, brain organoids developed in the lab lack sensory inputs and blood circulation, which limits their growth and sophistication.

Transplanting brain organoids

  • Scientists have transplanted human brain organoid cultures into rat brains, where they formed connections with the rat brain and were functionally active.
  • However, human brain organoids are still nested in the rat-brain microenvironment, which limits their relevance to humans.

What is the new “bio-computer”?

  • The JHU researchers’ scheme combines brain organoids with modern computing methods to create “bio-computers”.
  • Brain organoids will be grown inside flexible structures affixed with multiple electrodes to record the firing patterns of neurons and deliver electrical stimuli.
  • Machine-learning techniques will be used to analyze the response patterns of neurons and their effect on human behavior or biology.

Opportunities for “bio-computers”

  • Brain organoids can be developed using stem cells from individuals with neurodegenerative diseases or cognitive disorders to reveal the biological basis of human cognition, learning, and memory.
  • “Bio-computers” could help decode the pathology of and develop drugs for neurodevelopmental and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and microcephaly.

Challenges for bio-computers

  • Brain organoids have a diameter of less than 1 mm and have fewer than 100,000 cells on average, limiting their computing capacity.
  • Researchers will have to develop microfluidic systems to transport oxygen and nutrients and remove waste products.
  • The hybrid systems will generate large amounts of data that will need to be stored and analyzed using “Big Data” infrastructure and advanced analytical techniques.
  • An ethics team is proposed to identify, discuss, and analyze ethical issues as they arise in the course of this work.

Conclusion

  • Biocomputers will harness the processing power of the brain and help understand the biological basis of human cognition, learning, and various neurological disorders.
  • Scaling up brain organoids and developing microfluidic systems and analytical techniques are the key challenges.
  • Ethical issues arising from the development of biocomputers will be analyzed by an ethics team.

 


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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Foldscope: A new paper microscope

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Foldscope

Mains level : NA

fold

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have developed a cheap paper microscope (foldscope) connected to a smartphone camera that could find wider application in a variety of research areas, and in some cases potentially replace more expensive equipment.

What is Foldscope?

  • The Foldscope is a handheld microscope made mostly of paper that can be easily linked to a smartphone camera.
  • It has a magnification of around 140x and can identify objects just 2 micrometres wide.
  • It was first created by researchers at Stanford University in 2014.
  • IISc version of Foldscope costs around Rs 400, much cheaper than that of Stanford’s one.

How is Foldscope comparable to electron microscope?

  • The researchers found that Foldscope could capture the roundness and aspect ratio of an object to within 5% of those imaged by a state-of-the-art instrument called a scanning electron microscope (SEM).
  • SEM costs more than Rs 50 lakh each.
  • Preparing a sample for study through a Foldscope takes less than an hour, whereas the same process for an SEM was “tedious and time-consuming”.

Potential applications

  • Foldscopes can be used in pharmaceuticals (to inspect drug products), environmental science (to observe pollutants), and cosmetics (to observe powders and emulsions), among other fields.
  • They can also be used to study “soil particles’ morphology,” which can “help understand soil structure, nutrient availability, and plant growth” in agriculture.
  • It allows for in-field soil analysis and visualisation of soil structure per Indian Standard Soil Classification System which earlier required bulky microscopes with high resolution.

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Proton Beam Therapy out of reach for many

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Proton Beam Therapy

Mains level : Not Much

proton

There is currently a demand-supply gap of proton beam therapy machines in India, leaving many cancer patients in a difficult situation.

What is Proton Beam Therapy?

  • Proton beam therapy is a type of radiation therapy — a treatment that uses high-energy beams to treat tumors.
  • Radiation therapy using X-rays has long been used to treat cancers and noncancerous (benign) tumors.
  • It uses protons rather than x-rays to treat cancer. At high energy, protons can destroy cancer cells.
  • It can also be combined with x-ray radiation therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, and/or immunotherapy.
  • Like x-ray radiation, proton therapy is a type of external-beam radiation therapy.

How it works?

proton

  • Fundamentally, all tissue cells are made up of molecules with atoms as their building blocks.
  • In the center of every atom is the nucleus. Orbiting the nucleus of the atom are negatively charged electrons.
  • When energized protons pass near orbiting electrons, the positive charge of the protons attracts the negatively charged electrons, pulling them out of their orbits. This is called ionization.
  • It changes the characteristics of the atom and consequentially the character of the molecule within which the atom resides.
  • Because of ionization, the radiation damages molecules within the cells, especially the DNA.
  • Damaging the DNA destroys specific cell functions, particularly the ability to divide or proliferate.
  • While both normal and cancerous cells go through this repair process, a cancer cell’s ability to repair molecular injury is frequently inferior.
  • As a result, cancer cells sustain more permanent damage and subsequent cell death than occurs in the normal cell population.

Why in news?

  • There is currently a significant demand-supply gap of proton beam therapy machines in India, with only a few machines available in the country.
  • This has resulted in long wait times for patients who need the treatment, and many patients are forced to travel abroad to access the treatment, which can be prohibitively expensive.

Various challenges

  • Huge demand: The demand for PBT machines is also increasing, as more and more patients are being diagnosed with cancer and are seeking the latest and most effective treatments available.
  • High cost: One of the major challenges in setting up PBT machines is the high cost involved, as the machines are complex and require a significant investment.
  • Shortage of personnel: In addition, there is a shortage of trained personnel who can operate and maintain the machines, which further limits their availability.

Way Forward

  • The government and private sector need to invest more in setting up and maintaining the machines. This could include-
  1. Offering tax incentives and subsidies to private healthcare providers who invest in PBT machines
  2. Providing training and education to personnel who can operate and maintain the machines
  3. Setting up more public hospitals that offer proton beam therapy, which would help to make the treatment more accessible and affordable to patients who need it

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

CCR5-delta 32 Gene Transplant: Permanent cure of HIV

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : CCR5-delta 32 mutation

Mains level : Not Much

hiv

Central idea: This article discusses recent developments in the field of HIV research that have led to the possibility of a cure for the disease.

What is HIV/AIDS?

  • HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks cells that help the body fight infection, making a person more vulnerable to other infections and diseases.
  • First identified in 1981, HIV is the cause of one of humanity’s deadliest and most persistent epidemics.
  • It is spread by contact with certain bodily fluids of a person with HIV, most commonly during unprotected sex, or through sharing injection drug equipment.
  • If left untreated, HIV can lead to the disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
  • The human body can’t get rid of HIV and no effective HIV cure exists.

Present treatment of HIV

  • However, by taking HIV medicine (called antiretroviral therapy or ART), people with HIV can live long and healthy lives and prevent transmitting HIV to their sexual partners.
  • In addition, there are effective methods to prevent getting HIV through sex or drug use, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).

What is the new breakthrough?

  • Doctors selected a donor carrying two copies of a CCR5-delta 32 genetic mutation – a mutation that is known to make the carriers almost immune to HIV.
  • The CCR5-delta 32 genetic mutation is a rare genetic mutation that affects the CCR5 gene, which is involved in the immune system’s response to infection.
  • The mutation causes a deletion of 32 nucleotides in the gene, resulting in a truncated or shortened version of the CCR5 protein.
  • This truncated protein is not able to function normally, and people with this mutation are largely resistant to HIV infection.

How has the CCR5-delta 32 mutation been used in HIV research?

  • Researchers have been studying the CCR5-delta 32 mutation as a potential avenue for developing an HIV cure.
  • One approach involves using gene editing technologies like CRISPR to induce the mutation in HIV-positive individuals, effectively making their immune cells resistant to HIV infection.
  • Another approach involves bone marrow transplantation from donors with the CCR5-delta 32 mutation.

What are the risks associated?

  • Gene editing technologies like CRISPR are still in their early stages, and there are concerns about the safety and effectiveness of these methods.
  • Additionally, bone marrow transplantation is a complex and risky procedure that is not feasible for all HIV-positive individuals.
  • Finally, it is important to note that not all HIV infections are caused by the CCR5 strain of the virus, and therefore the use of the CCR5-delta 32 mutation as an HIV cure would not be effective for all cases of HIV.

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in India

  • As per the India HIV Estimation 2019 report, the estimated adult (15 to 49 years) HIV prevalence trend has been declining in India since the epidemic’s peak in the year 2000 and has been stabilizing in recent years.
  • In 2019, HIV prevalence among adult males (15–49 years) was estimated at 0.24% and among adult females at 0.20% of the population.
  • There were 23.48 lakh Indians living with HIV in 2019.
  • Maharashtra had the maximum at 3.96 lakh followed by Andhra Pradesh (3.14 lakh) and Karnataka.
  • ART is freely available to all those who require and there are deputed centres across the country where they can be availed from.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

AI to improve maternal and child health in India

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : NA

Mains level : Use of AI for health

maternal

Context

  • With the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies, there is potential for these tools to support maternal and neonatal healthcare in low-resource settings, although their development in this field is still in its early stages. AI has the capability of transforming maternal and child health in low and middle-income countries by supplementing conventional practices with advanced technology, thus improving the accuracy of diagnoses, increasing access to care, and ultimately saving lives.

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target

  • The SDGs have set a target to eliminate preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years of age by 2030, with a specific aim to lower neonatal mortality (NMR) to a minimum of 12 deaths per 1,000 live births and under-five mortality (U5MR) to a minimum of 25 deaths per 1,000 live births across all nations.

maternal

Challenges and the current state of maternal and child health in India

  • One of the main challenges is the high maternal and infant mortality rates: According to the latest SRS Bulletin, India’s maternal mortality rate (MMR) was 97 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2018-2020, and the infant mortality rate (IMR) was 35.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2019-21.
  • Rates are higher than the SDG targets: According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data, the NMR and U5MR in India are 24.9 and 41.9 respectively. These rates are higher than the SDG targets and are a cause for concern.
  • Lack of access to healthcare for many women and children in India: Many rural and remote areas lack basic healthcare facilities, and even when facilities are available, they may not be staffed with qualified healthcare providers. Additionally, cultural and societal barriers can prevent women and children from accessing healthcare.
  • Malnutrition: Malnutrition is a major contributor to high maternal, neonatal, and infant mortality rates in India, with about 68 percent of child deaths being linked to malnutrition.
  • Low birth weight: In low- and middle-income countries like India, low birth weight is a leading cause of death in the first month of life. Prematurity and low birth weight account for 45.5 percent of deaths during the first 29 days of a newborn in India. Presently, around 18.2 percent of children reported having low birth weight.

Some positive developments in maternal and child health in India in recent years

  • Programs and policies aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality: The government has implemented several programs and policies aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality, such as the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) which provides cash incentives for pregnant women to deliver in health facilities and free health check-up respectively.
  • Efforts to increase access and quality health facilities: There have also been efforts to increase the number of healthcare facilities in rural and remote areas and to improve the quality of care provided at these facilities.
  • Using technology in Healthcare: In addition, India has also been working on using technology to improve maternal and child health.
  • For example: Telemedicine has been implemented in remote areas, and the government has also launched an application, RCH ANMOL, for tracking pregnant women, infants and children for their health, vaccination, and nutrition status. Other digital initiatives include the Draft Health Data Management Policy, Health Data Retention Policy, Unified Health Interface, and Health Facility Registry.

maternal

Potential applications of AI

  • Predictive modelling of risk factors: By analysing large amounts of medical data, AI algorithms can identify risk factors for maternal and fetal complications and predict the likelihood of certain outcomes. This can help healthcare providers to identify high-risk pregnancies early on and take steps to mitigate the risks.
  • Predicting birth weights for effective nutrition programme: Malnutrition is responsible for lowering newborn immunity to infections and diseases. Predicting birth weight for newborns can aid doctors and parents to adopt putative measures such as effective utilisation of Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) pre-emptively.
  • AI can make a big impact is in the detection of fetal abnormalities: In LMICs, access to ultrasound technology is often limited, and the quality of images may be poor. By using AI to analyse ultrasound images, healthcare providers can improve the accuracy of diagnoses and detect abnormalities that may otherwise be missed.
  • AI can also be used to improve access to care: Virtual care technologies, such as AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants, can provide expectant mothers in LMICs with information and support. It has been demonstrated that sending personalised, timed voice messages about pregnancy via mobile phone can positively impact maternal healthcare practices and improve maternal health outcomes.
  • Manage and analyse large amounts of medical records: By identifying trends and patterns in this data, healthcare providers can make more informed decisions and improve outcomes for mothers and children.

Challenges to using AI to improve maternal and child health in India

  • One of the biggest challenges is data availability and quality: AI relies on large amounts of data to train models, however, in India, there is a lack of data on maternal and child health, and the data that is available may be of poor quality. This can make it difficult to develop accurate and reliable AI-based solutions.
  • Limited infrastructure: In many parts of India, there is a lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity and internet connectivity, which makes it difficult to implement AI-based solutions. This can be a particular problem in rural areas where access to healthcare is already limited.
  • Ethical concerns: AI-based solutions raise a number of ethical concerns, including issues around privacy, bias, and accountability. It is important to address these concerns to ensure that AI-based solutions are used in a responsible and ethical manner.
  • Language and dialects: India has a wide variety of languages and dialects, which can make it difficult to develop AI-based solutions that are accessible to everyone. The lack of data in certain languages or dialects can make it difficult to develop accurate and reliable AI-based solutions that are tailored to the specific needs of different linguistic communities.
  • Socio-Economic status: As people living in poverty may not have access to the technology and services provided by AI-based solutions.

maternal

Conclusion

  • AI has the capability of bringing about a substantial difference in maternal and child health in India. Nevertheless, it is crucial to keep in mind that these innovative technologies should not be utilised as a substitute for conventional healthcare practices, but rather as an additional tool. The integration of AI with the already existing healthcare systems would bring about the best results. It is also essential to involve healthcare providers and local communities in the development and implementation process of AI-based solutions. This way, the solutions can be made more relevant, accessible, and in line with the local context, thereby, maximising their positive impact.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

CAR T-Cell Therapy for treatment of Cancer

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : CAR T-Cell Cancer Therapy

Mains level : Not Much

cancer

The new CAR T-Cell Immunotherapy holds promise for Ovarian Cancer patients over other forms of treatment.

What are CAR T-cells?

  • Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies represent a quantum leap in the sophistication of cancer treatment.
  • Unlike chemotherapy or immunotherapy, which require mass-produced injectable or oral medication, CAR T-cell therapies use a patient’s own cells.
  • They are modified in the laboratory to activate T-cells, a component of immune cells, to attack tumours.
  • These modified cells are then infused back into the patient’s bloodstream after conditioning them to multiply more effectively.
  • The cells are even more specific than targeted agents and directly activate the patient’s immune system against cancer, making the treatment more clinically effective.
  • This is why they’re called ‘living drugs’.

How does the therapy work?

  • In CAR T-cell therapy, the patient’s blood is drawn to harvest T-cells which are immune cells that play a major role in destroying tumour cells.
  • Researchers modify these cells in the laboratory so that they express specific proteins on their surface, known as chimeric antigen receptors (CAR).
  • They have an affinity for proteins on the surface of tumour cells.
  • This modification in the cellular structure allows CAR T-cells to effectively bind to the tumour and destroy it.
  • The final step in the tumour’s destruction involves its clearance by the patient’s immune system.

Where is it used?

  • As of today, CAR T-cell therapy has been approved for leukaemias (cancers arising from the cells that produce white blood cells) and lymphomas (arising from the lymphatic system).
  • These cancers occur through the unregulated reproduction of a single clone of cells, that is, following the cancerous transformation of a single type of cell, it produces millions of identical copies.
  • As a result, the target for CAR T-cells is consistent and reliable.
  • CAR T-cell therapy is also used among patients with cancers that have returned after an initial successful treatment or which haven’t responded to previous combinations of chemotherapy or immunotherapy.
  • Its response rate is variable. In certain kinds of leukaemias and lymphomas, the efficacy is as high as 90%, whereas in other types of cancers it is significantly lower.

How widespread is its use?

  • The complexity of preparing CAR T-cells has been a major barrier to their use.
  • The first clinical trial showing they were effective was published almost a decade ago; the first indigenously developed therapy in India was successfully performed only in 2022.
  • The technical and human resources required to administer this therapy are also considerable.
  • Treatments in the US cost more than a million dollars.
  • Trials are underway in India, with companies looking to indigenously manufacture CAR T-cells at a fraction of the cost.
  • The preliminary results have been encouraging.

What are conventional cancer therapies?

  • The three major forms of treatment for any cancer are surgery (removing the cancer), radiotherapy (delivering ionising radiation to the tumour), and systemic therapy (chemotherapy- administering medicines that act on the tumour only).
  • Surgery and radiotherapy have been refined significantly over time whereas advances in systemic therapy have been unparalleled.
  • A new development on this front, currently holding the attention of many researchers worldwide, is the CAR T-cell therapy.

Will this therapy be expensive in India as well?

  • In India, introducing any new therapy faces the twin challenges of cost and value.
  • Critics argue that developing facilities in India may be redundant and/or inappropriate as even when it becomes cheaper, CAR T-cell therapy will be unaffordable to most Indians.
  • Those who are affluent and require the therapy currently receive it abroad anyway.
  • While this is true, it may be the right answer to the wrong question.
  • Having access to a global standard of care is every patient’s right; how it can be made more affordable can be the next step.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Why banyan, peepal trees live longer?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Multiple Signs of Adaptive-evolution (MSA)

Mains level : NA

banyan

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have found out the carried out whole genome sequencing of banyan and peepal from leaf tissue samples.

Science behind long life: Multiple Signs of Adaptive-evolution (MSA)

  • Scientists identified 25,016 coding gene sequences in banyan and 23,929 in peepal.
  • Both trees faced a population bottleneck around 0.8 million years ago and evolved genes with multiple signs of adaptive evolution (MSA).
  • In banyan, the MSA genes are mainly involved in root growth, pollen tube and seed development, leaf formation, cell wall synthesis, metabolism and other developmental processes.

How MSA prolongs the life?

  • Disease resistance and other stress tolerance gene families showed expansion as well as high expression, contributing to the plants’ long lifespan.
  • The MSA genes of peepal are associated with root cell elongation, cell proliferation, seed and pollen tube growth, lateral organ development, controlling flowering time, metabolism and intracellular transport.
  • The team zeroed in on 17 MSA genes in banyan and 19 MSA genes in peepal that are mainly related to well-developed morphology, and tolerance against drought, oxidative stress and pathogens.
  • Genes involved in growth-regulating auxin signalling and plant senescence-regulating pathways also showed evolutionary signatures.
  • Also, 88% and 89% of the MSA genes in banyan and peepal trees, respectively, are associated with tolerance against biotic and abiotic stress responses.
  • This, in turn, helps these plants to survive when faced with environmental challenges.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

How can mRNA vaccines help fight cancer?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : mRNA Vaccine

Mains level : Not Much

mrna

The results of a trial of an experimental cancer vaccine built on the mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) platform, made by Moderna and MSD (Merck&Co.), have shown promising results.

What is mRNA?

mrna

  • Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA (Ribo Nucleic Acid) molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene.
  • The mRNA is an RNA version of the gene that leaves the cell nucleus and moves to the cytoplasm where proteins are made.
  • During protein synthesis, an organelle called a ribosome moves along the mRNA, reads its base sequence, and uses the genetic code to translate each three-base triplet, or codon, into its corresponding amino acid.

What are mRNA vaccines?

  • mRNA vaccines work by introducing a piece of mRNA that corresponds to a viral protein, usually a small piece of a protein found on the virus’s outer membrane.
  • Individuals who get an mRNA vaccine are not exposed to the virus, nor can they become infected with the virus by the vaccine.
  • As part of a normal immune response, the immune system recognizes that the protein is foreign and produces specialized proteins called antibodies.
  • Antibodies help protect the body against infection by recognizing individual viruses or other pathogens, attaching to them, and marking the pathogens for destruction.
  • Once produced, antibodies remain in the body, even after the body has rid itself of the pathogen, so that the immune system can quickly respond if exposed again.

How does the vaccine work?

  • The personalized cancer vaccine uses the same messenger-RNA technology that was used to produce the COVID vaccine.
  • It allows the body’s immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells, in this case melanoma, but with the hope that it could lead to new ways to fight other types of cancers too.

Why is it a significant feat?

  • The cancer vaccine showed a 44% reduction in the risk of dying of cancer or having the cancer progress.
  • As a personalized cancer vaccine, it is tailor-made for every patient.
  • As a consequence, it is expected to be very expensive to make.
  • But oncologists across the world have welcomed this as an exciting new opportunity in cancer care.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is DNA Fingerprinting?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : DNA Fingerprinting

Mains level : Advanced criminology

dna

Delhi Police has established identity of a victim of brutal murder and mutilation by DNA fingerprinting.

What is DNA fingerprinting?

  • DNA fingerprinting was first developed in 1984 by Alec Jeffreys in the UK, after Jeffreys discovered that no two people could have the same DNA sequence.
  • Within three years of the discovery, the UK achieved the world’s first conviction based on DNA evidence in a case of rape and murder.

How is DNA fingerprinting done?

  • Each person’s DNA, except for identical twins, is unique.
  • By analyzing selected DNA sequences (called loci), a crime laboratory can develop a profile to be used in identifying a suspect.
  • DNA can be extracted from many sources, such as hair, bone, teeth, saliva, and blood.
  • Because there is DNA in most cells in the human body, even a minuscule amount of bodily fluid or tissue can yield useful information.
  • Samples may even be extracted from used clothes, linen, combs, or other frequently used items.

 

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

  • DNA is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA.
  • Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).
  • Mitochondria are structures within cells that convert the energy from food into a form that cells can use.
  • The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T).
  • Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people.
  • The order, or sequence, of these bases determines the information available for building and maintaining an organism, similar to the way in which letters of the alphabet appear in a certain order to form words and sentences.

How it is used in criminal investigation?

  • DNA evidence is used to solve crimes in two ways:
  1. If a suspect is known, that person’s DNA sample can be compared to biological evidence found at a crime scene to establish whether the suspect was at the crime scene or whether they committed the crime.
  2. If a suspect is not known, biological evidence from the crime scene can be analyzed and compared to offender profiles in existing DNA databases to assist in identifying a suspect.
  • Beyond its accuracy, DNA fingerprinting can also sift through crime scene evidence in different ways, previously unavailable to investigators.
  • For instance, advanced DNA fingerprinting can make separate prints of various individuals even from a sample mixture found at the crime scene — this is of help during gang rape investigations as each perpetrator can be individually identified.

DNA fingerprinting in India

  • By 1988, Lalji Singh, who had been in the UK from 1974 to 1987 on a Commonwealth Fellowship, developed DNA fingerprinting for crime investigations in Hyderabad.
  • Today, Lalji Singh, who passed away in 2017, is known as “the father of DNA fingerprinting in India.”
  • In 1989, DNA fingerprinting was first used in a case by the Kerala Police.
  • By the early 1990s, the technology had begun to be used for establishing paternity, and to link criminals and identify victims in sensational crimes.
  • From the 2000s onwards, the technology became a staple in rape cases where vaginal swab samples were matched with semen samples from suspects.

Challenges with DNA fingerprinting in India

  • It is vital to ensure that the DNA of the investigators does not get mixed with that of the victims or the suspects.
  • Thus, picking up samples from a crime scene with sterile tools and storing samples in a proper manner are crucial for the evidence to stand a judicial test.
  • While India has rules and guidelines regarding this, India’s police forces have a lot of catching up to do with counterparts overseas.
  • While central agencies such as CBI have the expertise to ensure that crime scenes are protected and correct procedure is followed, state police forces are inadequately trained or fully equipped.

Issues with such technology

  • The problem is not limited to the police awareness.
  • The capacity for DNA fingerprinting in the country itself is lacking.
  • DNA fingerprinting is available only at a few places — Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chandigarh.
  • Advanced practices in the technology are limited to the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) in Hyderabad.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Base Editing?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Base Editing

Mains level : Not Much

A teenage cancer patient suffering from T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) has defeated her seemingly incurable cancer with the help of base editing technique.

