Biospark Magazine (Pandemic Edition)

Deshbandhu College
University of Delhi

Editor's Note

Students and faculty members have contributed in varying capacities,
in order to make this magazine a reality. The editorial team would

like to thank each and every one of the contributors for their
enthusiasm towards this edition of the departmental magazine. We

hope you will enjoy reading this 'pandemic edition' of Biospark
magazine as much as we enjoyed compiling it.

Editorial Team and Credits

Article Collection and Proofreading

Kanishk Singh
Amritaparna Maity

Pooja Kumari
Eshaan Agarwal
Nonish Sharma

Bhupesh
Dr. Prabha Arya
Dr. Vineeta Kashyap

Layout, Designing and Compilation

Amritaparna Maity
Aayush Goel

Dr. Astha Giri

Cover page illustration

Cartoon made by Abhishek
and Muskan Goyal, IIIrd Year, as part of Biospark '21 Competition

We are grateful to
Mrs. Nirmal Sud

&
Mr. Gian Parkash Sud
for their endearing support

towards the
BIOSPARK MAGAZINE



1. Message from the Principal
2. Message from the Teacher-in-Charge
3. Message from the Guest of Honour
4. Section 1: Evolving Science ..Scientific articles
5. Section 2: Pinnacle.. Student and Faculty Achievements
6. Section 3: Reverie..Non-Scientific articles
7. Section 4: Reminiscence..Departmental Activities
8. Section 5:Pièce de résistance...Creative corner
9. Meet the Editorial Board

“It's a wonderful thing to be optimistic. It keeps
you healthy and it keeps you resilient.
-Daniel Kahneman

Message from the Prinicpal

I am very pleased to note that the Department of Biochemistry, Deshbandhu
College is bringing out the annual Magazine “BIOSPARK’21”.
The annual magazine Biospark showcases the literary and artistic talent,
achievements and success of the students and staff in the academic year
preceding the year of publication. This edition of Biospark, is the 'Pandemic
Edition' and is very special since it brings together the memories, activities and
events organised during these unprecedented times. These times have been a
scientific challenge for the biological community and the articles in this edition
very well portray the same.
Hope the readers will appreciate the devotion and dedication of the teachers in
bringing out the best from every student and instilling in them a sense of
confidence to express themselves in an endeavour to achieve their dreams.
I congratulate Dr. Preeti Karwal, Convenor, Biospark’21, editorial team and
students who have sweated it out day and night to get the Magazine compiled
into its final shape. I take this opportunity to compliment faculty members and
student community and wish them good health and greater success in years
ahead.
Prof. Rajiv Aggarwal
Principal, Deshbandhu College

Message from the Teacher-in-Charge

It gives me immense pleasure to present the annual magazine of the Department of Biochemistry, Biospark’21 e-
Magazine. This student magazine is not just a collection of scientific articles but a document that gives a window
into the enthusiasm and excitement of the departmental faculty and students for the science and the discipline of
Biochemistry in particular. It gives an opportunity to the students to showcase their scientific writing and
communication skills, literary talents as well as experiments with their creativity.
Biospark’21 is a very special magazine as it has been prepared as well as getting released in very unprecedented
pandemic times on a virtual platform. The pandemic edition of e-Biospark also gives a glimpse of the
department’s regular engagement in scientific activities organized in the period from January 2020-March 2021
that served their purpose despite social cut-off. The magazine content consists of several sections including
scientific articles and opinions, a brief description of events, academic and extracurricular achievements and a
creativity corner for non-scientific compositions and artwork, contributed by students and faculty members alike. I
am sure that the plethora of topics covered in articles, creative expressions and overall outlook of the magazine
will be appreciated by the academic community from all streams.
It is a matter of pride for our department to have one of our brightest alumni, Dr Harshul Arora Veraszto,
Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Geneva grace this occasion and give an interesting talk on ‘Protein
Structure and Function: Pentafunctional AROM Complex.’ We are eagerly looking forward to interacting with
her virtually after a decade.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to our head of the institution, Dr. Rajiv
Aggarwal, whose inspiring leadership and wholehearted support endow us with positive energy to perform our
best. I extend my sincere thanks to a highly committed editorial team behind Biospark’21 e-magazine comprising
of faculty members, Dr. Vineeta Kashyap and Dr. Prabha Arya and students like Amritaparna, Ayush, Nonish,
Eshaan and many more. A word of appreciation for Dr. Astha Giri, who beautifully conceptualised and brought
life to this e-magazine. It would be unfair on my part if I do not acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Vanshika
Lumb in the collation of all information of departmental events and its updation on the departmental website and
Dr. Prabha Arya for helping organise this international webinar. No departmental event is complete without the
gracious participation and guidance of the senior faculty members of the department, Dr. Kamana Singh and Dr.
Rajni Jain and our precious retired faculty member, Dr. Mira Kushal, who still continues to fuel the spark behind
our ‘Biospark’.
Last but not the least, I wholeheartedly thank and wish all my students very good health and a bright future.
Dr. Preeti Karwal
Convenor, Biospark’21
Teacher-in-charge
Department of Biochemistry

Message from the Guest of Honour

It is a great privilege to be invited by the Department of Biochemistry, Deshbandhu college, my
Alma mater for a talk. My heartfelt gratitude goes to this department for laying down the
foundation of my scientific career. I still remember the first day, which introduced me to the basics of
Biochemistry. Much like how it was for all of you here, albeit a couple of years earlier.

Dear friends, if you started studying Biochemistry because you are fascinated by the chemical
reactions inside living cells like me or because you could not get into MBBS, I have a word for you
as well. Modern Biochemistry and Structural Biology are the cutting edge fields, which have saved
thousands in the past years including the pandemic.

Understanding the structure and function of the SPIKE protein better was essential in each and
every vaccine design. Therefore, all of you are very lucky! because when you graduate, you will
understand how such molecular machines create such intricate chemical reactions.

This “BIOSPARK’21 e-magazine” is a great initiative to keep spirit of science despite pandemic
and popularize the department’s achievements. I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to
all the teachers and students for the magazine. I wish all of you great success in this endeavor and all
the best to the “future biochemists“ coming from the department.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to present again in my old department, and for the walk
down the memory lane!

