Scientific research has always been driven by an individual's curiosity and determination to find answers for the unknown. The field of biological science has progressed by leaps and bounds with individuals making contributions in a small way while understanding and fulfilling their own curiosity about a particular process.

However, this world has changed drastically in the past few decades and so has the way biological science is being studied. The giant leaps in knowledge we have been witnessing in just the last 20 years would have been unimaginable without this transformation in the style of doing science. The first eukaryotic organism to be completely sequenced was yeast – Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It took 92 labs across the world to work in cooperation to finally un-code the entire genome of yeast^1,2. This process took the consortium 3 years and the genome got published in 1996. Similarly, the human genome project (HGP) was a 13 year old project that was completed in 2003². Currently, consortiums are contributing to significant quanta of science that is being done. A stunning example is the ENCODE project that deciphered and assigned a role for every base within the human genome.

Consortiums have great advantages – by pooling in resources, expertise and ideas from different sources, each consortium manages to revolutionize the way science views a particular field. Each of these projects, have in many ways, pushed the boundaries and created new experimental tools as well bioinformatics ones to analyze data. For instance advances in sequencing technologies might not have been developed, as swiftly had HGP not provided the impetus for it.

To add to the list of advantages, groups get to work with problems that they wouldn't have encountered otherwise. This brings in an infusion of new ideas. Also, pooling in of resources allows groups to acquire instruments and build facilities that might not have been possible for individual labs. Added to this is the creation of new jobs – which is a great boon for today's recession stuck economy.

Membrane GFP (Spider-GFP) and with Histone-RFP expressed in the Drosophila embryo. The image is compiled on the Zeiss LSM710 confocal microscope at IISER, Pune by Aparna Sherlekar and Richa Rikhy. The image represents snapshots throughout the syncytial division cycle in the Drosophila embryo at different stages of the cell cycle: interphase, prophase, metaphase, analphase and telophase.

With a similar view in mind, microscopists and microscopy facility managers from across India got together to form a microscopy consortium, along the lines of Euro- Bioimaging (http://www.eurobioimaging.eu/) with colleagues who came from Euro Bioimaging Consortium currently located at EMBL at Heidelberg.

At present, apart from National Center for Biological Science (NCBS) and Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (InStem), this consortium includes – Indian Institute Scientific and Educational Research (IISER) Pune, IISER Kolkata, IISER- Mohali, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), National Institute of Immunology (NII) and Center for Cell and Molecular Biology. The idea will be to have microscopy centers spread all over India, where anyone who wishes to avail of a particular technology to solve a scientific problem can do so. Often, labs or groups are not able to do a particular experiment because of lack of expertise, training or access to facilities and instruments. This is precisely what the Microscopy Consortium aims to minimize. In collaboration with Center for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (CCAMP), the consortium will also provide training in any state of the art technology. The microscopy centers will open their facility for external use, allowing groups across India and the world, access to not just the instruments and facility but also to the expertise that the centers host.

Once formed and functional, this will be a scientific facility for researchers across India. If your institute or lab has a microscopic technology that you feel should be a part of the consortium, you are willing to open the facility for external users and participate in training programs, please contact – krishna/mayor (Krishna@ncbs.res.in, mayor@ncbs.res.in)

Further reading:

1. http://www.genome.gov/10000510
2. www.yeastgenome.org
3. http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml

1)The opening up of job opportunities in India and
2)The possibility to being close to our families.

I was a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Connie Cepko's laboratory and Amitabha was a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Cliff Tabin's laboratory. Both the labs were in the Genetics department of Harvard Medical School, Boston. Our postdoctoral labs were unique, because the labs were in a joint-laboratory set-up that shared space, instruments and reagents while maintaining the individual identity of each lab. Connie and Cliff were friends from their graduate school and had decided to set up a joint laboratory early in their careers. There was no spatial distinction between the two labs; the benches of lab members were intermingled and the facilities and equipments shared as well as many reagents bought with a common pool of money.

