Indian Biotech News & Discussion

The Technology & Economic Forum is a venue to discuss issues pertaining to Technological and Economic developments in India. We request members to kindly stay within the mandate of this forum and keep their exchanges of views, on a civilised level, however vehemently any disagreement may be felt. All feedback regarding forum usage may be sent to the moderators using the Feedback Form or by clicking the Report Post Icon in any objectionable post for proper action. Please note that the views expressed by the Members and Moderators on these discussion boards are that of the individuals only and do not reflect the official policy or view of the Bharat-Rakshak.com Website. Copyright Violation is strictly prohibited and may result in revocation of your posting rights - please read the FAQ for full details. Users must also abide by the Forum Guidelines at all times.
sanjaykumar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6095
Joined: 16 Oct 2005 05:51

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by sanjaykumar »

This is a rightful indictment of the cultural mileu of Indian society. In India even the shi!t is holy.
Falijee
BRF Oldie
Posts: 10948
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Falijee »

India wins patent war on hair loss formula
NEW DELHI: India scored an important success when it fully protected its traditional knowledge by stalling a leading UK-based laboratory's move to patent a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green tea for treating hair loss. The move comes just days after India foiled a similar attempt by US-based consumer goods giant Colgate-Palmolive from patenting a mouthwash formula containing herbal extracts.
The vigilance of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) helped protect the Indian products as the council in its submission to the European Patent Office managed to prove that turmeric, pine bark and green tea were being used as a treatment for hair loss in Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda and Unani since ancient times.
The TKDL is a pioneering initiative to prevent misappropriation of country's traditional medicinal knowledge at international patent offices. It has structured and classified the Indian traditional medicine system in approximately 25,000 sub-groups for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga.

It is proving to be an effective deterrent against bio-piracy and is being recognized as a global leader in the area of traditional knowledge protection.
vasu raya
BRFite
Posts: 1658
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by vasu raya »

Four problems with the DNA database

12 years in the making, not concrete yet :roll:
vasu raya
BRFite
Posts: 1658
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by vasu raya »

Centre finalises DNA Profiling Bill
The national data bank shall maintain indices for various categories -- crime scene index, suspects' index, an offenders' index, a missing persons' index, unknown deceased persons' index. "An index would be created of DNA profiles of individuals whose relatives have reportedly gone missing. This index would be created on a voluntary basis to help the relatives of missing persons. This index is for the purpose of identifying missing individuals and unidentified dead bodies…," a government source told 'dna'.
member_28979
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 2
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by member_28979 »

GM moths could end cabbage ravage

cool, ya?

if folks are apprehensive of consuming GM foodstuffs, then instead of modifying the genome of the product to be consumed, modify the invasive pest population.

---------------------

also, using GM virus as vector for inserting self-destruct DNA within bacterial pathogens, obviating need for antibiotics:

Harnessing Synthetic Biology to Combat Bacterial Pathogens
Kashi
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3671
Joined: 06 May 2011 13:53

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Kashi »

India’s first GM food crop held up by lawsuit
India’s long-standing push to approve genetically modified (GM) food crops has been controversially delayed, after an environmental campaigner launched a lawsuit that accuses scientists of deceiving the public about the benefits of transgenic mustard.

The claims are untrue, says Deepak Pental, a plant geneticist at the University of Delhi who has led research into the crop. “These attacks are only calculated to bring a bad name to Indian science,” he says. Other researchers are wary of pronouncing on the merits of the case, which is set for its next hearing in February. But the dispute has halted the approval of India’s first GM food crop, which had seemed imminent. No one is sure when the case will be settled, and a lack of transparency from the regulator that oversees GM-crop approvals adds further complications.

Approval of the first transgenic food crop would be a significant moment for India’s agricultural biotechnology industry, potentially paving the way for dozens of GM plants, says Trilochan Mohapatra, director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in New Delhi. The country currently permits only one GM crop, a variety of cotton that has transgenes to ward off certain insects.

In India — as in many nations — GM crops are a controversial technology. Researchers say the crops will help to feed the country’s growing population. But campaigners worry about safety and that multi­national agrotechnology firms could take control of the country’s food supply. In 2010, nationwide protests saw the govern­ment bar commercial planting of what was once set to be India’s first GM food crop: an insect-resistant aubergine (brinjal). It then gave states the power to veto GM-crop trials, effectively barring field tests.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, some field trials resumed. And the GM mustard (Brassica juncea) seemed poised for approval by September 2016, when India’s environment ministry released a review that found no safety concerns. Pental says that the crop raises yields of mustard seed by 25–30%, allowing more mustard oil to be produced, which could reduce India’s dependence on other, imported food oils.