Dr. Harshul Arora Veraszto,
Postdoctoral Research Fellow,
Structural Plant Biology Laboratory
Department for Botany and Plant Biology,
University of Geneva, Switzerland

Draft

1

Mitigation of COVID-19 infection Low dose radiation therapy (LDRT) below 2Gy
using polypharmacological adjuvant activates both innate (NK cells, macrophages,
2-deoxy-D-glucose along with low and dendritic cells) and adaptive (CD4 and CD8)
dose radiation therapy components of anti-tumour immunity including
the reduction in immunosuppressive T-
Dr. Vineeta Kashyap, Assistant Professor, regulatory cells and the release of cytokines (IL-
Department of Biochemistry 12, TGF-β, TNF-α, IL-10, IFN-ϒ, etc.) which
contributes to pro-inflammatory and anti-tumour
COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by immune responses. Pro-inflammatory immune
the virus known as severe acute respiratory responses induced by LDRT are implicated in
syndrome coronavirus 2. It was declared a antitumor effects, while anti-inflammatory
pandemic disease by the World Health immune responses are associated with the anti-
Organization in 2019, since it caused more than bacterial/viral effects. Since LDRT can reduce
million fatalities globally. The Covid-19 the cytokine storm due to its ability to induce
Patients with severe infection are characterized anti-inflammatory responses, and also increase
with acute inflammation in lungs, greater loss of the immune responses due to its pro-
lung perfusion, severe hypoxic vasoconstriction, inflammatory effects LDRT of the SARS-CoV-
and hypoxemia mediated by robust secretion of 2 infected lungs has been suggested as a
cytokines (‘cytokine storm’) and chemokines by promising therapeutic regimen for COVID-19
immune cells (particularly macrophages and pneumonia. However, time of LDRT appears to
Th1 cells). The primary organ targeted by be crucial as it may affect the moderate vs.
SARS-CoV-2 is the lungs with varying degrees severe disease conditions.
of localization in other organs like heart,
kidneys, and gastrointestinal tract, having high Metabolic reprogramming and enhanced
levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme II glucose usage by aerobic glycolysis is an
(ACE2) receptor. Progression and severity of important hallmark of cancer cells referred to as
covid-19 has been linked to disturbed immune the Warburg effect. Targeting of the glycolytic
response as evidenced by decrease in the pathway by 2-deoxy-D-glucose (DG) has been
number of CD4+ and CD8+ and NK cells and well established for its radio- and chemo-
cytokine storm coupled to fall in IFNϒ secretion sensitizing effects in vitro and in vivo, including
by these cells in these patients. Though several its cancer-preventive potential when
antiviral agents like Remedesivir, Lopinavir, administered as a dietary component. The
Hydroxychloroquine and DNA, RNA and multiple mechanisms underlying this
recombinant based vaccines targeted against sensitization by 2-DG have been elucidated,
viral Spike protein have been used for the which include depletion of energy, disturbed
treatment of COVID-19 but they have redox balance and altered N-linked
certain limitations and work is still going on to glycosylation leading to the unfolded protein
develop a standard human coronavirus vaccine. response (UPR), inhibition of DNA repair,
Since innate immunity is insufficient to develop impaired cell cycle regulation, altered calcium
a robust immune response against the virus, influx, and apoptosis.
polypharmacological agents that could not only
inhibit viral reproduction but also modulate the It is pertinent to note that the radio sensitization
host immune responses to viral infection are of tumours in mice by 2-DG is partly attributed
urgently needed. to the immune stimulatory effects by a
combination of 2-DG and radiation involving
2-deoxy-D-glucose (DG) the restoration of CD4+ and CD8+ ratio, shift
from Th2 to Th1, reduced IL-17 (Th17),
improved antigen presentation (MHC II and
CD80/86), enhanced NK cells, macrophage
repolarization as well as functional stimulation
(phagocytic activity) and decrease in immune
suppressive network. Besides immune
stimulation, 2-DG with radiation generates anti-
inflammatory responses and mitigates bacterial
infection. These studies have also shown that 2-

1

2

DG alone could enhance antigen presenting important biological molecules serving as
ability (MHC II and CD86) and functionality of cofactors in various enzymatic reactions
macrophages (phagocytosis) and reduce TNFα essential for cellular metabolism, mitochondrial
while enhancing IFN--γ. Thus in the present functions, protection against oxidative stress,
scenario, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) could be signal transduction, and cell death. Various
used as an adjuvant for enhancing the methods are used to assay NAD(P)H. Both
therapeutic efficacy of LDRT against COVID- NADH and NADPH can absorb light at 340 nm
19 as it is able to inhibit glycolysis, modulate and have intrinsic fluorescence. Therefore, the
cytokine storm and alter the glycosylation of activity of enzymes producing or consuming
viral proteins. NAD(P)H (dehydrogenases and oxidoreductases)
is commonly determined by measuring the
References: absorbance of NAD(P)H at 340 nm, or
monitoring fluorescence. Though the detection
1. Verma A, Adhikary A, Woloschak G, Dwarakanath BS, of NAD(P)H absorption or fluorescence is
and Papineni RV. 2020. International Journal of Radiation useful for characterizing enzymes, occasionally,
Biology, Vol. 96, No. 11, 1323–1328 the method is not sufficiently sensitive and/or
2. Dwarakanath B, Jain V. 2009. Future Oncol. 5(5): 581– specific for measuring low concentrations of
585. NAD(P)H. While electrochemical methods for
3. Dwarakanath BS, Singh D, Banerji AK, Sarin R, detecting NAD(P)H, such as modified graphene
Venkataramana NK, Jalali R, Vishwanath PN, Mohanti BK, and glassy carbon electrodes, are very attractive,
Tripathi RP, Kalia VK, et al. 2009. J Cancer Res Ther. their application in dehydrogenase activity assay
5(Suppl 1): S21–S26. remains limited. Electrochemical methods are
4. Dwarakanath BS. 2009. J Can Res Ther. 5(9):27– 31. expensive and require experienced laboratory
technicians. In addition, particular substances
Application of WST-8 based could be absorbed on the electrode surface and
colorimetric NAD(P)H detection for interfere with the assay. Direct detection by
quantitative dehydrogenase assays oxidation of NADH usually results in a high
potential at the platinum or carbon bare
Dr. Kamana Singh, Associate Professor, electrode. The oxidized form (NAD+) shows
Department of Biochemistry strong absorption on the electrode, causing
fouling, and leading to reduced sensitivity,
Abstract- reproducibility, and stability. Moreover, redox
The reduction of tetrazolium salts by NAD(P)H active species, such as ascorbic acid, uric acid,
to the formazan product has been widely used to and glucose, reportedly interfere with the
determine the metabolic activity of cells, and as detection of NADH. The bioluminescent assay
an indicator of cell viability. However, the is very sensitive for NAD(P)H detection but is
application of a WST-8 based assay for the quite expensive.
quantitative measurement of dehydrogenase
enzyme activity has not been described before. A colorimetric method using tetrazolium salts
In this study, we reported the application of an for the measurement of NAD(P)H concentration
assay based on the tetrazolium salt WST-8 for has been reported. Although tetrazolium salts
the quantitative measurement of dehydrogenase have been used widely in biological and clinical
activity. The assay is performed in a microplate studies, their application is limited by the low
format, where a single endpoint is measured at solubility of the formazan product. Recently,
450 nm. several water-soluble tetrazolium salts (WST),
which include WST-1, WST-3, WST-4, WST-5,
Background- WST-8 [2-(2-methoxy-4-nitrophenyl)-3-(4-
nitrophenyl)-5-(2,4-disulfophenyl)-2H-
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide tetrazolium, monosodium salt], and WST-9,
have been synthesized. In the presence of an
(NAD+/NADH) and nicotinamide adenine electron mediator, such as 1-methoxy-5-
methylphenazium methylsulfate (1-mPMS),
dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+/NADPH) are WST is readily reduced by NAD(P)H to
produce a formazan product, which can be
determined by monitoring absorbance in the