Base Editing

  • Bases are the language of life. The four types of base – adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T) – are the building blocks of our genetic code.
  • Just as letters in the alphabet spell out words that carry meaning, the billions of bases in our DNA spell out the instruction manual for our body.
  • Base editing allows scientists to zoom to a precise part of the genetic code and then alter the molecular structure of just one base, converting it into another and changing the genetic instructions.
  • The large team of doctors and scientists used this tool to engineer a new type of T-cell that was capable of hunting down and killing cancerous T-cells.

base-editing

What is T-Cell?

  • T (thymus) cells are type of white blood cell.
  • They are part of the immune system and develop from stem cells in the bone marrow.
  • They help protect the body from infection and may help fight cancer.
  • Also called T lymphocyte and thymocyte.

How base editing helped this teenage cancer patient?

  • Doctors started with healthy T-cells that came from a donor and set about modifying them.
  • The first base edit disabled the T-cells targeting mechanism so they would not assault patient’s body.
  • The second removed a chemical marking, called CD7, which is on all T-cells.
  • The third edit was an invisibility cloak that prevented the cells being killed by a chemotherapy drug.
  • The final stage of genetic modification instructed the T-cells to go hunting for anything with the CD7 marking on it so that it would destroy every T-cell in patient’s body – including the cancerous ones.
  • That’s why this marking has to be removed from the therapy – otherwise it would just destroy itself.
  • If the therapy works, the patient’s immune system – including T-cells – will be rebuilt with the second bone-marrow transplant.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Gold-Mushroom Nanoparticle to ease Drug Delivery

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Gold Nanoparticle

Mains level : Not Much

gold

Cordy gold nanoparticles (Cor-AuNPs), the outcome of a collaborative experiment by scientists from four Indian institutions, has earned an international patent from Germany.

What is Cordy gold nanoparticles ?

  • Cordy gold nanoparticles (Cor-AuNPs) are derived from the synthesis of the extracts of Cordyceps militaris and gold salts.
  • They could make drug delivery in the human body faster and surer.
  • Cordyceps militaris is a high-value parasitic fungus, lab-grown at the Department of Biotechnology’s Technology Incubation Centre (TIC) in Bodoland University.
  • Gold salts are ionic chemical compounds of gold generally used in medicine.

Benefits offered by this nanoparticle

  • Penetration in the cells is more when the drug particles are smaller.
  • Cordyceps militaris adds bioactive components to the synthesis of gold nanoparticles for better penetration.
  • It can be delivered as ointments, tablets, capsules, and in other forms.

Back2Basics: Gold Nanoparticles for Medicines

  • Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are small gold particles with a diameter of 1 to 100 nm which, once dispersed in water, are also known as colloidal gold.
  • Functionalized gold nanoparticles with controlled geometrical and optical properties are the subject of intensive studies and biomedical applications.
  • They find applications in genomics, biosensorics, immunoassays, clinical chemistry, laser phototherapy of cancer cells and tumors, the targeted delivery of drugs etc.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

GI in news: Kalanamak Rice

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Kalanamak Rice

Mains level : NA

kalanamak

Kalanamak, a traditional variety of paddy is all set to get a new look and name.

Kalanamak Rice

  • Kalanamak rice is a paddy with black husk and strong fragrance, which is considered a gift from Lord Buddha to the people of Sravasti when he visited the region after enlightenment,
  • It is grown in 11 districts of the Terai region of northeastern Uttar Pradesh and in Nepal.
  • The traditional Kalanamak rice is protected under the Geographical Indication (GI) tag
  • It’s recorded in the GI application that Lord Budhha gifted Kalanamak paddy to the people of Sravasti so that they remembered him by its fragrance.

What is the upgrade?

  • The traditional paddy has been prone to ‘lodging’, a reason for its low yield.
  • Lodging is a condition in which the top of the plant becomes heavy because of grain formation, the stem becomes weak, and the plant falls on the ground.
  • Addressing the problem, the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) has successfully developed two dwarf varieties of Kalanamak rice.
  • They have been named Pusa Narendra Kalanamak 1638 and Pusa Narendra Kalanamak 1652.

Back2Basics:  Geographical Indication

  • A GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
  • Nodal Agency: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry
  • India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 w.e.f. September 2003.
  • GIs have been defined under Article 22 (1) of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
  • GI is granted for a term of 10 years in India. As of today, more than 300 GI tags has been allocated so far in India (*Wikipedia).
  • The tag stands valid for 10 years.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

An Indian Pioneer of ORT

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : ORT Everyday application

Mains level : ORT, Diseases treated by ORT, Cholera outbreak

ORT

Context

  • In the demise of Dilip Mahalabnis on October 16 we lost a pioneering public health physician the ORS pioneer who helped save millions of lives. In 1978, a Lancet editorial termed ORS the most important medical advance in this century.

Background

  • ORT was first introduced worldwide in the 1970s to treat millions of children suffering from severe dehydration in crisis-stricken and impoverished areas. At the time, the world’s leading general medical journal The Lancet called ORT “potentially the most important medical advance since penicillin.”
  • A Lancet editorial in 1978 termed it “potentially the most important medical advance this century”.

Interesting story of Dilip Mahalabnis and invention of ORT

  • Mahalanabis was trained as a paediatrician and joined the Cholera Research Programme of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Medical Research and Training (JHCMRT) in Calcutta in 1966.
  • His team was treating cases of the cholera epidemic in a camp in Bangaon, West Bengal that housed 3,50,000 refugees but ran out of intravenous fluids. He thought that it would be opportune to use ORS. As no ORS packets were available, they mixed salt and sugar solution (ORS) in drums and administered it to the cholera patients in the camps.
  • The library of the JHCMRT was converted into a factory. This was not a mandated mode of treatment and at great personal risk, Mahalanabis chose to respond to the humanitarian crisis in this manner.
  • It was evident in two to three weeks’ time that not only was the therapy working but that it was possible to administer ORT through volunteers (in the absence of a sufficient number of trained workers).
  • It was subsequently analyzed that ORS reduced mortality due to cholera or acute diarrhoeal diseases in these camps from 40 per cent to 5 per cent. They coined the term “oral saline” and rest is the story.

ORT

What is Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT)?

  • A fluid to correct dehydration: Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) entails drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium to correct dehydration due to fluid losses from diarrhoea.
  • ORT ingredients: ORT combines three ingredients such as salts, sugars and water to quickly reverse the signs of dehydration. Through the process of osmosis, the salts and sugars pull water into your bloodstream and speed up rehydration.
  • Essential electrolytes which replenish Blood: ORT also replenishes your blood with essential electrolytes (minerals) that are lost due to intense exercise, exposure to extreme weather conditions, or diarrhea and other illnesses. Water doesn’t contain electrolytes and so, ironically, water alone cannot cure dehydration like ORT.
  • An effective electrolyte: Administration of fluids through the intravenous route used to be the mainstay of management of cholera till the results of a study demonstrated that an oral solution of glucose and electrolytes was effective for replacing water and electrolyte losses.
  • Quick and efficient: The translation of the basic science concept to quick and efficient practice was, however, not easy. And that is the fascinating story and sterling contribution of Mahalanabis and his co-workers on ORT.

What is Dehydration?

  • Dehydration occurs when you use or lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn’t have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If you don’t replace lost fluids, you will get dehydrated.

ORT

What is Disease Cholera?

  • Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae that can kill within hours if left untreated.
  • Most of those infected will have no or mild symptoms and can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution. Cholera affects both children and adults.
  • Provision of safe water and sanitation is critical to prevent and control the transmission of cholera and other waterborne diseases.
  • Cholera remains a global threat to public health and an indicator of inequity and lack of social development.

Recent outbreak of cholera In India

  • Cholera is said to be endemic in India. However, the reported cases in India tend to be much lesser than the actual numbers, say doctors and experts.
  • The number of cases is rising in India because we still lack the basic sanitation, hygiene and access to clean water in many communities,
  • The country reports nearly 20,000 to 30,000 cases of cholera every year, usually during the monsoon season of July to September.
  • Climate change adds up another layer to the cholera outbreak.

Contribution of ORT to the world.

  • As a perfect alternative over the prevailing doctrine: ORT was in marked contrast to the then prevailing doctrine of patients being given only sips of water without food, euphemistically called “resting the stomach”, often worsening the underlying malnutrition.
  • For Diarrhoea: An estimated 54 million diarrhoeal deaths were averted by ORT alone between 1978 and 2008, such was the magnitude of its beneficial impacts. ORT for the management of severe diarrhea was developed in the latter half 1960s. WHO launched a worldwide campaign in 1978 to reduce mortality related to diarrhea, with ORT as one of the key elements.
  • For cholera: Administration of fluids through the intravenous route used to be the mainstay of management of cholera till the results of a study demonstrated that an oral solution of glucose and electrolytes was effective for replacing water and electrolyte losses
  • Cholera pandemic: This period coincided with the seventh cholera pandemic (El Tor biotype) that started in Indonesia in 1961 and spread to East Pakistan (Bangladesh) by 1963 and to India in 1964. Though experiments with ORS were underway, the WHO responded in 1970 by distributing large amounts of intravenous fluids – a move marked by high transportation costs and limited utilization on account of a shortage of a trained health workforce. The focus of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), through the Cholera Research Laboratory in Dhaka, was to find a vaccine to protect the US troops from cholera attacks in Southeast Asia.
  • One solution for everyone: Athletes; people with illnesses, especially babies and toddlers; seniors; military personnel stationed in extreme climates; air travelers who lose electrolytes every time they fly: They all stand to dramatically improve their health and well-being with ORT.

ORT

Conclusion

  • Dilip Mahalanabis pioneered a simple and effective solution for diarrhoea that saves millions of lives which can be considered as one of the greatest contributions of Indian in medical sciences. To carry the carry legacy forward young scientists should step in.

Mains Question

Q. What do you Understand by Oral Rehydration Therapy? How it could be effective in tackling the yearly outbreaks of Cholera in India and the world. Discuss.

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is RNA Origami?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : RNA Origami

Mains level : Not Much

rna

This newscard is an excerpt of the original article published in The Hindu.

Note: It appears to be too much biological. And suddenly out of our ease of understanding.

What is Ribo Nucleic Acid (RNA)?

  • RNA is an important biological macromolecule that is present in all biological cells.
  • It is principally involved in the synthesis of proteins, carrying the messenger instructions from DNA, which itself contains the genetic instructions required for the development and maintenance of life.
  • In some viruses, RNA, rather than DNA, carries genetic information.
  • The type of RNA dictates the function that this molecule will have within the cell.
  • Aside from the coding region of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that will be translated into proteins, other cellular RNA elements are involved in different processes.

What are RNA Origami?

  • RNA origami is the nanoscale folding of RNA, enabling the RNA to create particular shapes to organize these molecules.
  • It is an attempt to generate complex human-made RNA-based devices.
  • They are stable in cells, interact with other biomolecules, including other RNA and proteins, and enable unique applications, particularly in the context of gene regulation.

Why are they used?

So far there have been two approaches in RNA origami and both attempt to regulate the production of protein.

(1) To achieve precise control of protein production

  • Self-inhibiting protein expression cassettes were made by installing a strong binding site for the expressed protein in its own gene.
  • Afterwards, RNA origami decorated with the same protein-binding sites was expressed in large excess.
  • In this way, the RNA origami serves as a protein-sponge that sequesters proteins in the cell and allows expression of the self-inhibited protein.
  • This approach helped to regulate several proteins simultaneously and turn on enzymatic pathways for improved product yields.

(2) Using for gene editing

  • The RNA origamis were integrated in the small RNAs that guide CRISPR-Cas9 enzyme to target specific sequences in the DNA genome.
  • Its scaffolds were decorated with protein-binding sites capable of recruiting transcription factors.
  • By targeting the RNA scaffolds to promoter regions, the transcription factors activated gene expression.
  • Researchers have shown that the expression strength can be tuned by the orienting the scaffold and level of transcription factors recruited.
  • These multi-enzyme pathways could be controlled for high-yield production of the anti-cancer drug violacein.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Dr. Mahalanabis: the man behind ORS no more

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : ORS, Dr. Mahalanabis

Mains level : NA

ors

While Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) as a simple, effective remedy for dehydration is known around the world, the physician who pioneered the treatment, Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis, passed away.

What is ORS?

  • Oral rehydration therapy is a type of fluid replacement used to prevent and treat dehydration, especially due to diarrhea.
  • It involves drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium.
  • Oral rehydration therapy can also be given by a nasogastric tube.

About Dr. Mahalanabis

  • Born on November 12, 1934 in West Bengal, Dr Mahalanabis studied in Kolkata and London.
  • He joined the Johns Hopkins University International Centre for Medical Research and Training in Kolkata in the 1960s, where he carried out research in oral rehydration therapy.
  • When the 1971 war broke out, millions of people from then East Pakistan took refuge in India.
  • Clean drinking water and sanitation were problems at these refugee camps, and cholera and diarrhoea broke out among people anyway exhausted and dehydrated.
  • Dr Mahalanabis and his team were working in one such camp at Bongaon.
  • Stocks of intravenous fluids were running out, on top of which there weren’t enough trained personnel to administer the IV treatment.

How he discovered ORS?

  • From his research, Dr Mahalanabis knew that a solution of sugar and salt, which would increase water absorption by the body, could save lives from Cholera.
  • He and his team then prepared solutions of salt and glucose in water and began storing them in large drums, from where patients or their relatives could help themselves.
  • The oral solution then consisted of 22 gm glucose (as commercial monohydrate), 3.5 gm sodium chloride (as table salt) and 2.5 gm sodium bicarbonate (as baking soda) per liter of water.
  • This was the simplest formula, containing the minimum number of ingredients, previously found to be effective in severely ill patients with cholera.

His legacy

  • While initially, the medical fraternity was septical, the WHO eventually adopted ORS as the standard method for treating cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases.
  • Today, the WHO recommends a combination of sodium chloride, anhydrous glucose, potassium chloride and Trisodium citrate dihydrate as the ORS formula.
  • In India, July 29 is observed as ORS Day.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

MeFSAT Database for Medicinal Fungi

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : MeFSAT

Mains level : Not Much

mefsat

An analytical study of medicinal fungi using MeFSAT carried out by researchers from Chennai shows that some chemicals they secrete may find use as novel drugs.

What is MeFSAT?

  • MeFSAT (Medicinal Fungi Secondary Metabolites and Therapeutics) is a database that compiles information on 184 medicinal fungi, including mushrooms.
  • It is a manually curated database that compiles information on secondary metabolites and reported therapeutic uses of medicinal fungi from published research articles and specialized books on the subject.

Why in news?

  • Chennai-based researchers analysed the structure of 1,830 secondary metabolites of medicinal fungi.
  • Secondary metabolites are chemical compounds that fungi produce when they are stressed.
  • They enhance the fungus’ ability to survive.

What are medicinal fungi?

  • Medicinal fungi belongs to two taxonomic divisions namely, basidiomycota and ascomycota.
  • Mushrooms belong to the basidiomycota division. An example is Agaricus bisporus, the button mushroom, which can be consumed.
  • Fungi belonging to the ascomycota division are generally not mushrooms.

Examples of fungi-based medicines

  • Cordycepin, a secondary metabolite produced by Cordyceps species of fungus, is known to have anti-tumor properties.
  • Not only cordycepin, in general, but several secondary metabolites are also known to be beneficial for humans in terms of both therapy and health.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Private: Fruit Fly: Novel method to study Nuclear Matrix

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Nuclear Matrix

Mains level : NA

Now, using a novel method, Indian researchers have established a way of studying the nuclear matrix of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) without removing the nucleus from the embryo.

Nuclear Matrix of fruit flies

  • Every cell that makes up an organism contains a copy of its genome.
  • This genome is packaged in special ways with the help of a structure known as the nuclear matrix.
  • The nuclear matrix gives an organisation and architecture to the nucleus.
  • A familiar figure, the nuclear matrix of fruit flies, for instance, has been studied for many years, mainly by isolating it in nuclei that have been taken out from fruit fly embryos.
  • This allows comparative study of nuclear matrix in different cells within the embryo, giving a boost for fruit fly genetics.
  • Two of the most recent papers on this work have been published in the journals Nucleus and Molecular and Cell Proteomics.

What exactly is Nuclear Matrix?

  • The nuclear matrix is like a scaffolding.
  • Using biochemical means, if the nucleus is taken out and treated with an enzyme that digests all the DNA.
  • It is then washed with a solution of high salt concentration so that viable DNA proteins or protein-protein interactions are removed.
  • What is then left is a fibrous meshwork of proteins called the nuclear matrix.
  • This is like a building from which all movables have been sucked out, leaving only the beams, ceiling, and walls, plug points, etc.
  • Analogous to the building, the nuclear matrix creates the architecture in which the genome is packaged.

Why study them?

  • Studying the nuclear matrix is, therefore, very important to get a better picture of how precisely development progresses every time a new individual is born.
  • We have 220 different types of cells in the body, but all contain identical genomes.
  • The same genome sequence is present in neurons, where it works for thinking; in the liver, the same sequence enacts metabolism; and in the intestine, it works to digest.
  • So, this information is packaged differently in different cell types.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Private: Species in news: Tasmanian Tiger

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Tasmanian Tiger

Mains level : Not Much

Scientists in the US and Australia have embarked on a $15-million project to resurrect the thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger, a marsupial that went extinct in the 1930s, using gene-editing technology.

Tasmanian Tiger

  • The Tasmanian tiger or thylacine (a dog-headed pouched dog) was an exclusively carnivorous marsupial that is considered to be extinct.
  • It has a resemblance to a dog, with its distinguishing features being the dark stripes beginning at the rear of its body and extending into its tail, its stiff tail and abdominal pouch.
  • The last known thylacine died in captivity over 80 years ago, in Tasmania’s Hobart Zoo in 1936.
  • It may also be the only mammal to have become extinct in Tasmania since the European settlement.

Why did they become extinct?

  • It was confined to Tasmania in recent times and disappeared from mainland Australia over 2000 years ago, mainly because of over-hunting by humans, diseases and competition from the Dingo (Canis lupus), a wild dog native to Australia.
  • The Thylacine was also persecuted because it was believed to be a threat to sheep and in its latter years it was hunted for the purposes of collection by museums and zoos.
  • As per some accounts, the introduction of sheep in 1824 led to a conflict between the settlers and thylacine.

Why in news?

  • The ambitious project aims to reintroduce the animal to its native place Tasmania to revive the region’s lost ecological balance.
  • Interestingly, this is not the first attempt to revive thylacines.
  • In 1999, an Australian scientist, Dr Michael Archer, embarked on an unsuccessful journey to resurrect the animal using cloning technology from a perfectly preserved specimen in a museum.

The resurrection process

  • Even though the last living thylacine died over 86 years ago, many embryos and young specimens of the species have been preserved.
  • Scientists will be using a genome sequenced from a DNA extracted from a 108-year-old specimen held at Australia’s Victoria Museum.
  • This genome will be compared with the closest living animal of the species– the fat tailed dunnart — to identify all the differences.
  • Once all the differences are identified, scientists will engineer the living cell’s DNA where it is different, essentially engineering the extinct species back.
  • The fat-tailed dunnart is a mouse-like species in the Dasyuridae family in Australia. With an average body length of 2.4–3.5 inches, they are one of the smallest carnivorous marsupials.

Criticisms of the move

  • Researchers have raised concerns about the practicality of the technology.
  • De-extinction is a fairytale science a/c to them and is more about media attention for the scientists and less about doing serious science.

Back2Basics: De-extinction technology

  • De-extinction, or resurrection biology, is the method of creating a species that went extinct or is endangered, in order to revitalise ecological diversity and balance shattered due to reasons ranging from biodiversity loss to climate change.
  • While cloning is the most widely used method of de-extinction, genome editing and selective breeding are also considered effective ways.
  • The Pyrenean ibex, a subspecies of Spanish ibex, was one of the first extinct animals that have been resurrected using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).
  • However, the baby Ibex died minutes after its birth from lung defect.
  • One of the challenges of de-extinction is that reintroducing the species to its former habitat may make it an invasive species, which will also impact the balance of the current ecological system.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Edible coating to prolong shelf life of fruits and vegetables

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Dunaliella tertiolecta

Mains level : Not Much

A team of researchers at the IIT — Guwahati has developed an edible coating using marine alga that coated on vegetables and fruits, substantially extends their shelf-life.

Dunaliella tertiolecta: The Edible coating

  • The team used a mix of an extract of a marine microalga called Dunaliella tertiolecta and polysaccharides to produce it.
  • The microalga is known for its antioxidant properties and has various bioactive compounds such as carotenoids and proteins.
  • It is also used to produce algal oil, a non-animal source of omega-3 fatty acid and is considered a good source of biofuel.
  • After the oil is extracted, the residue is usually discarded.
  • The researchers used extracts from this residue in formulating their film, in combination with chitosan, which is a carbohydrate.
  • It also has antimicrobial and antifungal properties and can be made into an edible film.

Benefits of this Edible coating

  • The films displayed superior antioxidant activity, thermal stability, mechanical strength, total phenolic content and water vapour barrier property.
  • They also had excellent UV-Vis light-blocking properties.
  • The researchers also tested the biosafety of these coatings.

Why is it viable?

  • The new coatings can be mass-produced.
  • They are very stable to light, heat, and temperature up to 40C, edible, and can be safely eaten as part of the product formulation and do not add unfavourable properties to it.
  • They retain texture, colour, appearance, flavour and nutritional value.
  • The material can be either directly coated on the vegetables and fruits or made into a vegetable storage pouch.
  • In both cases, the shelf-life of the vegetables can be extended.
  • It is a simple dip coating technique with no significant cost added to the post-harvest processing.

Economic significance of Edible coating

  • According to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, between 4.6 and 15.9 per cent of fruits and vegetables go waste post-harvest, partly due to poor storage conditions.
  • In fact, post-harvest loss in certain produce items like potato, onion, and tomato could even be as high as 19%, which results in high prices for this highly consumed commodity.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Genome Sequencing?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Genome sequencing, APOBEC3 protein

Mains level : NA

Researchers from across the world have made available over 650 complete genome sequences of monkeypox isolates to date in public domain databases including GISAID and GenBank.

What is Genome Sequencing?

  • Genome sequence is the unique code of genetic material of any organism, and determines the characteristic of any organism.
  • Whole genome sequencing is the process of determining the complete DNA sequence of an organism’s genome at a single time.
  • The gene composition of novel coronavirus, for instance, is different from that of the influenza virus. Every organism has a unique genome sequence.
  • Laboratories in various countries have been isolating and sharing the genome sequences of the virus on an international platform.

Why are so many genome sequences being isolated?

  • When viruses multiply, or reproduce, there is a copying mechanism that transfers the gene information to the next generation.
  • However, no copying mechanism is perfect. When the virus multiplies, there will be small changes, which are called mutations.
  • These mutations accumulate over time, and after prolonged periods, are responsible for evolution into new organisms.
  • Within a single reproduction, the changes are extremely minor. More than 95 per cent of the gene structure remains the same.

How does it help scientists?

  • However, the small changes that occur are crucial to understanding the nature and behaviour of the organism.
  • In this case, for example, the small changes could provide scientists with information about the origin, transmission, and impact of the virus on the patient.
  • It could also hold clues to the differing effects the virus could have on patients with different health parameters.

Accelerated evolution of Monkeypox

  • The monkeypox virus has a DNA genome of around 2,00,000 base pairs, roughly six times larger than that of SARS-CoV-2.
  • Like other viruses, the monkeypox virus evolves by the accumulation of genetic errors, or mutations, in its genome when it replicates inside a host.
  • Being a DNA virus, the monkeypox virus like other poxviruses was believed to have a small rate of accumulating genetic changes compared to viruses with an RNA genome like SARS-CoV-2, which have a much larger rate of mutations.
  • For poxviruses, this rate is estimated to be as low as a couple of genetic changes every year.
  • A recent study, however, revealed that the observed rate of genetic changes in the virus was higher than expected — average of around 50 genetic changes.

Key findings

Ans. APOBEC3 protein

  • The study also suggests that several mutations that have been identified in the new sequences of the monkeypox virus.
  • This may have emerged due to interaction between the virus genome and an important family of proteins coded by the human genome known as the Apolipoprotein B Editing Complex (or APOBEC3).
  • These proteins offer protection against certain viral infections by editing the genome sequence of the virus while it replicates in the cell.
  • Some researchers suggest that many of the genetic mutations in the monkeypox genomes from the current outbreak are relics of the effect of APOBEC3.

