A good number of students, researcher and scientists from the northeastern part of the country engaged in different fields, acquired tremendous achievements in foreign countries. Very recently an Assamese scientist working in USA, has shown a new path that can help cure any viral disease like influenza, herpes or HIV. Dr. Ankoor Roy and his colleagues’ achievement has been recognized worldwide by Structure, a prestigious scientific journal.
In an interview Dr. Roy said they used P22 bacteriophage as a model system for the research. The researcher and his team have identified small protein which plays a critical role in identifying its own DNA and pumps its own DNA to form a new virus particle inside the host cell. Structure solved by them will help to design drugs against herpes and HIV virus as they also have the same mechanism and protein. This will ultimately help to stop the recognition event of its own DNA and multiplication the virus particles inside the host. It is to be mentioned that understanding the viral life cycle is very important to develop drugs against them. Till now there is no cure for any viral disease, like influenza, herpes or HIV. Most of the studies are directed towards understanding the life-cycle of virus.
Dr. Roy who graduated from Gauhati University and is now working in Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia says both bacteria and viruses are very small, but bacteria, given the proper nutrients, can grow and produce on their own. Viruses cannot “live” or reproduce without getting inside some living cell, whether it’s a plant, animal, or bacteria. Bacteriophage is virus that looks like an alien landing pod. With its six legs, the bacteriophage attaches to the surface of the much larger bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli). Once attached, the bacterophage injects DNA into bacterium. The DNA instructs the bacterium to produce masses of new viruses and so many are produced that the E. coli bursts. Because of the similarities between bacteriophage and animal cell viruses, bacteriophage (P22) is viewed as a model system, Roy said. Dr.Roy is the only son of Mr. Hemendra Kumar Roy and Mrs. Tarudevi Roy residing at Shantipur (Guwahati) in the state of Assam, India. His wife Dr. Monalisa Majumdar is a Research Engineer at L. G. IRIS in USA and co-incidentally the protein structure illustrated by Mrs Majumdar takes place on the cover page of the journal “STRUCURE”..
The team used a bottom up approach where they identified and determined the structure of a small protein crystallography, which is responsible for identifying its own DNA from the pool of bacterial DNA. This work is very significant from the point of understanding the biology of virus and deigning drugs against it.
18 Jan 2010 - 10:43pm | Ranjan K Baruah
Believe group under the social projects of Darwin School of Business (DSB) is organising an awareness programme related to HIV/ AIDS at its campus on 19th January. The programme will start from 10 am...
8 Jul 2018 - 11:03am | Nava Thakuria
Guwahati: Most of the city based scribes need thorough eye check-ups as they constantly use digital screen for hours in a day. In a day long eye screening camp, organized EYE DOCTORS, a city based...
25 Feb 2015 - 12:05pm | AT News
The death of eminent educationist, social scientist, renowned geographer and author Mohammad Taher has been widely condoled across the state. Professor Taher breathed his last in a private hospital...
21 Aug 2014 - 10:24pm | Hantigiri Narzary
An workshop on media peace intervention training programme on the topic of media as an effective tool for paece building in conflict situation with reference to Kokrajhar in Assam is being organised...
In a scathing condemnation, a coalition of animal protection organizations in India has slammed the recently enacted Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024, as riddled with loopholes that endanger captive elephants.
The joint statement, signed by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, the Centre for Research on Animal Rights (CRAR), Heritage Animal Task Force, Kaziranga Wildlife Society, and the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), urges the Ministry of Forests, Environment, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to strengthen the rules immediately.
These organizations, dedicated to safeguarding elephants in captivity, meticulously reviewed...
The recent tremor that rattled Tibet is to be blamed for the change of colour of the river Brahmaputra water if the Chinese experts are to be believed. Writes Chandan Kumar Duarah. The change of colour in the waters of the Brahmaputra runs in to a hail speculations in Assam which have reached New Delhi to be in touch with Beijing. Many theories seem to have surfaced beneath the entire scheme of things. But there is no conclusion. The recent tremor in Tibet, may be the prime cause of muddy water flowing through the Brahmaputra. Yang Yong, a geologist and Yarlung Zangbo (known as in China) expert revealed that muddy water might highly be caused by the recent...