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3

range 430–550 nm. The absorbance of formazan Conclusion:
is proportional to the NAD(P)H concentration, The results suggest that the WST-8 assay is a
so that the WST-based colorimetric assay shows sensitive and rapid method for determining
NAD(P)H concentration and dehydrogenase
potential for various qualitative and quantitative enzyme activity, which can be further applied
applications. for the high-throughput screening of
dehydrogenases.
WST-8 is commercially available in the form
WST-8/1-mPMS (Dojindo). It is among one of References:
the most popular tetrazolium salts used as the 1.Ying W. NAD+/NADH and NADP+/NADPH in cellular
NAD(P)H detection method in cell proliferation functions and cell death: regulation and biological
and enzymatic assays. WST-8 is reduced by consequences.
NAD(P)H to produce the formazan product, a 2.Belenky P, Bogan KL, Brenner C. NAD+ metabolism in
strong orange dye with maximum absorption at health and disease. Trends Biochem Sci.
450 nm (Scheme 1). The WST-8 method 3.Crowley TE, Kyte J. Introduction to enzymes catalyzing
exhibits greater sensitivity and efficiency for oxidation-reductions with the coenzyme NAD(P). In:
measuring bacterial viability and antimicrobial Crowley TE, Kyte J, editors.
susceptibility compared with the standard broth 4. Batchelor RH, Zhou M. A resorufin-based fluorescent
microdilution method. Moreover, the WST-8 assay for quantifying NADH.
assay is more sensitive than WST-1, especially 5.Teng H, Lv M, Liu L, Zhang X, Zhao Y, Wu Z, et al.
at neutral pH. Therefore, the WST-8 Quantitative detection of NADH using a novel enzyme-
colorimetric method is useful for the rapid assisted method based on surface-enhanced Raman
determination of NAD(P)H and could be a scattering. Sensors (Basel).
valuable tool for screening cell viability and 6. Palo D, Maltas J, Risal L, Urayama P. Sensing NADH
cytotoxicity. WST-8 was used in the qualitative conformation using phasor analysis on fluorescence spectra.
measurement of glucose-6-phosphate Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol.
dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity. Screening for 7.Smith LD, Budgen N, Bungard SJ, Danson MJ, Hough
G6PD deficiency using the WST-8 method was DW. Purification and characterization of glucose
shown to be sensitive and highly specific dehydrogenase from the thermoacidophilic
compared with the commercial rapid diagnostic archaebacterium Thermoplasma acidophilum. The
test. While WST-8 is commonly used in Biochemical journal.
qualitative studies, there have been very few 8. Zhang W, Chen S, Liao Y, Wang D, Ding J, Wang Y, et
reports of its application in quantitative assays. al. Expression, purification, and characterization of
formaldehyde dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas
Results: aeruginosa. Protein Expr Purif.

The optimized dehydrogenase-WST-8 assay Synchrony in Biology: Pros and
Cons
conditions, the limit of detection (LOD),
Dr. Preeti Karwal, Associate Professor,
accuracy, and precision for measuring Department of Biochemistry

NAD(P)H, were demonstrated. The sensitivity By definition, term ‘Synchronization’ refers
to the precise coordination of multiple events. In
of the WST-8 assays for detecting NAD(P)H general terms, it is as simple as audience
clapping for a performance. Synchronization in
was 5-fold greater than the spectrophotometric physical systems relates to periodicity e.g.,
pendulums, turbines etc., while in physiological
measurement of NAD(P)H absorption at 340 nm systems, the contraction of heart muscles, nerve
impulses, patterns of locomotion, peristaltic
(LOD of 0.3 nmole vs 1.7 nmole, respectively). waves in intestines and circadian rhythms are
the prototype for synchronous events. Talking of
In the dehydrogenase assay, the colorimetric cellular system in particular, the cells in the
same physiological phase of growth form a
WST-8 method exhibits excellent assay synchronous culture. In prokaryotes, no matter

reproducibility with a Z’ factor of 0.9. The

WST-8 assay was also used to determine

dehydrogenase activity in biological samples,

and for screening the substrate of

uncharacterized short-chain

dehydrogenase/oxidoreductase from

Burkholderia pseudomallei.

