Warm greetings (amid the chilly weather in certain parts of India) from the IndiaBioscience team!
We are excited to reconnect with you this month, bringing forth the latest updates, opportunities, and news for our life science community.
We have been very busy at IndiaBioscience making science work for you! To start with, the fifth and sixth of the Regional Young Investigators' Meetings (RYIM) 2023-2024 series recently concluded in Pilani and Hyderabad respectively, and the seventh meeting is scheduled to take place in Pune later in February.
Talking of meetings, the IndiaBioscience team had a substantial presence at the India Science Festival (ISF) 2024, with team members actively participating in the SciComm Huddle, a pre-event of the festival, and the subsequent two-day festival held at IISER Pune.
Moving further from in-person events to the virtual space, our dynamic initiative, IndiaBiostreams, has been buzzing with activity. Last month, we successfully hosted our fifth Big Questions webinar and ninth YI Huddle. We also introduced a new series, the Virtual Town Hall Meeting Series, an initiative for discussions on contemporary themes and topics relevant to life science research in India. Do keep an eye out for this series!
Finally, our 16th Young Investigators' Meeting (YIM 2024) is just around the corner, scheduled from 11 to 15 March 2024 in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Check out some updates from our recent visit to Bhopal to set preparations underway.
We are always looking for ways to engage with you! If you'd like to contribute an article, produce a podcast or organise a joint webinar with us, drop an email at hello[at]indiabioscience[dot]org. You can also connect with us on social media (X/formerly Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube) and join our mailing list to stay in the loop.
We are in the final phase of preparation for YIM 2024! IndiaBioscience team members visited Bhopal to add in final touches to the preparations. We look forward to hosting 40 Young Investigators’ from India and 40 Postdoctoral fellows from across India and the world, along with a stellar list of mentors, speakers, life science professionals and communicators.
Check out some of the photos from our recent trip below!
The Regional Young Investigators’ Meeting (RYIM) Pilani was held on 18-19 January 2024 in the wintry chill of Rajasthan. The event was hosted at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, and was jointly organised with the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur and Central University of Rajasthan. The meeting was based on the theme 'Life Sciences and Interdisciplinary Research.' Talks and poster presentations at the meeting showcased latest research on various interdisciplinary themes. Young investigators and students actively discussed aspects such as collaboration and impact of interdisciplinary research. Rohini Karandikar and Shwetha C represented IndiaBioscience, and also led a Crafting Your Career (CYC) workshop on 20 January 2024.
The Regional Young Investigators’ Meeting (RYIM) Hyderabad was held from 02-03 February 2024. The event was hosted at Mahindra University, Hyderabad as a multi-institutional effort with organisers from IKP Knowledge Park, University of Hyderabad, DBT-CDFD, DBT-NIAB, TIFR Hyderabad, Osmania University, and Malla Reddy Dental College. With the theme ‘Industry-Academia Collaborations to Translate Research to Product’, this 2-day meeting brought forth a wide range of scientific talks, poster presentations and professional development discussions.
The IndiaBioscience team led a Crafting Your Career (CYC) workshop on 03 February 2024. Stay tuned for an article on this meeting, in the meantime check out some of the meeting photos!
The Regional Young Investigators’ Meeting (RYIM) Pune will be conducted over two days from 16 to 17 February 2024, along with a Crafting Your Career (CYC) workshop on 15 February 2024. With the theme, ‘Opportunities and Challenges for the Young Investigators in Interdisciplinary Medical Research,’ the event is being organised at the Bharati Vidyapeeth deemed to be University Medical College, Pune as a multi-institutional effort with the organisers from National Centre for Cell Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University, and ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute, Pune. You can find more details about the meeting here. We look forward to seeing you at RYIM Pune 2024!
With this, IndiaBioscience has supported seven regional meetings across India in 2023-2024. The RYIM grants will re-open for applications in April-May 2024 for meetings across 2024-2025. So start thinking of how you can ‘team’ up to organise a regional meeting at your institute!
IndiaBioscience had the opportunity to showcase its activities through a poster presentation at NCBS Annual Talks 2024, on 11 and 12 January 2024. Manjula Harikrishna presented the poster on both days, and it was an engaging experience to interact with students and researchers to increase the visibility of IndiaBioscience's many initiatives.
IndiaBioscience was an outreach partner for India Science Festival 2024 held at IISER Pune on 20 and 21 January 2024. As part of a pre-event for the festival, Ankita Rathore and Karishma Kaushik participated in a day-long SciComm ThinkLabs huddle. The huddle was a culmination of several months of discussions related to science communication in India, and Ankita was part of these discussions via the ‘Science and Media’ working group.
Via its podcast channel, IndiaBiospeaks, IndiaBioscience also released a pre-event podcast with the organising team of the festival, titled, ‘Unveiling the essence of India Science Festival.’ The discussion between Arushi Batra along with Shriya Naidu and Utsav Thapliyal from ISF 2024 can be heard here.