Conclusion

  • Genomic surveillance of pathogens provides interesting insights by following a molecular approach for contact tracing and understanding the transmission of the virus across the world.
  • As cases of monkeypox continue to rise, it is therefore important to strengthen the genomic surveillance for the monkeypox virus.
  • Since data from the present outbreak suggest a sustained human-to-human transmission, continuous genomic surveillance is important to understand the evolution and adaptation of the virus, apart from providing useful data to epidemiologists.
  • With COVID-19 continuing unabated and monkeypox around the corner, the time has never been better, and the need never more acute, to build a sustainable system for genomic surveillance in India.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Dostarlimab: The New Wonder Cancer Drug

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Dostarlimab

Mains level : NA

A trial on 18 colorectal cancer patients in the US found that cancer could be treated without chemotherapy or surgery. The world is sitting up and taking note of Dostarlimab, which has been called a wonder drug.

What is Dostarlimab?

  • Dostarlimab is an experimental drug. It contains laboratory-produced molecules.
  • It acts as substitute antibodies. It is sold under the brand name Jemperli.
  • It was approved for medical use in the United States and the European Union in 2021.
  • Its side-effects include vomiting, joint pain, itching, rash, fever etc.

What are the findings?

  • The trial showed that immunotherapy alone – without any chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgery that have been staples of cancer treatment.
  • It could completely cure the patients with a particular kind of rectal cancer called ‘mismatch repair deficient’ cancer”.
  • All 12 patients had completed the treatment and were followed for six to 25 months after.
  • No cases of progression or recurrence had been reported during the follow-up.
  • The response too was rapid, with symptoms resolving in 81% of the patients within nine weeks of starting the therapy.

Is Dostarlimab actually very effective?

  • Dostarlimab is not a new drug but a combination of drugs that are already approved for use in immunotherapy.
  • There is a possibility that Dostarlimab may improve the outcome and survival rate in rectal cancer patients but to say it as a magic drug for cancer is completely going overboard.

How does this drug cure?

  • PD1 is a protein that regulates immune function and can sometimes keep T cells from killing cancer cells.
  • The therapy in the trial used PD1 blockades, allowing T cells to kill cancer cells.
  • ‘Mismatch repair deficient’ cancer is most common among colorectal, gastrointestinal, and endometrial cancers.
  • Patients suffering from this condition lack the genes to correct typos in the DNA that occur naturally while cells make copies.
  • Immunotherapy belongs to a category called PD1 blockades that are now recommended for the treatment of such cancers rather than chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Will Indian patients get access to the drug?

  • At present, Indian doctors seem to be generally wary of prescribing Dostarlimab for their patients.
  • Experts have termed as optimistic the findings of an ongoing trial—a group of rectal cancer patients showed no signs of a tumour after taking the drug for six months.
  • None of the participants reported any severe side-effects either.
  • Yet, doctors say they want to assess the duration of the response.

What do we know about the clinical trial?

  • Cancer was treated in all the patients and could not be detected by physical examination, endoscopy, positron emission tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging.
  • Thus, there is a thought that cancer can be treated without chemotherapy or surgery.

Is it too early to celebrate?

  • Cancer specialists said initial signals show how precision medicine is building the future but they need to test more patients from different areas and other types of cancers.
  • The combination of drugs was administered to a small number of patients and for a specific type of cancer.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Mains level : Not Much

A team of scientists from Australia have found that babies at risk of the mysterious Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, generally have low levels of an enzyme called butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) in their blood.

What is SIDS?

  • Sudden Infant Death Syndrome refers to the sudden and unexpected death of an otherwise healthy infant under the age of one, generally while they are sleeping.
  • Most SIDS-related deaths occur in infants between the age of 1-4 months.
  • According to the NHS website, parents can reduce the risk of SIDS by not smoking while pregnant or after the baby is born and ensuring that the baby is placed on their back when they sleep.
  • Some health experts have said that it is associated with issues in the part of an infant’s brain that controls breathing and waking up.

Prevalence of SIDS

  • SIDS, also known as ‘cot death’, has claimed the lives of thousands of children across the West.
  • US estimates that about 3,400 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly every year.
  • Meanwhile, the United Kingdom reports about 200 such deaths annually.

What does the new study say?

  • The study assessed whether there was something inherently different in babies that succumbed to SIDS.
  • The researchers compared dried blood samples from 655 healthy babies, 26 babies who died due to SIDS and 41 babies who died of other causes.
  • The team found that around nine of ten babies who died from SIDS had lower levels of BChE enzymes than the babies in the other two groups.

What is the BChE (Butyrylcholinesterase) enzyme responsible for?

  • These enzymes are responsible for sending out signals that make a baby wake up, turn her head, or gasp for breath.
  • It is part of the autonomic system, and controls function like blood pressure and breathing.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

RNA granules to treat neurodegenerative disorders

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : mRNA, RNA granules

Mains level : Not Much

Researchers at IISc Bangalore have identified a protein in yeast cells that dissolves RNA-protein complexes, also known as RNA granules.

What is mRNA?

  • Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA (Ribo Nucleic Acid) molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene.
  • The mRNA is an RNA version of the gene that leaves the cell nucleus and moves to the cytoplasm where proteins are made.
  • During protein synthesis, an organelle called a ribosome moves along the mRNA, reads its base sequence, and uses the genetic code to translate each three-base triplet, or codon, into its corresponding amino acid.

What are RNA granules?

  • Inside the cytoplasm of any cell there are structures made of messenger RNA (mRNA) and proteins known as RNA granules.
  • Unlike other structures in the cell (such as mitochondria), the RNA granules are not covered and confined by a membrane.
  • This makes them highly dynamic in nature, thereby allowing them to constantly exchange components with the surrounding.
  • RNA granules are present in the cytoplasm at low numbers under normal conditions but increase in number and size under stressful conditions including diseases.

Why are they unique?

  • A defining feature which does not change from one organism to another (conserved) of the RNA granule protein components is the presence of stretches containing repeats of certain amino acids.
  • Such stretches are referred to as low complexity regions.
  • Repeats of arginine (R), glycine (G) and glycine (G) — known as RGG — are an example of low complexity sequence.

Functions of RNA granules

  • Messenger RNAs are converted to proteins (building blocks of the cell) by the process of translation.
  • RNA granules determine messenger RNA (mRNA) fate by deciding when and how much protein would be produced from mRNA.
  • Protein synthesis is a multi-step and energy-expensive process.
  • Therefore, a common strategy used by cells when it encounters unfavorable conditions is to shut down protein production and conserve energy to deal with a stressful situation.
  • RNA granules help in the process of shutting down protein production.
  • Some RNA granule types (such as Processing bodies or P-bodies) not only regulate protein production but also accomplish degradation and elimination of the mRNAs, which in turn helps in reducing protein production.

What is the recent study?

  • Researchers concluded that low complexity sequences which normally promote granule formation, in this case promote the disintegration of RNA granules in yeast cells.
  • They observed that the identified protein Sbp1 is specific for dissolving P-bodies and not stress granules which are related RNA granule type also present in the cytoplasm.

Significance of the study

  • This study has highlighted the potential of amino acid repeats (RGG) as a therapeutic intervention.
  • The study may help analyze the effect of repeat sequences in genetically engineered mice that accumulate insoluble pathological aggregates in brain cells.
  • This could possibly help in treating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Microbots for Drug Delivery

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Microbots for drug delivery

Mains level : NA

An Indian researcher has found that it is possible to use light as a fuel to move microbots in real-body conditions with intelligent drug delivery that is selectively sensitive to cancer cells

Microswimmers for drug delivery

  • Made from the two-dimensional compound poly (heptazine imide) carbon nitride (aka PHI carbon nitride), these microbots are nothing like the miniaturised humans.
  • They range from 1-10 micrometre (a micrometre is one-millionth of a metre) in size, and can self-propel when energised by shining light.
  • While carbon nitride is an excellent photo-catalyst, the two-dimensional PHI has a sponge-like structure full of pores and voids and charge storage properties.
  • The researchers found that the ions in the salty solution passed through the pores of PHI carbon nitride.
  • Thus, there was little or no resistance from the salt ions.

How do they swim across the blood?

  • The PHI carbon nitride microparticles are photocatalytic.
  • Like in a solar cell, the incident light is converted into electrons and holes.
  • These charges drive reactions in the surrounding liquid. The charges react with the fluid surrounding them.
  • This reaction, combined with the particle’s electric field, makes the microbots (micro-swimmers) swim.
  • As long as there is light, electrons and holes are produced on the surface of the swimmers, which in turn react to form ions and an electric field around the swimmer.
  • These ions move around the particle and cause fluid to flow around the particle.
  • So this fluid flow causes the micro-swimmers to move.

How does the ion movement occur?

  • The ions move from the bright surface of the micro-swimmer to the rear end.
  • The diffusion of the swimming medium in one direction propels the micro-swimmer in the opposite direction.
  • This is like a boat moving in the direction opposite to the oar strokes.
  • The particles are nearly spherical, and the incident light illuminates one-half of the sphere, leaving the other dark.
  • As photocatalysis is light-driven, it occurs only on the brightened hemisphere.
  • As the ions move from the bright side to the dark side, micro-swimmers march in the direction of the light source.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

India’s first indigenous Bio-Sample Collection Kit: mWRAPR

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : mWRAPR

Mains level : NA

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) led start-up has launched mWRAPR, a biological transport and storage medium for genomic sequencing labs, biobanks, and research labs handling biological samples for molecular analysis.

mWRAPR

  • It is India’s first indigenous bio-sample kit, a biological transport and storage medium.
  • It would help in preserving genetic content in all types of biological samples, including microbiomes, saliva, cells, tissues, blood, body fluids, and fecal tubes.
  • It is the only Molecular Transport Medium to be manufactured in India that competes with sample stabilisation and transporting media of notable foreign brands.

Significance

  • The disruptions in global supply chain limits accessibility to materials for molecular diagnostics.
  • India required to move to molecular tests (PCR/ RT-PCR test), but sample collection kits currently used were very cheap and not of molecular grade.
  • RNA WRAPR is the kind of molecular grade sample collection medium that India needs right now.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Xeno-Transplantation and Related Issues

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Xenotransplantation

Mains level : Bio-ethics associated with Xenotransplantation

Recently, the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine announced that it had successfully transplanted a genetically-modified pig heart into a patient with severe ailments.

What is Xenotransplantation?

  • Xenotransplantation, or transplanting organs across different species, was first tried in humans in the 1980s.
  • The experiment was abandoned after the famous case of the American Baby Fae who was born with a congenital heart defect and received a baboon heart in 1984.
  • However, pig heart valves have been used for replacing damaged valves in humans for over 50 years now.
  • Nowadays, harvesting organs from genetically engineered pigs is seen as a viable alternative to meet organs shortage.

How the pigs are genetically engineered?

  • The donor pig underwent 10 genetic modifications, by which the genes responsible for the rapid rejection of foreign organs by the human body were inactivated or knocked out.
  • Four pig genes were removed, and six human genes were added.
  • “GalSafe” pigs, or pigs that had undergone editing to knock out a gene that codes for Alpha-gal (a sugar molecule) were used.
  • Alpha-gal can elicit a devastating immune response in humans.
  • GalSafe pigs have been well studied, and are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in pharmacology.

Why pursue xenotransplantation?

  • Modern scientific supporters of xenotransplantation argue that the potential benefits to society outweigh the risks, making pursuing xenotransplantation the moral choice.
  • None of the major religions object to the use of genetically modified pig organs for life-saving transplantation.

A crucial case in India

  • Harvesting organs from genetically engineered pigs is seen as a viable alternative to meet organs shortage.
  • According to the health ministry, around 0.18 million people in India are estimated to suffer from renal failure every year, but only about 6,000 renal transplants are carried out in the country.
  • About 25,000-30,000 liver transplants are needed annually in India but only about 1,500 are being performed.
  • In the case of the heart, 50,000 people suffer from heart failure and are in need of a heart transplant.
  • Yet, only 10-15 heart transplants are carried out in India each year.

Issues with Xenotransplantation

Besides scientific challenges, there are several ethical challenges to overcome:

  • Animal rights: Many, including animal rights groups, strongly oppose killing animals to harvest their organs for human use.
  • Decreased life expectancy: In the 1960s, many organs came from the chimpanzees, and were transferred into people that were deathly ill, and in turn, did not live much longer afterwards.
  • Religious violations: Certain animals such as pork are strictly forbidden in Islam and many other religions.
  • Informed consent: Autonomy and informed consent are important when considering the future uses of xenotransplantation.
  • Threats of zoonosis: The safety of public health is a factor to be considered. We are already battling the biggest zoonotic disease threat.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Zebrafish study reveals how the brain makes its connections

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Synapses, Human Brain

Mains level : NA

Recent work by researchers at the National Centre of Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, has thrown light on what stimulates the synapses (connection of nerve cells) to form.

What are Synapses?

  • Neurons, or nerve cells, in the brain connect by means of junctions known as synapses through which they transmit signals.
  • There are two types of synapses – chemical and electrical:

(1) Chemical Synapse

  • In this, there is a space of about 20 nanometres between two neurons, and the way they communicate is this: One neuron converts electrical signal into chemical signals.
  • This chemical is released into the synaptic space and the receiving neuron converts the chemical signal back into an electrical signal.

(2) Electrical synapse

  • In these synapses, the two neurons have a physical connection and the conversion of electrical to chemical need not occur, and they communicate directly.
  • Electrical synapses are like a physical wire, communication is faster but they are also fewer in number.

Observing these synapses

  • Researchers from TIFR-National Centre of Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, have chosen Zebrafish as a model organism to study this process.
  • Zebrafish are transparent and neuron development in larval zebrafish can be observed from day to day by injecting a dye or by engineering the fish to express fluorescent proteins.
  • It was observed that electrical synapses are formed before chemical synapses, they are like a blueprint in which neurons make a handshake. This results in the making of chemical synapses.
  • Research on organisms such as leeches showed that if you remove electrical synapses, the chemical synapses do not form.
  • However, the mechanism of how it happens in higher organisms such as vertebrates was not known.

What induces these synapses?

  • The group observed that knocking out a particular protein known as the gap junction delta 2b (gjd2b) in the cerebellum of zebrafish affected levels of the enzyme CaMKII.
  • Levels of CaMKII were seen to increase in the Purkinje neurons in the cerebellum.
  • These neurons and the cerebellum itself control coordination of movements in the organism.

Why study this?

  • In humans for example, excess abuse of alcohol leads to damage of these cells, which results in lack of coordination in movement.
  • The cerebellum shows an evolutionary continuity in all vertebrates, so, too, the Purkinje neurons.
  • Even though fish and humans diverged from a common ancestor about 500 million years ago, the cerebellum has been evolutionarily conserved.
  • While zebrafish have about 300-400 Purkinje neurons, humans have thousands of these.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

The functioning of INSACOG

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : INSACOG

Mains level : Not Much

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) has sequenced about 1,00,000 samples.

What is INSACOG?

  • INSACOG is a consortium of 10 labs and 18 satellite labs across India tasked with scanning COVID samples from patients and finding the variants that has led to spike in transmission.
  • The institutes involved include the laboratories of the Department of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, and the Health Ministry.
  • Its work began in January 2020, by sequencing all samples with a history of travel from the U.K. and a proportion of positive samples in the community.

Tasks of INSACOG

  • The NCDC is tasked with coordinating collections of samples from the States as well as correlating disease with certain mutations.
  • It is mainly involved in genomic sequencing which is done by isolating the genetic material of the coronavirus samples.
  • It is also tasked with tracking certain combinations of mutations that become more widespread in India.

What has it found so far?

  • The INSACOG sequenced about 1,00,000 samples as of early December 2021 when this data was last made publicly available.
  • The bulk of its effort has been focussed on identifying international ‘variants of concern’ (VoC) that are marked out by the WHO as being particularly infectious or pathogenic.
  • International travellers who arrive in India and test positive are the ones whose samples usually get sent to INSACOG for determining the genomic variant.

Why is genome sequencing useful?

  • Understanding mutations: The purpose of genome sequencing is to understand the role of certain mutations in increasing the virus’s infectivity.
  • Immune response: Some mutations have also been linked to immune escape, or the virus’s ability to evade antibodies, and this has consequences for vaccines.
  • Effectiveness of vaccines: Labs across the world, including many in India, have been studying if the vaccines developed so far are effective against such mutant strains of the virus.
  • Evolution of viruses: Studies such as this have shown that Omicron, for instance, has evolved to evade antibodies much better than the Alpha or Delta variant. This prompted the push towards booster doses.

How is it done?

  • Genomic sequencing is done by isolating the genetic material (RNA) of the coronavirus samples.
  • RNA consists of millions of nucleotide bases and genomic sequencing is about identifying and comparing the sequence in a given sample to a reference sample.
  • Changes in the sequence are clues to mutations that show that the virus may have undergone distinct changes at some key locations.
  • There are several approaches to genome sequencing — whole genome sequencing, next-generation sequencing — that have different advantages.
  • It has now evolved to a stage where large sequencers can process even thousands of samples simultaneously.

Various challenges that INSACOG faces

  • Geographical variations: Given that COVID-19 is spreading, mutating and showing geographical variations, the original aim of the group was to sequence at least 5% of COVID-19 samples.
  • Shortage of funds: But only 1% has been achieved yet, primarily due to a shortage of funds, insufficient reagents and tools necessary to rapidly scale up.
  • Red-tapism: The INSACOG, in spite of being peopled by expert scientists, is ultimately within the Central government’s communication structure.
  • Infrastructure lacunae: Not all INSACOG labs have the same quality of equipment and manpower and therefore a surge or spike in some cities can mean difficulties in processing.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What are Chaperone Proteins?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Chaperone Protein

Mains level : NA

 

Chaperones are a functionally related group of proteins assisting protein folding in the cell under physiological and stress conditions.

What are Chaperones?

  • DNA is a linear chain of nucleotides, portions of which are faithfully transcribed into linear messenger RNA.
  • The message in this RNA is translated into strings of amino acids – proteins.
  • Proteins need to take a precise three-dimensional shape to become functional entities.
  • This protein folding does not happen all by itself, at least most of the time.
  • A special bunch of proteins called molecular chaperones assist in correctly folding the protein.

Functions of chaperone proteins

  • In biological systems, Chaperones play crucial roles.
  • Many molecular chaperones belong to the class of “heat shock” proteins (or stress-response proteins).
  • This is because whenever an organism is subjected to elevated temperatures – a heat shock – proteins in the system begin to lose their native shapes, and chaperones are produced in large quantities to restore order.

General need of chaperones

Chaperones are needed under physiological conditions too, for normal cellular function since misfolding of proteins can cause a number of diseases.

  • Alpha-synuclein protein, present in neurons, is wrongly folded in Parkinson’s disease.
  • Brains of Alzheimer’s patients have plaques formed from aggregates of amyloid beta-peptide.
  • This accumulation of amyloid fibrils is toxic, leading to widespread destruction of neurons – a ‘neurodegenerative’ disorder.
  • Aberrant folding of crystallins of the eye lens leads to cataracts.

Types of Chaperones

  • Major chaperones in humans include HSP70, HSC70 and HSP90: the numbers express the size of the proteins in kilodaltons.
  • In normal cells 1%–2% of all proteins present are heat shock proteins.
  • This number rises threefold during stressful conditions.

HSC70: The molecular thermometer

  • HSC70 appears to be more like a molecular thermometer, with an ability to sense cold temperatures.
  • It is induced by heat, whereas HSC70 is always present at high levels in normal cells.
  • This knowledge comes from the study of an intriguing set of disorders, exemplified by Familial Cold Autoinflammatory Syndrome (FCAS).

HSC70 and HSP90: Role in Cancer

  • Cancer cells divide at a break-neck pace, and heat shock proteins are very important in maintaining the stressful cancerous state.
  • An overabundance of heat shock proteins in cancer cells is an indicator of a poor prognosis. Cancerous cells accumulate mutations in proteins that would normally suppress tumours.
  • HSP70 and HSP90 play the roles of villains, as they continue to fold the mutated proteins, thus allowing tumor progression.

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Punjab farmers create Bio-Enzymes from Kinnow

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Bio-Enzymes

Mains level : Not Much

Some farmers in Punjab, especially in the Kinnow belt, have started making Bio-Enzymes (BEs) from this waste fruit — peel and ‘D’ grade, very small kinnows.

What is a Kinnow?

  • The ‘Kinnow’ is a high yield citrus fruit cultivated extensively in the wider Punjab region of India and Pakistan.
  • It is a year-long duration crop and the main harvesting period is from November-end to March.
  • It looks similar to orange but is smaller in size.

Agricultural significance of Kinnows

  • Fallen fruit is a major challenge for kinnow farmers in the state as one needs to dig up small pits to bury them, otherwise the fallen fruit rot and invite a fly attack on the healthy fruit still on the plants.
  • But now, some farmers are using this waste kinnow to improve the pH level and soil fertility of their land by making BEs from this waste fruit.

What are Bio-Enzymes?

  • Chemically, the Bio Enzymes are a mixture of complex organic substances such as proteins, salts and other materials that are by-products of the bacteria/yeast.
  • They produced through fermentation of organic waste including various fruits, vegetable peels and flowers, by mixing in sugar, jaggery/molasses and water.
  • BE’s also have a lot of usage in our daily lives. They can be used as natural cleansers.

Benefits offered by BEs

  • BEs have a lot of good microbes and one of the major methods which helps overall improvement of our ecology.
  • It helps in mitigating the imbalance occurred due to overuse of chemicals, in our soil, air and water.
  • In a state like Punjab where water table is depleting fast and water contamination is also major issue, BEs can bring the soil back to life.
  • It helps in better water recharging and also stops the contamination of water by improving the health of soil.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Zeolite Oxygen Concentrators: Chemistry in 3-D

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Zeolite

Mains level : NA

To meet the demand of oxygen supply in the country during the peak of pandemic, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had chartered the Air India to import ‘Zeolite’ from different countries.

What are Zeolites?

  • Zeolites are highly porous, 3-dimensional meshes of silica and alumina.
  • In nature, they occur where volcanic outflows have met water.
  • Synthetic zeolites have proven to be a big and low-cost boon.

Uses in Oxygen Concentrator

  • One biomedical device that has entered our lexicon during the pandemic is the oxygen concentrator.
  • This device has brought down the scale of oxygen purification from industrial-size plants to the volumes needed for a single person.
  • At the heart of this technology are synthetic frameworks of silica and alumina with nanometer-sized pores that are rigid and inflexible.
  • Beads of one such material, zeolite 13X, about a millimeter in diameter, are packed into two cylindrical columns in an oxygen concentrator.

How does it work?

  • Zeolite performs the chemistry of separating oxygen from nitrogen in air.
  • Being highly porous, zeolite beads have a surface area of about 500 square meters per gram.
  • At high pressures in the column, nitrogen is in a tight embrace, chemically speaking, with the zeolite.
  • Interaction between the negatively charged zeolite and the asymmetric nucleus (quadrupole moment) of nitrogen causes it to be preferentially adsorbed on the surface of the zeolite.
  • Oxygen remains free, and is thus enriched.
  • Once nitrogen is captured, what flows out from the column is 90%-plus oxygen.
  • After this, lowering the pressure in the column releases the nitrogen, which is flushed out, and the cycle is repeated with fresh air.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Linear No-Threshold (LNT) Model for Radiation Safety

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : LNT Model

Mains level : Not Much

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decisively upheld the Linear No-Threshold (LNT) model to prescribe radiation safety standards, ending the protracted controversy on the topic.

What is the LNT Model?

  • The LNT is a dose-response model used in radiation protection to estimate stochastic health effects such as radiation-induced cancer, genetic mutations etc. on the human body due to exposure to ionizing radiation.
  • The LNT model states that biological effects such as cancer and hereditary effects due to exposure to ionising radiation increase as a linear function of dose, without threshold.
  • It provides a sound regulatory basis for minimizing the risk of unnecessary radiation exposure to both members of the public and radiation workers.

