News on Science, Technology and Research in India
Photodynamic therapy is an emerging treatment method considered safer than conventional techniques. It involves use of chemical substances called photosensitisers that can be activated by light to target and kill cancer cells.
The researchers have also shown that this type of gene editing can be used to correct sickle cell anemia, a genetic blood disorder. The experiments have been done in human-derived cells from patients of sickle cell anemia, according to findings of the study published in leading scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
In the last five years, the Mars Orbiter Mission or MOM, India’s first interplanetary endeavour, helped India’s space agency prepare a Martian Atlas based on the images provided by the orbiter, Mr Sivan told news agency Press Trust of India.
Researchers at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun have come up with a way to monitor soil erosion and decrease in carbon content in soil by correlating it with levels of radioactive cesium in soil.
“The process of selecting astronauts is going on. They will be going to Russia for training in about a month… We are planning to select 12 astronauts and they will go to Russia. The Russians will select four from this and then the selected four astronauts will undergo rigorous training for 15 months,” Sivan told mediapersons on sidelines of the 4th ISSE National Conference 2019 organised on SAC campus.
p53 is one of the most well studied proteins in cancer biology. Like all proteins, its levels and activity are tightly controlled and they go through cycles of birth-existence-death: the protein is synthesised, it does its function and then it is degraded. When required, the protein is re-synthesised and the cycle keeps repeating.
Scientists at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR) here have identified a gene that is involved in regulating the size of rice grain.
The startup dubbed PS-1925 with its farm specific drone has earned its creators– Pawan Kumar and Shefali Vinod Ramteke– a cash prize of USD10,000 (over ₹7.11 lakh) to take forward their dreams and improve the technology of UAVs.
The other research products that have emerged from the institute’s collaboration with people from various industries include a bulletproof jacket 22 per cent lighter than existing ones; a waterless shampoo, and a waterless body wash that would not require the use of water and could prove useful for astronauts and soldiers.
The new centre would address several critical R&D challenges towards the development of clean coal technologies in tandem with developing supercritical power plant technologies, both at the materials and system level.
