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Contents
What is the News?
The Department of Biotechnology has taken several initiatives in the year 2021.
Several of them are
Developments in Medical Biotechnology
Autologous hair follicle grafting is a recent therapy to stimulate the closure of non-healing wounds. A collaboration between the academicians and clinicians demonstrated that grafting hair follicles into chronic wounds from the patient’s own scalp promotes complete repair of the injured skin.
Unique Methods of Management and treatment of Inherited Disorders (UMMID) initiative
Garbh-ini (Interdisciplinary Group for Advanced Research on Birth Outcomes—DBT India Initiative): It is a cohort study of pregnant women. Under this initiative, women were enrolled within 20 weeks of gestation and are followed until delivery and post-partum. The objectives are to identify clinical, epidemiologic, genomic, microbial correlates; discover molecular-risk markers by using an integrative approach and generate a risk-prediction algorithm for preterm birth.
CAR-T cell therapy: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) is a type of treatment in which a patient’s T cells (a type of immune system cell) are changed in the laboratory, so they will attack cancer cells. CAR T-cell therapy is used to treat certain blood cancers, and it is being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer.
The first gene therapy clinical trial for a genetic disorder, Hemophilia A, in India has been approved by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).
Developments in Agriculture Biotechnology
Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) infection causes severe losses in tomato yield worldwide. Scientists have found an effective defence strategy. They have employed Sw5a (R gene) that recognizes AC4 protein (viral effector) of ToLCNDV to restrict virus spread.
Crop varieties Developed
The country’s first ever non-GM (genetically modified) herbicide-tolerant basmati rice varieties Pusa Basmati 1979 and Pusa Basmati 1985 for direct seeded conditions have been developed. They can significantly save water and labour compared to conventional transplanting.
CR Dhan 803 (Pooja-Sub1) rice variety has been released for Odisha State. It has a high yield under submergence conditions, high hulling, milling, no grain chalkiness and intermediate amylose content.
A drought tolerant chickpea varieties IPCL4 -14 and BG 4005 has been released for timely sown and rainfed conditions.
Other developments
First One Health Mega Project: It was launched with 27 organisations led by DBT-National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad. This programme envisages carrying out surveillance of important bacterial, viral and parasitic infections of zoonotic as well as transboundary pathogens in India, including the North-eastern part of the country.
Mission Integrated Biorefineries: It was launched by India and Netherlands to accelerate the commercialization of integrated biorefineries and achieve the goal of replacing an additional 10% of fossil carbon equivalent by sustainable bio-carbon in fuels, chemicals, and materials derived from residues and wastes by 2030.
COVID Vaccine development: ZyCoV-D Vaccine, CORBEVAX, India’s first Intranasal Vaccine.
Partnerships for Advancing Clinical Trials (PACT) programme: Under the PACT programme, DBT is working closely with the Ministry of External Affairs to strengthen capacities for facilitating phase III clinical trials of COVID vaccines in neighbouring / friendly nations.
Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG)
India International Science Festival (IISF)
Source: This post is based on the article ‘Year-End Review-2021- Department of Biotechnology’ published in PIB on 25th January 2022.
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