Why in news?

  • LNT model continues to provide a sound basis for a conservative radiation protection regulatory framework that protects both the public and occupational workers.
  • The model helps the agencies to regulate radiation exposures to diverse categories of licensees, from commercial nuclear power plants to individual industrial radiographers and nuclear medical practices.
  • There are also studies and findings that support the continued use of the LNT model, including those by national and international authoritative scientific advisory bodies.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Mosquirix: First malaria vaccine to get WHO nod

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Malaria and it vaccines

Mains level : Malaria menace in India

In a historic move, the World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed the first anti-malarial vaccine, as mankind enters a key turning point in a battle waged relentlessly over decades between man and mosquito, the vector.

Mosquirix

  • RTS,S/ASO1 (RTS.S), trade name Mosquirix acts against P. falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite globally, and the most prevalent in Africa.
  • The vaccine was able to prevent approximately 4 in 10 cases of malaria over a 4-year period in Africa.
  • This is the first malaria vaccine that has completed the clinical development process.
  • It is also the first malaria vaccine to be introduced by three national ministries of health through their childhood immunization programs — more than 800,000 children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi.
  • have been vaccinated, and are benefiting from the added protection provided by the vaccine as part of a pilot program.

How the vaccine can help?

  • WHO’s recommendation is based on the advice of its two global advisory bodies, one for immunization and the other for malaria.
  • WHO has recommended that in the context of comprehensive malaria control, the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine be used for the prevention of P. falciparum malaria in children living in regions with moderate to high transmission as defined by it.
  • The malaria vaccine should be provided in a schedule of 4 doses in children from 5 months of age for the reduction of malaria disease and burden.

Back2Basics: Malaria

  • Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito if the mosquito itself is infected with a malarial parasite.
  • There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest ones), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi.
  • Therefore, to say that someone has contracted the Plasmodium ovale type of malaria means that the person has been infected by that particular parasite.
  • Malaria is treated with prescription drugs to kill the parasite. Chloroquine is the preferred treatment for any parasite that is sensitive to the drug.

Countries that have eliminated malaria

  • Globally, the elimination net is widening, with more countries moving towards the goal of zero malaria.
  • In 2019, 27 countries reported fewer than 100 indigenous cases of the disease, up from 6 countries in 2000.
  • Countries that have achieved at least 3 consecutive years of zero indigenous cases of malaria are eligible to apply for the WHO certification of malaria elimination.
  • 11 countries have been certified as malaria-free: United Arab Emirates (2007), Morocco (2010), Turkmenistan (2010), Armenia (2011), Sri Lanka (2016), Kyrgyzstan (2016), Paraguay (2018), Uzbekistan (2018), Algeria (2019), Argentina (2019), and El Salvador (2021).

Burden of Malaria in India

  • In 2018, the National Vector-borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) estimated that approximately 5 lakh people suffered from malaria.
  • 63% of the cases were of Plasmodium falciparum.
  • The recent World Malaria Report 2020 said cases in India dropped from about 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Computer Tomography?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Computer Tomography (CT) and its working

Mains level : NA

The first computed tomography image – a CT scan – of the human brain was made 50 years ago, on Oct. 1, 1971.

A few months back, almost all of us have heard about the High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scan being conducted on our relatives for diagnosing the damage of lungs caused due to the Wuhan Virus.

About Computer Tomography (CT)

  • A CT scan is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to get detailed images of the body noninvasively for diagnostic purposes.
  • The multiple X-ray measurements taken from different angles are then processed on a computer using reconstruction algorithms to produce tomographic (cross-sectional) images (virtual “slices”) of a body.

How does it work?

  • They use a narrow X-ray beam that circles around one part of your body. This provides a series of images from many different angles.
  • A computer uses this information to create a cross-sectional picture. Like one piece in a loaf of bread, this two-dimensional (2D) scan shows a “slice” of the inside of your body.
  • This process is repeated to produce a number of slices.
  • The computer stacks these scans one on top of the other to create a detailed image of your organs, bones, or blood vessels.
  • For example, a surgeon may use this type of scan to look at all sides of a tumor to prepare for an operation.

Its development

  • Since its development in the 1970s, CT has proven to be a versatile imaging technique.
  • While CT is most prominently used in diagnostic medicine, it also may be used to form images of non-living objects.
  • The 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to South African-American physicist Allan M. Cormack and British electrical engineer Godfrey N. Hounsfield “for the development of computer-assisted tomography”.

Threats

  • CT scans use X-rays, which produce ionizing radiation.
  • Such radiation may damage your DNA and lead to cancer.
  • The risk increases with every CT scan we get.
  • Ionizing radiation may be more harmful in children.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] What is Pollen Calendar?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Pollen Calender

Mains level : NA

Chandigarh now has its first pollen calendar, which can identify potential allergy triggers and provide a clear understanding for clinicians as well as allergy sufferers about their causes to help limit their exposure during high pollen loads.

What is a Pollen Calendar?

  • Pollen calendars represent the time dynamics of airborne pollen present in a particular geographical area.
  • They yield readily accessible visual details about various airborne pollen present throughout the year in a single picture.

Is this a new concept in India? Where else in the west has this calendar been used?

  • Though the concept is not essentially new, this is one of the major environmental concerns that had not been addressed for the Indian cities.
  • Such calendars are location-specific, as pollen concentrations are closely related to locally distributed flora.
  • Europe, UK and the US are using regional pollen calendars in a big way to prevent and diagnose allergic rhinitis/hay fever and predict the timing and severity of the pollen season.

Why is it important to study pollen?

  • Pollen grains are male biological structures with the primary role of fertilization, but when inhaled by humans, they may strain the respiratory system and cause allergies.
  • Pollen found suspended in air can cause widespread upper respiratory tract and naso-bronchial allergy with manifestations like asthma, seasonal rhinitis, and bronchial irritation.
  • About 20-30 percent of the population suffers from allergic rhinitis/hay fever in India, and approximately 15 percent develop asthma.
  • Pollen is considered a major outdoor airborne allergen responsible for allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis in humans.

What were the key findings?

  • The study highlights the variability of crucial pollen types in different seasons.
  • Spring and autumn are two seasons when airborne pollen dominate.
  • The findings will enhance the understanding of pollen seasons, which will in turn help minimize pollen allergies.

How will a pollen calendar benefit people, especially those who have respiratory issues?

  • A pollen calendar provides a clear understanding for clinicians, as well as people with allergies to identify the potential allergy triggers and help to limit their exposure during high pollen load season.
  • The early advisories can be prepared and disseminated through media channels to the citizens so that they can use protective gear during the period when the concentration of allergic pollen will be high.

Does the study infer that gardens and parks in the city contribute to the pollen and thus there must be proper scientific tree plantation?

  • It is important to involve experts while designing parks.
  • We should try to plant trees/shrubs that release no or little pollen.
  • Trees such as palms, nettle, safeda, white mulberry (shahtoot), congress grass, pine, have a high incidence of pollen.

What kind of trees must be grown alongside our roads or in parks?

  • Plant monoecious plants (male and female flowers on the same plant).
  • Hibiscus, lilies, and holly that are grown widely in Chandigarh are examples of such plants.
  • Cucumbers and squashes are also monoecious. Select plants with low to moderate pollen production.
  • Non-allergic or entomophilous plant species should be chosen to provide an allergen-free atmosphere.
  • Examples of such plants include rose, jasmine, salvia, Bougainvillea, Raat Rani, and sunflower.

With inputs from:

Indian Express

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Wood Wide Web?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Wood wide web

Mains level : Not Much

Plants appear to be simple enough in their organization. Whether small shrubs or tall trees, all they seem to be made up of is leaves, flowers, fruits, stems, and roots. But simple they are not. Being rooted in one spot has required very special personality traits.

Wood Wide Web

  • Trees in the forest share resources by using an underground network.
  • A scientist from the University of British Columbia, Dr. Suzanne Simard, revealed this network and called it the wood wide web.
  • In the wood wide web, mycorrhizal fungi colonize the plant roots, and their tiny fungal filaments, or mycelia, connect hairy root tips of different trees together.
  • Mycorrhizal fungi refer to the role they play in the plant’s root system—as symbionts.
  • These root-associated fungi are harmless to plants. Instead, they form harmonious symbiotic relationships with plants.

An ancient association

  • The association between plants and fungi is ancient.
  • Fossils of plants from about 400 million years ago show the first evidence of roots, and these roots are fungus associations – rhizoids – suggesting that roots co-evolved with fungi.
  • One good example is species of Penicillium, the fungus from which Alexander Fleming isolated the antibiotic penicillin.
  • Fungus–root associations, called mycorrhizae, appear at first glance to be simple mutualisms that are beneficial to both.
  • The root-invading fungus gains nutrients made by the plant, and the plants get difficult-to-find minerals like phosphorus from the microbe. But the association is deeper.

How does it work?

  • The wood wide web works by offering a win-win situation for all parties: mycorrhizal fungi and trees.
  • The fungal filaments transport nitrogen, phosphorous, water, and other hard-to-capture nutrients from the soil to the trees, in exchange for carbon-rich sugars made by the plants.
  • The fungi also help deliver substances from one tree to its neighboring trees.
  • By using the network, mature trees feed their seedlings with nutrients to boost their survival.
  • When a plant is sick or dying, it can allocate its nutrients to the other plants nearby through the wood wide web.

Benefits offered

  • Bacteria that associate with roots are called rhizobacteria, and a very wide range of these species are plant growth promoters.
  • Like the fungi, mutualism operates in these relationships too. In exchange for sugars, these bacteria offer plants a wide range of benefits.
  • They may help plants ward off pathogens that cause diseases of the root. They may even trigger systemic resistance to a pathogen throughout the plant.

Back2Basics: Symbiotic Relationship

Parasitism

  • It is a type of interaction between two species that results in damage and harm to one member and benefit to another member.
  • Ex. As in the case of the tick-host relationship, the tick gains benefit by sucking blood while the host is harmed as it loses blood.

Commensalism

  • In this type of relationship one species benefits without affecting the other.
  • Barnacles growing on the back of the whale, orchids growing as an epiphyte on some mango branch, cattle egret and grazing cattle in close association, Sea anemone, and the Clown Fish are some of the classic examples of Commensalism.

Amensalism

  • In this relationship, one species is harmed while the other is neither harmed nor benefitted and remains unaffected.
  • When an organism excretes the chemicals as a part of the normal metabolism of its own, but which may severely impact other nearby species, this kind of relationship is seen.

Mutualism

  • In this type of relationship both the partners benefit from one another. When similar interaction occurs within a species, it is known as cooperation.
  • Lichens a mutual relationship between algae and fungus. In this mutual cooperation, fungus gives protection and raw material for the preparation of the food while Green Algae synthesizes the food for both.

Saprophytism

  • In this kind of biotic interaction, certain organisms live on dead and decaying organic matter.
  • Dung Beetles, Vultures, Fungi, Bacteria, Protozoa are the example of Saprophytism.

Predation

  • In this type of biological interaction, a predator feeds upon its prey and in this type of relationship, one species is benefitted while the other is harmed.

Competition

  • In this type of interaction both the species compete with each other for the resources like food, shelter, mating, and both the species get harmed out of the process of competition.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Milky Sea Phenomenon?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Milky Sea Phenomenon

Mains level : NA

Some researchers would use satellites to study the elusive milky sea phenomenon.

What is the Milky Sea?

  • Milky seas, also called mareel, is a luminous phenomenon in the ocean in which large areas of seawater appear to glow translucently (in varying shades of blue).
  • Such occurrences glow brightly enough at night to be visible from satellites orbiting Earth.
  • They are a rare nocturnal phenomenon in which the ocean’s surface emits a steady bright glow.

Why do they glow?

  • Luminous bacteria cause the particles they colonize to glow.
  • The purpose of this glow could be to attract fish that eat them.
  • These bacteria thrive in the guts of fishes, so when their populations get too big for their main food supply, a fish’s stomach makes a great second option.

How do they occur?

  • It is typically caused by Noctiluca scintillans (popularly known as “sea sparkle”), a dinoflagellate that glows when disturbed and is found in oceans throughout much of the world.
  • Once their population gets large enough – about 100 million individual cells per millilitre of water – a sort of internal biological switch is flipped and they all start glowing steadily.

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Absorption Spectroscopy?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Absorption Spectroscopy

Mains level : Not Much

Researchers from IIT Madras and IISER Kolkata have developed a method to detect minute quantities of chemicals in solution using Absorption Spectroscopy.

Note: These days there has been a rise in questions from biology (rather cell biology in particular).

Absorption Spectroscopy

  • Absorption spectroscopy is a tool to detect the presence of elements in a medium.
  • Light is shone on the sample, and after it passes through the sample is examined using a spectroscope.
  • Dark lines are seen in the observed spectrum of the light passed through the substance, which correspond to the wavelengths of light absorbed by the intervening substance and are characteristic of the elements present in it.
  • In usual methods, about a cubic centimeter of the sample is needed to do this experiment.
  • In the method developed here, minute amounts of dissolved substances can be detected easily.
  • Usually in absorption spectroscopy, the principle used is that light because of its wavelike nature, shows diffraction patterns, that is, dark and light fringes, when it scatters off any object.

Studying small objects

  • A related concept called the Abbe criterion sets a natural limit on the size of the object being studied.
  • According to this criterion, the size of the observed object has to be at least of the order of the wavelength of the light being shone on it.
  • If one wants to perform absorption spectroscopy using visible light, namely, blue, green and red, the wavelengths [of these colours] are about 400 nm, 500 nm and 600 nm, respectively.

What has Indian researchers achieved?

  • In the method used by the researchers here, tiny, nano-sized particles that can absorb light being shone on them and re-emit red, blue and green light were employed.
  • The particles emit electric fields that are analogous to how a tiny magnet would give off magnetic lines of force – this is called a dipole, and the particle is like a tiny mobile phone’s antenna.
  • This dipole generates an electromagnetic field depending upon the quantum properties of the erbium dopants in the glass.
  • The absorption leaves a gap in the reflected light, which is what is observed and used to analyse the nature of the absorbing material.

Applications of this technology

  • There are many potential applications.
  • Small molecules almost ten-millionth of an mm in diameter can be detected while these pass the emission region of the glass particle.
  • The future is to use it to measure individual molecules, see absorption spectroscopy of a single DNA or protein molecule.

Try this

Q.Which of the following statements are correct regarding the general difference between plant and animal cells?

  1. Plant cells have cellulose cell walls whilst animal cells do not.
  2. Plant cells do not have plasma membranes unlike animal cells which do.
  3. Mature plant cell has one large vacuole whilst an animal cell has many small vacuoles.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer this PYQ here:
1
Please leave a feedback on thisx

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is the Human Genome Project?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Human Genome Project

Mains level : Genome Sequencing and its health applications

Since the release of the draft human genome sequence in 2001, sections were left unsequenced, and some sequence information was incorrect. Now, two decades later, we have a much more complete version.

What is the human genome sequence?

  • The human genome sequence is contained in our DNA and is made up of long chains of “base pairs” that form our 23 chromosomes.
  • Along our chromosomes are the base pair sequences that form our 30,000 genes.
  • All humans share a great degree of similarity in their genome sequences – the same genes are ordered in the same manner across the same chromosomes.
  • Each of us is unique (except for identical twins) in terms of the exact base pair sequence that makes up our genes and thus our DNA/chromosomes.
  • It is this similarity that, in a genetic sense, defines us as “human” and the specific variation that defines us as individuals.

The Human Genome Project

  • As early as the 1980s, momentum was gathering behind activities that supported, and would eventually define, the Human Genome Project.
  • Conversations had turned into workshops that likened characterization of the human genome to characterization of the human anatomy that had centuries earlier revolutionized the practice of medicine.
  • In 1990, with continued support from the US and widespread international collaboration and cooperation, the $3 billion dollar Human Genome Project was launched.
  • The project aimed to determine the sequence of the human genome within 15 years.
  • By 2000 (well ahead of schedule) a working draft of the human genome was announced.
  • This was followed by regular updates and refinements and today we all have access to a human “reference genome sequence”.

Why did it take 20 years?

  • Much of the newly sequenced material is the “heterochromatic” part of the genome.
  • This is more “tightly packed” than the euchromatic genome and contains many highly repetitive sequences that are very challenging to read accurately.
  • These regions were once thought not to contain any important genetic information but they are now known to contain genes that are involved in fundamentally important processes such as the formation of organs during embryonic development.
  • Among the 200 million newly sequenced base pairs are an estimated 115 genes predicted to be involved in producing proteins.

Two key factors made the completion of the human genome possible:

  1. Choosing a very special cell type
  • The new sequence was created using human cells derived from a very rare type of tissue called a complete hydatidiform mole, which occurs when a fertilized egg loses all the genetic material contributed to it by the mother.
  • Most cells contain two copies of each chromosome, one from each parent and each parent’s chromosome contributing a different DNA sequence.
  • A cell from a complete hydatidiform mole has two copies of the father’s chromosomes only, and the genetic sequence of each pair of chromosomes is identical.
  • This makes the full genome sequence much easier to piece together.
  1. Advances in sequencing technology
  • A new method called “shotgun sequencing”, involved breaking the genome into very small fragments of about 200 base pairs, cloning them inside bacteria, deciphering their sequences, and then piecing them back together like a giant jigsaw.
  • This was the main reason the original draft covered only the euchromatic regions of the genome — only these regions could be reliably sequenced using this method.
  • The latest sequence was deduced using two complementary new DNA-sequencing technologies.

Is the genome now completely sequenced?

  • Well, no. An obvious omission is the Y chromosome, because the complete hydatidiform mole cells used to compile this sequence contained two identical copies of the X chromosome.
  • However, this work is underway and the researchers anticipate their method can also accurately sequence the Y chromosome, despite it having highly repetitive sequences.
  • Even though sequencing the (almost) complete genome of a human cell is an extremely impressive landmark, it is just one of several crucial steps towards fully understanding humans’ genetic diversity.

What’s next?

  • The next job will be to study the genomes of diverse populations (the complete hydatidiform mole cells were European).
  • Once the new technology has matured it will be better positioned to make a more significant impact on our understanding of human history, biology and health.
  • Both care and technological development are needed to ensure this research is conducted with a full understanding of the diversity of the human genome to prevent health disparities.

Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

Q.With reference to the recent developments in science, which one of the following statements is not correct?

(a) Functional chromosomes can be created by joining segments of DNA taken from cells of different species.

(b) Pieces of artificial functional DNA can be created in laboratories.

(c) A piece of DNA taken out from an animal cell can be made to replicate outside a living cell in a laboratory.

(d) Cells taken out from plants and animals can be made to undergo cell division in laboratory petri dishes.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

How blind people can navigate better using Echolocation

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Echolocation

Mains level : NA

A technique used by animals such as dolphins, whales, and bats to navigate their surroundings can also be used by blind people to get around better and have greater independence and well-being, researchers at Durham University in the UK have shown.

What is Echolocation?

  • Echolocation, also called biosonar, is a biological sonar used by several animal species.
  • Echolocating animals emit calls out to the environment and listen to the echoes of those calls that return from various objects near them.
  • They use these echoes to locate and identify the objects.

What has the new study found?

  • The same technique can help blind people locate still objects by producing clicking sounds from their mouth and hands.
  • The researchers organized a 10-week training programme, in which 12 blind and 14 sighted volunteers aged between 21 and 79 were taught click-based echolocation.
  • The volunteers were trained in distinguishing between the size of objects, orientation perception and virtual navigation.
  • At the end of the training, the participants had been able to improve their ability to navigate using clicking noises either from one’s mouth, walking cane taps or footsteps.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] India’s First Indigenous Tumour Antigen SPAG9

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : SPAG9

Mains level : NA

The National Institute of Immunology (NII) has received a trademark for India’s First Indigenous Tumor Antigen SPAG9.

About SPAG9

  • India’s first indigenous tumor antigen SPAG9 was discovered by Dr Anil Suri in 1998 who is heading the Cancer Research Program at NII.
  • In a recent development, the SPAG9 antigen has received the trademark ASPAGNII-TM.
  • Currently, ASPAGNIITM is being used in dendritic cell (DC) based immunotherapy in cervical, ovarian cancer and will also be used in breast cancer.

What is immunotherapy?

  • Immunotherapy is a new approach that exploits the body’s inner capability to put up a fight against cancer.
  • With this approach, either the immune system is given a boost, or the T cells are “trained’’ to identify recalcitrant cancer cells and kill them.
  • In this personalized intervention, those patients expressing SPAG9 protein can be treated with DC-based vaccine approach.
  • In DC-based vaccine, patient’s cells called monocytes from their blood are collected and modified into what are called dendritic cells.
  • These dendritic cells are primed with ASPAGNIITM and are injected back to the patient to help the ‘fighter’ cells, or T-cells, in the body to kill the cancer cells.

Why need such therapy?

  • DC-based immunotherapy is safe, affordable and can promote antitumor immune responses and prolonged survival of cancer patients.
  • The ASPAGNIITM is a true example of translational cancer research and the Atmanirbhar Bharat spirit.
  • This will be a real morale boost in affordable, personalized, and indigenous products for cancer treatment.

Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

Q.‘RNA Interference (RNAi)’ technology has gained popularity in the last few years. why?

  1. It is used in developing gene silencing therapies
  2. It can be used in developing therapies for the treatment of cancer
  3. It can be used to developer hormone replacement therapies
  4. It can be used to produce crop plants that are resistant to viral pathogens

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

a) 1, 2 and 4

b) 2 and 3

c) 1 and 3

d) 1 and 4 only

The burden of cancer in India

  • Cancer kills 8.51 lakh people in India every year (International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2020).
  • As per World Health Organization (WHO), one in 10 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime, and one in 15 will die of cancer.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What are the Diatoms?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Diatoms

Mains level : Not Much

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has relied on a forensic test known as diatom tests for leads in an alleged murder case of a person inviting high stage political drama.

What are Diatoms?

  • Diatoms are photosynthesizing algae that are found in almost every aquatic environment including fresh and marine waters, soils, in fact, almost anywhere moist.
  • Diatoms have cell walls made of silica, each species has a distinct pattern of tiny holes in the cell wall (frustule) through which they absorb nutrients and get rid of waste.
  • A diatom is a photosynthetic, single-celled organism which means they manufacture their own food in the same way plants do.

Diatoms are important as they:

  • provide the basis of the food chain for both marine and freshwater micro-organisms and animal larvae
  • are a major source of atmospheric oxygen responsible for 20-30% of all carbon fixation on the planet
  • can act as environmental indicators of climate change
  • form the basis of some household goods such as pest/mite prevention and mild abrasive

Never underestimate UPSC. Try this PYQ before you reach any conclusion.

Q.Which one of the following is the correct sequence of a food chain?

(a) Diatoms-Crustaceans-Herrings

(b) Crustaceans-Diatoms-Herrings

(c) Diatoms-Herrings-Crustaceans

(d) Crustaceans-Herrings-Diatoms

What is a diatom test?

  • Diagnosis of death by drowning is deemed as a difficult task in forensic pathology.
  • A number of tests have been developed to confirm the cause of such deaths with the diatom test emerging as one of the most important tests.
  • The test entails findings if there are diatoms in the body being tested.

The science behind

  • A body recovered from a water body does not necessarily imply that the death was due to drowning.
  • If the person is alive when he enters the water, the diatoms will enter the lungs when the person inhales water while drowning.
  • These diatoms then get carried to various parts of the body, including the brain, kidneys, lungs and bone marrow by blood circulation.
  • If a person is dead when is thrown in the water, then there is no circulation and there is no transport of diatom cells to various organs.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] What is Artificial Photosynthesis?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Artificial Photosynthesis

Mains level : Carbon sequestration through AP

Scientists have found a method to mimic nature’s own process of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, namely photosynthesis, to capture excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Artificial Photosynthesis

  • Artificial photosynthesis (AP) is a chemical process that mimics the natural process of photosynthesis to convert sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen.
  • The term artificial photosynthesis is commonly used to refer to any scheme for capturing and storing the energy from sunlight in the chemical bonds of fuel (a solar fuel).
  • Photocatalytic water splitting converts water into hydrogen and oxygen and is a major research topic of artificial photosynthesis.
  • Light-driven carbon dioxide reduction is another process studied that replicates natural carbon fixation.

