Research

News on Science, Technology and Research in India

AstroSat’s Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope Spots Rare Ultraviolet-Bright Stars

Astronomers exploring the massive intriguing globular cluster in our Galaxy called NGC 2808 that is said to have at least five generations of stars have spotted rare hot UV-bright stars in it. These stars whose inner core is almost exposed, making them very hot, exist in the late stages of evolution of a Sun-like star. It is not clear how these stars end their lives as not many of them are detected in these fast-evolving phases, making their study crucial.

DST INSPIRE Faculty from Chennai Working on Alternative Anti-Cancer Therapy Using Zebrafish

The transgenic zebrafish model has been selected for the intussusceptive angiogenesis study because of its rapid development, optically transparent, high yield in offspring, and easy techniques for forward and reverse gene manipulation. The CRISPR/Cas9 edited zebrafish platform will also be used for studying the efficacy of a drug as anti or pro-angiogenesis in the next phase of the project.

IIT-Indore Scientists Uncover A New Approach to Inhibit Zika Virus Replication-

A recent study by a team of scientists from IIT Indore promises to help address the problem. They have identified specific secondary structures called G-quadruplexes (GQ) in the RNA of the virus that could act as drug binding sites. These structures made of nucleic acids have proven to be effective drug-targeting sites for anti-cancer treatment and is recently being explored for other diseases as well.