Tag Archives: conference

Nature India partners with JNU

Posted on by
Reply

Pages from JNU Abstracts Book Final_03_02_2015Nature India is proud to be associated with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi as media partner of the just concluded International Symposium on Current Advances in Radiobiology, Stem Cells and Cancer Research (February 19-21, 2015).

According to conference organising secretary Rana P. Singh, “The symposium focused on radiation therapy of cancer, mechanisms of radiation resistance in cancer, radiosensitizing agents and their mode of action, radiation carcinogenesis and targeting stem cells for cancer prevention.”

“It also discussed emerging trends in cancer stem cells, therapeutic targeting of cancer stem cells, novel mechanisms in cancer chemoprevention, development of phytopharmaceuticals for cancer chemoprevention and therapy, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in the pathobiology of cancer, and advances in basic and translational cancer research.”

The symposium looked at developments in these areas and turned out to be a breeding ground for atypical and modernistic ideas among the participants, to combat the growing menace of cancer. The meeting was designed with an emphasis on advances in the translational aspects of cancer control.

Here’s an editorial titled Cancer Biology: Pre-clinical to Translational Research I wrote for the abstracts book of the conference:

In November 2014, Nature featured a body of work (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) extending the list of cancers that might respond to antitumour immunity restoration therapies by blocking the PD-1 pathway. There were results1, 2 from a phase I clinical trial of a monoclonal antibody (MPDL3280A) in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, melanoma, renal-cell carcinoma and other solid tumours.

Experiments also showed how expression of PD-L1 on immune cells infiltrating tumours could be a key predictor of clinical activity2,3. A couple of findings4,5 suggested that ‘passenger’ mutations — cancer-cell mutations that do not directly contribute to cancer initiation and progression — play a key part in tumour immunity.

While the significance of cancer research and the mounting global burden of cancer can never be emphasised enough, the International Conference on Current Advances in Radiobiology, Stem Cells and Cancer Research is promising to give us some significant take homes. To begin with, a review of trends in these three key areas is expected to showcase results of new experiments from the world over.

For instance, in radiation therapy, the problem of radio-resistance and the probable mechanism that makes cancer cells more radio sensitive will be a novel area to explore. Also of interest will be the stem cell experiments, a relatively new area in cancer biology. The conference will present results from laboratories working on compounds that can target tumour like stem cells. Results from screening and evaluation of new natural compounds or phytopharmaceuticals and their anticancer mechanism are expected to add another interesting dimension to the well-rounded conference.

Nature India, a showcase of India’s science, is proud to be associated with the International Conference on Current Advances in Radiobiology, Stem Cells and Cancer Research. We hope that the conference will take a keen look at pre-clinical cancer biology in pinpointing a combination of best drugs and mechanisms for cancer treatment protocols. We also hope the conference, with a star-studded speaker list from around the world, will be a significant step towards identifying the most relevant translational research for times to come.

  1. Powles, T. et al. Nature 515, 558–562 (2014)
  2. Herbst, R. S. et al. Nature 515, 563–567 (2014)
  3. Tumeh, P. C. et al. Nature 515, 568–571 (2014)
  4. Yadav, M. et al. Nature 515, 572–576 (2014)
  5. Gubin, M. M. et al. Nature 515, 577–581 (2014)

Nature India partners with ICRISAT

Posted on by
Reply

ICRISAT_Abstracts_Book_Cover_10_02_2015Nature India is proud to have been associated with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) as media partner of the just concluded 5th International Conference on Next Generation Genomics and Integrated Breeding for Crop Improvement (February 18-20, 2015).

ICRISAT Director General David Bergvinson says, “Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is projected to be the seventh most important disruptive technology towards increased economic impact by 2025 (McKinsey Global Institute, 2014). In the last decade, NGS not only accelerated the genomics and genetics research-based solutions in humans, but has also dramatically impacted agriculture research.”

“Through partnerships, ICRISAT has contributed to the genomics revolution through the sequencing of two of its mandate crops – chickpea and pigeonpea. We are now applying this information to accelerate the development of climate change-resilient varieties for sorghum, millets, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut. ICRISAT has always valued its partnership with national and international research programs and private sector partners towards modernizing breeding programs to develop farmer-preferred varieties better, faster and cheaper,” he said in a message.

According to the conference chair Rajeev Varshney,  this edition of the conference has become the largest meeting in the series with over 300 delegates from more than 30 countries. The conference had 10 sessions covering 40 presentations by eminent speakers. In addition, there was a dedicated session for poster presentations for young researchers to get an opportunity to present their work and interact with eminent scientists.

Here’s an editorial titled From the Genomes to the Fields I wrote for the abstracts book of the conference:

The developing country perspective of food security is anything but lavish. It has always been about reaching subsistence nutrition to the teeming millions – for instance, the thought behind most of India’s food policies is “let’s ensure that the poorest of the poor get basic carbohydrates and proteins to survive”.

Scientists in developing countries, therefore, are faced with a bigger challenge of not just making newer crops to counter changing climate or shrinking resources, but also to make crops that can produce huge volumes. Given the odds, it seems pertinent that Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) is being heralded as the new uncrowned king of technologies that could do the trick for developing countries.