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4

how achieved, synchrony can last for many missed out. This represents a major challenge in
generations in controlled in vitro growth developing accurate disease models, drug
conditions. For diverse research problems, discovery, diagnostics and prognostics.
experiments using cellular model systems, in
practice, are always done in synchronous I would like to give a very simple example of
cultures, whether microbial or mammalian cells. how complex heterogeneity in a local cell
In both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems, population drastically influences the outcome of
synchrony is physically or chemically achieved an infectious disease. It is particularly evident in
using two ways, namely, induction synchrony bacterial pathogens that are capable of
and selection synchrony. Induction synchrony inhabiting intracellular niches in animals. It has
makes use of inducing cells by some treatment long been established in animal models of
to divide synchronously, while, selection infection that the cells infected with intracellular
synchrony uses a fraction of cells of a growing bacterial pathogens release signals that instruct
culture at a particular phase of the growth cycle. the neighboring cells to mount a pro-
This fraction of cells is then grown separately as inflammatory cytokine response thereby
a continuous culture. Induction synchrony using reducing the susceptibility of bystander cells to
whole cell culture methods completely infection. A recent study by Aguilar, C et al
dominates eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell cycle proposed an opposite shift in the current
analysis. Generation of synchronous cultures, paradigm by demonstrating that epithelial cells
till date is the gold standard and considered to infected with secrete host factors that facilitate
be an essential starting point for the successful and positively contribute to the progression of
sample preparation for RNA, proteins and infection of bystander cells. In my opinion,
metabolites for use in transcriptomic, omics approaches using synchronized cultures
proteomic and metabolomic studies respectively would have never been able to unleash such
important aspects of host pathogen interaction
While a significant proportion of science today and adaptation of host immune responses in
aims at probing large scale omics datasets to response to infection.
find patterns and answers to the most complex
research problems, I critically analyse here the I hereby propose that single cell studies and
Pros and Cons of executing all experiments and experiments with model systems that can
deriving principles based on results of decipher an unsynchronized heterogeneity in
synchronised cell cultures in laboratory their rarest form will be driving the future of
conditions, when natural system all around has biology research and challenge many
more entropy than synchrony. Synchrony based established dogmas.
cell biology serves to provide an average and
comprehensive picture of cell population References:
characteristics, but relinquishes the contribution 1. Aguilar, C., Costa, S., Maudet, C. et
of singularity, heterogeneity, mosaicism and al. Reprogramming of microRNA expression via
diversity of the biological system. Also, not all E2F1 downregulation promotes Salmonella infection
organism cell cultures can be synchronized. In both in infected and bystander cells. Nat
fact, no whole-culture ‘synchronization’ method Commun 12, 3392 (2021)
has been shown to produce a ‘truly’
synchronized population of cells. Rather, an An empty pill a day makes all
enormous amount of time and energy is wasted problems go away.
using the methods that can never truly
synchronize the cells. Dr. Rajni Jain, Associate Professor, Department
of Biochemistry
It is noteworthy that cell-to-cell variation is a
natural property of both healthy as well as Rodents eat their entire food for the day in a
diseased tissues across all eukaryotes. Results matter of a few hours and then fast for 20 hours.
obtained with whole cell cultures, even in Such ability to regulate their metabolism in
synchronized state may not fully represent each primitive beings is unique and captured interest
cell of that population. Some rare unique cells,
which may actually be the underlying cause of
pathological condition, may be completely

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in 1967. It was shown that these animals are hour fasting three times a week) reversed insulin
able to perform the art of metabolic switching. resistance in patients with prediabetes or type 2
Metabolic switching is the ability to switch from diabetes. Trials have shown markedly reduced
liver-derived glucose to adipose cells–derived level of inflammatory markers which help in
ketones. This process takes several days to week autoimmune disorders like asthma, arthritis,
in the beginning but with continued multiple sclerosis. Its ability to create neuronal
“intermittent fasting” it can happen daily. stress increases synapses and results in
In the usual fed state, glucose and fatty acids prevention of dementia and neuropsychological
are the main source of energy. ageing. Furthermore, cancer development can
Glucose is utilized to maintain the basal be altered or slowed down with removal of
metabolic rate and also for any activity requiring oxidative stress and free radicals with IF.
energy whereas fat is stored as triglycerides. Similarly, intermittent fasting is thought to
A reverse mechanism is triggered during fasting impair energy metabolism in cancer cells,
state, with triglycerides being broken down to inhibiting their growth and making them
fatty acids and glycerol, which are used for susceptible to clinical treatments.
energy. The liver converts fatty acids to ketone
bodies, which provide a major source of energy Potential limitation to this innovative self-
for many tissues, especially the brain, during inflicted stress state is the inability to continue it
fasting. This state of ketosis is the goal of for long term. Initial hunger related irritability
intermittent fasting. and restlessness really affects its long-term
In addition to training the body to depend on compliance. Currently, physicians are not
ketones and in the process use the fatty acids, equipped with enough literature to prescribe a
the fasting state also activates pathways that certain way of IF to maximize benefits.
enhance intrinsic defenses against oxidative and Furthermore, clinical studies have focused
metabolic stress. Fasting is seen as a mainly on overweight young and middle-age
challenging period for the body, where repeated adults, and we cannot generalize to other age
exposure to fasting periods results in lasting groups the benefits and safety of intermittent
adaptive responses that develop resistance to fasting that have been observed. Lastly, we are
subsequent challenges. During fasting, cells cultured to three full meals and one to two
engage in a coordinated adaptive stress response snacks in between. Changing our practice to fast
that leads to increased expression of antioxidant for such long hours is not only difficult but also
defenses, DNA repair, and down-regulation of requires perseverance to see its benefits.
inflammation. This makes way for the feeding As further research comes in this area, we are
period, when cells engage in tissue-specific hopeful that this mechanism can also be used to
growth. This increases the longevity of the cells make pharmacological advances. Because after
of the body. all, “A pill a day makes all problems go away.”
Goodrick and colleagues reported that the
average lifespan of rats is increased by up to References:
80% when they are maintained on a regimen of 1.Foster DW. Studies in the ketosis of fasting. J Clin Invest
alternate-day feeding. Multiple studies have 1967;46:1283-1296.
shown IF and its effects on prevention of ageing, 2.Mattson MP, Moehl K, Ghena N, Schmaedick M, Cheng
however, a long term mortality preventative A. Intermittent metabolic switching, neuroplasticity and
effect is yet to be elucidated. brain health. Nat Rev Neurosci 2018;19:63-80.
In humans, the three most widely studied 3.Mattison JA, Colman RJ, Beasley TM, et al. Caloric
intermittent-fasting regimens are alternate-day restriction improves health and survival of rhesus monkeys.
fasting, 5:2 intermittent fasting (fasting 2 days Nat Commun 2017;8:14063-14063.
each week), and daily time-restricted feeding. 4.Anton SD, Moehl K, Donahoo WT, et al. Flipping the
The initial period is the crucial time when we metabolic switch: understanding and applying the health
train our bodies to climb the road of ketosis. If benefits of fasting. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2018;26:254-
performed for a considerable period, multiple 268.
benefits have been noted. 5.Furmli S, Elmasry R, Ramos M, Fung J. Therapeutic use
A multicenter study showed that daily caloric of intermittent fasting for people with type 2 diabetes as an
restriction improves many cardiometabolic risk alternative to insulin. BMJ Case Rep 2018;2018:bcr-2017-
factors. Two recent studies showed that daily 221854. Sutton EF, Beyl R, Early KS, Cefalu WT,
caloric restriction or 4:3 intermittent fasting (24- Ravussin E, Peterson CM. Early time-restricted feeding
improves insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and oxidative