But on 7 October, India’s Supreme Court agreed to hear a case brought by Aruna Rodrigues, an anti-GM campaigner who wants a moratorium on the crop’s approval until it undergoes an independent evaluation. While reiterating general concerns over GM crops, Rodrigues says that both Pental and India’s regulatory authorities have exaggerated the benefits of transgenic mustard, and that non-GM mustard could be just as high-yielding. Tests overseen by the environment ministry’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) didn’t pit the new crop against its best possible competitors, she says. She accuses Pental and the authorities of deliberate deception.

Pental dismisses these criticisms. The trials were designed to test health and safety, he says, not to stringently compare yields against all competitors. It’s possible, he says, that non-GM varieties might produce higher yields than his first GM generation — but this hasn’t been tested. Ultimately, farmers will decide on the basis of how the crop performs, he says. The value of transgenic mustard, he adds, is that the introduced genes make it possible to cross-breed the seeds with a wide range of varieties, and to introduce other useful traits, such as resistance to blight or stem rot. Pental also rejects Rodrigues’s complaints of deliberate deception; particular accusations about fudged data, for example, relate to a simple mistake in data reporting, he says.

Rodrigues is also worried about a herbicide-tolerant trait bred into the crops — the trait aids the production of hybrid seeds, but Rodrigues says it could lead farmers to spray more herbicides in the field. Pental says that India’s agriculture ministry would have to give permission for farmers to spray herbicides, although other scientists note that in practice, the government will find it hard to stop unlicensed spraying.

And Rodrigues adds that DNA from transgenic mustard might contaminate nearby plants. Pental says that contamination is not a problem: “Even if transgenes go into another variety, what catastrophe is expected?” But other scientists are more cautious. “You cannot ignore the issue of contamination. It will have to be assessed very carefully,” says Imran Siddiqi, a biologist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad.

Citing legal sensitivities and lack of familiarity with the case, researchers say they don’t know whether the GEAC and Pental’s team will defeat Rodrigues’s suit. But the legal wrangling is irritating and depressing for biotech researchers, says Govindarajan Padmanaban, a biochemist and scientific adviser to India’s Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, a government body that promotes industry–academia partnerships.

Rodrigues’s case has also given a fresh airing to grievances over India’s GM-regulation system. In 2004, a former GEAC member called Suman Sahai lodged a Supreme Court case seeking a regulatory system with more transparency and a higher level of technical competence than she said the GEAC possessed. Sahai runs Gene Campaign, an advocacy organization based in New Delhi, which focuses on conserving India’s agrobiodiversity; she says that India needs a new independent body dedicated to biosafety testing. The Supreme Court is still considering her case, together with a decade-old lawsuit — filed by Rodrigues — seeking a national moratorium on GM crops.

The mustard case typifies the GEAC’s lack of transparency, say critics including Rodrigues. They note that the agency didn’t share its full biosafety assessment of the GM mustard publicly online — contrary to the orders of the government’s Central Information Commission, which enforces rights to information. Instead, the GEAC allowed only a limited inspection of its assessment, at its office in Delhi. Agency chair Amita Prasad says that the GEAC had to protect confidential information. For his part, Pental says he has no objection to the details being released, but that it’s up to the GEAC.

No one knows when the Supreme Court will decide on Rodrigues’s complaints, says Kabir Dixit, a lawyer in Delhi — but India’s government has already agreed that it needs the court’s permission before it can approve the mustard’s commercial release. Even if that happens, the crop may still face blocks by state governments. In some states, anti-GM farming organizations have already laid down ultimatums. Rakesh Tikait, a spokesperson for Bhartiya Kisan Union, a leading farmer’s organization in north India, says his group is not going to let GM mustard be planted. “If any shopkeeper is found selling GM mustard seed, all the seeds of his shop will be taken out and burnt and the shop’s shutters welded,” he says.
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

I am a PG biotech in Aussie land. Worked for 7 years in a cancer genomics setting designing NGS assays. Got coauthorship (not first) in 6 with 3 more in pipeline in good journals. Got onto the path of becoming a fake hakim last year in a premium biosecurity facility, working in BSL3 on a mosquito borne viral disease with great implications for homeland.