Try this PYQ:

Which of the following adds/add carbon dioxide to the carbon cycle on the planet Earth?

  1. Volcanic action
  2. Respiration
  3. Photosynthesis
  4. Decay of organic matter

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 1, 2 and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Challenges in AP

  • Research on this topic includes the engineering of enzymes and photoautotrophic microorganisms for microbial biofuel and biohydrogen production from sunlight.
  • This AP harnesses solar energy and converts the captured carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide (CO), which can be used as a fuel for internal combustion engines.
  • In AP, scientists are essentially conducting the same fundamental process in natural photosynthesis but with simpler nanostructures.
  • However, there are plenty of hurdles to overcome as a successful catalyst to carry out AP.

What have Indian researchers achieved?

  • Indian researchers have designed and fabricated an integrated catalytic system based on a metal-organic framework (MOF-808) comprising of a photosensitizer that can harness solar power and a catalytic centre that can eventually reduce CO2.
  • A photosensitizer is a molecule that absorbs light and transfers the electron from the incident light into another nearby molecule.
  • The scientists have immobilized a photosensitizer, which is a chemical called ruthenium bipyridyl complex ([Ru (bpy)2Cl2]) and a catalytic part which is another chemical called rhenium carbonyl complex ([Re(CO)5Cl]).
  • They have fabricated it inside the nano space of a metal-organic framework for artificial photosynthesis.

Outcomes of the research

  • The developed catalyst exhibited excellent visible-light-driven CO2 reduction to CO with more than 99% selectivity.
  • The catalyst also oxidizes water to produce oxygen (O2).
  • The Photocatalytic assembly, when assessed for CO2 reduction under direct sunlight in a water medium without any additives, showed superior performance of CO production.
  • Being heterogeneous, the integrated catalytic assembly can be reused for several catalytic cycles without losing its activity.

Back2Basics:  Photosynthesis

  • It is the process by which green plants and certain other organisms transform light energy into chemical energy.
  • It is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism’s metabolic activities.
  • This chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules, such as sugars, which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water – hence the name photosynthesis.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Genetics of Eye Color

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Human eye and the applied genetics

Mains level : NA

Researchers from London have found that eye colour in Asians with different shades of brown is genetically similar to eye colour in Europeans ranging from dark brown to light blue.

Human Eye Colour

  • Human eye colour ranges from black, brown to blue, green, and even red.
  • Eye colour is primarily determined by melanin abundance within the iris pigment epithelium, which is greater in brown than in blue eyes.
  • There are two forms of melanin – eumelanin and pheomelanin – and the ratio of the two within the iris as well as light absorption and scattering by extracellular components are additional factors that give irises their colour.
  • Absolute melanin quantity and the eumelanin–pheomelanin ratio is higher in brown irises, while blue or green irises have very little of both pigments and relatively more pheomelanin.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Recently, LASIK (Lasser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) procedure is being made popular for vision correction. Which one of the following statements in this context is not correct?

(a) LASIK procedure is used to correct refractive errors of the eye

(b) It is a procedure that permanently changes the shapes of the cornea

(c) It reduces a person’s dependence on glasses or contact lenses

(d) It is a procedure that can be done on the person of any age

What has the research found?

  • Previously a dozen genes (mainly HERC2 and OCA2) were found to influence eye colour.
  • The researchers have now identified 50 new genes for eye colour.
  • Genetic analysis of nearly 0.2 million people across Europe and Asia helped the researchers to identify the new genes.
  • The findings collectively explain over 53% of eye colour variation using common single-nucleotide polymorphisms.

Outcome of the research

  • Overall, the study outcomes demonstrate that the genetic complexity of human eye colour considerably exceeds previous knowledge and expectations.
  • These findings will help improve our understanding of eye diseases such as pigmentary glaucoma and ocular albinism where pigment levels play a role.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Novel Open Reading Frames (NORF)

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : nORF

Mains level : Not Much

A team from the University of Cambridge set out to find whether new genes emerge in the genome of living organisms and if they do, how they do so. They have now catalogued 1,94,000 novel regions.

Genes/Genomes/DNA/RNA is all-time favourite of UPSC. You can easily find 1-2 questions every year since 2017 in Prelims.

Novel genomic regions

  • The ‘novel’ genomic regions cannot be defined by our current ‘definition’ of a gene.
  • Hence, researchers call these novel regions – novel Open Reading Frames or as nORFs.
  • Researchers found that the mutations in nORFs do have physiological consequences and a majority of mutations that are often annotated as benign have to be re-interpreted.

What novel did the researchers find?

  • nORF regions were uniquely present in the cancer tissues and not present in the control tissue.
  • They found that some nORF disruptions strongly correlated with the survival of patients.
  • nORFs proteins can form structures, can undergo biochemical regulation like known proteins and be targeted by drugs in case they are disrupted in diseases.
  • The researchers also identified these nORFs in Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite which causes the deadliest form of malaria.

Connected to disease

  • The research found that these regions are also broadly involved in diseases.
  • The nORFs were seen as dysregulated in 22 cancer types.
  • Dysregulated is a term which means that they could either be mutated, upregulated, or downregulated, or they could be uniquely present.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Intentional Genomic Alteration

Mains level : Gene Editing

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a first-of-its-kind intentional genomic alteration (IGA) in a line of domestic pigs referred to as GalSafe pigs.

Try this PYQ:

Q.What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news?

(a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing

(b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients

(c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant

(d) A herbicidal sub

What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?

  • Intentional genomic alteration in animals’ means making specific changes to the genome of the organism using modern molecular technologies.
  • These are popularly referred to as “genome editing” or “genetic engineering”. However, there are other technologies that can be used to make IGAs in animals.
  • Such changes in the DNA sequence of an animal may be carried out for research purposes, to produce healthier meat for human consumption and to study disease resistance in animals among other reasons.
  • One example is of using IGAs to make an animal more susceptible to certain diseases such as cancer, which helps researchers get a better understanding of the disease and develop new therapies to treat it.

What does FDA’s recent approval mean?

  • The FDA made the announcement this week and allowed IGA in GalSafe pigs to eliminate a type of sugar found in mammals called alpha-gal.
  • This sugar is present on the surface of these pigs’ cells and when they are used for products such as medicines or food.
  • The sugar is found in red meats such as beef, pork and lamb, the sugar makes some people with Alpha-gal Syndrome (AGS) more susceptible to developing mild to severe allergic reactions.
  • IGA will help eventually free these products from detectable alpha-gal sugar, thereby protecting their human consumers from potential allergies.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Hydroponics: the art of soil-less farming

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Hydroponics

Mains level : Hydroponics and its utility

This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH.

Many questions related to agricultural techniques are being asked in the Prelims. UPSC has done away with traditional crop-related questions for the past two years. 

For example, see this question from CSP 2020:

Q.What are the advantages of fertigation in agriculture?

  1. Controlling the alkalinity of irrigation water is possible.
    2. Efficient application of Rock Phosphate and all other phosphatic fertilizers is possible.
    3. Increased availability of nutrients to plants is possible.
    4. Reduction in the leaching of chemical nutrients is possible.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only

(b) 1,2 and 4 only

(c) 1,3 and 4 only

(d) 2, 3 and 4 only

What is hydroponics?

Hydroponics is the cultivation of plants without using soil.

  • Hydroponic flowers, herbs, and vegetables are planted in inert growing media and supplied with nutrient-rich solutions, oxygen, and water.
  • This system fosters rapid growth, stronger yields, and superior quality.
  • When a plant is grown in soil, its roots are perpetually searching for the necessary nutrition to support the plant.
  • If a plant’s root system is exposed directly to water and nutrition, the plant does not have to exert any energy in sustaining itself.
  • The energy the roots would have expended acquiring food and water can be redirected into the plant’s maturation. As a result, leaf growth flourishes as does the blooming of fruits and flowers.

Why Hydroponics?

  • Plants sustain themselves by a process called photosynthesis. But they do not need soil to photosynthesize.
  • They need the soil to supply them with water and nutrients.
  • When nutrients are dissolved in water they can be applied directly to the plant’s root system by flooding, misting, or immersion.
  • Hydroponic innovations have proven direct exposure to nutrient-filled water can be a more effective and versatile method of growth than traditional irrigation.

How does hydroponics work?

  • Hydroponic systems work by allowing minute control over environmental conditions like temperature and pH balance and maximized exposure to nutrients and water.
  • It administers nutrient solutions tailored to the needs of the particular plant being grown.
  • They allow you to control exactly how much light the plants receive and for how long.
  • pH levels can be monitored and adjusted. In a highly customized and controlled environment, plant growth accelerates.

Components of Hydroponics

To maintain a flourishing hydroponic system, we need to become acquainted with a few components that make it run efficiently.

(1) Growing media

  • Hydroponic plants are often grown in inert media that support the plant’s weight and anchor its root structure.
  • Growing media is the substitute for soil, however, it does not provide any independent nutrition to the plant.
  • Instead, this porous media retains moisture and nutrients from the nutrient solution which it then delivers to the plant.

(2) Air stones and air pumps

  • Plants that are submerged in water can quickly drown if the water is not sufficiently aerated. Air stones disperse tiny bubbles of dissolved oxygen throughout your nutrient solution reservoir.
  • These bubbles also help evenly distribute the dissolved nutrients in the solution. Air stones do not generate oxygen on their own.
  • They need to be attached to an external air pump via opaque food grade plastic tubing

(3) Net pots

  • Net pots are mesh planters that hold hydroponic plants. The latticed material allows roots to grow out of the sides and bottom of the pot, giving greater exposure to oxygen and nutrients.
  • Net pots also provide superior drainage compared to traditional clay or plastic pots.

Benefits

By controlling the environment of the plant in hydroponics, many risk factors are reduced:

  • Plants grown in gardens and fields are introduced to a host of variables that negatively impact their health and growth. Fungus in the soil can spread diseases to plants.
  • Wildlife like rabbits can plunder ripening vegetables from your garden.
  • Pests like locusts can descend on crops and obliterate them in an afternoon. Hydroponic systems end the unpredictability of growing plants outdoors and in the earth.
  • Without the mechanical resistance of the soil, seedlings can mature much faster.
  • By eliminating pesticides, hydroponics produces much healthier and high-quality fruits and vegetables. Without obstacles, plants are free to grow vigorously and rapidly.

Various limitations

  • A hydroponic system isn’t cheap
  • Constant monitoring is required
  • Micro-organisms that are water-based can creep in rather easily
  • Growing a hydroponic garden demands an expertise
  • Production is limited compared to field conditions
  • If a disease appears, all plants in the system will be affected
  • Without soil to serve as a buffer if the system fails plant death will occur rapidly

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

How epigenetics alters inherited genetics’ message

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Epigenetics

Mains level : Genetics and human health

Researchers have found the cause of vision impairment due to ageing as the accumulation of “epigenetic noise” that disrupts gene expression patterns leading to changes in inherent DNA function

Genetics is an all-time favourite of UPSC. Every year you can find a question in prelims. Try this one from CSP 2020:

 

Q.Consider the following statements:

  1. Genetic changes can be introduced in the cells that produce eggs or sperms of a prospective parent
  2. A person’s genome can be edited before birth at the early embryonic stage.
  3. Human-induced pluripotent stem cells can be injected into the embryo of a pig.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 2 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

What is Epigenetics?

  • Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviours and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.
  • Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence.
  • Environmental stimuli can cause genes to be turned off or turned on.
  • This determines a cell’s specialization (e.g., skin cell, blood cell, hair cell, liver cells, etc.) as a fetus develops into a baby through gene expression (active) or silencing (dormant); and nurture.
  • This normal epigenetic control on our genes can get altered during normal ageing, stress and disease conditions.

Cellular regulators

  • The functioning of cells and tissues in our body are controlled by thousands of proteins that regulate various cellular functions.
  • These proteins are in turn encoded by the respective genes which are a part of our genome or the cellular DNA.
  • Any minor or major changes to our inherited DNA (addition or mutation) can result in altered protein production, which in turn leads to defective cellular functions.
  • This forms the basis for many heritable genetic disorders affecting mankind.

A trigger for various inactivities

  • Apart from DNA or protein sequence level alterations, there are other biochemical changes that influence and dictate if a gene should be active or inactive in a given cell type.
  • For example, the gene that encodes for the insulin protein is present in the exact form, in every cell of the body.
  • However, it is allowed to express only in the insulin-secreting beta cells of the pancreas and is kept inactive in the rest of the cells of the body.
  • This phenomenon is tightly regulated by a combination of regulatory proteins that changes the expressivity of the gene.
  • Also, the histone proteins that bind the DNA and help to compactly wrap it inside the chromosomes can undergo chemical modifications such as methylations and acetylations on different lysine amino acids within the protein.
  • These modifications both on the DNA and its associated proteins alter the chromosomal conformations and regulate gene expression.
  • These changes can either unwind the DNA and allow gene expression or can compact the DNA and render the genes in the region inactive or silent.

Epigenetics and the human eye

  • The human (and mammalian) eye is a remarkable organ in the course of evolution which has allowed us to “see” the external world clearly and in colour.
  • Earlier forms, such as microbes and plants, reacted to light in other ways (for absorption and use, such as photosynthesis).
  • The front part of the human eye (cornea, lens and the vitreous humour gel) is transparent, colourless and helps focus the incoming light into the retina, helping us see colour.
  • It is the retina that sends the message to the brain.
  • Its main component, called the retinal ganglion cells (RGC) are the ones that help in this process of sending the message in the form of electrical signals, called neurons or nerve cells.
  • Thus, RGCs are the ones that convert optics into electronics.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Plasmodium Ovale and Other types of Malaria

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Plasmodium parasite

Mains level : Malaria in India

A not very common type of malaria, Plasmodium Ovale, has been identified in a jawan in Kerala.

Try this PYQ:

Q. Widespread resistance of malarial parasite to drugs like chloroquine has prompted attempts to develop a malarial vaccine to combat malaria.

Why is it difficult to develop an effective malaria vaccine?

(a) Malaria is caused by several species of Plasmodium

(b) Man does not develop immunity to malaria during natural infection

(c) Vaccines can be developed only against bacteria

(d) Man is only an intermediate host and not the definitive host

What is Malaria?

  • Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito if the mosquito itself is infected with a malarial parasite.
  • There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest ones), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi.
  • Therefore, to say that someone has contracted the Plasmodium ovale type of malaria means that the person has been infected by that particular parasite.
  • Malaria is treated with prescription drugs to kill the parasite. Chloroquine is the preferred treatment for any parasite that is sensitive to the drug.

Plasmodium Ovale

  • P ovale rarely causes severe illness and there is no need for panic.
  • Symptoms include fever for 48 hours, headache and nausea, and the treatment modality is the same as it is for a person infected with P vivax.
  • P ovale is no more dangerous than getting a viral infection.
  • It is termed ovale as about 20% of the parasitised cells are oval in shape.

Burden of Malaria in India

  • In 2018, the National Vector-borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) estimated that approximately 5 lakh people suffered from malaria.
  • 63% of the cases were of Plasmodium falciparum.
  • The recent World Malaria Report 2020 said cases in India dropped from about 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Zebrafish and its heart regeneration capacity

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Zebrafish

Mains level : Not Much

Indian scientists have used the Zebrafish model and identified its genes that can promote heart regeneration.

Try this PYQ:

Q.With reference to India’s Biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith Barbet, Gray-chinned minivet and White-throated redstart are-

(a) Birds

(b) Primates

(c) Reptiles

(d) Amphibians

Zebrafish

  • Zebrafish is a small (2-3 cm long) freshwater fish found in the tropical and subtropical regions.
  • The fish is native to South Asia’s Indo-Gangetic plains, where they are mostly found in the paddy fields and even in stagnant water and streams.
  • The fish become adults at three months and survive 2-3 years in a laboratory condition.
  • Its unique characteristics lie in its transparency during its embryonic stages, allowing observing all organs, including beating heart and blood circulation.

Ability to heal their heart

  • The ability of Zebrafish to heal their heart after injury makes them an attractive model to investigate mechanisms governing the regenerative process.
  • Researchers worldwide are actively working to understand the mechanism behind the heart regeneration in Zebrafish for the last two decades.
  • Years of efforts have helped them identify the cellular communication network factor 2a (ccn2a), a gene that can promote heart regeneration by enhancing cardiomyocyte proliferation.
  • They have also observed that this gene resolves the transient collagenous fibrotic scar resulting in faster regeneration.

Significance for humans

  • Cardiovascular diseases are the number 1 cause of deaths globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year, according to the World Health Organisation.
  • Humans cannot regenerate their hearts upon myocardial damage and a person who suffered a heart attack cannot functionally heal the damaged heart muscle, resulting in reduced pumping efficiency.
  • While on the other hand, this unique fish has the full potential to regenerate its heart and restore its function after injury.
  • Till now, there is no treatment available to restore the damaged heart function in humans. Hence scientists have sought to decode the heart regeneration processes using this model animal.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Federated Learning?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : IoT , AI

Mains level : AI and its applications

An improvement in a Machine Learning (ML) model, called ‘federated learning’, is said to enable companies to develop new ways of collecting anonymous data without compromising their privacy.

Data privacy is the right of a citizen to have control over how personal information is collected and used. Data protection is a subset Right of Privacy under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

What is ‘federated learning’?

  • Federated learning is an ML method used to train an algorithm across multiple decentralised devices or servers holding data samples.
  • It doesn’t exchange data with the devices, meaning there is no central dataset or server that stores the information.
  • Standard ML models require all data to be centralised in a single server. Implementation of federated learning eliminates the need for maintaining a storage hub.
  • The term was first introduced in a 2016 Google study titled ‘Communication-efficient learning of deep networks from decentralized data.’
  • Google emphasised mobile phones and tablets, stating that modern devices contain special features like speech recognition and image models that can store large amounts of data.
  • Since then, Google has used the technique is various products, including Gboard, which provides text and phrase suggestions to the keyboard.

How this works

  • Federated learning aims to train an algorithm, like deep neural networks, on multiple local datasets contained in local nodes, without explicitly exchanging data.
  • The general principle involves simply exchanging parameters between these nodes. Parameters include a number of federated learning rounds, the total number of nodes, and learning rate.
  • The distinct advantage of the model is its ability to reduce privacy and security risks by limiting the attack surface to only the device, rather than the device and the cloud, Google stated in the study.

Why need such technology?

  • Smart home devices like speakers and smartwatches collect and share data with other devices and systems over the network.
  • These Internet of Things (IoT) devices are equipped with sensors and software that store a user’s private information like body measurements and location.
  • This large chunk of stored data is used by the device makers to improve their products and services.

Applications

  • Federated learning is said to have application in healthcare, where hospitals and pharmaceutical companies can exchange data for treating diseases without sharing private clinical information.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Community Cord Blood Banking

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Cord Blood Banking

Mains level : Stem Cells Therapy

Community Cord Blood Banking, a stem cell banking initiative, has recently helped save the life of a girl child making it India’s first dual cord blood transplant through an unrelated donor.

Must read:

What is Cord Blood Banking?

  • Community Banking is a new sharing economy model of stem cell banking that was pioneered by LifeCell in India.
  • Parents who choose to store their child’s cord blood in a community bank will have access, in the event of medical need, to all of the other cord blood units in the bank.
  • A community bank is like a public cord blood bank in that the members are supporting each other, but it is also like a private bank because the members pay for this service and outsiders cannot participate.
  • It can fill an unmet health need in a country like India, where there is no national network of public banks and the population has unique genetics that are not covered by banks elsewhere in the world.
  • It is different from “hybrid” banking where both public and family banks share a laboratory, because in hybrid banks the pubic and family sides operate separately.
  • In a community bank the public and family functions are blended.

Benefits of cord blood

  • It gives protection to a baby against all conditions treatable using stem cells (own & donor).
  • It gives protection to the baby’s siblings, parents and grandparents (maternal & paternal) by providing unrelated donor stem cells.

Back2Basics: Stem Cell Therapy

  • It is a type of treatment option that uses a patient’s own stem cells to repair damaged tissue and repair injuries.
  • It is used to treat more than 80 disorders including neuromuscular and degenerative disorders. Eg. Bone-marrow transplant is used in Leukemia (blood cancer), sickle-cell anemia, immunodeficiency disorders.
  • Stem cells are usually taken from one of the two areas in the patient’s body: bone marrow or adipose (fat) tissue in their upper thigh/abdomen.
  • Because it is common to remove stem cells from areas of stored body fat, some refer to stem cell therapy as “Adipose Stem Cell Therapy” in some cases.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Anomaly over Normal Body Temperature

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : “Normal” body temperature

Mains level : NA

For several years now, doctors and researchers have known that 98.6°F is not really the gold-standard “normal” body temperature it was once considered to be.

The “normal” body temperature

  • In 1851, Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich pioneered the use of the clinical thermometer.
  • It was a rod a foot long, which he would stick under the armpits of patients at the hospital attached with Leipzig University, and then wait for 15 minutes for the temperature to register.
  • He took over a million measurements of 25,000 patients, and published his findings in a book in 1868, in which he concluded that the average human body temperature is 98.6°F.
  • Most modern scientists feel Wunderlich’s experiments were flawed, and his equipment inaccurate.
  • Another study concluded that the average human body temperature is closer to 98.2°F, and suggested that the 98.6°F benchmark be discarded.

The anomaly

  • Studies in the US and Europe have found average body temperatures declining over time.
  • In recent years, however, different studies have found the human body temperature averaging out differently, including at 97.7°, 97.9° and 98.2°F.
  • One of the largest such studies, published last year, found that body temperatures among Americans have been declining over the last two centuries.

Now try this PYQ based on health sciences

Q.Which of the following diseases can be transmitted from one person to another through tattooing?

  1. Chikungunya
  2. Hepatitis B
  3. HIV-AIDS

Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

(a) Only 1

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Discovering the Tubarial Glands

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Tubarial glands

Mains level : Not Much

Researchers from the Netherlands have discovered a new location of salivary glands.

Try this PYQ:

Q.With references to the scientific progress of ancient India, which of the statements given below are correct?

  1. Different kinds of specialized surgical instruments were in common use by 1st century AD.
  2. Transplant of internal organs in the human body had begun by the beginning of 3rd century AD.
  3. The concept of sine of an angle was known in 5th century AD.
  4. The concept of cyclic quadrilaterals was known in 7th century AD.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 and 4 only

(c) 1, 3 and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Tubarial Glands

  • The salivary gland system in the human body has three paired major glands and over 1,000 minor glands that are spread throughout the mucosa.
  • These glands produce saliva necessary for swallowing, digestion, tasting, mastication and dental hygiene.
  • When researchers were studying scans from about 100 people, they found a bilateral structure at the back of the nasopharynx and these glands had characteristics of salivary glands.
  • Researchers have proposed the name “tubarial glands” for their discovery.
  • The researchers believe that these glands would qualify as the fourth pair of major salivary glands.
  • The proposed name is based on their anatomical location; the other three glands are called parotid, submandibular and sublingual.

Why are these glands being discovered only now?

  • The location of these glands is at a poorly accessible anatomical location under the base of the skull, which is an area that can only be visualized using nasal endoscopy.
  • Further, conventional imaging techniques such as a CT scan, MRI and ultrasound have not allowed the visualization of these glands.
  • For the scans done on the 100 patients, a new type of scan called the PSMA PET/CT scan was used, which was able to provide the high sensitivity and specificity required to detect these glands.

What is the purpose of these glands?

  • So far, researchers suspect that the physiological function of the glands is to moisten and lubricate the nasopharynx and the oropharynx.
  • However, this interpretation needs to be confirmed with additional research.

