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