New Biotech Missions to Focus On Drug Resistance, Fortified Crops

New Biotech Missions to Focus On Drug Resistance, Fortified Crops

  • Research Stash
  • News
  • 1.4K

Minister for science and technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday announced new missions in five important areas including antibacterial resistance, fortified crops and affordable vaccines for endemic diseases.

He made the announcement while speaking at a function to mark the foundation day of the Department of Biotechnology.

The mission on maternal and child health will focus on developing tools for predicting pre-term births. It will build upon a programme in May 2015 under which women at less than 20 weeks of gestation were enrolled and followed with intensive clinical, epidemiological, genomic, epigenomic, proteomic and microbial investigations. The idea was to find out molecular risk markers and generate a risk prediction algorithm for pre-term birth. The aim is to facilitate timely referral and care for at-risk mothers.

Another mission will focus on strengthening vaccine development capacities in the country in collaboration with the academia, industry and other stakeholders. An inter-ministerial mechanism will be established for vaccine development and testing to address disease threats and to prepare the public health system to respond to disease threats. It will also seek to engage with the global initiative called Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

The third mission will take forward research in the development of bio-fortified and protein-rich wheat being conducted at National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali. The institute has already developed some bio-fortified color wheat lines by crossing exotic germplasm with an Indian cultivar. The wheat lines have been registered with the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources and approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.

The mission on anti-microbial resistance would help develop indigenously and cost-effective diagnostic kits and therapies and establishment of a bio-repository for AMR-specific pathogens. The fifth mission will focus on developing and deploying innovative technological interventions for the Swachch Bharat mission of the Government.  All the missions will be called Atal Jai Anusandhan Biotech Missions.

The Minister also presented various awards for the department. Dr. Ajit G.Chande of IISER, Bhopal, Dr. Pranita P.Sarangi of IIT, Roorkee, Dr. Surajit Sarkar of Delhi University South Campus and Dr. Tiwa Mukherjee of InStem, Bengaluru, received the Har Gobind Khorana-Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award for 2017.

Dr. Amar Pal Singh of NIPGR, Dr.Aparna Dixit of Delhi University, Harsh Bajaj of NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. Nagarjun Vijay of IISER, Bhopal, Dr. Naresh L.Selokar of Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar, Dr. Parul Mishra of University of Hyderabad, Dr. Rajanish Giri of IIT, Mandi, Dr. Umakanta Subudhi of Institue of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, and Dr. Vikram Saini of AIIMS got the award for 2018. (India Science Wire)

By Sunderarajan Padmanabhan

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for the latest Science & Tech news. You can also find us on Twitter & Facebook.

Another mission will focus on strengthening vaccine development capacities in the country in collaboration with the academia, industry and other stakeholders. An inter-ministerial mechanism will be established for vaccine development and testing to address disease threats and to prepare the public health system to respond to disease threats. It will also seek to engage with the global initiative called Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

The third mission will take forward research in the development of bio-fortified and protein-rich wheat being conducted at National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali. The institute has already developed some bio-fortified color wheat lines by crossing exotic germplasm with an Indian cultivar. The wheat lines have been registered with the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources and approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.

The mission on anti-microbial resistance would help develop indigenously and cost-effective diagnostic kits and therapies and establishment of a bio-repository for AMR-specific pathogens. The fifth mission will focus on developing and deploying innovative technological interventions for the Swachch Bharat mission of the Government.  All the missions will be called Atal Jai Anusandhan Biotech Missions.

The Minister also presented various awards for the department. Dr. Ajit G.Chande of IISER, Bhopal, Dr. Pranita P.Sarangi of IIT, Roorkee, Dr. Surajit Sarkar of Delhi University South Campus and Dr. Tiwa Mukherjee of InStem, Bengaluru, received the Har Gobind Khorana-Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award for 2017.

Dr. Amar Pal Singh of NIPGR, Dr.Aparna Dixit of Delhi University, Harsh Bajaj of NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. Nagarjun Vijay of IISER, Bhopal, Dr. Naresh L.Selokar of Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar, Dr. Parul Mishra of University of Hyderabad, Dr. Rajanish Giri of IIT, Mandi, Dr. Umakanta Subudhi of Institue of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, and Dr. Vikram Saini of AIIMS got the award for 2018. (India Science Wire)

By Sunderarajan Padmanabhan

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for the latest Science & Tech news. You can also find us on Twitter & Facebook.

" }

Step inside the mind of the young Stephen Hawking as his PhD thesis goes online for the first time

Stephen Hawking’s Ph.D. thesis, ‘Properties of expanding universes’, has been made freely available to anyone, anywhere in the world, after being made accessible via the University of Cambridge’s Open Access repository, Apollo.

  • News
  • 2.4K
Read more
CSIR Collaborates with Intel And IIIT-Hyderabad To Combat COVID-19

CSIR Collaborates with Intel And IIIT-Hyderabad To Combat COVID-19

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research is working with Intel India and International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, to help achieve faster and less expensive COVID-19 testing and coronavirus genome sequencing to understand the epidemiology and Artificial Intelligence-based risk stratification for patients with co-morbidities.

  • News
  • 1.5K
Read more

How Indian Telescope Data Helped Solve Mystery of Jets from Colliding Neutron Stars

The enigma of why the merger of two neutron stars resulting in a kilonova explosion was not as bright as it should have been, has been solved by an international team of astronomers using crucial data from the Indian radio telescope, the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Pune.

  • News
  • 1.9K
Read more

Internet is huge! Help us find great content

Newsletter

Never miss a thing! Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated.

About

Research Stash is a curated collection of tools and News for S.T.E.M researchers

Have any questions or want to partner with us? Reach us at hello@researchstash.com

Navigation

Submit