Significance of this discovery

  • The discovery is potentially good news for some cancer patients with head and neck cancers.
  • Patients with head and neck cancers and tumours in the tongue or the throat are treated with radiation therapy that can damage the new salivary glands, whose location was not previously known.
  • Oncologists will be able to circumvent these areas and protect them from the side effects of radiation which can lead to complications such as trouble speaking, swallowing and speaking.
  • Some patients may even face an increased risk of caries and oral infections that can significantly impact their life.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Need for guidelines for gene-editing research in India

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : CRISPR-Cas9

Mains level : Paper 3- CRISPR-Cas9-Important tool in gene editing

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2020 has been awarded for the discovery of CRISPR Cas9. The two scientists have pioneered the use of CRISPR  – Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) system as a gene-editing tool.

Background of discovery of CRISPR

  • In 1987a group of Japanese researchers observed an unusual homologous DNA sequence bearing direct repeats with spacing in a eubacterial gene.
  • In subsequent years CRISPR was discovered and showed to be a bacterial adaptive immune system and to act on DNA targets.
  • A notable discovery on the use of CRISPR as a gene-editing tool was by a Lithuanian biochemist, Virginijus Šikšnys, in 2012.
  • Šikšnys showed that Cas9 could cut purified DNA in a test tube, the same discovery for which both Charpentier and Doudna were given the credit.
  • Thus, the exclusion of Siksnys from this year’s Nobel is going to raise discussions.

Issue of gene-edited babies

  • The world was alarmed by such a mission in 2018 when Chinese scientist edited genes in human embryos using the CRISPR-Cas9 system which resulted in the birth of twin girls.
  • The incident became known as the case of the first gene-edited babies of the world.
  • Following the incident, the World Health Organization formed a panel of gene-editing experts.
  • The expert panel suggested a central registry of all human genome editing research in order to create an open and transparent database of ongoing work.

Guidelines and regulations in India

  • In India, several rules, guidelines, and policies are notified under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 to regulate genetically modified organisms.
  • The above Act and the National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research involving human participants, 2017, by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Biomedical and Health Research Regulation Bill implies regulation of the gene-editing process.
  • This is especially so in the usage of its language “modification, deletion or removal of parts of heritable material”.
  • However, there is no explicit mention of the term gene editing.

Consider the question “What is CRISPR-Cas9? How it helps in the gene-editing? What are the concerns with use of it for gene-editing?”

Conclusion

It is time that India came up with a specific law to ban germline editing and put out guidelines for conducting gene-editing research giving rise to modified organisms.


Back2Basics: What is CRISPR?

  • CRISPRs: “CRISPR” stands for “clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.”
  • It is a specialized region of DNA with two distinct characteristics: the presence of nucleotide repeats and spacers.
  • Repeated sequences of nucleotides — the building blocks of DNA — are distributed throughout a CRISPR region.
  • Spacers are bits of DNA that are interspersed among these repeated sequences.
  • In the case of bacteria, the spacers are taken from viruses that previously attacked the organism.
  • They serve as a bank of memories, which enables bacteria to recognize the viruses and fight off future attacks.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

FELUDA test for Covid-19

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : FELUDA, CAS9, CRISPR

Mains level : CRISPR technology

Union Health Ministry will soon roll out the FELUDA paper strip test for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.

Try this PYQ:

Q.What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news?

(a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing

(b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients

(c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant

(d) A herbicidal substance synthesized in genetically modified crops

FELUDA test

  • FELUDA is the acronym for FNCAS9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay.
  • It uses indigenously developed CRISPR gene-editing technology to identify and target the genetic material of SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
  • According to CSIR, the test matches accuracy levels of RT-PCR tests, considered the gold standard in the diagnosis of Covid-19, has a quicker turnaround time and requires less expensive equipment.
  • It is also the world’s first diagnostic test to deploy a specially adapted Cas9 protein to successfully detect the virus.

How does it work?

  • The Feluda test is similar to a pregnancy test strip that will just change colour upon detection of the virus and can be used in a simple pathological lab.
  • The Cas9 protein is bar-coded to interact with the SARS-CoV2 sequence in the patient’s genetic material.
  • The Cas9-SARS-CoV2 complex is then put on the paper strip, where using two lines (one control, one test) makes it possible to determine if the test sample was infected.

Back2Basics: CRISPR technology

  • CRISPR is a short form for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.
  • It is a gene-editing technology and finds its use in correcting genetic defects and treating and preventing the spread of diseases.
  • The technology can detect specific sequences of DNA within a gene and uses an enzyme functioning as molecular scissors to snip it.
  • It also allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function.
  • Moreover, the technology can also be configured for detection of multiple other pathogens in the future.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] Bio-Pesticide Formulation using Verticillium Lecanii

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Verticillium lecanii

Mains level : NA

Indian researchers have successfully developed new Aqueous Suspension formulation technology of bio-pesticide based on entomopathogenic fungus Verticillium lecanii.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Recently, there was a growing awareness in our country about the importance of Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) because it is found to be a sustainable source of

(a) anti-malarial drug

(b) biodiesel

(c) pulp for paper industry

(d) textile fibre

Verticillium lecanii

  • This bio-pesticide formulation has been found very effective in controlling various insects in seed spice crops (fenugreek, cumin, and coriander).
  • It has a good shelf life, safe to user & environment and it may be effectively used for controlling different agricultural insects especially in seed spice crops.
  • This bio-pesticide may be used as a safer alternative to chemical pesticides to minimize pesticide residue problem.
  • Besides, it may be used as a key input for crop protection from insects pest in organic agriculture and Integrated Pest Management.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

2020 Nobel for Hepatitis C Virus discovery

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Hepatitis

Mains level : Not Much

Americans Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice, and British scientist Michael Houghton were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology on Monday for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Which one of the following statements is not correct? (CSP 2019)

(a) Hepatitis B virus is transmitted much like HIV.

(b) Hepatitis B. unlike Hepatitis C, does not have a vaccine.

(c) Globally, the number of people infected with Hepatitis B and C viruses arc several times more than those infected with HIV.

(d) Some of those infected with Hepatitis B and C viruses do not show the symptoms for many years.

Hepatitis C Virus

  • Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a bloodborne virus and causes liver diseases. It refers to an inflammatory condition of the liver.
  • The novel virus caused several deaths in the 1960s and 1970s — but remained unknown until its discovery in the late 1980s.

What are other Hepatitis Viruses?

  • Before the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus, two other viruses were known to cause hepatitis in patients.
  • The Hepatitis A virus was known to spread mainly through contaminated food and water and caused a relatively milder form of liver inflammation.
  • Hepatitis B, discovered in the 1960s, was known to transmit mainly through infected blood and caused a more serious form of the disease.
  • Incidentally, the discovery of the Hepatitis B virus too was rewarded with a Nobel Prize in Medicine, given to Baruch Blumberg in 1976. There are vaccines available for this disease now.

How Hepatitis C came to observation?

  • The discovery and identification of the Hepatitis B virus facilitated the development of a diagnostic test to detect its presence in blood.
  • Thereafter, only blood sanitized from this virus would be given to patients, but it was observed that even this sanitized blood was able to prevent only 20% of the blood-borne hepatitis cases.
  • It was then that the search for the new virus began.

How is Hepatitis C treated?

  • Presently there is no vaccine available for HCV. However, it can be treated with antiviral medication.
  • Hepatitis A and B are preventable by vaccine.

Back2Basics:

In news: Nobel Prize

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Ketogenic Diet?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Ketogenic Diet

Mains level : Not Much

Ketogenic or Keto Diet is popularly followed as a weight loss diet across the world.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Regular intake of fresh fruits and vegetables is recommended in the diet since they are a good source of antioxidants. How do antioxidants help a person maintain health and promote longevity? (CSP 2014)

(a) They activate the enzymes necessary for vitamin synthesis in the body and help prevent vitamin deficiency.

(b) They prevent excessive oxidation of carbohydrates, fats and proteins in the body and help avoid unnecessary wastage of energy.

(c) They neutralize the free radicals produced in the body during metabolism.

(d) They activate certain genes in the cells of the body and help delay the ageing process.

What is Ketogenic Diet?

  • The Keto Diet is one of the most popular weight-loss diets the world over.
  • It consists of a high-fat, moderate-protein and low-carb diet.
  • It helps in weight loss by achieving ketosis — a metabolic state where the liver burns body fat and provides fuel for the body, as there is limited access to glucose.

What constitutes a keto diet?

  • A classic keto generally requires that 90 per cent of a person’s calories come from fat, 6 per cent from protein and 4 per cent from carbs.
  • But there are many versions doing the rounds since this one was designed for children suffering from epilepsy to gain control over their seizures.

How does it impact the body?

  • If we starve the body of carbohydrate, after burning out the glucose, the liver starts breaking down fats for energy.
  • Ketosis is common in all kinds of fasting, but in a keto diet, when one is feeding it by giving a lot of fats from outside without carbs, it can become mildly toxic.
  • It may lead to many nutrient deficiencies such as carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins (especially vitamin A, D, E, & K) and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, sodium.
  • Extreme carbohydrate restriction can lead to hunger, fatigue, low mood, irritability, constipation, headaches, and brain fog, which may last days to weeks

What impact does it have on our kidneys?

  • Even the moderate increase in protein needs to be carefully monitored, especially in those who are already suffering from chronic kidney disease, as it could lead to kidney failure.
  • One should get a thorough assessment and make sure they have normal kidney function before choosing this diet.
  • This diet could lead to increased stress on the kidneys and result in kidney stones, as they are made to work overtime.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is CBD Oil?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Cannabidiol

Mains level : Not Much

These days, there are diverse opinions rising regarding the legalization of CBD oil in India after recent controversy rose after the alleged suicide of an actor.

What is CBD oil?

  • CBD oil is an extract from the cannabis plant.
  • The two main active substances in it are cannabidiol or CBD and delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
  • The high that is caused by the consumption of cannabis is due to THC.
  • CBD, however, does not cause a “high” or any form of intoxication.
  • CBD oil is made by extracting CBD from the cannabis plant, then diluting it with a carrier oil like coconut or hemp seed oil.

What are the effects of Cannabidiol?

  • Cannabidiol has effects on the brain, preventing the breakdown of a chemical that aggravates the pain and affects mood, and mental function. It can reduce pain and anxiety.
  • It also reduces psychotic symptoms associated with conditions such as schizophrenia as well as epilepsy.

Is it legal in India?

  • The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) outlaws the recreational use of cannabis.
  • The NDPS Act, however, does not apply to the leaves and seeds of cannabis plants. In case the CBD is extracted from the leaves of the cannabis, then technically it is not illegal.
  • CBD oil manufactured under a licence issued by the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 can be legally used.
  • However, the use of cannabis as a medicine is not much prevalent in India.

Now try this PYQ:

Q. Widespread resistance of malarial parasite to drugs like chloroquine has prompted attempts to develop a malarial vaccine to combat malaria. Why is it difficult to develop an effective malaria vaccine?

A) Malaria is caused by several species of Plasmodium

B) Man does not develop immunity to malaria during natural infection

C) Vaccines can be developed only against bacteria

D) Man is only an intermediate host and not the definitive host

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

CBD Oil

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : NA

Mains level : Research and development is medical science

Context- Earlier this week, late actor Irrfan Khan’s wife Sutapa Sikdar made an appeal to legalise CBD oil in India for its potential to treat cancer. Her appeal followed the criticism of actor Rhea Chakrabaorty after it was reported that she had administered CBD oil, used as a pain reliever for some, to Sushant Singh Rajput when he was alive.

About CBD oil ?

  • CBD oil is an extract from the cannabis plant. The two main active substances in it are cannabidiol or CBD and delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
  • The high that is caused by the consumption of cannabis is due to THC. CBD, however, does not cause a “high” or any form of intoxication.
  • CBD oil is made by extracting CBD from the cannabis plant, then diluting it with a carrier oil like coconut or hemp seed oil.
  • Cannabidiol can reduce pain and anxiety. It also reduces psychotic symptoms associated with conditions such as schizophrenia as well as epilepsy.
  • There is not enough robust scientific evidence to prove that CBD oil can safely and effectively treat cancer.
  • CBD oil manufactured under a license issued by the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 can be legally used. However, the use of cannabis as a medicine is not much prevalent in India.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Raman Spectroscopy?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Scattering of light

Mains level : Paper 3- Raman spectroscopy

Mumbai-based researchers have turned to Raman Spectroscopy to detect RNA viruses present in saliva samples.

Try this question from CSP 2017
Q.Which Indian astrophysicist and Nobel laureate predicted rapidly rotating stars emit polarized light?
(a) Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
(b) CV Raman
(c) Ramanujan
(d) Amartya Sen

The Raman Spectroscopy

  • Raman spectroscopy is an analytical technique where scattered light is used to measure the vibrational energy modes of a sample.
  • In 1928, Raman discovered that when a stream of light passes through a liquid, a fraction of the light scattered by the liquid is of a different colour.
  • While Raman was returning from London in a 15-day voyage, he started thinking about the colour of the deep blue Mediterranean.
  • He wasn’t convinced by the explanation that the colour of the sea was blue due to the reflection of the sky.
  • As the ship docked in Bombay, he sent a letter to the editor of the journal Nature, in which he penned down his thoughts on this.
    Subsequently, Raman was able to show that the blue colour of the water was due to the scattering of the sunlight by water molecules.
  • By this time he was obsessed with the phenomenon of light scattering.

How does it work?

  • The Raman Effect is when the change in the energy of the light is affected by the vibrations of the molecule or material under observation, leading to a change in its wavelength.
  • Significantly, it notes that the Raman effect is “very weak” — this is because when the object in question is small (smaller than a few nanometres), the light will pass through it undisturbed.
  • But a few times in a billion, light waves may interact with the particle. This could also explain why it was not discovered before.
  • In general, when light interacts with an object, it can either be reflected, refracted or transmitted.
  • One of the things that scientists look at when light is scattered is if the particle it interacts with is able to change its energy.

Applications

  • Raman spectroscopy is used in many varied fields – in fact, any application where non-destructive, microscopic, chemical analysis and imaging is required.
  • Whether the goal is qualitative or quantitative data, Raman analysis can provide key information easily and quickly.
  • It can be used to rapidly characterize the chemical composition and structure of a sample, whether solid, liquid, gas, gel, slurry or powder.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Gynandromorphism?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Gynandromorphism

Mains level : NA

Recently, a rare biological phenomenon called Gynandromorphism was observed in dragonflies at Kole wetlands of Kerala.

Gynandromorphism is a core biology concept. We can expect a prelims question in a rare scenario.

Try this question from CSP 2013:

Q.Improper handling and storage of cereal grains and oilseeds result in the production of toxins known as aflatoxins which are not generally destroyed by normal cooking process. Aflatoxins are produced by

(a) Bacteria (b) Protozoa (c) Moulds (d) Viruses

Gynandromorphism

  • Gynandromorphs are individual animals that have both genetically male and female tissues and often have observable male and female characteristics.
  • They may be bilateral, appearing to divide down the middle into male and female sides, or they may be mosaic, with patches characteristic of one sex appearing in a body part characteristic of the other sex.
  • Gynandromorphs occur in insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other arthropods as well as in birds, but they are extremely rare, and discovering one in the field or in the laboratory is a major event.
  • Estimating how frequently they occur is difficult because they usually go unnoticed in species where sexual dimorphism is less pronounced.
  • Gynandromorphs have been reported in mosquitoes, fruit flies, and in other insects, but they are most dramatic in those butterfly species in which the male and female wing colours and patterns are dramatically different.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Celebrating the contributors to agriculture

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Various personalities that contributed to India's food reaserch

Mains level : Paper 3- Contributors to the India's agri-research

This article introduces us to the Indian winners of the prize that is considered as the Nobel for research in food. Their contribution has benefited agriculture immensely.Here, we’ll get a brief idea about their work.

Word Food Prize

  • The World Food Prize is often described as the Nobel for research in food.
  • It was set up by Ñorman Borlaug.
  • Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1972 for his work on hybridisation of wheat and rice.
  • His work led to the Green Revolution in the mid-1960s.

Indian winners of the award

  • The awards to eight Indians of the total of 50 given so far are a tribute to the country’s agricultural university education and research system.
  • The country should celebrate their achievements unabashedly when 7-10 million new productive jobs need to be created annually.
  • And when it accounts for a third of global undernourished.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has made job creation and improved nutrition and health more urgent than ever.

Let’s look at the contributions made by these personalities

 Rattan Lal

  • Rattan Lal was awarded for developing and mainstreaming a soil-centric approach to increasing food production.
  • This approach also restores and conserves natural resources and mitigates climate change.
  • His research has shown that growing crops on healthy soils produces more food from less land area, less use of agrochemicals, less tillage, less water, and less energy.

M S Swaminathan

  • Swaminathan’s vision transformed India from a “begging bowl” to a “breadbasket” almost overnight.
  • His work helped bringing the total crop yield of wheat from 12 million tonnes to 23 million tonnes in four crop seasons.
  • Which helped in ending India’s dependence on grain imports.

Verghese Kurien

  • Kurien, received the prize in 1989 for India’s white revolution.
  • Under his leadership, milk production increased from 23.3 million tonnes (1968-69) to 100.9 million tonnes (2006-07).
  • And now it is projected to reach 187 million tonnes for 2019-20.
  • This helped in bringing millions of small and marginal farmers, including women into the marketplace.

 Ramlal Barwale

  • Barwale, a small farmer and entrepreneur, received the award in 1996.
  • He made selling seeds of okra and sorghum “hip” and founded the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company.
  • The Crop Science Society of America has called him father of the seed industry in India.
  • He introduced hybrid rice from China to India.

Surinder Vasal

  • Vasal was given the prize in 2000 for developing quality protein maize (QPM).
  • Integrating cereal chemistry and plant breeding techniques, Vasal and Villegas of Mexico collaborated to work on “opaque-2” maize variety using molecular biology techniques.
  • In the mid-1980s, they produced a QPM germplasm with hard kernel characteristics and taste like that of the traditional grain.
  • But it has much higher quality levels of lysine and tryptophan, thereby enhancing the nutrition value.

Mododugu Gupta

  • Gupta received the award in 2005 for starting a blue revolution.
  • He developed two exceptional approaches for increasing fish harvests among the very poor.
  • This helped in increasing the protein and mineral content in the diets of over one million of the world’s most impoverished families.
  •  Gupta’s aquaculture technologies boosted Bangladesh’s fish yields from 304 kg per hectare to over 2,500 kg per hectare in less than a year — including 1,000 kg per hectare harvests in the dry season.

Sanjaya Rajaram

  • Rajaram, who won the prize in 2014.
  • He succeeded Borlaug in leading CIMMYT’s wheat breeding programme.
  • There he went on to develop an astounding 480 varieties that have been widely adopted by both small and large-scale farmers.
  • Rajaram was born near a small farming village in Uttar Pradesh and received his master’s degree from IARI.

Decreasing government support

  • The awardees all come from the time of the green and rainbow revolutions (of dairy and aqua-culture).
  • It was also the time when India invested heavily in agricultural science education and research and Indian scientists shone brightly in the global galaxy of science.
  • Government support for state agricultural universities, and research conducted by the ICAR and the departments of science and technology and biotechnology has slipped in recent years.
  • Today, not a single Indian university is counted among the top 100 in the world.
Consider the question asked by the UPSC in 2019 “How was India benefitted from the contributions of Sir M.Visvesvaraya and Dr M. S. Swaminathan in the fields of water engineering and agricultural science respectively?”

Conclusion

Students and faculty at ICAR and state agricultural universities can follow in their footsteps and achieve scientific excellence, if they receive the resources and their work is supported with incentives.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Foldscope?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Foldscope

Mains level : NA

Indian researchers have explored and validated the clinical utility of Foldscope in the diagnosis of diseases using various patient samples.

Though trivial, Foldscope is a significant invention with most crucial applications. It somehow offers an alternative to costly microscopes for some basic diagnosis.

What is Foldscope?

  • Foldscope is an affordable origami-based microscopy device composed of a series of paper clippings.
  • Upon assembly, the device can hold a specimen slide for observation, and this specimen can be viewed via a mobile phone camera attached to it.

How does it work?

  • Foldscope can be assembled using paper clips and mounted on a cell phone using coupler and glue drops.
  • To do the assessment, a patient sample like urine is smeared on a transparent glass slide and visualized under a Foldscope mounted on a cell phone.
  • Sample images can be enlarged using the zoom function of the mobile, which can be stored on the mobile memory card for later reference/patient records.
  • Foldscope visualizes calcium oxalate crystals, which are a major cause of kidney stones.

Utility of Foldscope

  • Foldscope is particularly convenient to diagnose urinary tract infection (UTI) and monitor kidney stone.
  • The study evaluated the use of Foldscope in the clinical diagnosis of oral and urinary tract infections.
  • Using this tool, one can easily monitor own-kidney stone status at home with a simple glass-slide, a Foldscope and a phone in hand.
  • Such monitoring could perhaps avoid kidney stone reaching a painful state or surgery in recurring cases.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Crystalline Rubrene for Optoelectronic Devices

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Piezo-electric crystals

Mains level : Not much

Indian scientists have found a new process for synthesizing crystalline rubrene for the development of optoelectronic devices and also for preparation of Electronic Skin (E-Skin).

Note the difference between the Pyro-electric/ Piezo-electric/ Pyro-photonic effects. UPSC may shuffle the meaning of such terms in statement based prelims question.

What is crystalline rubrene?

  • Crystalline rubrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-based thin film.
  • It is a water-free, solvent-free, environmentally friendly one-step plasma process.
  • It demonstrated optoelectronic properties (which detect and control light).
  • A highly uniform pin-hole-free thin film can be deposited by this process, which is useful for the fabrication of high-end devices.

Working principle

  • Devices made of pyro-electric materials (that generate electric charge when they are heated or cooled) and piezo-electric materials (that generate electric charge under the effect of mechanical pressure), can help detect change in temperature and pressure.
  • Pyro-electric materials also show pyro-phototronic effect where pyro-electricity is associated with the change in temperature of a material when it absorbs photons.
  • Pyro-electric infrared detectors are well known for application in infrared sensing for space research, defense, remote sensing, and household appliances.

Principle application: Human Skin

  • These kinds of materials are available in biological systems such as – human skin, plant cellulose leading to their significance in the understanding of basic science of biological systems and also in their huge application prospect.
  • The rubrene crystal has a thin amorphous oxide layer formed over the crystalline film.
  • This induces surface layer polarization effect leading to pyro-phototronic effect.

Significance of the research

  • Since last few years, scientists from around the world are working on the synthesis of organic materials for electronic applications.
  • The conventional process for synthesis of organic electronic materials based on chemical processes provides very good quality materials, but the stability of the materials is not very good, and it requires use of solvents.
  • Moreover, multiple steps are required for material synthesis and film deposition.

Applications

  • This novel process developed by the Indian team is useful for developing advanced optoelectronic devices and preparation of Electronic Skin (E-Skin).
  • It may prove to be useful tool for laboratory simulation of different biological systems for probing the organization and dynamics of those systems.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Rare-earth based Magnetocaloric materials for cancer treatment

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Magnetocaloric Effect

Mains level : Magnetocaloric Effect and its application in Cancer treatment

Indian scientists have developed a rare-earth-based magnetocaloric material that can be effectively used for cancer treatment.

Magnetocaloric Effect does have other applications like in the field of medical implants but for use in energy field, it is still in nascent stage.

From exam perspective, do understand what principles lies behind this effect.

What is Magnetocaloric Effect?

  • Magnetocaloric effect (MCE) is a phenomenon where the application and removal of a magnetic field cause certain materials to get warmer and cooler, respectively.
  • This effect normally occurs near its Curie temperature where the application of the field makes the material to warm up and cools up when the field is removed.

Issue of hyperthermia in cancer treatment

  • Advancements in magnetic materials led to the development of magnetic hyperthermia to try to address the issues of side effects of cancer treatment like chemotherapy.
  • In magnetic hyperthermia, magnetic nanoparticles are subjected to alternating magnetic fields of few Gauss, which produce heat due to magnetic relaxation losses.
  • Usually, the temperature required to kill the tumour cells is between 40 and 45°C.
  • However, the drawback in magnetic hyperthermia is the lack of control of temperature, which may damage the healthy cells in the body and also have side effects like increased BP, hair losses etc.

