Being a Scientist in India

Being a Scientist in India

An Hour at the most desirable Institute of India.

I was in Mumbai when I got a mail from BITS-PILANI that we have been selected among the top 30 teams of CONQUEST 2011 - AN INTERNATIONAL B PLAN CONTEST. I was really very happy as it was my first international selection.Conquest is one of the most prestigious B Plan contest of India organized by CEL, BITS.It gives you an international platform to share your business idea to the best Entrepreneurs of country who further sharpen your idea and really want you to choose the rare path of entrepreneurship for which they went for.It was really great that we were selected out of 1800 participants who applied from 18 different countries.The mentoring sessions organized by Conquest team was really great as we were able to know certain aspects of the plan that we missed totally.To refine our idea to best level possible and improve  chances to successfully implement the plan we wrote to the CENTER FOR INNOVATION , INCUBATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP , IIM-AHEMADABAD.Fortunately we got a positive response from Mr. Pranay Gupta the CEO of CIIE,IIM-A who had great record of supporting the most sensational startups of India.I reached IIM-A with my friend Kushal who actually came with the eureka moment.We reached the new campus of IIM-A on the right side of which is CIIE is located.I was great to talk Mr.Pranay Gupta.He showed great enthusiasm in our project and assured to help in all possible means.Then me and kushal just went around the campus of a Institute which gives the highest financial secutrity in your life.It was really great to feel the LOUIS KHAN PLAZA.You can easily feel the warmth of the love with which Louis Khan designed the institute.Only going there you can really know the vision of Dr.Vikram Sarabhai.Hope we will make out and will be part of the best stories of CIIE.

A good initiative by Indian Govt to curb Antibiotic Misuse.

Regulating Over-the-Counter Antibiotic Sales: What Will "Schedule HX" Mean for India?

2 Aug 2011

Author: Alice Easton

In the wake of the NDM-1 controversy, the Government of India created a committee to frame a new antibiotic policy for the country. One of the recommendations of this committee was to regulate the sale of antibiotics by introducing “Schedule H1” under the Drugs and Cosmetics rules, to “regulate sale of antibiotics exclusively” (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare 2011). The existing Schedule H contains 536 drugs, which cannot be legally dispensed without the prescription of a registered medical practitioner (RMP). The packaging of these drugs must include the warning “Schedule H drug - warning: To be sold by retail on the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner only.” Schedule H1 was envisioned as a tool to enable strict regulation of the sale of third generation antibiotics, despite the fact that regulation of the other Schedule H drugs is rarely enforced.
The antibiotic policy written by this committee is currently under review by the Union Law Ministry, after which it will be reviewed by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (Assary 2011). The proposal (for what is now called Schedule HX) contains two parts. Part A consists of 16 antibiotics that should only be sold in tertiary hospitals. These drugs will be color-coded to enable quick identification. These 16 drugs include Cefpirome, Colistin, Doripenem, Ertapenem, Imipenem, Linezolid, Meropenem, and Moxifloxacin (Assary 2011).
Part B contains 74 drugs that could only be sold at pharmacies to patients with two copies of a prescription from a RMP. These include Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Cefaclor, Cefalexin, Cefdinir, Ciprofloxacin, Erythromycin, Gentamicin, Norfloxacin, Oxacillin, Pencillin, antibiotic eye drops, some drugs for tuberculosis, sleeping pills, paracetamol and cough syrups such as Benadryl (Assary 2011; Deshpande 2011; Times News Network 2011).
Some Ministry of Health officials and doctors have defended the new regulations, pointing out that only very specialized, expensive drugs will be limited to tertiary hospitals, and that it is important to restrict these antibiotics to stem the spread of antibiotic resistance (Deshpande 2011; Express News Service 2011). Indeed, in situations where diagnostic and antibiotic sensitivity tests are unavailable, it is unwise for patients to take expensive, strong drugs. These drugs should only be prescribed when it has been determined that the patient is resistant to milder, widely available antibiotics through diagnostic tests. If patients are wantonly prescribed newer antibiotics, such as those restricted to tertiary hospitals, this will lead to a decrease in their effectiveness when patients with resistant infections really need them.
However, several parts of this new regulation have caused widespread protest. The All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has pointed out that in many rural areas, RMPs are scarce or unavailable, making many drugs inaccessible to rural populations (Deshpande 2011). Others fear that new regulations will make life-saving drugs scarce, and lead to increased use of the black market (Indian Pharmacist Association and Pharmabiz 2011). To show their opposition, several pharmacists’ organizations staged a strike on August 1^st (Express News Service 2011; Indian Pharmacist Association and Pharmabiz 2011; Times News Network 2011). However, many re-opened during the day due to the protests of customers and police (Express News Service 2011). After a meeting with the Health Minister, the strike was officially called off in Delhi and other locations, based on the feeling that there is still time to change the specifics of the new regulations before they are enacted (Ahuja 2011; Indo-Asian News Service 2011).
These controversial new regulations raise a number of interesting issues. Of course, pharmacists are only part of the picture. The new antibiotic policy contains measures targeting overprescribing of antibiotics as well, such as educational programs for physicians (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare 2011). Preventing doctors from primary and secondary level facilities from dispensing the newest antibiotics without the diagnostic tests to determine whether they are necessary could also go a long way towards preserving the effectiveness of new antibiotics, which would ideally only be used when absolutely necessary. However, these regulations may have been diluted by the inclusion of drugs other than antibiotics. I find it hard to believe that I will actually be unable to buy paracetamol (acetaminophen) and cough syrup once these new regulations are put in place. Just in case, I’m planning on stocking up.
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References:
Ahuja, S. (2011). Chemists to remain open on August 1. Hindustan Times. Gurgaon.
Assary, G. (2011). Losing battle against bacteria? Deccan Chronicle. Thiruvananthapuram.
Deshpande, D. (2011). Chemists super bugged by govt’s new policy. Pune Mirror. Pune.
Express News Service (2011). Chemists strike over new rules for drug sale, leave patients stranded. Indian Express. New Delhi.
Express News Service (2011). Chemists to down shutters on Aug 1 to protest antibiotics order. Indian Express.
Indian Pharmacist Association and Pharmabiz. (2011). "AICDF calls for pharmacy bandh in Delhi & Haryana against govt’s decision to include Schedule HX in D&C Rules."   Retrieved July 29, 2011.
Indo-Asian News Service (2011). Chemists end strike after meeting Ghulam Nabi Azad. NDTV. New Delhi.
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. (2011). "National Policy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance - India." from http://www.nicd.nic.in/ncdc_new/ab_policy.pdf.
Times News Network (2011). Druggists warn of stir over move to ban 90 OTC drugs. Times of India. Hyderabad.