Being in this kind of a laboratory environment inspired us to try to establish a similar set-up, if possible, in India. The advantages of a joint lab both monetary and resource-wise were obvious. However, if this was to be done, both of us would have to get jobs in the same Institute. We realized at the very beginning that getting two jobs in the same institute in India would be very tough. Unlike the US, where couples are very often accommodated in the same Institute, it is much more difficult in India. Thus we decided that we would look for jobs in those cities or towns where there was more than one institute that could employ us.

The number of research institutions has gone up to a large extent in India in the last ten years and yet the total number of institutes is still very few compared to the US. We were only considering research institutes and not universities, because our impression was that the resources and facilities available for research at Indian Universities were poor in comparison to the institutes. Thus with the classic "two-body problem", we were restricted to looking for jobs primarily in very few cities, namely Bangalore (NCBS, IISc, JNCASR), Mumbai (TIFR, ACTREC) and Hyderabad (CCMB, LVPEI). We left Delhi and Kolkata out, because we did not want to settle down in these two places.

Our initial list did not even include IIT-Kanpur, where we finally joined as faculty. The primary reason being that we were unaware that the IITs had biological sciences-related departments where we could look for jobs. It was simply by chance that we became aware of IIT-Kanpur as an institute where we could look for a job.

A friend of mine at MIT, Boston invited me to attend a symposium at IIT-Kanpur. Some prominent people associated with Indian science were expected to come to this symposium, and thus presented a great opportunity for us to interact with them. I could not go to the symposium but my husband Amitabha went, representing the two of us. The Director of IIT-Kanpur was there at this symposium, and he announced at the end that there were many job-opportunities at IIT-K. Amitabha then spoke to him and thus we were put in touch with the Head of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering at IIT–Kanpur. Since we had already planned to visit the above-mentioned institutes at Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad during Jan-Feb of 2006 to give job-seminars, we included IIT-Kanpur in our itinerary.

Our trip to India on a job hunt was very interesting, because we became aware several factors that we were unknowledgeable­­ of while in the US. For example, we came to know that CSIR Institutes have a policy of not employing a married couple in the same institute. We enjoyed our visits to all the institutes in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad and our talks were well-received in each place. Wherever we went, we highlighted the advantages of having a shared laboratory set-up. Many places simply did not have the space to accommodate two people and some places could not employ a married couple in the same institute. We were pleasantly surprised by our visit to IIT-Kanpur. This was the only place where we were actually shown lab-space and where there was no rule against employing a married couple in the same institute or department. In mid-2006, we were offered two Assistant Professor positions in the Biological Sciences and Bioengineering Department of IIT-Kanpur, which we accepted. This appeared to be the best solution for our "two-body problem". We were going to be faculty members of the same department, and this would allow us to establish a joint lab that shares lab-space, equipments and other resources.
We are extremely happy with the decision of choosing IIT-Kanpur; here, we have been able to establish our labs very rapidly within a year and half of our joining. We were advised to apply for grants to Indian funding agencies even before arriving in India. Each of us applied for one grant to Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India (DST) and to The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Our grants were approved for funding, and as a result of this early application, we received funds within 6-8 months of our arrival. This was the key factor that enabled us to buy the equipments and reagents that we needed. The facts that we received the money soon after arrival and we were able to pool our resources in a joint-laboratory set up made establishment of the laboratory a relatively quick and smooth process.

We had not done any research in India prior to this, as both of us obtained our PhD degrees and performed our postdoctoral work in US universities. We were completely unaware of the difficulties that could be faced when doing research in India. Several people warned us that we would be facing a very difficult task for which we were completely unprepared due to our lack of Indian research experience. Our difficulties in starting were compounded by the fact that 1) almost no scientist in India was using the same system and model organisms as us, and 2) we were trying to establish vertebrate developmental and neurobiology labs in the primarily engineering institute of IIT-Kanpur. However, these factors did not prove to be insurmountable, and we were able to establish our labs quite soon after joining. The Indian funding agencies of DST, CSIR and DBT have funded our projects very generously, and the administrative set-up in IIT-Kanpur also made the whole process of set-up relatively smooth.

