special report
toxicology assessment( JAIVAC 2) and vaccine for vivax malaria has completed Phase I trial( JAIVAC 1).
Dengue Vaccine: The recombinant EDIII-based sub-unit dengue vaccine candidate is being developed in the form of VLPs using the yeast P. pastoris as an expression host.
Stem Cell Research:
As per the Joint Statement issued during visit of the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi to Japan in September, 2014, stem cell research was identified as one of the thrust areas for developing collaborative programmes between both the countries. The focus of the collaboration is on developing treatments for sickle cell anemia, β- thalassemia and brain disorders and creating haplobank relevant to our population in collaboration with CiRA, Kyoto University, Japan. Accordingly the Department formulated and implemented an SFC proposal“ Accelerating the application of stem cell technology in human disease” as Indo-Japan collaborative programme with four participating institutions
from India, namely: inStem, Bangalore; NCBS, Bangalore; NIMHANS Bangalore; CSCR, CMC Vellore; & CiRA, Kyoto University, Japan as international partner.
Herbal drugs:
Development of Herbal Drug for Dengue Infection: Technology Transfer Agreement already signed between ICGEB and industry partner, Sun Pharmaceuticals on May 4, 2016 for taking forward the research lead already developed( most bioactive extract from a medicinal plant) towards developing phytopharmaceutical drug.
Butea for bone health: A project at CDRI, Lucknow is being developed on regulatory studies of standardized extract of Butea monosperma for bone health( osteoporosis) to enable IND filing as phytopharmaceutical drug based on the research leads generated in earlier DBT funded project.
New technology to address anemia: An indigenous process technology and pilot scale manufacturing unit for iron fortified rice has been developed through DBT support at IIT, Kharagpur. Pilot scale manufacturing unit with 100Kg / 8h capacity has been commissioned. The rice is fortified through a process called extrusion in which dough made of rice flour, vitamin and mineral mix, and water, is passed through an extruder and cut into grain-like structures that resemble rice grains. This iron fortified rice premix matches with the normal rice kernel in shape and size, and when mixed with normal rice in the ratio of 1:100 it provides 50 per cent of recommended daily allowance( RDA) of iron. Clinical studies have substantiated that regular feeding for one year increases iron store and decreases anaemia, in school going children.
AGRICULTURE & ALLIED AREAS
Decoding the Wheat Genome: A strong partnership in Decoding the Wheat Genome has been built. 15 countries joined hands to complete this huge task of decoding 17,000 million bases. Indian Scientists participated in Decoding
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BioVoiceNews | December 2016- January 2017