ALLOY THAT CAN TURN WASTE HEAT INTO ELECTRICITY - SCIENCE DAILY

Generating 'Green' Electricity: Waste Heat Converted to Electricity Using New Alloy

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2011) — University of Minnesota engineering researchers in the College of Science and Engineering have recently discovered a new alloy material that converts heat directly into electricity. This revolutionary energy conversion method is in the early stages of development, but it could have wide-sweeping impact on creating environmentally friendly electricity from waste heat sources.

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Researchers say the material could potentially be used to capture waste heat from a car's exhaust that would heat the material and produce electricity for charging the battery in a hybrid car. Other possible future uses include capturing rejected heat from industrial and power plants or temperature differences in the ocean to create electricity. The research team is looking into possible commercialization of the technology.
"This research is very promising because it presents an entirely new method for energy conversion that's never been done before," said University of Minnesota aerospace engineering and mechanics professor Richard James, who led the research team."It's also the ultimate 'green' way to create electricity because it uses waste heat to create electricity with no carbon dioxide."
To create the material, the research team combined elements at the atomic level to create a new multiferroic alloy, Ni₄₅Co₅Mn₄₀Sn₁₀. Multiferroic materials combine unusual elastic, magnetic and electric properties. The alloy Ni₄₅Co₅Mn₄₀Sn₁₀ achieves multiferroism by undergoing a highly reversible phase transformation where one solid turns into another solid. During this phase transformation the alloy undergoes changes in its magnetic properties that are exploited in the energy conversion device.
During a small-scale demonstration in a University of Minnesota lab, the new material created by the researchers begins as a non-magnetic material, then suddenly becomes strongly magnetic when the temperature is raised a small amount. When this happens, the material absorbs heat and spontaneously produces electricity in a surrounding coil. Some of this heat energy is lost in a process called hysteresis. A critical discovery of the team is a systematic way to minimize hysteresis in phase transformations. The team's research was recently published in the first issue of the new scientific journal Advanced Energy Materials.
Watch a short research video of the new material suddenly become magnetic when heated: http://z.umn.edu/conversionvideo.
In addition to Professor James, other members of the research team include University of Minnesota aerospace engineering and mechanics post-doctoral researchers Vijay Srivastava and Kanwal Bhatti, and Ph.D. student Yintao Song. The team is also working with University of Minnesota chemical engineering and materials science professor Christopher Leighton to create a thin film of the material that could be used, for example, to convert some of the waste heat from computers into electricity.
"This research crosses all boundaries of science and engineering," James said. "It includes engineering, physics, materials, chemistry, mathematics and more. It has required all of us within the university's College of Science and Engineering to work together to think in new ways."
Funding for early research on the alloy came from a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research (involving other universities including the California Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, University of Washington and University of Maryland), and research grants from the U.S. Air Force and the National Science Foundation. The research is also tentatively funded by a small seed grant from the University of Minnesota's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment.