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6

stress even without weight loss in men with prediabetes. cells and macrophages. The immunity and
Cell Metab 2018;27(6):1212-1221.e3. immune responses have an important role to
6.Furmli S, Elmasry R, Ramos M, Fung J. Therapeutic use play in organ transplantation but more recently,
of intermittent fasting for people with type 2 diabetes as an it has come to limelight because of the fact that
alternative to insulin. BMJ Case Rep 2018;2018:bcr-2017- due to presence of these anti-HLA antibodies
221854. Sutton EF, Beyl R, Early KS, Cefalu WT, women are excluded from plasma donation.
Ravussin E, Peterson CM. Early time-restricted feeding
improves insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and oxidative We have known about blood group typing for a
stress even without weight loss in men with prediabetes. long time which is a simple procedure and can
Cell Metab 2018;27(6):1212-1221.e3. be done in minutes. What is needed is a kit
7.Mattson MP, Arumugam TV. Hallmarks of brain aging: containing possible antibody solutions and then
adaptive and pathological modification by metabolic states. one needs to add antibody to the antigen sample
Cell Metab 2018;27:1176-1199. that is blood. By coagulation method one can
8.Klement RJ, Champ CE. Calories, carbohydrates, and determine the type of blood along with the
cancer therapy with radiation: exploiting the five R’s presence of Rh factor.
through dietary manipulation. Cancer Metastasis Rev
2014;33:217-229. We have many types of HLA antigen on our
blood leukocytes. Doing HLA typing analysis is
Challenges of COVID-19 pandemic a little complicated. It includes taking the cell
in Human health samples from donor and receiver and mixing
them together and seeing after a few days of
Dr. Prabha Arya, Assistant Professor, culture whether the T-cells specific to antigen
Department of Biochemistry are growing or not. And care is taken that
growth of the donor cell is prevented to pave
Current pandemic situation has given rise to a way for the growth of only the receiver specific
boom in the field of immunology. Few terms cells. Invention of polymerase chain reaction
have become very common in general parlance took over the HLA typing in time because of
like antibodies, vaccines, PCR and many more. that molecular typing was started with the help
Antibodies are one of the player molecules of of PCR
immunology, which are generated during an
immune response and stay there in the body to After the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic,
remember the fight in future and thus can easily there has been frantic research in the area as
combat the pathogen. The antibodies have also infection has given rise to various other health
been used in diagnostics. The constant and related issues. There are few aspects related to
variable regions in antibodies help them in COVID-19, which are discussed here.
identification of the antigen. Hence the
antibody-based test results are more reliable COVID-19 in patients who have undergone
than the other reagent-based analysis. Transplantation: During organ transplantation,
the immunity of the patient is suppressed so that
Furthermore, antibodies are routinely used for the graft is not rejected by the body. But in
the analysis of HIV-AIDS, Pregnancy tests and doing so, there are chances that the person will
other serological tests. Due to their speed testing get the infection from other opportunistic agents.
and wider applicability, recently during Hence patients who have undergone
COVID-19 situation, the antibodies-based tests transplantation are advised to take precaution to
have become popular, for example rapid antigen avoid infection. In this pandemic time, graft
testing kits involving coated antibodies. PCR rejection involves different types of intermediate
and vaccines also helped in diagnostics and molecules in immune response. Based on degree,
immunization respectively. responses are named as hyper-acute, acute and
chronic rejections. To avoid these rejections and
Anti- HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) reactions and subsequent threat to the host,
antibodies and HLA typing: Human tissue typing used to be done, which is very
Lymphocyte Antigens (HLA) are the antigens similar to the blood group typing. Tissue typing
that are expressed on the surface of those cells is little different than blood group typing.
which elicit an immune response like dendritic Herein various MHC antigens (one example is
HLA) are expressed on the surface of APC cells.
For tissue typing, HLA-specific monoclonal

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antibodies are used to phenotype the MHC coronavirus infection potentially could. For
antigens expressed on cells using example, donor anti-HLA antibodies are one of
immunofluorescence method. Non-compatible the causes of transfusion-related acute lung
grafts require large doses of immunosuppressive injury (TRALI), causing transfusion-related
drugs to avoid unintended immune response. mortality. Although donor anti-HLA-Antibodies
are usually formed by previous pregnancies,
There are mixed reports which say that there is a transfusions or transplantations, it can also be
relation while other reports say that there is no triggered by viral infections. Blood banks
relation between the COVID-19 infection currently use plasma from male donors as part
mortality and immunosuppression for organ of national TRALI mitigation strategies, while
transplantation. Although the development of never-pregnant female donors or previously
anti-HLA antibody is not seen in COVID-19 pregnant female donors but screened negative
patients even after follow up tests while IgG and for anti HLA-Antibodies can donate plasma.
IgM level was increased due to the infection
which suggest that there is no relation between Gender difference in COVID-19 infection:
immunosuppression for transplantation and Current mortality rate which is between 2-3 %
increased COVID-19 and mortality. involves various factors like age, sex and other
health conditions resulting in comorbidities. In
Role of immuno-suppressants like India there is gender-based difference in the
corticosteroid for COVID-19: During organ number of cases (65.7% male versus 34.4 %
transplantation, immunosuppressive drugs are females). Sex hormones which are long known
used which are mostly steroids like prednisone, to protect women from heart diseases also play a
prednisolone, and methylprednisolone. But very important role in their protection from
usage of steroids has become controversial for damage during infection. Also, women can
the treatment of COVID-19, since most of the easily get over it. This is easily interpreted from
time, the suppression of immune response has the multitude of female sex hormones.
ended up in a more disastrous situation. There Estrogen’s protective effect entails early
are some reports which inform that steroid at immune and secondary repair responses. It
low dose is useful and if given in combination induces cytokine production at physiological
with Cyclosporine which is a cytotoxic agent, level, while its high dose prevents cytokine
relieves the COVID-19 patients from deleterious production. In the presence of elevated levels of
effects. Since Cyclosporine is not only a estrogen, players of innate immunity like
calcineurin inhibitor but also neutrophils, monocytes and macrophages are
immunosuppressant. produced in high quantities. And these
feedbacks induce production of more estrogen,
Women who have ever been pregnant are which then inhibits the production of cytokine
prevented from plasma donation: Blood and will cause the suppression of the
donation has been a lifesaving practice since exponential phase of immune response.
decades. Both male and females can donate Progesterone has also been involved in
blood or plasma. Nevertheless, during immunomodulatory properties, by affecting
pregnancy, women develop anti-HLA antibodies inflammation and inducing tissue repair in
and there are chances that the person who is damaged tissues in lungs. Female sex hormones
taking the plasma from such women, gets the also modulate the renin angiotensin aldosterone
anti-HLA antibodies which can invoke an system (RAAS) which is required for
unpleasant immune response. Although it can be homeostasis of circulatory and respiratory
prevented by using HLA typing, this procedure system which is another way for the COVID-19
is tedious and time consuming, this is the reason damage to the tissues.
that women are excluded from donating to
prevent any deleterious effect on the receiver. Conclusively, there are many related issues
pertaining to immune response and immuno-
Unlike regular blood donors, convalescent suppressants on human health and only
plasma donors are those who have recently coordinated research in the area will enhance
recovered from a potentially serious viral our understanding about these parameters
infection. Although COVID-19 infection has not affecting human wellbeing.
been reported through plasma transfusion, other
plasma-borne factors related to recent