Wetlands in Assam have been carrying out a great role minimising intensity of flood in Brahmaputra valley. Better conservation of wetlands in the state may be the most effective way to control flood and erosion problems. Because wetlands store a large amount of excess water during flood. Most of wetlands in the state have become shallow due to turbidity, silt and sediment deposition. As they are becoming shallow the capacity of flood water storage also decreasing. So if these wetlands can be dredged and make deeper these will have more capacity to store more amount of flood water. According to Dr. B P Duarah, a Geologist and professor and Department of Geology, Gauhati University, said...
Dengaon is a beautiful area consists green hills, plains and rivers in Brahmaputr a valley. More than 50 villages and most of its inhabitants are belong to Karbi tribe. This area in border of Nagoan and Karbi Anglong districts in Assam are highly and dangerously fluoride-affected in Brahmaputra valley. The presence of excess amount of fluoride was tested in the water from rivers, ponds, wells, tube-well and deep-wells. Villagers have been suffering from fluoride for centuries which was detected in last decade. There are no drinking water supply facilities in remote villages which are not easily accessible. Symptoms of excess fluoride induced disorders are prevalent some states of the...
While high transmission wires offer a resting place to thousands of the Amur falcons, pausing briefly in Northeast India on their journey to southern Africa, the wires have brought doom for one of the endangered avian species, the Blacked-necked crane in Northeast India. The cranes collide with the metal grid wire line as they land and take off within the Valley. The species is classified as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List because it has a single small population that is in decline owing to the loss and degradation of wetlands, and changing agricultural practices in both its breeding and wintering grounds.
The small population of the Black-necked Crane or the Tibetan Crane, now...
Dredging the Brahmaputra is not a sole solution to minimie the flood and erosion problem of Assam. Scientists and experts say that the sole plan to dredge the riverbed will not help to solve the problem. A K Mitra, the former Secretary of Water Resource Department of government of Assam, says that dredging Brahmaputra is just an idea proposed about. It is still in theoritical state which would be difficult to implement without a total plan. Flood in Assam needs multi measures to minimise it, Mitra said. China had success story of dredging Huawang Ho on account of its multi-measures, he recalled with his field experience in China. In Assam it cann't be succeess unlesss and until some...
People of Pasighat region in Arunachal Pradesh resists big dam building in Siang river, the upstream of the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Zangbo) in India. People of Siang districts in Arunachal Pradesh have been agitating against more dam building on Siang river, the main water flow of Brahmaputra (Yarlung Zangbo) from Tibet, China. In a recent meeting on 'Policy Dialogue for Governance of the Brahmaputra River' held in Itanagar, the capital city of Arunachal Pradesh the anti-dam leaders cleared their position while state government officials and some experts had emphasised dam building on Siang (Brahmaputara). But, the anti-dam movement leaders have not changed their stand. Both Union and state...
After the Pink-headed Duck and the King Vulture, the magnifient White-bellied Heron (WBH) in Assam is all set to go the Dodo way. The absence or disappearance of the White bellied Heron is a matter of grave concern for conservationists. The bird is on the edge of extinction or may have gone extinct in Assam since sighting of the bird becomes very rare. Ornithologists say, there may be a few White bellied herons left in Manas National Park along the Bhutan border, but not sure whether they are resident or flew in from the Bhutan side. A few years back, photograph of this rare bird with a noose around its neck in a village in lower Assam sent shock waves among bird lovers of the state. There...
Elephants on the Line (EOL), a programme to reduce man-animal conflict along Indo-Bhutan in Assam, is showing results. Casualities on both sides came down to 90 percent with measures by EOL with the help of community, local administration, forest department, All Bodo Stuedents Union, Adivasi Students Union, local NGOs and various tea gardens in Udalguri district, said Jayanta Kumar Das, coordinator of the programme. Udalguri district reports the highest HEC- related human and elephant death rates for the Bhutan-Indian transboundary elephant population, as well as the highest recent HEC death rates in Assam and India as a whole. Media and local forest department reported death of 13...
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