SCIENCE DAILY REPORT ON BACTERIAL RESISTANCE

Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics: The More They Resist, the More They Divide

ScienceDaily (July 28, 2011) — The number of multiresistant strains of bacteria in hospitals is increasing. Bacteria acquire resistance to antibiotics through mutations in their chromosomes and by incorporating new genes, either from the surrounding environment or from other bacteria. Now, a research team at the Portuguese CBA research (University of Lisbon) and the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência has shown that, surprisingly, when both mechanisms of resistance are playing out in the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli), its ability to survive and reproduce is increased.

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These results are now published in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.
Usually, the acquisition of new genes, either through the insertion of pieces of DNA -- called plasmids -- or through mutations, comes at a cost to the bacteria, reflected in a reduction in its rate of cell division, for example. Francisco Dionísio, senior author of the paper, describes the process using the following analogy: "If you disassembled your computer and randomly changed connections and pieces, you wouldn't expect it to work better than before."
However, Francisco and his colleagues show that, when a mutation occurs in the chromosome of a bacterium that has already incorporated a resistance-carrying plasmid, the bacteria divide faster in 10% of the mutation-plasmid combinations tested. Similarly, bacteria that first acquire resistance to antibiotics through mutation of their chromosome and then gain further resistance by insertion of plasmids into their DNA show reproduction rate increases in 32% of combinations.
In 2009, the same research groups showed, for the first time, the importance of interactions between random genes in determining antibiotic resistance in bacteria. This latest study takes their initial findings a step further, by demonstrating that this is a general phenomenon, and thus may help to predict how a bacterial population will evolve after receiving a plasmid that confers resistance to a certain antibiotic.
Francisco Dionísio adds: "These results are, at least, unexpected in light of what we previously knew about genetic interactions, and may underlie the mechanism whereby rapid resistance to antibiotics appeared.