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References: ‘research proposal’, ‘a scientific article’. Then
the mind goes blank for some time and all one
1. Coico, R and Sunshine, G. (2009) Immunology: A Short can think of are fragments of information, which
Course (6th ed.), John Wiley& sons, Inc (New Jersey), he/she might have come across on social media
ISBN: 978-0-470-08158-7. or any other easy-information platform. This
2. Gandolfini I et al. Anti-HLA and anti-SARS-CoV-2 information is verified on the plethora of
antibodies in kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19. information on the world wide web or internet
Transpl Int. 2021 Mar;34(3):596-599. doi: and then again, the dance of copy and paste. But
10.1111/tri.13829. Epub 2021 Feb 26. PMID: 33481306; seldom does a student ask, who posted that
PMCID: PMC8013187. information? Was it a legitimate source? Was
3. Gálvez-Romero JL et.al.Cyclosporine A plus low-dose that the original work of the publisher and who
steroid treatment in COVID-19 improves clinical outcomes was the actual person behind that scientific
in patients with moderate to severe disease: A pilot study. J information? If and when these questions arise
Intern Med. 2021 Jun;289(6):906-920. doi: in a student’s mind, one can be hopeful that in
10.1111/joim.13223. Epub 2021 Feb 2. PMID: 33274479; them the spirit of scientific reading and writing
PMCID: PMC7753398. can be inculcated or revived.
4. Juskewitch, J. E. et. al. (2021). Elevated Rate of HLA Scientific writing has always been about
Antibodies in Male COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma communicating facts, figures and findings in a
Donors: A Risk Factor for Transfusion-Related Acute legible and understandable manner while
Lung Injury. Mayo Clinic proceedings, 96(2), 500– maintaining the accuracy of technical
502.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.11.007 procedures. It is a manner of presentation of
5. Lipsa, A., & Prabhu, J. S. (2021). Gender disparity in biological research which helps the scientific
COVID-19: Role of sex steroid hormones. Asian Pacific facts travel from one laboratory to the entire
journal of tropical medicine, 14(1), 5–9. world. At an undergraduate level, it would be to
https://doi.org/10.4103/1995-7645.304293. compile and collate practical procedures, results
and project reports. While, a lot of effort is put
The Art of Writing Science in performing the research, many a times, a lot
less effort is put in to communicate it in an
Dr. Astha Giri, Assistant Professor, Department effective manner. Scientific writing is neglected
of Biochemistry and considered an arduous task probably due to
adherence to a strict format, grammatical rules
Today we carry the world in our pockets in the and complexity of results presentation.
form of mobile phones. Any news is a click Clear scientific writing generally follows a
away and any opinion is a tweet away. In this specific format with key sections: an
increasingly digitalized world, where letters introduction to a particular topic, hypotheses to
have been replaced by emails and WhatsApp be tested, a description of methods, major
messages, photographs replaced by Instagram results proving/disproving the hypotheses, and
stories and feeds, money replaced by Bitcoins, finally, a discussion that ties these results to our
are we surprised that we do not consider picking broader knowledge of the topic. This general
up a book to read and a pen to write? Are we format is inherent in most scientific writing and
losing out on, the art of writing? facilitates the transfer of information from
Today, I write this article, from a student’s author to reader if a few guidelines are
perspective, a student of 2020, who is trapped followed.
between the whirlwinds of the pandemic, who Briefly, ‘Introduction’ helps to set the tone of
has incessant exposure to social media and who the article. It should start from a broader
is sitting at home trying to cope up with online perspective and slowly narrow down towards
classes, online reading material and online the hypotheses. It helps the reader understand
exams. Where is the need of writing? the background of the research before diving
Everything can be copy-pasted and submitted! into the technical aspects of the research. The
The English articles, a, an, the are replaced by introduction should cover the ‘what’ and ‘why’
computerized commands of Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V and aspect of the research. What is the research
sometime Shift+Del. about and why was the topic chosen? The
But every now and then, this student, especially answer to the ‘why’ will help the readers
if pursuing biological sciences, is faced with the understand the reason for building the
challenge of writing a ‘statement of purpose’, a hypotheses. The ‘hypotheses or the scientific

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idea marks the end of the introduction section, insufficient reading and knowledge. When a
and should be stated without any ambiguity and student faces the task of writing a research
with a confidence that it is novel and relevant in proposal, the first question is “what to write?”
the current times. and not “how to write?”. The student can only
The ‘Methodology’ should be simple procedures find the answer to “what to write” if he/she
stated clearly, with accuracy of minute details reads scientific opinions, news, articles and
like instrument model etc. This section should definitely books, which help us understand what
be divided into sub-sections for the ease of is known and what is lacking. So, in the end, I
understanding and should follow the would like to urge to the students, to go back to
chronological order in which the experiments the pre-pandemic era of reading text from a
were performed. A similar section-sub section book, reading scientific articles from verified
format can be followed for ‘Results and sources and developing a habit of acquiring
Discussion’ to help orient the readers. The aim knowledge, which will help them go a long way.
of writing methodology is to demonstrate the All the best!
use scientifically valid methods and provide the
reader with enough information to recreate the Animal that does not breathe
experiment.
The next section is of ‘Results’, wherein all the Dr. Vanshika Lumb, Assistant Professor,
results corresponding to the methodology are Department of Biochemistry
described in text and/or through means of
graphs, tables and diagrams. It is important to The acquisition of the endosymbionts was the
give short summary about each data set (graph,
table etc), instead of presenting the entire result key event in the evolution of the eukaryotes.
of the research in one descriptive paragraph.
Many results require statistical validation, but Amongst the endosymbionts, Mitochondria and
the data should be translated into biological
terms or given a biological relevance and only related organelles are ubiquitous among
then statistical results should be used as
supplemental information. eukaryotes as the eukaryotes cannot survive
Since results lay the foundation of next section,
‘Discussion’, one should be absolutely clear without oxygen. Most mitochondrial proteins
about the major findings from the research. In
the discussion section, the results obtained are therefore nucleus encoded, and, via targeting
should be discussed in terms of already existing
studies in a manner that it builds a story around signals (either N-terminal or internal), are
the hypotheses and indicates towards proving it.
Towards the end, the ‘Conclusion’ should state imported into mitochondria post-translationally.
the take home message or what the researcher
has found from the research work along with its During the course of eukaryotic evolution, the
broader implications.
Finally, a section of ‘References’ to accredit the genome and proteome of the mitochondrial
work of all those which has been quoted in
writing the article is imperative to any scientific compartment have been significantly modified,
research article.
The ultimate aim of a scientific article is to and many functions have been gained, lost, or
allow a reader to understand the purpose and
procedure of the study. Whereas, the ultimate relocated. A number of eukaryotic microbes
goal of the scientific writer should be to make
the article as lucid and comprehensible as (protists) from low oxygen environments,
possible, while maintaining the precision of
facts and figures. including the parasitic microsporidia,