At the festival, Karishma Kaushik was part of a panel discussion on ‘How we will win: Making universities the fulcrum of innovation’ with K. VijayRaghavan (NCBS), Sunil Bhagwat (IISER Pune) and JP Narayanan (IIIT Hyderabad). On the second day, Karishma conducted an interactive session with early-career scientists Kaneenika Sinha (IISER Pune), Vineeth Venugopal (MIT), Mayuri Rege (HBCSE, TIFR, Mumbai) and Abhinaya Sampath (IIT Gandhinagar) on the ‘Role of young scientists in shaping science’; the engaging session brought forth public views on a ‘wishlist’ for science in India.
As a part of YI Huddle 10, we will host Sarah Iqbal, FAST India and Arnab Bhattacharya, TIFR Mumbai, along with interlocutor Mayuri Rege, HBCSE, TIFR Mumbai. The webinar is titled, ‘Going full circle: How and why of public engagement, citizen science and outreach.’ So, mark your calendars for 16 February 2024, 4:00 to 5:00 P.M. IST. While this webinar series is primarily intended for Young Investigators in India, it is open to everyone.
To register, click here. We are eager to engage with you!
As part of scientific talk #5 of ‘Big Questions, Innovative Approaches’, we hosted Elly Tanaka, Senior Group Leader, Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna Biocenter, Vienna, Austria. Elly took us through her scientific journey and highlighted the importance of systemic studies in regenerative biology. Find the full recording on our YouTube channel here.
This was the final webinar of the Big Questions, Innovative Approaches series and we will be back with another set of scientific talks later in the year.
We are excited to announce that the last episode for this year’s RADIO PDF series was released last month, where we talked to Archana Pawar Nayak, a postdoctoral researcher at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai). Archana had many interesting things to share about being a postdoctoral researcher in India, and this line sums it up: ‘You just have to believe that you will figure it out.’
Check out all the RADIO PDF podcasts to listen to the experiences and career trajectories of postdoctoral researchers in India. We will be back with a new RADIO PDF series shortly!
As part of our ongoing podcast series 'Podcast Inception’, we chat with science podcasters in India and across the world (a podcast with podcasters!) about the nuances of recording a science podcast and their journeys into podcasting.
We express our gratitude for the tremendous response to 'Write On—2023', the science writing competition by IndiaBioscience. The application for the competition has now closed. We will announce the winners on 28 February 2024, so stay tuned!
COLUMNS
In our science communication vertical, we published several columns and news articles last month.
Scroll down to get a glimpse of these articles below!
Annesha Dutta, Specialist-Quality Operations, Novartis Hyderabad, brings extensive experience from pharmaceutical Quality Control and Assurance roles, emphasising curiosity-driven transitions and the value of seizing diverse opportunities within the healthcare industry. Annesha also shares advice and resources for master’s and PhD students who want to transition into an industry role.
IndiaBioscience opened its doors to five interns in 2023. This article is a conversation between Ankita Rathore, Program Manager-Science Communication at IndiaBioscience, and the interns about their internship experience and insights.
SJAI organised its inaugural conference at National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi on 24 and 25 November 2023. The conference, the first of its kind in India, was themed “Strengthening Science Journalism in India: Global trends, regional media, and the science-society connect”. In this article, we highlight the key takeaways from the various talks and discussions held during the conference.
A team of researchers at the CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI), Lucknow, has investigated the functional activity of the plant protein Tma12, which is toxic to whiteflies. The study demonstrates that Tma12 kills whiteflies by degrading chitin. The findings of this research can be utilised by biorefineries in the production of biofuels and for expanding the horizons of biopesticides.
The third Regional Young Investigator Meeting (RYIM) 2023 – 24 was held in the serene and picturesque city of Bhubaneswar at the (DBT)-Institute of Life Sciences (DBT-ILS), from 4 to 6 December 2023. Based on the theme ‘Fostering academia-industry crosstalk’, the RYIM Bhubaneswar introduced young investigators (YIs) and researchers to the idea of building impactful collaborations between academia and industry.
In a recent study, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jodhpur, identified the unique anti-amyloid and chaperone-like activity of a host defence protein, β2-microglobulin, which prevents ⍺-synuclein aggregation. Their research has the potential for developing diagnostic and therapeutic measures for neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease.
The fourth Regional Young Investigators’ Meeting (RYIM) 2023 – 2024 took place at Presidency University, Kolkata, from 06 to 08 December 2023. RYIM Kolkata was aimed at nurturing academic exchange aligned perfectly with the theme “Education, Research and Translation: The Triple Helix of Collaboration.”
In a recent collaborative study published in Cell, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, and other institutes have uncovered the molecular basis of complement receptor activation, crucial in immune response. The research team identified a synthetic peptide, EP141, derived from the C3a anaphylatoxin, which selectively binds to the C3aR receptor, offering therapeutic potential by directing biased immune signalling.
In this new series, leading up to Young Investigators’ Meeting (YIM) 2024, researchers who have attended YIMs from the past tell us about what it was like for them back then, what they took away from the experience, how things have changed, their ideas for future YIMs, and tips for the newest generation of life scientists gearing up for their first meeting.