Really hoping to do a ghar wapsi with in 5 years. Not sure what I'll do once I am back. Want to be part of a start up, can be a co-investor (not huge amounts just in Ls not Cs). Definitely dont want to be full time academician. Any similar experiences?

I know this is a vague starting point and I am not asking for guidance as to what I should/could do but the intention is to start a discussion which might be helpful to ppl in my situation.
pandyan
BRFite
Posts: 472
Joined: 31 Jul 2006 05:12

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by pandyan »

interesting work saar.

is there any biotech solution for treating allergies like food allergy?
vasu raya
BRFite
Posts: 1658
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by vasu raya »

Genealogy websites are becoming popular in US, driving that is the lowering costs of the sequencing equipment, there are desktop versions now. Per genome sequencing cost still has to come down though.
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

@ Pandyan saar

As far as I know there is no "cure". Current treatment options are only to manage it. Steroids and antihistamines are commonly used. Recombinant anti-IgE antibody injection is the newer biotech option. But again, I think they work well for asthma and other breathing related allergies. They are quite expensive in India since patients would need to foot the bill.

@Vasu raya saar

Sequencing is quite cheap now. X10 facilities and BGI/chinese/korean companies can even do them for 1000$ per genome. But the issue is data analysis and storage. For genealogy studies, I dont think they sequence the full genome, only some specific hotspots.
vasu raya
BRFite
Posts: 1658
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by vasu raya »

no saar please, I am talking about sub grand prices, if one wants to have access the market in India. Again why not manufacture those consumables? those are like the printer cartridges and work like a subscription model, sort of playing an OEM

Data analysis and storage shouldn't even be called a problem these days. But then these companies with genealogy related databases could be backdooring data and that might not just be the genomic hotspots. A secure storage solution and the jurisdiction do matter.
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

There are two players in the sequencer market. Illumina and Lifetech(Thermo/ABI/Invitrogen, which makes the IonTorrent and IonProton instruments). Pretty much 95-99% of the market is dominated by these two and between them Illumina has a larger footprint. The other 5% is PacBio, Oxford nanopore, BGI/CompleteGenomics etc. Pacbio is too expensive and the data is too error prone. Oxford nano pore is not truly commercialised. BGI/Completegenomics makes their own sequencers and reagents and do not sell them to outsiders.

Now, coming to Illumina and Lifetech, There are multiple library preparation kits available but we cant make third party sequencing kits. To give you an example, the only remaining dominant Sanger sequencing platform in the market is the ABI machine and they make their BigDye chemistry for it. It (BDT) has been in the market for about (or over?) two decades but there is no alternative. The machine OEM will not support anything else.

The OEMs themselves have issues with quality of reagents that they source from suppliers.

So, unless an open source sequencer that uses generic reagents comes up, it cant be done. Iontorrent originally came about like that. An alternative to existing sequencers at that time, to be cheap and fast, but it got acquired. Pretty much the same happens. Some one some where develops a good sequencing technology and it gets acquired by the big guys.
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

Now coming to the data analysis and storage issue. The actual storage of data isnt the issue. Storage solutions are getting cheaper by the day.

But here are some of the issues:-

Each run off a Miseq which is a benchtop sequencer intended for small diagnostic labs generated 25 gb of raw run data in say 24 hrs. Imagine this machine running 7 days a week. It generates about 750 GB of data in a month. Of course this is raw data and processed data from each run can be upto 10 gb. Now the killer part is a miseq is not enough to do a whole genome. To do a low coverage whole genome you can run one patient's sample on a Nextseq that generates 10 times the amount of data of a miseq run. Then there are Hiseqs that are routinely for whole genomes that generates 10s of times the data of a Nextseq. Then there are the Hiseq X10 systems that are a set of 10 High output Highseqs. We are talking about petabytes of data.

Super computing clusters are typically employed for this task.

But what sort of policies would an organisation set up to store this data. What is the back up policy? For how long would you keep the data? Who owns the data (customer or the company)? Will the company provide the raw data to the customer if he wants it reanalysed by some other bioinformatics group using different algorithms? How secure is the data? Not all currently open source databases against which this data will be compared are curated. How many different databases should the data be compared to? What if at a future data a database gets updated with some new data? Will all the old customers data get reanalysed and updated results provided to the customer? Will the data be provided to researchers or added to existing databases? If so, will the data be blinded ? What if a researcher who has access to this data finds some clinically significant. Can they contact the customer? What if there is no treatment for this condition? Would the customer want to know?