Here comes in, Magnetocaloric materials

  • This hypothermia can be avoided by using magnetocaloric materials, as it can provide controlled heating.
  • The advantage of magnetocaloric materials which heat up or cool down with the application and removal of the magnetic field, respectively is that as soon as the magnetic field is removed, the cooling effect is generated.
  • The team at ARCI chose rare-earth-based alloy for studies as some of the rare earth materials are human body compatible.
  • The heating capacity would increase with the increase in the magnetic field.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Serotonin Hormone causes Locust to form Swarms

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Serotonin

Mains level : Locusts invasion and its threats

Scientists have attempted to answer an important scientific question of how and why locusts collect together by the thousands in order to make a swarm.

Quite often, Oxytocin hormone is seen in the news for its commercial uses and associated ethical concerns. Kindly go through Oxytocin and issues over its commercial use

What causes Locusts to form huge swarms?

  • When lone locusts happen to come near each other (looking for food) and happen to touch each other, this tactile stimulation, even just in a little area of the back limbs, causes their behaviour to change.
  • This mechanical stimulation affects a couple of nerves in the animal’s body, their behaviour changes, leading to their coming together.
  • The central nervous system of the locust, the most important among them being serotonin which regulates mood and social behaviour is the mystery behind swarms.
  • Their coming together triggers a mechanical (touch) and neurochemical (serotonin) stimulations to make crowding occur.

What is Serotonin?

  • It is a monoamine neurotransmitter.
  • It has a popular image as a contributor to feelings of well-being and happiness.
  • Its actual biological function is complex and multifaceted, modulating cognition, reward, learning, memory, and numerous physiological processes such as vomiting and vasoconstriction.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Species in news: Super mushroom “Cordyceps militaris”

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Cordyceps militaris

Mains level : NA

A university in Assam has developed a fungal powder to help people boost their immunity to disease.

Try this question from CSP 2019:

Q.) Recently, there was a growing awareness in our country about the importance of Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) because it is found to be a sustainable source of

(a) anti-malarial drug

(b) bio-diesel

(c) pulp for paper industry

(d) textile fibre

A similar question related to Cordyceps militaris can be asked. UPSC may ask whether it is a Fungi, Algae, a Moss or a Lichen.

Cordyceps militaris

  • The powder is from a parasitic but rare “super mushroom” called Cordyceps militaris.
  • The militaris underwent powdering through lyophilisation or freeze-drying at –80°C.
  • The earth has more than 400 species of Cordyceps, a fungus parasitic on insects as well as other fungi.
  • Often referred to as a super mushroom, Cordyceps known for its anti-ageing, anti-viral, energy and immunity-boosting effect.
  • Natural Cordyceps is hard to get and if dried, costs at least ₹8 lakh per kg.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] Iron-Manganese based Biodegradable Alloy

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Iron-Manganese based Biodegradable Alloy

Mains level : Affordable medical devices and implants in India

Indian scientists have jointly developed new generation Iron-Manganese based alloys for biodegradable metal implants for use in humans.

Do you remember the Johnson and Johnson’s faulty hip implants case?? The alloy mentioned in the newscard can prove to be a gamechanger in the field of medical implants.

Iron-Manganese based Biodegradable Alloy

  • Biodegradable materials (Fe, Mg, Zn, and polymer) can participate in the healing process and then degrade gradually by maintaining mechanical integrity without leaving any implant residues in the human body.
  • They are better alternatives to currently used metallic implants which remain permanently in the human body and can cause long-term side effects like systemic toxicity, chronic inflammation, and thrombosis.
  • The ARCI team employed both conventional melting and powder metallurgy techniques in the manufacturing of the new Fe-Mn based biodegradable alloys.
  • The alloy Fe-Mn (having Mn composition of more than 29% by weight) is a promising biodegradable metallic implant which exhibits a single austenitic phase (a non-magnetic form of iron) with MRI compatibility.

Easy degradation

  • The alloy also showed a degradation rate in the range of 0.14-0.026 mm per year in the simulated body fluid.
  • It means that the Fe-Mn alloy exhibits mechanical integrity for 3-6 months and completely, disappears from the body in 12-24 months.
  • During the degradation process, calcium phosphate deposits on the implant due to local alkalization and saturation of calcium and phosphate, allow cells to adhere onto the surface to form tissues.

Benefits

  • The Fe-Mn alloy produced at ARCI exhibited 99% density with impressive mechanical properties and behaved as a nonmagnetic material even under a strong magnetic field.
  • These properties are comparable to presently used permanent Titanium (Ti) and stainless-steel metallic implants (which is very costly).

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Species in news: Quinine Nongladew

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : HCQ, Quinine Nongladew

Mains level : NA

Quinine, the most primitive antimalarial avatar of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), has made a village in Meghalaya latch on to its past for a curative future.

Relate Quinine Nongladew with the following question. Such peculiar names are very important.

Q. Recently, there was a growing awareness in our country about the importance of Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) because it is found to be a sustainable source of (CSP 2019)

(a) anti-malarial drug

(b) bio-diesel

(c) pulp for paper industry

(d) textile fibre

Quinine Nongladew

  • The herb Quinine Nongladew is the alkaloid quinine extracted from the bark of cinchona, a plant belonging to the Rubiaceae family and classified as either a large shrub or a small tree
  • The tree is named after a village about 70 km south of Guwahati, on the highway to Meghalaya capital Shillong.
  • The cinchona nursery was raised in the 19th century, probably around 1874, when Shillong became the British administrative headquarters for Assam Province.
  • Large swathes of Meghalaya used to be, and still are, malaria-prone.
  • The British had the foresight to start the plantation to combat malaria and other diseases caused by mosquitoes.

Back2Basics: Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)

  • HCQ is an oral tablet used as an anti-malarial drug. It is used to treat malaria, lupus erythematosus, and rheumatoid arthritis.
  • It may be used as part of a combination therapy where it is taken with other drugs.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] BiPAP Non-Invasive Ventilator “SwasthVayu”

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : SwasthVayu

National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) Bangalore, a constituent of the lab of CSIR has developed a Non-Invasive BiPAP Ventilator ‘SwasthVayu ’in a record time of 36 days to treat COVID-19 patients.

The name ‘SwasthVayu’ can be tricky to guess, specially after some days. In prelims, UPSC may throw some options related to air pollution.

SwasthVayu

  • A ventilator is a machine that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently.
  • BiPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) Non-Invasive ventilator is a microcontroller-based precise closed-loop adaptive control system.
  • It is a built-in biocompatible “3D printed manifold & coupler” with HEPA filter (Highly Efficient Particulate Air Filter).

Benefits of SwasthVayu

  • The major advantage of this machine is that it is simple to use without any specialized nursing, cost-effective, compact and configured with the majority of indigenous components.
  • This is ideal for treating COVID -19 patients in Wards, Makeshift Hospitals, dispensaries and home in current Indian COVID 19 scenario.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] UV Blaster: A UV Disinfection Tower

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : UV germicidal irradiation

Mains level : Can always be used as an example

The DRDO has developed an Ultra Violet (UV) Disinfection Tower for rapid and chemical-free disinfection of high infection-prone areas.

GYAN:

We have a UV filter in our home based water filter.  Ever wondered, how do UV rays kill viruses/bacteria?

UV Blaster

  • The UV blaster is a UV based area sanitizer designed and developed by Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC), the Delhi based premier laboratory of DRDO.
  • It is useful for high tech surfaces like electronic equipment, computers and other gadgets in laboratories and offices that are not suitable for disinfection with chemical methods.
  • The product is also effective for areas with a large flow of people such as airports, shopping malls, metros, hotels, factories, offices, etc.

How does it work?

  • The UV based area sanitizer may be used by remote operation through laptop/mobile phone using wifi link.
  • The equipment has six lamps each with 43 watts of UV-C power at 254 nm wavelength for 360-degree illumination.
  • For a room of about 12 x 12 feet dimension, the disinfection time is about 10 minutes and 30 minutes for 400 square feet area by positioning the equipment at different places within the room.
  • This sanitizer switches off on the accidental opening of a room or human intervention.

Back2Basics: UV germicidal irradiation

  • UV irradiation is a disinfection method that uses short-wavelength ultraviolet rays to kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions.
  • UVGI is used in a variety of applications, such as food, air, and water purification.
  • UVGI devices can produce strong enough UVC light in circulating air or water systems to make them inhospitable environments to microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, moulds, and other pathogens.
  • UVGI can be coupled with a filtration system to sanitize air and water.
  • It has been used primarily in medical sanitation and sterile work facilities.
  • Increasingly, it has been employed to sterilize drinking and wastewater since the holding facilities are enclosed and can be circulated to ensure a higher exposure to the UV.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Reverse Vaccinology and its benefits

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Reverse Vaccinology

Mains level : Coronovirus and the hunt for its vaccine

The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University has developed a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 through ‘reverse vaccinology’.

A definition based prelims question can be expected on Reverse Vaccinology. Ex. Which of the following statements best describes ‘Reverse Vaccinology’?

Reverse Vaccinology

  • Reverse vaccinology is an improvement on vaccinology that employs applied bioinformatics.
  • The basic idea behind it is that an entire pathogenic genome can be screened using bioinformatics approaches to find genes.
  • Some traits that the genes are monitored for may indicate antigenicity.
  • Those genes are filtered for desirable attributes that would make good vaccine targets such as outer membrane proteins.
  • Once the candidates are identified, they are produced synthetically and are screened in animal models of the infection.
  • Since then, it has been used on several other bacterial vaccines.

Benefits

  • Earlier researchers had to do a viral culture in the laboratory to develop a vaccine, and this was time-consuming.
  • The major advantage for reverse vaccinology is finding vaccine targets quickly and efficiently.
  • Traditional methods took decades to unravel pathogens and antigens, diseases and immunity
  • With ‘reverse vaccinology’ scientists know what molecules make the genomic sequence.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Anastomosis surgery for re-implantation

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Anastomosis Surgery

Mains level : Not Much

The chopped off-hand of a Punjab Police officer has been successfully re-implanted after hours of surgery.

Anastomosis is a general term in surgical sciences used to join amputated limbs or organs. The term has made headline due to its recent application. A piece of general information regarding novelties of medical sciences should be known to the aspirants.

Anastomosis Surgery

  • A surgical Anastomosis is a surgical technique used to make a new connection between two body structures that carry fluid, such as blood vessels or bowel.
  • It involves conjoining various parts of the arm and the hand — bones, muscles, tendons, arteries, veins as well as nerves.
  • Both radial and ulnar arteries, accompanying nerves and the dorsal vein were anastomosed successfully, allowing for the hand to receive adequate circulation.
  • The bones are attached using K wires (used for orthopaedic surgery) which can be removed once the bones conjoin organically.

In which cases is re-implantation possible?

  • When a surgeon makes that decision, the factors that he or she considers include how much time has elapsed since the injury.
  • The condition of the severed organ and the nature of the injury are also taken into account.

Can a reattached hand get its function restored?

  • That is the goal of doing such surgery. The extent of restored function, however, can vary from case to case.
  • While a successful surgery can result in the good return of motor function, studies have shown that sensory recovery can often be poor.
  • Whether the blood circulation is optimum after surgery can only be observed within the next few days.
  • The patient also needs to attend regular physiotherapy sessions for total restoration of motor movement and sensation in his hand.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

TB diagnostic kit ‘Truenat’

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : TrueNat

Mains level : Not Much

‘Truenat’, a diagnostic machine used to test drug-resistant TB has now been approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting Covid-19 tests.

Truenat

  • The Truenat TB test is a new molecular test that can diagnosis TB in one hour as well as testing for resistance to the drug rifampicin.
  • This test for TB uses a sputum sample taken from each patient.
  • It is a small battery operated device which requires minimal training and is usable even in smaller settings such as the Primary Health Centre.
  • It uses a chip-based technology and takes just up to 60 minutes for a test, screening or confirmatory.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] Chitra Acrylosorb Secretion Solidification System

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Acrylosorb

Mains level : Advanced materials and thier applications

Scientists at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) have designed and developed a highly efficient superabsorbent material for liquid respiratory and other body fluid solidification and disinfection for the safe management of infected respiratory secretions.

 Chitra Acrylosorb Secretion Solidification System

  • It is a highly efficient superabsorbent material for liquid respiratory and other body fluid solidification and disinfection.
  • AcryloSorb can absorb liquids at least 20 times more than its dry weight and also contains a decontaminant for in situ disinfection.
  • Containers filled with this material will immobilize the contaminated fluid by solidifying it (gel-like), thus avoiding spillage and will also disinfect it.
  • The canister containing the solidified waste canister can then be decomposed as all other biomedical waste by incineration.

How it works?

  • In the developed system, suction canisters, disposable spit bags have been designed with “AcryloSorb” technology.
  • They are lined inside with the AcryloSorb material.
  • The AcryloSorb suction canisters will collect the liquid respiratory secretions from ICU patients or those with copious secretions treated in the wards.
  • The container will be spill-proof and can be sealed after use, making it safe and fit for disposal through the usual incineration system for biomedical wastes.

Significance of Acrylosorb

  • Sealable and disposable spit bags can be provided for solidifying the sputum and saliva of ambulant patients with respiratory infections, which can then be incinerated.
  • Thus it reduces the risk for the hospital staff, the need for personnel for disinfecting and cleaning the bottles and canisters for reusing them and makes the disposal safer and easier.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Man versus microbe

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Techniques used for detecting virus: RT-PCR, CRISPR and serological tests.

Mains level : Paper 3- Various techniques used in tests used to detect Covid-19 and their advantages.

Context

The present COVID-19 outbreak has brought to light the old struggle between humans and viruses.

The constant struggle between humans and viruses

  • Hijacking the cell machinery of the host: Microbes, particularly viruses, have only one goal — to find a suitable host and multiply. Viruses, however, do not multiply by themselves. They need the cell machinery of the host for replication.
  • Around two-thirds of all infections in humans are caused by viruses.
  • The current COVID-19 outbreak caused by a coronavirus, SARS-CoV2, has brought this struggle to light once again.
  • Coronavirus has the upper hand now: The virus seems highly successful because it spreads rapidly from human to human and has a lower rate of mortality.
  • Humans have faced new viruses at regular intervals. These include the Ebola, Zika, HIV, the Flu virus H1N1, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)the latter two are from the coronavirus family.
  • Animal to humans: These viruses have all appeared in the last few decades, having jumped from their animal reservoirs to humans.
  • Many of these viruses have a much higher mortality rate than the SARS-CoV2 that caused COVID-19.
  • Victory would be at huge costs: Like before, humans will come out of the present crisis as winners but that will happen at a huge cost, in every sense of the word.
  • The loss would include untimely loss of human lives, economic losses and a general loss of confidence in the human ability to deal with a tiny unknown enemy.

Steps involved in dealing with the virus

  • It involves dealing with any new viral outbreak is to be able to accurately test, detect and track the spread of the virus, and isolate the infected persons to stop further spread.
  • Knowing the genetic makeup of virus matters: In order to implement the first step, it is important to obtain information on the genetic makeup of the virus, which forms the basis of developing highly specific diagnostic tests.
  • Three types of tests are being used which have different advantages associated with them and are based on different technologies. These are described below-

1. What is the RT-PCR technique?

  • Currently, the most reliable and widely-used test is based on a technique called RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Time Polymerase Chain Reaction).
  • This test aims to detect the viral RNA, the genetic material of SARS-CoV2.
  • The testing begins with the careful collection of swabs taken from the nose or the back of the throat of the patient and extraction of the viral RNA.
  • However, this extracted viral RNA from the swab is too tiny an amount for direct detection.
  • Amplification: The RT-PCR, through many different reactions that include the conversion of viral RNA to DNA — its amplification and detection — makes it possible to confirm the presence or absence of the virus.
  • The testing kits contain all chemicals and materials required for carrying out the RT-PCR based tests, which are performed by government-approved laboratories such as India’s National Institute of Virology.
  • However, many more testing centres, including those run by private players, have now been allowed to carry out the tests in many countries to bridge the huge demand and supply gap.
  • Why testing matters? It is now clear that countries which were able to scale up the testing of the virus in patients at an early stage were able to control the spread of the disease far better than those which did not.
  • Only viable control measure: Given that there is no cure or vaccine for the control of COVID-19, testing of infected patients much more quickly and tracking their contacts to isolate them till they clear off the virus is currently the only viable control measure.

2. How CRISPR is proving helpful in scaling up the testing?

  • There is good news of a relatively new but powerful technology called CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats).
  • CRISPR is highly specific in directly detecting viral RNA and confirming the presence or absence of the virus.
  • Interestingly, viruses also attack bacteria and the discovery of CRISPR itself was based on understanding how bacteria cut off the viruses.
  • What are the advantages of CRISPR-based test? The CRISPR-based test is quick and circumvents the need for both expert handling as well as PCR machines and can be done at multiple locations in about half an hour.
  • It can also fend off delays and other logistic problems in collection and transportation of test samples.
  • These tests are being validated and readied for approval.
  • Two companies, separately founded by the two scientists who discovered the CRISPR technique, have also announced that they are ready with their CRISPR-based test for validation and approval.
  • Test in 10 minutes: They have claimed that these tests can be performed within 10 minutes and can be conducted by using a paper strip format.
  • Test in 5 minutes: Another company, Abbott Laboratories, has recently announced the approval of their portable test for coronavirus, which the company claims can provide the results in five minutes.
  • Such a point of care test will not only greatly enhance the speed of large-scale testing but will also relieve the tremendous pressure faced by frontline healthcare providers.

3. Serological tests to detect the realistic information on the spread of the virus

  • Why we need serological tests? The above described RT-PCR and the newly developed CRISPR based tests are needed for scaling up the testing.
  • But many individuals infected with the virus do not show symptoms of the disease and recover completely.
  • How to test these cases to gather realistic information on the spread of the virus?
  • Such information will be necessary for designing future control strategies.
  • How serological tests work? This is done with serological tests, which are carried out in blood samples collected from a large population and are based on the detection of antibodies that are produced in response to the viral infection.
  • Advantage of the serological tests: These tests are relatively easier to develop and use, less expensive, and also do not need much sophisticated infrastructure or highly trained manpower.
  • Serological tests for COVID-19 have already been developed by many groups and are already in use.
  • India also plans to carry out serological tests to examine the actual spread of the disease in different parts of the country.

Conclusion

Lockdowns are essential to control the disease but long-term strategies to deal with the disease would be based on the knowledge of its actual spread. The newly-developed point of care tests should be successfully able to bridge the existing gap in the testing of the virus. This will also assist in gearing up facilities to treat the severely sick as well as relieve and protect frontline health providers. Meanwhile, hopefully, efficient drugs therapies and efficacious vaccines against COVID-19 will also be discovered soon.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

The race to find a cure for COVID-19

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Not much.

Mains level : Paper 3- Vaccine development and trials.

Context

The world is dealing with an unprecedented and unimaginably serious crisis. Therefore, the speed of vaccine development is crucial.

Speeding up the vaccine development

  • Availability of rationale and information: The race for developing an anti-COVID-19 vaccine has begun. Reasonable scientific rationale and the information needed for vaccine development are available to all stakeholders in academia and industry.
  • Vaccine platforms: A large number of candidate vaccines based on different vaccine platforms, including delivering the virus genetic materials (RNA, DNA) or using synthetic biology to produce key viral proteins, have already been developed.
  • Phase-I safety trials of an experimental vaccine, jointly developed by scientists at the National Institute of Health and at Moderna, a biotechnology company, has already been administered to healthy volunteers for its safety and immunogenicity.
  • The speed with which the experimental vaccine has entered safety trials is unprecedented.
  • Another vaccine jointly developed by China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and CanSino Biologics has reportedly been cleared for early-stage clinical trials.
  • Development in India: The Serum Institute of India has also recently announced its readiness to start safety trials following animal experiments.
  • According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, more than 20 vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of development and will be ready for Phase-I safety trials.
  • However, it is also clear that it will not be possible to roll-out any efficacious vaccine for at least another year.

Questions that need to be answered

  • While these developments are encouraging, several questions will need to be answered for this vaccine development to move further.
  • Triggering immune response safely: Although it is quite evident that humans mount a strong immune response and clear the viral load, the nature of the immune response and how to trigger it safely through vaccination will be key questions to address.
  • Duration of the acquired immunity: How long the acquired immunity in humans will last is another important question to be asked before experimental vaccines move forward.
  • We will need to know this because if the immunity is transient, then humans will be susceptible to reinfections.
  • Ensuring no disease enhancement: Before moving to Phase-II trials in a large number of healthy volunteers, we also have to ensure that the immune response induced by vaccination does not lead to any disease enhancement.

Repurposing the already available drugs

  • Therapeutic interventions, not only for curing severe cases of the disease but also for protecting all front-line healthcare workers, are urgently needed.
  • Using already approved drugs: Since developing new drugs is a complex and lengthy process, scientists and pharmaceutical companies have rushed to investigate and use drugs that have already been approved by regulatory authorities.
  • Using available molecular and structural biology information on the virus, a group of scientists have analysed all interactions of the viral proteins with human proteins that are crucial for the virus to enter human cells and use the host cell machinery to rapidly reproduce itself.
  • Of the nearly 70 short-listed molecules that may interrupt these key interactions, 24 happen to be already approved drugs which can now be tested in laboratory animal models as well as humans.
  • However, the re-purposing of several drugs, alone or in combinations to treat COVID-19 patients, have already been reported.
  • More confusion than hope: There are many success stories of curing patients of COVID-19 doing the rounds in different parts of the world, but these have managed to create more confusion than hope.
  • Without any appropriate controls, careful dosing and safety concerns, such small experiments can only do more harm than good.

Controlled randomised trials

  • Given the urgency of finding a cure, it is absolutely necessary to find out unequivocally what works well and what does not. For that conducting carefully controlled randomised trials is the only way to go.
  • In a welcome move, the WHO has announced clinical trials called the ‘Solidarity Project’.
  • Under this project four drugs or drug, combinations will be tested in many countries around the world.
  • These candidates include the anti-Ebola drug, Remdesivir, Chloroquine, anti-HIV drugs, and the Ritonavir/Lopinavir combination, with or without Interferon-beta.
  • The European counterpart of the trial, Discovery, will conduct these trials in countries including France, Spain, Germany and the U.K.
  • The pharma company Roche has also decided to initiate large, randomised Phase-III trials of its arthritis drug Actemra for its safety and efficacy in adult patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
  • It is complex and tedious to conduct randomised, large multi-centric trials.
  • Quickly getting all the stakeholders together is laudable and underscores the notion that everyone needs to fight the deadly virus together. Hopefully, these trials will lead to tangible drug therapies against COVID-19.

Conclusion

It is most heartening to see scientists in academia and industrial partners coming together to fight a monumental public health crisis. The battle between pathogens and humans will continue but let us hope that we win the present one sooner than later.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] How lipids play critical roles in infectious diseases

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Lipids, Non-polar compounds

Mains level : Not Much

A researcher from IIT Bombay is using biologically active lipid molecules as chemical biology tools to elucidate their biological disease-causing function.

About the research

  • The research is focused to explore how lipids play critical roles in infectious diseases by intervening in cellular signaling, membrane trafficking, and protein function all of which are intimately involved in host-pathogen interplay.
  • The research works with lipids from Mycobacteria tuberculosis (Mtb), which synthesizes atypical lipids predisposed on its surface to interact with the human host membrane.
  • Using Mtb lipids as tools, the research elucidates a direct correlation between human host lipid membrane modification and modulation of associated signaling pathways by these exogenous Mtb lipids.

What are Lipids?

  • A lipid is a biomolecule that is soluble in nonpolar solvents.
  • Non-polar solvents are typically hydrocarbons used to dissolve other naturally occurring hydrocarbon lipid molecules that do not (or do not easily) dissolve in water, including fatty acids, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E, and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, and phospholipids.
  • The functions of lipids include storing energy, signaling, and acting as structural components of cell membranes.
  • Lipids have applications in the cosmetic and food industries as well as in nanotechnology.

