|
From the Director's desk:
One more year has gone by and
I find it hard to believe that I have been around in
ILS for 5 years! The institute has crossed several
humps that are to be expected in any rapidly growing
research organization in its initial phase. We have
very clearly crossed the stage when we could get
away by saying that we are still in early years and
progress in research needs long incubation time etc,
etc., While personally I do think that we should
have progressed more than what we have done in the
last 5 years, I felt very gratified and a bit
flattered a year ago during the meeting of the
governing body when one of the members who is not
known for diplomacy and widely known for
complementing performance only when it is due
said that he can now declare that Institute of Life
Sciences has 'arrived'!
The last one year has been a
very satisfying year for ILS. Much of the
construction activities are nearing completion. The
PhD scholars' home has been inaugurated and students
have moved in and we hope to occupy new research
laboratories and animal facility in the next six
months. Two new faculty members and one
Ramalingaswamy fellow are now part of the faculty
body and the current PhD programme holds 63
students. The institute has published about 150
research papers in the last 5 years, 19 of them in
journals with Impact factor more than five, a bench
mark that DBT and Planning Commission has set for
quality of performance of Science institutions like
ours. The institute also has filed 15 patents in the
last three years and we are actively negotiating for
technology transfer of some of the patents. ILS took
a quantum leap into the realm of higher education -
a six month full time Pre-PhD programme is being
conducted at ILS for all students of Utkal
university by the faculty of the institute. When an
ecology of collegiate but competitive spirit amongst
faculty coupled with a vibrant PhD programme exists
in an institute progress in Science is an inevitable
outcome - the year gone by witnessed significant
progress in all the chosen areas of research.
Identification and
characterization of an immunoregulatory helminth
glycoprotein was taken to its logical end; the
active moiety that binds to TLR4 on the surface of
mononuclear cells and inhibits endotoxemia in
animals was identified to be a hexasaccharide,
Chitohexose. This also offered insights into
evolutionary relationship between nematodes and
sepsis in human population. T-lymphocytes are the
centre piece of adaptive immunity in vertebrates.
How they die when they are stimulated is a critical
issue for immunoregulation. Understanding their
death pathways could allow us to manipulate their
dominant function viz., as effectors, regulators,
deviators of immune response. Studies conducted with
cell lines of T-cells have given lead this year and
future investigations will be directed towards in
vivo investigations in animal models. Antibiotic
resistant bacteria generally emerge in infected
hosts under drug pressure. But one other major
source for this is in environment, particularly for
pathogens such as Vibrio which reside in infected
humans only for a very small time. Studies
undertaken with isolates have revealed details of
genes regulating toxicity and virulence and ability
to form biofilms. Metagenomics is evolving into a
promising area of research along with bioprospecting
of extremophilic bacteria. Several novel
extremophilic organisms have been isolated and
identified at ILS. Characterization of their house
keeping genes and their expression in plant systems
are expected offer interesting opportunities.
Cancer essentially is a
disease of adults and this makes parallel studies on
host gene expression and regulation associated with
aging and cancer interesting and rewarding.
Progression of cancers in general and Chronic
Myeloid Leukemia in particular has been a challenge.
With availability of newer technologies and
discoveries such as micro RNA attempts are being
made to understand the role of miRNA in CML cases
both during blast crisis and in chronic phase.
Targeting drugs using nanotechnology for cancer is a
novel but rapidly developing area. While utility of
nanotargeting of several toxic anti-cancer drugs are
being attempted with variable degree of success one
study from ILS stands out. Nono targeting of
Gemsitamine the drug of choice for pancreatic cancer
is being attempted in a xenotransplant model in SCID
mice and early results have shown promise. The next
logical step will be undertaking clinical trial for
pancreatic cancer which has a very poor prognosis.
Viral disease biology in
general is a neglected area in the country partly
because it is too expensive to develop
infrastructure for undertaking investigations with
several novel in vivo model systems and small
isolated groups cannot sustain beyond a certain
level. Development of an inter-disciplinary centre
of Viral disease biology is a dream set for ILS
during the 12th plan period. Viral origin
of several cancers is expected to integrate this
activity with cancer biology related activities of
the institute in the future. As a first step to
towards this end projects on biology of
non-structural proteins of Chikengunya virus and
genetic factors and proteins involved in Epstein Bar
virus related lymphomas have been initiated.
Wide spread debate and
perceived controversy on the utility of genetically
modified crops, so critical for global food
security, have somewhat dampened enthusiasm of plant
molecular biologists. But they are also aware that
it is a cacophony observed in all democracies and
this phase will pass sooner than later. Three broad
approaches have been taken at ILS in this direction
towards generation transgenic plants. Catalase is a
very critical antioxidant enzyme that significantly
contributes to plant growth, survival and crop
yield. Generation of transgenic plants with a mutant
Catalase gene that will render them the above
mentioned properties is an approach for which proof
of principle has been demonstrated using Arabidopsis
as a model plant. Moving this approach to Rice plant
will be the natural step forward. Another potential
way to make plants resist pest will be to enhance
their innate immunity. Introduction of genes of
innate immunity of higher organisms such as human or
murine defensins into plants using high expression
promoters is another issue being pursued. Generation
of several plant promoters by DNA shuffling has been
a major activity in ILS in this direction. The
spinoff from this study is the possible use of plant
extracts expressing antibacterial peptides as
dressing material for wound healing and burns. A
third approach is to acquire insights into genes
that are associated with development of tolerance to
abiotic stress such as high salts by cloning and
sequencing ESTs of several genes using S.maritima as
a model plant.
Population biology in the
context of genetic basis of disease susceptibility
is another emerging area particularly when designed
in endogamously bred populations such as tribal and
caste groups available in the region. Significant
progress has been made on studies on genetic
predisposition of humans to a variety of diseases
viz., malaria, lymphatic filariasis, sepsis and
hearing impairment and some of the crucial genes and
their association with susceptibility disease
development have been revealed. Such studies offer a
broader canvas to understand genetic as well as
epigenetic factors that contribute to development of
diseases.
My own assessment of ILS is
that it has grown only to one third its size and
potential. I am however able to I perceive a high
level of energy and optimism amongst all my
colleagues and success is the only option I foresee
for the Institute.
B.
Ravindran
Director |