We would like to add a couple of notes of caution for couples applying for jobs in India.
1) You should not settle for jobs in different cities or for two jobs in institutes in the same city at a considerable distance from each other. Commuting in Indian cities can be quite a nightmare and this would not be conducive for a young family.
2) Do not resign from your current jobs before receiving final and confirmed job offers for both from India.

I would like to end on an encouraging note with the following advice for people looking for academic positions in India: The situation is much better in India now, both with respect to the number of academic positions and the funding for research that is available. Many new research institutes have been established even after we joined in Dec, 2006. The funding agencies are also very generous, and one can tap into several funding sources. Furthermore, from our personal experiences, it is possible to obtain funding as a new faculty with a project that is off-the-beaten track, a little unconventional or too ambitious. For some of you, this may be an added advantage. Our experience suggests that one should not pre-judge a potential employer by its track record or name (something that made us miss IIT-Kanpur in the beginning) rather by the people who are there currently. Many more young talented researchers should apply for academic positions in India. We really need to increase the critical mass of good quality scientists in India, if Indian science is to make significant progress.

Last month, I had a chance to attend the Bio India International conference. Bio India 2012 co-hosted by the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), a national forum that represents the Indian Biotechnology Sector and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in Mumbai brought together biotech and pharma companies from North America, EU and Asia to meet, discuss common issues and explore business opportunities.

The conference opened with a Biopharma regulatory and policy roundtable discussion. The participating industries agreed that strong IP protection is presents a big incentive to innovate and issuance of indiscriminate compulsory licenses based on cost alone is incorrect. Other hot issues such as the need for guidelines pertaining to biologics, drug approval processes and the need for defined comparability exercise* were highlighted.

In a keynote session Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon, H. Thomas Watkins, Former President & CEO, Human Genome Sciences brought innovations, best practices, management strategies to run a company and the changing face of biotech industry to the fore. She suggested resource sharing and partnered innovation as strategies to keep drug development costs to a minimum given that that investment spends, failure, post marketing risks, time for development and clinical trial costs are increasing. “Synriam”, an anti-malarial drug approved first in India is a case in point. Rashmi Barbhaiya, CEO & Managing Director of Advinus Therapeutics Inc brought to fore how the drug was developed by Ranbaxy under a budget of $30 m! Synriam consists of short acting drug Arterolane maleate in combination with the long acting Piperaquine phosphate. Artemisinin has till date been obtained from plant source which results in high costs and inability to scale up supply in face of sudden demand. Arterolane however is a new chemical entity which overcomes scale up and cost problems. Treatment cost to the patient is Rs. 130 (1). With Synriam, not only has India joined a select group of nations capable of developing their own drugs; but has been able to do so by keeping costs of drug development and price to the patient low.

India being the world’s larges manufacturer of vaccines, Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla, Founder, Chairman, and Managing Director, Serum Institute of India Ltd. was invited for a fireside chat on vaccine development in India. With 1 in 2 vaccines administered across the world being developed by Serum Institute and presence in 140 countries, it is a perfect example of growth simply by relying on product strengths - very low cost and high quality instead of advertisements. In conjunction with the Gates Foundation, Serum has been able to bring down costs of meningitis vaccine from $3/dose to 40¢/dose; a boon to 80,000 + meningitis patients (2, 3). It offers both long term protection and can be administered to children, who are most likely to be affected. Serum’s business has been both profitable and humane. With philanthropic intentions, Serum has managed to keep costs extremely low. This has deterred both, the big Pharma and new entrants from entering the vaccine market. Their growth has been by numbers e.g. scaling up measles vaccines from 32m to 400m doses. Serum’s success highlights the ability of Indian vaccine makes to make high-quality vaccines available at affordable prices.

In the session on “Commercializing Stem Cell Therapies and Regenerative Medicine”; challenges in developing stem cell therapies to treat disease conditions, market challenges, affordability, production technology and need for distinct regulatory policies were discussed. To develop a global product and grab a share in the $680 m global market, stem cell therapies would have to be treated differently from Pharma products, be developed in conjunction with doctors and made accessible and affordable to patients.