Most Genealogy tests look at Mitochondrial DNA (maternal) and Y-chromosome (paternal) sequences. In countries where there are regulations for these sort of tests, it is illegal to look at any other sequences other than the intended targets. A company can not just sequence the whole genome of a customer unless there is written consent. Some countries wont even allow it unless the request is through a Dr. There are good reasons for this. What if the customer carries a pathological mutations in a gene that increases their predisposition to say, Cancer. Should the customer be informed? Imagine some one sending your sample for genealogy testing and finding out they have a mutated gene that may or may not lead to cancer! What if Insurance companies have access to this data! Will they still provide health insurance to this customer? (GATTACA all over again)

An interesting, recent and relevant paper:

Ethical issues in consumer genome sequencing: Use of consumers' samples and data
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 6116300059
vasu raya
BRFite
Posts: 1658
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by vasu raya »

The Ethics side of things is sure is interesting. Was with Lifetech a long while back building an enterprise system around a Sequencer for microarrays, that one used a Hitachi camera to take pictures after hybridization. Even back then the talk was around keeping the consumables proprietary. Maybe things haven't changed, while on the Pharmacy side the generics market exists, where after a exclusive time period protected by patents, generics can be built, wonder why the same isn't seen with sequencing consumables.

Recently in news was medicinal plants from India were being shipped to some such sequencing labs outside and they seem to own the IP which they aren't willing to share with India. Maybe regulation has caught up now to stop that practice, in terms of pure patents that is an area that private players can work in.

Then another use case is about identifying the genomic markers so that assays can be built to identify their ethnicity of the dead terrorists especially the foreign ones. Heard that such assays are different for non Caucasian populations while most of the genealogical assays from the western world are focused on themselves. The genomic data of these dead foreign terrorists who have no claimants of kin, whose property is it going to be, the Indian state? or the known supplier the paki state?

Sidestepping the broader set of ethics questions for now, its the Insurance companies one needs to be protected against, maybe one can do 'quantum encryption' before storing the data on the cloud.
Last edited by vasu raya on 02 Mar 2017 09:42, edited 1 time in total.
vasu raya
BRFite
Posts: 1658
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by vasu raya »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_radar
A prototype quantum radar could be realized with current technology, and is suited to various potential applications, from standoff sensing of stealth objects[5] to environmental scanning of electrical circuits. Thanks to its quantum-enhanced sensitivity, this device could also lead to low-flux non-invasive techniques for protein spectroscopy and biomedical imaging
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

vasu raya wrote:The Ethics side of things is sure is interesting. Was with Lifetech a long while back building an enterprise system around a Sequencer for microarrays, that one used a Hitachi camera to take pictures after hybridization. Even back then the talk was around keeping the consumables proprietary. Maybe things haven't changed, while on the Pharmacy side the generics market exists, where after a exclusive time period protected by patents, generics can be built, wonder why the same isn't seen with sequencing consumables....
Very true. I guess, with Pharma the impacted party would be the aam aadmi. So there is a bit of pressure to make sure generics are available and price kept affordable. Other wise this will happen http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2014/12/ ... -in-india/. On the other hand, sequencers are for labs/companies. No one complains :D

The western countires will only cry about IP theft when they/their companies are the affected. When it comes to IP theft they attempt from other countries, they are like cats with their eyes closed.

With cloud storage, again in countries like ozzie land, they cry a lot about patient privacy. They dont even get medical transcription done in India so, very pedantic about where the data is stored. Elloomenaa offers their own cloud based storage/analysis solution. But our organisation doesnt let the data get there.

The AWS going down and taking some websites down doesnt exactly build confidence either.
pandyan
BRFite
Posts: 472
Joined: 31 Jul 2006 05:12

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by pandyan »

Aarvee wrote:Recombinant anti-IgE antibody injection is the newer biotech option
no saar please...could you kindly explain the above in plain english? what does it mean?
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

An allergy essentially is when the body's immune system over reacts to certain stimuli (food, insects, dust, stress etc..) This immune reaction in some cases is by the production of a type of antibody called IgE. An Antibody is a highly specific targeting system. When an antibody binds to its target, the body's immune system recognises that, that target needs to be eliminated from the body. In the current biotech solution, a recombinant (produced in lab) antibody is designed that targets the IgE itself that causes the allergy. Once injected, these anti-IgE antibodies bind to the IgE antibodies and block their action.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omalizumab

I've known people who take this injection for hay fever and asthma related issues and they get good relief for a year. It is given by GPs here and covered under medicare so only costs something like 10$ out of pocket for the patient. Unfortunately in India each injection costs something like 45-50,000 INR and not freely available. Some specialised Drs had direct contacts with the biotech company's representative and the injection is given in inpatient situation. At least this was the case when my brother was prescribed this injection 3 years ago. He ended up not taking it.
pandyan
BRFite
Posts: 472
Joined: 31 Jul 2006 05:12

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by pandyan »

Thank you Aarvee.