IndiaBioscience has initiated a new Virtual Town Hall series to initiate discussions on contemporary themes relevant to life science research in India.
The first meeting of the series was held on 31 January 2024 on the topic The Revised Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowships: opportunities and challenges. The meeting was aimed to share information with postdoctoral fellows looking to return to India to establish their independent research careers in the life sciences. The panelists included past and current awardees of the Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowships– Subhojit Sen, Divya Kumar, Durba Sengupta, and Karishma Kaushik. Additionally, science administrators from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) – Sanjay Mishra and Manoj Singh Rohilla provided important insights on the vision and mandate of this years’ fellowships.
In case you missed the webinar, watch the recording on our YouTube channel here.
As a part of our International Grants Awareness Program (iGAP), we bring to you another set of curated resources related to International funding opportunities for the Indian life science community, including researchers and students.
Our International Grants Awareness Program (iGAP) is aimed at creating awareness on, and building skills for, international grants in life science research. We are pleased to announce that we will be re-starting our iGAP newsletter soon. If you would like to stay updated on international grants, fellowships, and grant writing, and interact with mentors and writing experts, you can subscribe to this newsletter.
Calling all Indian life science researchers who have recently or previously been awarded an international grant, to share their experiences, tips and anecdotes. We invite stories that will inspire other researchers seeking international grants. If you are interested in sharing your story, please let us know through this form.
If your story is shortlisted, it will be published on the International Grants Awareness Program webpage. Additionally, you may get added to iGAP’s mentor database and get a chance to mentor prospective applicants for international grants.
DATA AND POLICY
#PolicyWednesday on first Wednesday of every month
This is the fifth post from our latest initiative to engage policy enthusiasts on social media, #PolicyWednesday. On the first Wednesday of every month, we will post a question for you on all of our social media handles. We invite you to post your answers, see responses by others, and enjoy the thread of conversation.
The question for this month is about 'Biomanufacturing’. India's biomanufacturing sector has been growing rapidly and it is expected to reach USD 300 billion by 2030. What policies can boost industrial R&D in biomanufacturing?
We released our fourth Data and Policy video from the ‘IndiaBiosnippets’ series last month. In this IndiaBiosnippet video, Debanjana Dey, Former DST STI Postdoctoral Fellow, DST- CPR, IISc, Bangalore, talks about the importance of synthetic biology and bioengineering policy in India.
You can watch the entire video here on our YouTube channel.
Ananya Mukherjee, who teaches Biology, and Rukma Prince, who teaches English Literature to undergraduates at Azim Premji University, have co-created a Science Communication course for science and non-science majors, which will be offered in August 2024. In this article, they share what prompted them to create this course and the kind of educational issues that the course aims to address.
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.
#EDUCATORSMONDAY
On the last Monday of every month, we post a question for educators on all of our social media handles. We invite you to post your answers, see responses by others, and enjoy the threads of conversation. The question for the month of January 2024 was:
Should there be a dedicated degree program for college-level teaching?
i wonder…’s workshop at India Science Festival 2024
Vijeta Raghuram, the Program Manager-Education at IndiaBioscience and an Associate Editor of ‘i wonder…’, a science magazine for middle and high-school teachers by Azim Premji University, co-organised a workshop for school science teachers at the India Science Festival 2024, called “Doing Science with Balloons”. She was joined by Saurav Shome, a faculty member of the School of Education at Azim Premji University, Bhopal and a fellow member of the Editorial board of the magazine.
Together they engaged their audience over the two days of the Festival (20- 21 Jan 2024) with many simple and fun experiments with surprising results, followed by insightful discussions on the science behind them. All these experiments had one thing in common - balloons! Why balloons? Because, unlike the expensive and fragile equipment of a science lab, balloons are cheap, easy to handle and manipulate, have diverse uses, and - of course - fun to play with.
How do contrasting examples of Chandrayaan-3 and the COVID-19 pandemic inform India's science communication training, practice and strategy? Ankita Rathore and Karishma Kaushik write for The Hindu in this sixth article of the series titled, ‘What it will take to ensure science communication works for India,’ explaining why science communication in India has new opportunities today – even as it exposes old and new lacunae.
On popular demand, we are going to keep this article series going. So keep an eye out for more thought-provoking pieces!
Do you appreciate our #ScienceJobsTuesdays on Twitter and Linkedin?
This is a weekly list of opportunities - jobs, grants and events - specially curated by IndiaBioscience for the community. Don’t miss out on this!
You can also subscribe to our dedicated Jobs and Internships newsletter here. This newsletter will bring to you a curated list of jobs and internships with deadlines in the following month. Let us help you in your job search!
For more Jobs, Events, Grants and Fellowships keep visiting our website.
We are always looking for ways to expand our programs and build partnerships. If you are an institute, university, company, private enterprise, incubation park or a science collective, and are looking for ways to work with IndiaBioscience, please get in touch!
Some of our recent partnerships have included collaborative events and meetings, webinars, podcasts, and science articles. Our previous and ongoing partnerships can be found here.