In the final session on “India’s Global Role in Innovation”; good management and working strategies adopted by big Pharma to startups, role of Government in fostering innovation across academia and industry, funding support, lifecycle management of biotech/Pharma products and how to leverage these in order to succeed were discussed.

In addition to India focused panel discussions and keynote talks, the conference offered networking opportunities by way of one-on-one partnering sessions, hosted receptions and company presentations. Thus, Bio India 2012 provided a unique platform to extend one’s business, make new contacts, foster collaboration and discuss common industry issues and spread awareness of mechanisms in place to ensure success.

From an agrarian and manufacturing economy, India is moving to be a knowledge based economy in which both Bio and IT economies have a big role to play. Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations in his address touched upon the role of bio sector for growth in India. Apart from healthcare which improves the quality of life, Bio economy also has the potential to confer food, environment and energy independence. With the world‘s largest population of hungry people, usage of GM crops becomes inevitable. 200m tones of biomass can be utilized to reach the target of using 20% alcohol in fuel helping absolve a part of dependence on oil import which currently stands at 80%.

2010-2020 being India’s “Decade of Innovation” (4), we must charter our own paths for achieving inclusive growth**.

1. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/ranbaxy-s-indigeneous-antimalaria-drug-to-come-at-rs.-130/941481/
2. http://globalhealth.kff.org/Daily-Reports/2010/July/01/GH-070110-Meningitis-Vaccine.aspx?p=1
3. http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/vaccines/News-PolicyHV6-8.pdf?nocache=1888202475
4. http://www.dst.gov.in/whats_new/press-release10/pib_10-3-2010.htm

Comparability exercise* - Demonstration that a subsequent entry biologics (think of generics in small molecule drugs) has similar quality, safety and efficacy compared to a reference biologic drug

Inclusive growth** - Economic advancement of all economic strata of the society including those below poverty line.

― Thomas Jefferson,

Let's take an everyday example of the popular thumb drive that stores masses of data, yet small enough (size of a thumb or smaller) to be carried with ease. A simple device that has changed the way data is stored in the modern day world, adorns many forms of IP. The device is protected under patents on the software and hardware components, the terms as "thumb drive" and "touch" are covered under Trademarks, the shape of the device itself is registered designs, the software and user manuals are protected under copyrights. Considering the creativity that had gone into making a device as this, IP is a way to reward to the creator. By adding value to laboratory discoveries, IP ensures that new research knowledge realizes its full commercial potential. Since the IP is available for public use, there is sharing of the technology that ensures incremental innovations resulting in improvement of technology.

Why Patents and Patent agents – An India Scenario

As India emerged as an economic power in the 1990s, our policy makers recognized the importance of IP to encourage private investment in R & D. A guide published by WIPO (DG overview, 2003) and many other studies in the past has suggested that a healthy IP system is a key element in encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI). According to the WIPO report there has been a steady increase in FDI in India, ever since the patent and Trademark reform was introduced in 1990s. In the wake of India's economic growth, it may be worthwhile be aware of the profound importance of IP, the role of professionals within this field and why IP is bound to have an important impact on our economy. The IP protection, mainly patents is the driving force for further innovation, technology enhancement and development of newer products that would impact mankind.

To legally own an IP, one has to file for its protection. The procedures associated with these may be rather complicated, often requiring an agent with a legal background to proceed with the application. It is interesting to note that the skill required for protection of each form of IP may require a skill that is different from the other. However, while most lawyers undertake copyright and Trade marks work, protection under patents requires specialized technical and scientific expertise in the area sought to be protected. Thus the largest demand for IP lawyers is for those who can do patent work. While the patent drafting in itself is extremely challenging, patent prosecution is equally demanding which requires dealing with the objections raised by the examiners. However, given the current economic trend, patents by far are one of the most useful forms of IP and the only form that protects innovative and novel ideas.