So, this is a short term fix for specific allergies? I heard something similar from a doctor here who recommended a several month injection plan...but was mentioning something like a more permanent relief.

Also, any known side-effects? Seems like GMO if I am not wrong...
vasu raya
BRFite
Posts: 1658
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by vasu raya »

so Aarvee, why not a desi sequencer with low priced consumables, until things of that nature happen there won't be any pressure to make the brand consumables generic. Its chemistry for the most part. How does it square off with a 3D printer?
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

Compared to other options like corticosteroids and antihistamines, this is in fact long term (effect of a few months to years). I cant say how permanent the effect would be. There is active research on other options like a vaccine to slowly sensitizeg an individual to certain allergens so their bodies can relax and adjust to it and not go crazy when encountered. But they are all a few years away.

This Anti-IgE is being actively tried on other allergies as well. This 2016 papers shows encouraging results against peanut allergy.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27883239
Anant
BRFite
Posts: 321
Joined: 02 May 1999 11:31
Location: Iowa City, Iowa
Contact:

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Anant »

Folks,

It's great to come across a room that actually is your field. Pleasure to meet all of you. I'm a stem cell and tumor biologist in the US. I've enjoyed the most recent topics. I was wondering if any of you have thoughts of using exosomes to screen for cancer in a robust, I.e., clinical manner. Thank you!
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

vasu raya wrote:so Aarvee, why not a desi sequencer with low priced consumables, until things of that nature happen there won't be any pressure to make the brand consumables generic. Its chemistry for the most part. How does it square off with a 3D printer?
The amount of R&D that the big guys put in is just mind boggling, both in terms of financial and human resources and not to mention time. Every few years, a new company (startups) claim a new method of sequencing and they get acquired and if the new tech has any value, the companies launch it otherwise, you never hear about it.

You either develop a brand new tech that can do things better, faster, cheaper, which would mean enormous money and people and facilities or you refine existing machines/tech for cheaper operating costs, in which case we'd get hounded by companies for IP violations.

Lets assume we do build something sidestepping IP, I am not sure we can compete with the biggies in terms of scale of operations and the advantages they have with the market captured and the trust and reliability they have with the customers. Not to mention the regulatory approval processes.

It is an interesting idea though, got me thinking :D :D
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

Anant wrote:Folks,

It's great to come across a room that actually is your field. Pleasure to meet all of you. I'm a stem cell and tumor biologist in the US. I've enjoyed the most recent topics. I was wondering if any of you have thoughts of using exosomes to screen for cancer in a robust, I.e., clinical manner. Thank you!
I felt the same elation when I first found this thread in the depths of BRF :D

We've been working on ctDNA and cfDNA for disease burden monitoring/MRD and diagnostics. We are probably a year-6 months away from offering a home brew test based on NGS as a diagnostic service.

Exosome cancer diagnostic reaches market (Published online in April 2016)
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v34/n ... 6-359.html
vasu raya
BRFite
Posts: 1658
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by vasu raya »

Aarvee wrote: The amount of R&D that the big guys put in is just mind boggling, both in terms of financial and human resources and not to mention time. Every few years, a new company (startups) claim a new method of sequencing and they get acquired and if the new tech has any value, the companies launch it otherwise, you never hear about it.

Lets assume we do build something sidestepping IP, I am not sure we can compete with the biggies in terms of scale of operations and the advantages they have with the market captured and the trust and reliability they have with the customers. Not to mention the regulatory approval processes.
Sure funding is always an issue for R&D then I heard the good news where Dr.Christopher mentions that they are going to universities to solve their problems and they list about three centers of which biosciences is not one at the moment. Field applications would get them interested, not sure if ethnicity of dead militants based on DNA tests constitutes 'hard evidence', they are doing selectively not volume testing again because of price and time in my opinion.