In my opinion and experience, apart from being diplomonads and parabasalids, lack typical
oblivious to the rules of scientific writing, a
major hindrance to effective writing is cristate mitochondria. These organisms possess

small double-membrane-bound organelles of

mitochondriate ancestry to which canonical

mitochondrial proteins are targeted. These

organelles were variously named

hydrogenosomes, mitosomes and

‘mitochondrion-like organelles, collectively

referred as ‘mitochondrion-related organelles’

(MROs), to indicate their evolutionary

relationship with mitochondria. Recently, it was

reported that a myxozoan parasite (Cnidaria) has

lost both its mt genome and aerobic metabolic

pathways, and has a novel type of anaerobic

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MRO. Myxozoans are a large group of of us dreads is going to be one of the easiest
enigmatic, parasitic, cnidarians with complex diseases to prevent.
life cycles that require two hosts, usually a fish Like many of the scientists, Rundqvist et al.
and an annelid. They have smaller genomes [22 were in the quest of how exercise is responsible
to 180 Mb] than free-living Cnidaria [>250 Mb. for tumour reduction? They selected mice as a
Henneguya salminicola (H. salminicola) has model for their research and later on examined
lost its mt genome, but has retained an organelle some humans as well. They tried to find
that resembles a mitochondrion. The presence of different changes in various types of immune
cristae together with the identification of cells by examining various parts like the skeletal
pseudogenes related the mitochondrial genome muscles, plasma of blood, and lymphoid tissues
suggests that the loss of mtDNA and aerobic after exertion. They investigated acute as well as
respiration may be a recent evolutionary event long-time exercise alterations to different cells
in the Henneguya lineage. The loss of the mt of the immune system. They also used the
genome and associated nuclear genes involved metabolite concentration after exertion like
in its replication and electron pathways may be Malate, lactate, TCA metabolites, etc. to see
advantageous for a myxozoan living in their effect on immune cells.
anaerobic environments. This study will also
open the way to new treatment options against Subsequently, after examining mice for a long
this (anaerobic) pathogen, since anaerobic time and using various statistical methods (like
protists are known to be sensitive to specific Prism 7 version 7.0, principal component
drugs. analysis (PCA), etc.), they found that a type of
Adapted Version immune cell i.e.; CD8+ T cells have a
significant role in reducing the tumour growth in
Reference: mice. The CD8+ T cells were present in an
1. A cnidarian parasite of salmon (Myxozoa: Henneguya) increased number as well as activated as murine
lacks a mitochondrial genome. Yahalomi D., Atkinson S.D., CD8+ T cells in trained mice.
Neuhof M., Chang E.S., Philippe H., Cartwright P., The above observations made them look for the
Bartholomew J.L., Huchon D. PNAS: 2020 Mar metabolites found after exertion in mice. Using
10;117(10):5358-5363. sodium L-lactate for daily administration
showed an effect in reducing tumour growth, an
Exercise enhances your immune antiCD8+ antibody injection was given to mice
system against tumour growth to see whether this process is mediated by CD8+
through CD8+ T cells T cell or it affects CD8+ T cells. After injecting
Sodium L-lactate into the mice injected with
Asif Shafi Lone,1st year, Department of antiCD8+ injection, it showed no effect on
Biochemistry tumour growth. This showed that the effect of
lactate was mediated by T-cells themselves.
Have you ever wondered that exercise can help However, the question arises how they will
you to fight the world’s deadliest disease? A relate the above information with the human?
new study has revealed the relationship between Rundqvist et al. tested with ‘Eight healthy, non-
the Tumour reducing immune cells and the smoking sedentary men aged 34-51’ giving
exercise itself. A group of scientists has them acute exercise for 1 to 3 hours and
published a research paper where they found examining the plasma at different times. The
that a type of immune cell, CD8+ T cells, samples comprised the close concentration of
mediate the reduced growth of tumours due to CD8+ T cells as were in mice after acute
exercise. exertion.
A study based on mice has approached to Afterwards, they attempted to follow the same
understand the reason behind the effects of procedure outside the cell but they failed to
exercises on tumours. A disease that every one produce the same results. However, this
research confirms that transferring the CD8+ T
cells to non-trained mice helps the recipient
mice to increase their survival and reduce the
growth of the tumor.
Consequently, this research made the group of
scientists infer that physiological environment,

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exercise-derived metabolites could act to hoist a spacetime's curvature is infinite and gravity is
nascent T-cell response that is, in turn, effective infinitely strong. The physical circumstances
for the reduction in tumour growth. near a singularity result in the total collapse of
the rules of physics, which presents an
Reference: interesting conundrum for astrophysicists.
1. Cytotoxic T-cells mediate exercise-induced reductions in However, there is nothing in general relativity
tumor growth” By Rundqvist et al. elife 2020;9: e59996 theory that prevents isolated, or "naked,"
singularities from existing. The cosmic
Magnificent Sight of the Black Hole censoring theory was developed to avert a
circumstance when we may observe this physics
Tanya Malhotra and Amritaparna Maity, 1st breakdown occur. This states that every
Year, Department of Biochemistry singularity must have an event horizon that
obscures it from view, just as black holes do.
Kip S. Throne said in Black Holes & Time
Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy that “Why More than 50 million light-years away in the
are black holes so different from all other heart of the giant elliptical galaxy called Messier
objects in the macroscopic Universe? Why are 87, "a gargantuan beast” is devouring anything
they, and they alone, so elegantly simple? If I that strays too nearby. Scientists have unveiled
knew the answer, it would probably tell me an image of a supermassive black hole
something very deep about the nature of containing the mass of 6.5 billion suns.
physical laws. But I don’t know.” Resembling a circular void surrounded by a
lopsided ring of light, this landmark is the
Things so strange and magnificent exist in the world’s first glimpse of a black hole’s silhouette,
cosmos far beyond our planet that it might be a picture that creeps right up to the inescapable
difficult to believe they exist. Black holes— edge of the black hole’s mass.
bottomless pits that consume stars, power The new image is the stunning achievement of
galaxies, and distort space and time—are the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, a
perhaps the strangest of them all. If you get too global collaboration of more than 200 scientists
near, time may pass you by and there will be no using an array of observations scattered around
way back. the world, from Hawaii to the South Pole.
Scientists using an array of observatories
Black Holes have been one of the fantastic scattered around the world, from Hawaii to the
fields of research in Cosmos. A black hole is a South Pole. Scientists theorised that they could
huge and compact entity with such intense imagine black holes by capturing their
gravity that not even light can escape it. It was silhouettes against their glowing surroundings.
initially proposed in the late 1700s that such Telescopes of all types are used to see distant
items may exist. However, it was a German objects. The larger, the diameter, or aperture of
astronomer, Karl Schwarzschild (1873-1916), the telescope, the greater its ability to gather
who created the current concept of a black hole. more light and higher its resolution. To see
Schwarzschild found that stuff squeezed to a details in objects that are far away and appear
point (today known as a singularity) would be small and dim from Earth, we need to gather as
contained by a spherical area of space from much light as possible with very high resolution,
which nothing could escape using Einstein's so we need to use a telescope with a large
theory of general relativity. The event horizon aperture.
marks the boundary of this region, and its name
implies that no event taking place within it can Rather than being a single snapshot, like the
be observed (since information is unable to get many spectacular photos taken by the Hubble
out). The singularity — the black hole's heart – Space Telescope, the EHT’s image is the
is located much inside the event horizon. product of the process called interferometry,
Everything inside the event horizon is which combines observation from multiple
irrevocably pulled to this point, where telescopes in one image i.e., an array of smaller
telescopes that can be synchronised to focus on
the same object at the same and act as a giant
virtual telescope.