Being a Patent agent

Here comes the critical question as to what does the job as a patent agent entails. Let me lead you on here, you are sitting by the window on a rainy day sipping a hot cup of coffee. You see a boy trying to make a boat (with remnants of a can) to move in the puddle. Over a couple of iterations he manages to make this wonderful boat with few twigs, hollow straw, strings, and small metal pieces and more, all assembled in a unique way that allows the boat to float beautifully in the puddle while maintaining a wonderful balance. Awed by his invention he creates more such boats, each a grade better than the other. Soon he starts making these boats and sells them to friends. Thus flourishes the business; however he also realizes that many of his friends are keen on embarking on similar feat. In interest of those who love this invention he does appreciate that there should be a manner of having more people make the invention but without him having to lose out completely.

Now here comes the patent agent, but the key here is to find an agent who would technically understand the invention and represent the invention to the patent office. Typically the inventor and the patent agent discuss the invention in detail which assures that the agent has the understanding of the technology. The patent agent then analyses the invention on its ability to be patentable and ascertain that legal parameters are met. Though dwelling into the details of these would be beyond the scope of this article, succinctly stated the agent does a thorough search of all the information available in the public domain pertaining to the invention, and draws up a conclusion on whether the invention is novel in view of what is in public domain. This painstaking exercise also involves going through many relevant information in detail to ascertain that the invention sought to be patented is not an obvious (for a person skilled in the particular field) extension of what is known already known; what is referred to as the inventive step. The agent then draws up a report of all the gathered information for the inventor. Once the inventor is convinced on the patentability of the invention in view of the report, the agent is instructed to draft out a specification.

This brings us to the second step i.e; drafting of a patent specification. Often the inventor discusses the invention with the patent agent and submits a document called the invention disclosure (ID). Most of the training in the patent field involves writing a specification in clear and concise manner; yet claiming protection that is reasonably broad to cover minor advances that may occur over the 20 year protection period of the invention, the term of the patent. The draft then has to be filed by a registered agent to the patent office with a request for the patent to be examined.

The patent office then sends an Examination report with its views, concurrence or objections as the case may be, on patentability of the invention. At this juncture the patent agent in now faced with making arguments on the objections raised, which requires good understanding of the technical field of the invention. It is often said that one of the key skills a patent agent should possess is being able to argue the fine points of science. The patent application at this stage may undergo some changes or amendment to comply with the requirements of the patent office. On compliance the patent office will order grant of the patent, the term of which is 20 years from the date of filing of the application.

A career as a patent agent

Throughout the life of the patent, from filing to grant to the expiration of the patent, the patent agent continues to be intimately linked to the particular invention, following up with the legal requirements to ensure that the patent does not lapse. With all the glamour of the technology behind the invention, the agent is nevertheless faced with routine roles of tracking deadlines and writing letters to clients, filling in forms, attending meetings with inventors and much more. Nevertheless the area offers an interesting approach to science – learning about newer fields. Dr. Theresa Phillips, an environmental biologist writes in her blog "Success in this discipline depends on an ability to go "fact-finding"; gathering information and processing it an orderly fashion. Both require a high amount of logic and attention to detail". Although a PhD is not a mandate to enter the field, in specialized areas such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biomedical research, this may prove to be immensely useful to grasp the field and rapidly climb up the ladder. To be a registered patent agent one has to take the bar exam of the country where one wishes to practice as a patent agent.

Many post graduate students may also enter into law program. A lawyer with a technical edge equips them to move from lab to the courtroom. With the increase in the IP filing and disputes on infringement, the combination of law and science offers a lucrative and exciting career for those who love to be in the cutting edge of science, yet shun their lab coats.

Further reading:

Intellectual Property – A Power Tool for Economic Growth; Kamil Idris, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/intproperty/888/wipo_pub_888_1.pdf Pursuing a Career in Science and Law; Theresa Phillipshttp://biotech.about.com/od/careers/a/sciencelaw.h...