Role of Lipids

  • Lipids are important components of living cells and are responsible for maintaining the integrity of our cell membrane, which allows nutrients and drugs to pass through the cell.
  • These are commonly breached during infection and in diseases.
  • Lipids play a major role in altering cell membrane properties modulating lipid and protein diffusion and membrane organization.
  • Thus, changes in membrane properties control the proper functioning of cells and are harnessed by pathogens for their survival and infection.
  • Lipids critically dictate the molecular interactions of drugs with membranes influencing drug diffusion, partitioning, and accumulation, thereby underpinning lipid-composition specificity.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Role of Glucose in Regulating Liver Functions

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : SIRT1

Mains level : NA

A study by researchers from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai (TIFR) has revealed that glucose in the body controls the function of SIRT1 enzymes directly.

What is SIRT1?

  • SIRT1 is an enzyme that deacetylates (removal of acetyl) proteins which contribute to cellular regulation.
  • A shortage or absence of the control by glucose may lead to a diabetic-like state, while excess feeding and sustained low levels of SIRT1 can lead to obesity and enhanced ageing.
  • This information is expected to tackle lifestyle disorders and ageing-related diseases.

How do they function?

  • In normal healthy individuals, SIRT1 protein levels are known to increase during fasting and decrease during the feed, which is essential to maintain a balance between glucose and fat metabolism.
  • The glucose controls the functions of a protein SIRT1 which in turn maintains everyday feed-fast cycles and is also associated with longevity.
  • The feed-fast cycle is a basic pattern and the metabolism-related to this is largely taken care of by the liver.
  • Thus, the study shows that both over-activation and under-activation of SIRT1 can lead to diseases.
  • Glucose puts a check on the activity of SIRT1 in the fed state. In the absence of this check, SIRT1 activity increases and results in hyperglycemia in a fasted state, mimicking diabetic state.
  • The constant feeding or high-calorie intake that leads to a sustained reduction in the levels of SIRT1 by glucose which is associated with ageing and obesity.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] ARI-516 Grape Variety

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : ARI-516

Mains level : Not Much

 

Pune’s Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous institute of the DST has developed a hybrid variety of grapes which is resistant to fungal diseases, high yielding and has excellent juice quality.

ARI-516

  • The hybrid variety ARI-516 has been developed by interbreeding of two species from the same genus — Catawba variety of Vitis labrusca and Beauty seedless variety of Vitis vinifera.
  • It is a result of collaboration between Maharashtra Association for the Cultivation of Science (MACS) and ARCI and can benefit farmers, the processing industry and consumers.
  • This variety of grapes is resistant to fungal diseases, high yielding and has excellent juice quality.
  • The fungal resistance of ARI-516 has been derived from Catawba, which is an American grape variety.

Commercial benefits

  • It is also suitable for preparation of juice, raisin, jam and red wine and farmers are enthusiastically adopting the variety.
  • It has superior quality fruits and higher yield per unit area.
  • An early ripening hybrid, it matures in 110 – 120 days after pruning.
  • Being moderately resistant to a majority of fungal diseases, its cost of production is lower.

Back2Basics

Grape production in India

  • India ranks twelfth in the world in terms of grape production.
  • About 78% of grape production in India is utilized for consumption, 17-20 % for raisin production, 1.5 % for wine and 0.5 % for juice.
  • Maharashtra leads in the production of grapes in India with a share of 81.22 %. A negligible share of grapes is used for juice production.
  • A majority of farmers in Maharashtra cultivate ‘Thompson seedless’ and its clones for table purpose or raisin making.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

How plants dissipate excess sunlight as heat?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Read the attached story

Mains level : Not Much

Photosynthesis is a life-sustaining process by which plants store solar energy as sugar molecules. However if sunlight is in excess it can lead to leaves being dehydrated and damaged.

What is Photosynthesis?

  • Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy.
  • There are two types of photosynthetic processes: oxygenic photosynthesis and anoxygenic photosynthesis.
  • The general principles of anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthesis are very similar, but oxygenic photosynthesis is the most common and is seen in plants, algae and cyanobacteria.
  • During oxygenic photosynthesis, light energy transfers electrons from water (H2O) to carbon dioxide (CO2), to produce carbohydrates.
  • Ultimately, oxygen is produced along with carbohydrates. Oxygenic photosynthesis is written as follows:

6CO2 + 12H2O + Light Energy → C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O

Here, six molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2) combine with 12 molecules of water (H2O) using light energy. The end result is the formation of a single carbohydrate molecule (C6H12O6, or glucose) along with six molecules each of breathable oxygen and water.

How do plants dissipate heat?

  • To prevent such damage, plants dissipate extra light as heat.
  • While this was known there has been a debate over the past several decades over how plants actually do so.
  • Now for the first time researchers have directly observed one of the possible mechanisms through which plants dissipate extra sunlight.
  • The new research has been able to determine–by using a highly sensitive type of spectroscopy–that excess energy is transferred from the pigment chlorophyll, which gives leaves their green colour, to other pigments called carotenoids.
  • The carotenoids then release the energy as heat. After the carotenoids accept excess energy, most of it is released as heat, thus preventing damage to the cells.

Why does plant dissipate light?

  • During photosynthesis, light-harvesting complexes play two seemingly contradictory roles.
  • They absorb energy to drive water-splitting and photosynthesis, but at the same time, when there’s too much energy, they have to also be able to get rid of it.
  • Plants quickly adapt to changes in sunlight intensity. Even in very sunny conditions, only 30 per cent available sunlight is converted into sugar, and the rest is released as heat.
  • The excess energy, if not released, leads to the creation of free radicals that can damage proteins and other important cellular molecules.

Significance of the research

  • So far, it had been difficult to observe the heat dissipation phenomenon, given that it occurs on a very fast time scale, in femtoseconds or quadrillionths of a second.
  • Using the new technique, researchers could observe that chlorophylls absorb red light and carotenoids absorb blue and green light, thus being able to monitor energy transfer.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Unguarded X hypothesis

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Unguarded X hypothesis, Chromosomes

Mains level : NA

Men outnumbered women by 37 million in the 2011 Census of India, but among those over the age of 60, there were more than 1 million more women than men. In general, men live shorter lives than women worldwide. This is due to the chromosomal differences between the two, points’ new study.

What are Chromosomes?

  • The human body is made up of cells, and in the centre of each cell is the nucleus. Chromosomes, which are located inside the nucleus, are structures that hold the genes.
  • It is the genes that determine the various traits of an individual including eye colour, blood type — and sex.
  • The human cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes. One pair is of the sex chromosomes, named X and Y, which determine whether an individual is male or female.
  • A female has two X chromosomes (XX) while a male has one X and one Y (XY).

Unguarded X hypothesis

  • This hypothesis suggests that the Y chromosome in XY is less able to to protect an individual from harmful genes expressed on the X chromosome.
  • In a male, as the Y chromosome is smaller than the X chromosome, it is unable to “hide” an X chromosome that carries harmful mutations, which may later expose the individual to health threats.
  • On the other hand, the hypothesis goes, there is no such problem in a pair of X chromosomes (XX) in a female.
  • If one of the X chromosomes has genes that have suffered mutations, then the other X chromosome, which is healthy, can stand in for the first, so that the harmful genes are not expressed.
  • This maximizes the length of life, according to the hypothesis. And this is what the UNSW researchers set out to examine.

Testing the hypothesis

  • In a statement issued by UNSW, PhD student and study first author Zoe Xirocostas said the
  • Unguarded X hypothesis appears to stack up, after examining the lifespan data available on a wide range of animal species.
  • Researchers studied lifespan data in not just primates but mammals and birds, but also reptiles, fish, amphibians, arachnids, cockroaches, grasshoppers, beetles, butterflies and moths among others.
  • It was found that across that broad range of species, the heterogametic sex (XY in humans) does tend to die earlier than the homogametic sex (XX in humans).

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

[pib] CHITRA Flow Diverter Stents

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : CHITRA stents

Mains level : Affordable medical devices and implants in India

The Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Science and Tech. Thiruvanthapuram an Institute of National Importance under the Department of Science and Technology has developed an innovative intracranial flow diverter stent for the treatment of aneurysms of the blood  vessels of the brain.

What is Aneurysms?

  • Intracranial aneurysm is a localized ballooning, bulging or dilation of arteries in the brain caused by progressive weakening of the inner muscles of the wall of the blood vessels.
  • Spontaneous rupture of the aneurysm can result in bleeding into the space around the brain resulting condition called a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) which can lead to paralysis, coma or death.
  • Most often a ruptured brain aneurysm occurs in the space between the brain and the thin tissues covering the brain.

How to avert risks of Brain Aneurysms?

  • Flow diverters stents when deployed in the artery in the brain bearing the aneurysms, diverts blood flow away from the aneurysm.
  • This reduces the chances of its rupture from the pressure of blood flow.
  • The Surgical treatment of an aneurysm involves opening the skull and a clip on the neck of aneurysm, so that it is cut off from the path of blood flow.
  • There are three non surgical, minimally invasive endovascular treatments of aneurysms of the brain.
  • In two of these procedures, the aneurismal sacis filled with platinum coils or occluded using high viscosity liquid polymer which solidifies when released into the sac thus sealing the sac.
  • All these techniques have some limitation or the other.

Why are flow diverter stent preferable?

  • A more attractive third minimally invasive option is deploying a flow diverter stent to bypass the segment of the blood vessel which has the aneurysm.
  • Flow diverters have the advantages of being flexible and adaptable to the shape and course of the vessel.
  • Also flow diverters promote healing of the vessel wall by removing the constant stress of blood flow on it.

What is CHITRA flow diverter?

  • The Chitra flow diverter is designed to have better grip on the walls of arteries of complex shapes in order to reduce the risk of migration of the device.
  • The unique design is in its weave also makes this stent resistant to kinking or twisting, when it is placed in tortuous arteries and those with complex shapes. Even a 180 degrees bend does not occlude the lumen of the stent.
  • Portion of the wires is made radio opaque for better visibility in X –Rays and fluoroscopy thus aiding accurate delivery of the diverter in the blood vessel.
  • Nitinol, a super elastic alloy with shape memory was acquired from National Aero Space Laboratories, Bengaluru (CSIR-NAL).
  • When the device is deployed at the site, it is released from its crimped locked position and assumes the desired and originally designed shape because of the shape memory property of Nitinol.

Benefits of CHITRA

  • The imported Flow diverter stents costs Rs 7-8 lakhs and is not manufactured in India.
  • With the availability of the indigenous CHITRA, a well established industry would be able to manufacture and sell at a much lower price.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Species in news: Henneguya Salminicola

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Henneguya Salminicola

Mains level : NA

 

 

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered a non-oxygen breathing animal, which significantly changes one of science’s assumptions about the animal world — that all animals use aerobic respiration and therefore, oxygen.

Henneguya Salminicola

  • The organism is Henneguya salminicola, a fewer-than-10-celled microscopic parasite that lives in salmon muscle.
  • It relies on anaerobic respiration (through which cells extract energy without using oxygen).
  • In the case of this non-oxygen breathing organism, evolution turned it into a simpler organism that shed “unnecessary genes” responsible for aerobic respiration.
  • Other organisms such as fungi and amoebas that are found in anaerobic environments lost the ability to breathe over time.
  • The new study shows that the same can happen in the case of animals, too.

What is Aerobic respiration?

  • Animals, including humans, need energy to perform the various tasks that are essential for survival.
  • Aerobic respiration is one such chemical reaction through which organisms take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
  • Through this mechanism, energy is transferred to cells, which can use it for multiple purposes — for instance, to burn food.
  • Mitochondria is the “powerhouse” of the cell, which captures oxygen to make energy — its absence in the H. salminicola genome indicates that the parasite does not breathe oxygen.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Genome India Project

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Genome India Project

Mains level : Applications of Gene mapping

 

The Union Govt. has given clearance to an ambitious gene-mapping project, estimated to be worth Rs 238 crore.

Genome India Project

  • The Genome India Project has been described by those involved as the “first scratching of the surface of the vast genetic diversity of India”.
  • It involves over 20 scientists from institutions including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru and a few IITs.
  • One of the most comprehensive genome mapping projects in the world is the Human Genome Project (HGP), which began in 1990 and reached completion in 2003.
  • The international project, which was coordinated by the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Energy, was undertaken with the aim of sequencing the human genome and identifying the genes that contain it.
  • The project was able to identify the locations of many human genes and provide information about their structure and organisation.

What is Genome Mapping?

  • According to the Human Genome Project, there are estimated to be over 20,500 human genes.
  • Genome refers to an organism’s complete set of DNA, which includes all its genes and mapping these genes simply means finding out the location of these genes in a chromosome.
  • In humans, each cell consists of 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46 chromosomes, which means that for 23 pairs of chromosomes in each cell, there are roughly 20,500 genes located on them.
  • Some of the genes are lined up in a row on each chromosome, while others are lined up quite close to one another and this arrangement might affect the way they are inherited.
  • For example, if the genes are placed sufficiently close together, there is a probability that they get inherited as a pair.
  • Genome mapping, therefore, essentially means figuring out the location of a specific gene on a particular region of the chromosome and also determining the location of and relative distances between other genes on that chromosome.

Applications

  • Significantly, genome mapping enables scientists to gather evidence if a disease transmitted from the parent to the child is linked to one or more genes.
  • Furthermore, mapping also helps in determining the particular chromosome which contains that gene and the location of that gene in the chromosome.
  • Genome maps have been used to find out genes that are responsible for relatively rare, single-gene inherited disorders such as cystic fibrosis and Duchene muscular dystrophy.
  • Genetic maps may also point out scientists to the genes that play a role in more common disorders and diseases such as asthma, cancer and heart disease among others.
  • Researchers from several international institutions mapped the handful of genes whose mutation causes several different kinds of cancers.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

New rice variety: Muktoshri (IET 21845)

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Muktoshri

Mains level : Arsenic poisoning through food, Rice Fortification

Researchers have developed and commercialized a rice variety that is resistant to arsenic.

Muktoshri

  • The new rice variety, Muktoshri — also called IET 21845 —, was developed jointly by the Rice Research Station at Chinsurah coming under West Bengal’s Agriculture Department and the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow.
  • A gazette notification for the commercial use of Muktoshri was made by West Bengal last year.
  • During our multilocational trials, it was found that this variety uptakes very less amount of arsenic from soil and water in comparison to other varieties of rice.
  • The rice is long and thin, and aromatic. Across the State, thousands of farmers have started cultivation, even in areas where arsenic in groundwater is not an issue, because of the aroma and the yield.

Significance

  • West Bengal is among the States with the highest concentration of arsenic in groundwater, with as many as 83 blocks across seven districts having higher arsenic levels than permissible limits.
  • Several studies have shown that arsenic from groundwater and the soil can enter the food chain through paddy.
  • According to the WHO, long-term exposure to arsenic, mainly through drinking water and food, can lead to poisoning. Skin lesions and skin cancer are the most characteristic effects.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

What is Fermentophone?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Fermentophone

Mains level : NA

 

Fermentation, the chemical breakdown of a substance by microorganisms such as bacteria or yeasts, results in some of the most delicious foods and beverages, including cheese, chocolate and wine.  Now, research has shown it can result in music, too.

Fermentophone

  • The chemical processes of fermentation can be used to create spontaneous tunes.
  • Researchers has built multiple art exhibits called Fermentophone to showcase how fermentation can make music.
  • First, different fruits and veggies are placed in glass jars and fermented.
  • As the fermentation kicks off, the yeast — or bacteria — present in the food chows down on the foods’ sugars, which results in the release of carbon dioxide bubbles.
  • The release of these bubbles creates a tiny sound, which is picked up by underwater microphones.
  • A computer processes the sounds and, with the help of algorithms plugged in, electronic music is created.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Cancer Gene Mapping

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Mutation, Gene mapping

Mains level : Rising incidences of cancer in India and its prevention

 

A series of new papers in the journal Nature has revealed the most comprehensive gene map ever of the genes causing cancer. It shows departures from normal behaviour i.e. mutations trigger a cascade of genetic misbehaviours that eventually lead to cancer.

What is Mutation?

  • A mutation is a change that occurs in our DNA sequence, either due to mistakes when the DNA is copied or as the result of environmental factors such as UV light and pollution etc.
  • Structural variations mean deletion, amplification or reorganization of genomic segments that range in size from just a few bases to whole chromosomes.
  • Bases are the structural units of genes.
  • Over a lifetime our DNA can undergo changes or ‘mutations’ in the sequence of bases A, C, G and T.

Why study cancer?

  • Cancer is known to be a disease of uncontrolled growth.
  • The growth process, like all other physiological processes, has genetic controls so that the growth is self-limiting. When one or more genes malfunction, the growth process can go out of hand.
  • Not just cancer, there are many other diseases with a genetic link in varying degrees.
  • Just a handful of “driver” mutations could explain the occurrence of a large number of cancers, the researchers said, raising hopes of a cancer cure being nearer than ever.

How big is the cancer burden?

  • Cancer is the second most-frequent cause of death worldwide, killing more than 8 million people every year; incidence of cancer is expected to increase by more than 50% over the coming decades.
  • 1 in 10 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime, and one in 15 Indians will die of cancer, according to the World Cancer Report by WHO.
  • The Northeastern states, UP, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh account for 44% of the cancer burden in India, says a recent analysis, published in The Lancet.

Is the genetic link to cancer well established?

  • Yes, it is. One such association, for example, is of breast cancer with the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes; the actress Angelina Jolie, who discovered that she carried the former gene, chose to undergo a preventive double mastectomy.
  • This is personalised therapeutics where, instead of traditional toxic medications like chemotherapy, drugs that specifically target the delinquent genetic mutation are already being used.
  • Such therapy, however, remains very expensive.

What is the new study that has oncologists around the world excited?

  • It is a major international collaboration called the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG), in which researchers has published a series of papers after analysing some whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumor types.
  • They concluded that on average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements.
  • This is the largest genome study ever of primary cancer.
  • Various kinds of cancers required to be studied separately because cancers of different parts of the body often behave very differently from one another; so much so that it is often said that cancer is not one disease but many.

Breakthrough achievement of the study

  • The mutations identified by the team have been catalogued. Identification and cataloguing of the genes is a very crucial step and has taken science’s understanding of cancer and its genesis ahead by several leaps.
  • The catalogue, which is already available online, allows doctors and researchers from all over the world to look things up, consult and find information about the cancer of a given patient.
  • The study has discovered causes of previously unexplained cancers, pinpointed cancer-causing events and zeroed in on mechanisms of development, opening new vistas of personalized cancer treatment to strike at the root of the problem.
  • When it comes to drug development, however, the gene mapping is but a first step.

The next step

  • The process of drug development will have to now kick in with pharmaceutical companies first identifying the compound(s) that target these gene mutations and then it being subjected to the rigours of clinical trials to prove its safety and efficacy.
  • That could take anything from a few decades to a few years to cover all the mutations identified.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Species in news: Natrialba Swarupiae

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Natrialba Swarupiae, Sambhar Lake

Mains level : Not Much

  • Scientists at the National Centre for Microbial Resource — National Centre for Cell Science (NCMR-NCCS) in Pune have reported a new archaeon (a kind of microorganism), which they discovered in Sambhar Salt Lake in Rajasthan.
  • The new archaeon has been named Natrialba swarupiae, after Dr Renu Swarup, secretary, Department of Biotechnology, for her initiative in supporting microbial diversity studies in the country.

Archaea

  • Archaea (singular archaeon) are a primitive group of microorganisms that thrive in extreme habitats such as hot springs, cold deserts and hypersaline lakes.
  • These slow-growing organisms are also present in the human gut, and have a potential relationship with human health.
  • They are known for producing antimicrobial molecules, and for anti-oxidant activity with applications in eco-friendly waste-water treatment.
  • Archaea are extremely difficult to culture due to challenges in providing natural conditions in a laboratory setting.
  • As archaea are relatively poorly studied, very little is known about how archaea behave in the human body.
  • The organism has potential gene clusters that helps maintain the metabolism of the archaea to survive in extreme harsh conditions.

Search and discovery

  • Sambhar Lake has been poorly studied for microbial ecology studies.
  • With a salt production of 0.2 million tonnes per annum, it is also a hypersaline ecosystem which provides an opportunity for microbial ecologists to understand organisms that thrive in such concentrations.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

IVF of White Rhinos

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : In-vitro fertilization, White Rhinos

Mains level : Ethical issues surrounding IVF

Researchers had created another embryo — the third — of the nearly extinct northern white rhino. This is seen as a remarkable success in an ongoing global mission to keep the species from going extinct.

What is IVF?

  • IVF is a type of assisted reproductive technology used for infertility treatment and gestational surrogacy.
  • A fertilised egg may be implanted into a surrogate’s uterus, and the resulting child is genetically unrelated to the surrogate.
  • Some countries have banned or otherwise regulate the availability of IVF treatment, giving rise to fertility tourism.
  • Restrictions on the availability of IVF include costs and age, in order for a woman to carry a healthy pregnancy to term.
  • IVF is generally not used until less invasive or expensive options have failed or been determined unlikely to work.

IVF process

  • In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilization where an egg is combined with sperm outside the body, in vitro (“in glass”).
  • The process involves monitoring and stimulating a female ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) from the female ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a liquid in a laboratory.
  • After the fertilised egg (zygote) undergoes embryo culture for 2–6 days, it is implanted in the same or another female uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.

Types of Rhinos

  • The northern white is one of the two subspecies of the white (or square-lipped) rhinoceros, which once roamed several African countries south of the Sahara.
  • The other subspecies, the southern white is, by contrast, the most numerous subspecies of rhino, and is found primarily in South Africa.
  • There is also the black (or hook-lipped) rhinoceros in Africa, which too, is fighting for survival, and at least three of whose subspecies are already extinct.
  • The Indian rhinoceros is different from its African cousins, most prominently in that it has only one horn.
  • There is also a Javan rhino, which too, has one horn, and a Sumatran rhino which, like the African rhinos, has two horns.

Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Genome Sequencing of Cobra Venom

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Antivenom

Mains level : Genome sequencing and its applications

This week, an international team of researchers reported that they have sequenced the genome of the Indian cobra, in the process identifying the genes that define its venom.  This has provided a blueprint for developing more effective antivenom.

Big four in Snake bites

  • India alone accounts for about 50,000 deaths annually, and these are primarily attributed to the “big four”.
  • The challenge has been producing antivenom for the species known collectively as the “big four” — the Indian cobra (Naja naja), common krait (Bungarus caeruleus), Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii), and saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus).
  • In India, common antivenom is marketed for the treatment of bites from the “big four”, but its effectiveness is questionable.
  • While the common antivenom worked as marketed against the saw-scaled viper and the common cobra, it fell short against some neglected species and also against one of the “big four” — the common krait.
  • Accidental contact with snakes leads to over 100,000 deaths across the world every year.

What is antivenom?

  • Antivenom is currently produced by a century-old process — a small amount of venom is injected into a horse (or a sheep), which produces antibodies that are then collected and developed into antivenom.
  • This is expensive, cumbersome and comes with complications. Some of the antibodies raised from the horse may be completely irrelevant.

Why has production of effective antivenom been challenging?

  • Venom is a complex mixture of an estimated 140-odd protein or peptides.
  • Only some of these constituents are toxins that cause the physiological symptoms seen after snakebite.
  • But antivenom available today does not target these toxins specifically.

Issues with present antivenom

  • The horse also has a lot of antibodies floating in its blood that have nothing to do with the venom toxins.
  • One more problem with horse antibodies — our immune system recognises it as foreign and when antivenom is given our body mounts an antibody response. This leads to what is called serum sickness.
  • Also, next time if one is unlucky and has a snakebite incident (even if it is a different snake) and they are given a horse-derived antivenom, the body is going to have a severe allergic reaction.

How does decoding the genome help?

  • In the Indian cobra genome, the authors identified 19 key toxin genes, the only ones that should matter in snakebite treatment.
  • They stress the need to leverage this knowledge for creation of antivenom using synthetic human antibodies.
  • Targeting these 19 specific toxins using synthetic human antibodies should lead to a safe and effective antivenom for treating Indian cobra bites.

Back2Basics

Genome Sequencing

  • Genome is an organism’s complete set of DNA, including all of its genes.
  • Each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism. In humans, a copy of the entire genome—more than 3 billion DNA base pairs—is contained in all cells that have a nucleus.
  • Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome—the order of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that make up an organism’s DNA.

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