In lieu of startups, Universities are where one can try and fail and limit the issue to the lab, and never heard Pharma in private sector go there. But then all it takes is one successful venture using University-Startup-novel product-market for somebody else to follow that model.

Then, market focus needn't be in the areas where the big fish operate, why not just issues within the subcontinent. And the regulatory bodies, as far as India is concerned, they dealt with the pricing of the stents, they can with the consumables otherwise the price differential is way to much to make the genomics 'mainstream'. if big companies cannot comply and still need to have market presence they can allow local OEMs to do the needful.

For storage needs, Uncle has a .gov cloud that's exclusive to institutions including financial ones here, then there are dedicated centers for enterprises, that would be pricey, last option is use some good encryption before putting it on a shared cloud. Not sure if Aussie land has a cloud.gov type setup, India doesn't AFAIK.

AWS based website going down is not the same as losing entire data usually there will be redundancies.
pandyan
BRFite
Posts: 472
Joined: 31 Jul 2006 05:12

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by pandyan »

Aarvee saar - what is your opinion on this?

Biomedical Analyses of a Holistic Peanut Allergy Treatment: NAET
https://www.naet.com/pdfs/peanutAllergy.pdf
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

pandyan wrote:Aarvee saar - what is your opinion on this?

Biomedical Analyses of a Holistic Peanut Allergy Treatment: NAET
https://www.naet.com/pdfs/peanutAllergy.pdf
No saar for me please :)

From a quick read through-
Putting aside the validity of the "Holistic approach" of balancing the electromagnetic fields, these results are not peer reviewed. They did the study, they had a deal with the testing laboratories (testing was done for free) and published results in their own journal.

No data on ethics approvals, conflict of interests. The clinical trial doesnt appear to be well designed/well analysed. No control groups, placebo groups, test groups, no statistical analysis etc.

If they do a double blind-placebo controlled study and publish the results in a peer reviewed journal, I would trust the results.
vasu raya
BRFite
Posts: 1658
Joined: 11 Aug 2016 06:14

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by vasu raya »

Computer OS, short movie successfully stored in DNA

Even if the encoding algorithm is self correcting, they sound creating synthetic DNA is simple!
pandyan
BRFite
Posts: 472
Joined: 31 Jul 2006 05:12

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by pandyan »

Thank you Aarvee
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

vasu raya wrote:Computer OS, short movie successfully stored in DNA

Even if the encoding algorithm is self correcting, they sound creating synthetic DNA is simple!

It gotten easy these days. You can buy completely factory made clones from companies these days. They can be a few thousand bases long If I am not wrong. Not too expensive either. Chemically synthesized.
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

Anant
BRFite
Posts: 321
Joined: 02 May 1999 11:31
Location: Iowa City, Iowa
Contact:

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Anant »

Any fellow Indian scientists left on here? Anyone with expertise in microfluidics? Thanks all!
Neshant
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4852
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Neshant »

Anant wrote:Any fellow Indian scientists left on here? Anyone with expertise in microfluidics? Thanks all!
What are you planning on developing?
Anant
BRFite
Posts: 321
Joined: 02 May 1999 11:31
Location: Iowa City, Iowa
Contact:

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Anant »

Hi Neshant,

I am trying to develop microfluidic chambers to isolate different categories of cells from blood plasma. If you are interested in the science, please post or message me. Thank you!
prasannasimha
Forum Moderator
Posts: 1214
Joined: 15 Aug 2016 00:22

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by prasannasimha »

IISc is doing a lot of work on microfluidics
Misra
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 100
Joined: 19 Nov 2009 09:03

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Misra »

Anant wrote:Hi Neshant,

I am trying to develop microfluidic chambers to isolate different categories of cells from blood plasma. If you are interested in the science, please post or message me. Thank you!
this is very interesting science. several years ago i was part of a multi-disciplinary lab-on-a-chip type project where our engineers successfully isolated single cells using microfluidics and then our molecular biologists successfully measured the isolated cells’ immune response to various stimuli. our 30-or-so-member team developed the whole thing in three years and several spin offs were generated from it (most funding was DOD or related). having since moved on i am not sure what the status of those spin offs is.
Aarvee
BRFite
Posts: 171
Joined: 14 Oct 2016 07:43

Re: Indian Biotech News & Discussion

Post by Aarvee »

We use Fluidigm's access array for high through put diagnostics.

They have single cell analysis methods on their platform. Check out their publications as well.
https://www.fluidigm.com/applications/s ... l-analysis
Post Reply