Mayur Gaekwad was transformed in just 5 weeks of a workshop- Collaborative Undergraduate Biology Education (CUBE) held at Homi Bhabha Research Center for Science Education (HBCSE) from late May to the end of June. What exactly is CUBE? It is the brainchild of M.C. Arunan, a visiting fellow at HBCSE and G. Nagarjuna, a faculty at the center with the aim of re-energizing students within biology. They aim to do this, by introducing undergraduate students to research, asking simple questions using simple tools. More than actually getting publishable data, the aim is to pique the curiosity among students to ask questions, train them to analytically seeks answers through experimentation, interpret results and finally experience the joy of one's own endeavor. A CUBE team will consist of students from different colleges, thereby instilling collaboration at an early state. Many undergraduate colleges in remote areas of India do not have the space or resources to do research or for that matter even experiments within the syllabus. In such cases, collaboration with other institutions or colleges comes to rescue. Arunan dreams of building a network of all the 26000 colleges in India and enabling them to work together in a collaborative environment to enhance the experience of science students.

Being a staunch supporter for undergraduate research, Arunan has been working the past few years, building and accessing simple model systems that can be maintained and used by students – Drosophila, Snails, Earthworms – studying olfaction in Drosophila, regeneration of segments in earthworms and memory in snails are some of the projects that interests students. G. Nagarjuna, brings in a different aspect into the collaborative picture – he studies education or rather science education. How does one study that? With hordes of studies being conducted world over, it is now a field of its own. The aim will be to assess instruction methods that work to excite students. Nagarjuna is also initiating undergraduate teachers and students into Citizen Research Projects. The latest addition is behvaiorwatch@home (http://metastudio.org/groups/bwh/wiki ). This was used to develop Crow as a Model system during CUBE Summer 2012, to promote cataloguing with a view to generate a taxonomy of motor behavior, e.g. locomotor patterns.

June 29^th to July 1^st, a symposium of sorts was held at the HBCSE, where the students who participated in the workshop presented research proposals for to an audience of undergraduate teachers from across India. These were mostly second year undergraduate students. 5 weeks as you can imagine is not sufficient for doing meaningful research but what the workshop did manage is to awaken the curiosity of the students, talking to them, it was impossible to miss the excitement they felt about their work. As one of the students put it to me

"The CUBE program, I thought would be full of experiments like we do in our college. But when I saw the lab at the Homi Bhabha Center, it was something very different!! How so simple can a lab be? That was my first question when i saw CUBE lab. NO fancy stuff in the lab but, then, there were high level talks and discussions while using simple stuff that we were using !"

Apart from giving the students a chance to present their work, this 3-day symposium further explored the methods of teaching, e.g. is research the only way to spread the enthusiasm of science among students? I am myself not certain of the answer. Each student is different some learn by experimentation, some by instruction, some by videos or role play, how do we cater to the needs of each student, how to convey key concepts in science to these different students. It is very clear that the teachers understand this as well and they are trying various methods to teach and enthuse students, some teachers use research, some visual aids, some skits/theatre and some like Raju Menon who teaches Human Physiology to Medical Students at Manipal Medical College use role play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uhT2ipQpKs&feature=plcp or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xxe2WWWoYI&feature=plcp). He has proven that such interactions with the student actually enables them to understand the relevant diseases/symptoms better as well as relate those symptoms to physiological defects that result in them

(Advan in Physiol Edu 32:329-331, 2008. doi:10.1152/advan.90105.2008).

Himanshu Joshi, an MTech student at Center for Converging Technologies in Jaipur, talked about a student lead effort to create the Drosophila Resource Center (DRC). This complete student-only team, manages DRC with the help of some mentors like Arunan. The Center was started by enthusiastic students like Himanshu, who got fly strains from NCBS and decided to use them to study olfaction and larval learning & memory. Though the batch of students, that began the studies graduated, they continue to be closely involved in mentoring their juniors at the DRC. Most communication is via email, but they have videos to guide the students for simple tasks such as autoclaving, or maintenance of cultures (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMMsKOBTvhY). The students have also acquired a grant from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to support them in their endeavors.

One point that came out clearly in this symposium was the fact, that it is not the research, role play, visual aid or any other method of teaching that can by itself excite the student, it is but a tool. The main drive is the interaction with the teacher, that bridging of the gap between the instructor and the student, which eventually manages to bring them out of their shell to display their talents and finally enables them to reach their full potential.

Linking colleges across India through collaborative undergraduate biology research will be enthusing lakhs of students and enabling them to achieve their dreams whatever they might be.