Low exposure to research, often due to the financial constraints of college laboratories, and extensive curriculum can make studying biology unexciting for students. This short article on ​‘frugal science’ describes how paper, a cheap and familiar material, has been developed into instruments to study nature and stimulate creativity and curiosity in students.

Reading and writing science is an important component of scientific training. It prepares students for an academic career and adds to their soft skills. Writing literature review is a great way to practice the organisation of scientific ideas into an informative, rational piece. Peer review assessment of the piece leads to collective learning. In this article, we discuss how these skills can be introduced in an undergraduate classroom.

The advent of the era of biopharmaceuticals - pharmaceuticals of biological origin, has brought in an industry that requires an indigenous workforce specialising in biological sciences. What is the skill set that a job in biopharma industry requires? Leadership Conclave held during the Biosimilar Workshop at ICT Mumbai brainstormed on the question and presented its requirements to educational bodies and policymakers.

2015 was the year of the phage—it marked the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the phage. Urmi Bajpai talks about her induction into the phage community and proposes that activities and simple experiments around phages should be included in school and college curricula.