This brings us to the question of resources available to scientists in developing countries to participate in this global shift towards genomics and integrated breeding. Or, for that matter, their access to global databases that can then be used to meet local needs. In January 2015, Nature Genetics endorsed the need to support an international initiative that makes plant genome data across the world’s seed banks accessible to plant breeders and researchers1. The journal will work with authors to ensure that researchers get access to phenotype data that is linked to published genetic data.

Maintaining the 11 international gene bank collections alone costs about 18 million US dollars every year. Scientists have increasingly advocated mining this biodiversity for food security and creating an internationally accessible informatics infrastructure to catalogue the diversity of the world’s seed collections2. After mining the superior alleles, it is imperative to use them in the breeding programs and the approach has been referred as integrated breeding approach.

In the light of new genomic interventions in several crops such as rice, maize, barley, wheat, legumes, sorghum, millets, chickpea, pigeon pea and groundnut – crops that the developing world immensely benefits from – ICRISAT’s 5th International Conference on Next Generation Genomics and Integrated Breeding for Crop Improvement will be an interesting meet to watch.

Nature India, a showcase of India’s science, is proud to be associated with the conference as its media partner. We hope that the conference, with a star-studded international speakers’ list, will identify novel native varieties that can make their way from genebanks to the fields, discuss trends in high-throughput SNP genotyping, as also take a significant first step in giving to the world some new climate smart varieties.

  1. Growing access to phenotype data. Nat. Genet. 47, 99 (2015)
  2. Agriculture: Feeding the future. Nature 499, 23-24 (2013)

 

Nature India partners with NIAB

Posted on by
Reply

Abstracts Book CoverNature India is proud to be associated with the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad in bringing out the abstracts of the high profile International Conference on Host Pathogen Interactions (ICHPI — July 12-15, 2014).

Director of NIAB Pallu Redanna says, “The conference hopes to provide a platform to scientists from across the globe working in academic laboratories and industry on infectious diseases to come together, interact and share their experiences with an aim to identify the problems and come up with strategies for more effective control of infectious diseases.” The technical sessions will focus on a number of disciplines in molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, genetics and genomics, related to host-pathogen interactions.

The scientists will deliberate on host-pathogen interactions; infection, inflammation and immunity as well as translational research (vaccines and diagnostics). There would be some brainstorming on issues that affect the Indian scenario directly, such as, integration of health of humans and animals with the environment, antimicrobial resistance and control of foot-and-mouth Disease (FMD) in India.

Nature India will bring to you coverage of some key scientific sessions of the conference.

Here’s an editorial I wrote for the abstracts book on Why India needs a polio-style control programme for the foot-and-mouth scourge:

Khur Paka-Munh Paka: I heard those words for the first time as a child on a trip to Rajasthan. They stayed with me for a long time, primarily because their rhythmic recall was funny.

Turns out they were anything but funny – Khur Paka-Munh Paka is the local name for the deadly Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) that kills or lames millions of India’s cattle every year with very high fever and nasty blisters inside the mouth and on the feet. With three prevalent serotypes, the Foot-and-Mouth-Disease Virus (FMDV) has been hitting India’s agricultural economy hard – resulting in direct annual losses of an estimated Rs 20,000 crore (around 4.45 billion USD).

The need to protect livestock – more than 527 million susceptible ones along with wild ungulates – has seen India float ambitious FMD control programmes covering almost 85 million animals through 300 million trivalent vaccine doses every year. The idea is to cover 316 million animals during the 12th five year plan period that ends in 2017. The country has spent over Rs 400 crores (around 83 million USD) to keep livestock free from the virus and intends spending Rs 500 crore in the 12th plan period alone. There’s a clear policy now to control the disease by 2020 and to establish one or more clearly defined zones that have achieve freedom from the virus through vaccination.

Long years of intervention by the government, adequate funds and vaccine production facilities have, however, not been able to contain this trans-boundary viral disease, endemic in the Indian subcontinent. Outbreaks of the disease are reported every now and then. Obviously, we are doing some things wrong. What exactly are these loose ends and how can we tie them? These are vital questions that will be addressed at a close-door brainstorming session at the International Conference on Host-Pathogen Interactions at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad.

Some major challenges that the research community and public health experts identify are lack of uniformity in implementation and poor vaccination coverage during mass vaccination. Also, current vaccines fail to induce long term immunity to the animals and persistent infection has been reported in vaccinated animals and wildlife. The animals move unrestricted within the country and there’s no organised disease reporting system.

Alongside hundreds of illuminating presentations on host-pathogen interactions, the FMD brainstorming session will focus on identifying and prioritising research areas, finding collaborative partners and discussing practical difficulties and possible solutions. The fact that FMD gains primacy in discussions at the International Conference on Host-Pathogen interactions attaches a sense of urgency to the need for its absolute control. The recommendations of the session should provide key pointers for our policy makers to achieve total control of the disease in the subcontinent.

References:
1.  Annual Report 2012-13, Department of Animal Husbandry Dairying and Fisheries, Govt. of India