SCIDEATION.ORG

Sc!deation

new ideas in drug discovery, development & commercialization

Crowdfunding for Technology Startups

by Euan Ramsay on May 24, 2011

Funding is the lifeblood of all start-ups. You may be fortunate to generate revenue early through sales, but in the capital-intensive, regulation-heavy industries like biotech early funding often has to be secured from other sources. There are many possible avenues for financing, both dilutive and non-dilutive, for example, loans, convertible debt, equity, grants, etc. These are essentially top down approaches. The ubiquity of social media is providing a new bottom-up opportunity – crowdfunding. This post will provide an overview of crowdfunding websites which might offer a source of dilutive or non-dilutive microfinancing capital for the entrepreneur.
Crowdfunding is defined in Wikipedia as “the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually via the internet to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations”. Leveraging a network to raise money has traditionally been used to support charitable causes. The emergence of the web as a distribution platform has exponentially increased the number of potential donors that can be reached. This rise of web-based social networks has led to the subsequent expansion and divergence of crowdfunding, with dedicated sites to fund everything from making movies, investing in bands, supporting social action, and to fund businesses.
Using crowdfunding as a source of equity finance for businesses could break new ground because government regulations in many jurisdictions often restrict the financing models available for small private for-profit enterprises. For example, in the US there are three main regulatory obstacles that prevent crowdfunding as a mechanism for equity investment: (i) a limit of 499 investors before a private company has to disclose its finances; (ii) an investment is restricted to “sophisticated” investors, i.e. those with substantial personal funds; and (iii) a concern that removing these restrictions will expose unsuspecting investors to fraud. However, recent correspondence in the US between Mary Shapiro, the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Darrell Issa, the Chair of the House Oversight Committee has indicated that the authorities are considering revising the decades-old regulations in light of crowdfunding initiatives.
For more insight into the potential impact of the SEC announcement see the post on Ross Dawson’s blog. And for a perspective on how government regulations are inhibiting innovation and entrepreneurship in Canada, see the recent excellent post from Mike Volker, a Vancouver-based angel investor.
The following table provides an overview of select crowdfunding websites that may offer the (bio)technology entrepreneur a source of finance.
crowdfunding post table
It is clear that the structure of the financing models described in the table reflect the regulations of the countries where these crowdfunding companies are based; however, there are also mechanisms to maximize the “friends and family” concept to leverage the network effects of online communities created via FaceBook, LinkedIn, etc. This funding avenue for start-ups is set to explode in the coming years and it will be interesting to see what new financial business models emerge from the convergence of web-based crowdfunding and evolving government regulations.
And how will this affect biotech start-ups? Debt financing offered by Cofundit, or loans/commercial paper as described by 40Billion would be unlikely options. Would ProFounder’s investors be happy with the wait for a potential revenue stream in potentially a decade or more? And will the equity investors of GrowVC, Seedups and CrowdCube fund capital-intensive industries, with numerous web-based enterprises competing for their dollars?
I believe that crowdfunding has potentially two distinct constituents: investors focused on financial return such as Angels, VCs and other “sophisticated” investors; and investors looking for a social return on investment based on the “venture philanthropy” model championed by disease-focused foundations such as the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. In both cases, I believe that biotech and technology start-ups will benefit from access to these expanded sources of capital.
Have you raised money through crowdfunding? Or do you consider this avenue as a viable financing option? Please share your thoughts by commenting below.
For those interested in learning more about crowdsourcing mechanisms to support start-ups have a look at these sites:
GoBigNetworks – the biggest network for startup opportunities
WebEquity - WebEquity is a community site bringing together entrepreneurs with business ideas and anyone willing to work on an equity and/or revenue share basis to make them a reality.
Foundrs – recruit great co-founders
For those interested in learning more about crowdfunding check out these additional sites:
KickStarter – a new way to fund and follow creativity
IndieGoGo – the world’s largest global funding platform
Sellaband – where fans invest in music
RocketHub – your creative launchpad
Quirky – social product development
Pozible – crowdfunding creativity (previously Fundbreak)
Fansnextdoor- platform for all creatives to promote and fund their projects together with their fans

Professor hatches company for his drug-delivery software

The process of developing new drugs can be long and expensive. Optive Research Inc. aims to make the search faster and more efficient with software that helps researchers decide which compounds to synthesize and test in finding new drugs.
Dr. Robert Pearlman, a University of Texas at Austin professor who developed the computer-aided drug-discovery software, worked with the Office of Technology Commercialization to create Optive to sell the technology that he developed in his UT lab. At the university, Pearlman is the Coulter R. Sublett Regents Chair in Pharmacy and the Director of the Laboratory for the Development of Computer-Assisted Drug Discovery Software. At Optive, he's president and chief scientific officer.
Previously, the university licensed the technology to Tripos Inc., a life science company based in St. Louis. It was the second most lucrative of the university's licensing agreements, bringing in $1.8 million in just the past two years.
Now Optive will handle the Tripos licensing (and continue to split it with the university), sell its own products (sending a share of those revenues to the university) and accelerate development of the software. “Operating as a company rather than as an academic lab, we are now positioned to provide a much higher level of support, service, and software R&D to these scientists, their companies, and to the rest of the molecular discovery community,” Pearlman said.
Pearlman said that as a commercial entity Optive can afford to attract top-level researchers and funding to further development. The company has 15 employees and more than 15 products to be used by computational chemists and bench chemists who are engaged in molecular design and discovery research.
Pearlman and Dr. Neil Iscoe, director of the UT Office of Technology Commercialization, hope Optive's influence extends beyond its own future. “The company creates jobs,” Iscoe said. “But it also highlights the growing cadre of biotechnology and life science companies in the Austin area.”