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The aperture of a giant virtual telescope such as Fig 2: The world's most powerful radio telescopes
the Event Horizon Telescope is as large as the can be coordinated to work together to improve
distance between the two farthest telescope resolution beyond what any single telescope could
stains that is between the South Pole and Spain accomplish. The large distances between these
creating an aperture nearly equal to the diameter sites, which took part in the 2017 observations of
of Earth. By 2017, the EHT was a collaboration the Event Horizon Telescope, improve their
of eight sites around the world, and more have efficiency
been added since then. Each telescope used for
the EHT had to be highly synchronised with the An Epidemic within a Pandemic
other to within a fraction of a millimetre using
an atomic clock locked onto a GPS time Aniruddha Ghosh, 1st year, Department of
standard. Astronomers also used data from Biochemistry
Chandra and NuSTAR satellites to measure the
X-ray brightness of M87’s jet. We are currently living in the black period of
mankind’s history. The world is currently
The size and shape of a black hole which fighting together in one of the history’s deadliest
depends on its mass and spin can be predicted battles and we have already lost more than 39
from general relativity equations. General lakh soldiers to the common enemy that is covid
relativity predicts that the silhouette would be 19. Every day we gather new information about
roughly circular, but other theories of gravity our enemy and each day we encounter new
predict slightly different species. The image of diseases that are associated with the already
M87’s shows a circular silhouette, thus lending dangerous covid 19, one such disease being
credibility to Einstein’s theory of general THE BLACK FUNGUS.
relativity was black holes. The data also offers
some insight into the formation and behaviour Mucor mycosis or Black fungus is a fungal
of black hole structures such as the accretion
disk that feeds matters into the plasma jets that infection caused by a class of saprophytic fungi
emanate from its centre.
that belong to the larger family called Mucorales,
Scientists are curious about the mechanism by
which some supermassive black holes emit found largely in the soil and decaying organic
enormous jets of particles travelling at near light
speed. These questions will be answered as material such as fruit and vegetables.
more data is acquired by the EHT and
synthesized in computer algorithms Etiologically Rhizopus arrhizus is the most

Fig 1: The black hole at the heart of galaxy M87, common agent followed by Rhizopus
defined by radiation from hot gas whirling around it
under the influence of intense gravity near its event microsporus, Rhizopus homothallicus, and
horizon, was seen by astronomers using the Event
Horizon Telescope. Collaboration of the Event Apophysomyces variabilis. Mucormycosis is a
Horizon Telescope et al.
devastating angioinvasive infection

characterized by the invasion of blood vessels,

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resulting in formation of blood clots, COVID-19 patients. Due to this unfortunate
compromising the circulation to the distal organ, scenario and possible underreporting of cases,
and finally leading to the necrosis or death of the central government declared mucormycosis
tissue. The necrosis leads on to the blackish hue as a notifiable disease in accordance with the
and hence the name Black Fungus. Black fungus Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897. As of 7 June
commonly affects the sinuses or lungs after a 2021, there are more than 28 200 reported cases
person inhales fungal spores in the air and can of mucormycosis in the country. Due to this
also affect the skin following a surface injury alarming situation, many Indian states and union
like a cut or burn. Mucor mycosis can affect the territories, including Rajasthan, Telangana,
nose, sinuses, orbit, central nervous system, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and
lung, gastrointestinal tract, skin, jaw bones, Chandigarh, have declared black fungus an
joints, heart, and kidney. As Covid-19 epidemic. This situation also raises an alarming
predominantly affects the respiratory system, question WHY ONLY INDIA?
the most common involvement is that of Rhino-
orbito-cerebral presentation wherein the fungal The answer to this question is not that
spore travels from the peripheral hole in the face straightforward since there is a plethora of
area through the blood vessels into the brain, reasons due to which India served as the
causes symptoms of one-sided headache behind breeding ground for black fungus. The climatic
the eyes, facial pain, fever, nasal congestion and condition of India is favourable for the growth
potentially causing loss of eyesight. While the of black fungus since it is hot and humid.
disease progresses the black-coloured discharge Another potential factor of the mucormycosis
contains necrosed tissue, blood clots and fungal outbreak among Indian COVID-19 patients is
hyphae. Isolated renal mucormycosis is a unique their pre-existing diabetes. Given that, 94% of
entity in India and other forms of mucormycosis patients with COVID-19- associated
may involve the lungs causing difficulty in mucormycosis have a history of poorly
breathing and persistent cough. controlled diabetes and this does not fit well
with the notion that India is known as the
The interesting aspect of the black fungus is that diabetes capital of the world. At the peak of
it is an opportunistic disease that means it covid 19 cases in India, there was indiscriminate
attacks the body when its defence mechanism use of steroids (corticosteroids). This further
(immune system) is at its weakest form. elevated the blood sugar levels. The general
Mucormycosis seems to have formed an ally public, mostly with mild and non-severe
with our enemy that is covid 19 and it attacks COVID-19 symptoms, also took corticosteroids
the patients who are recovering from covid 19. out of panic and anxiety without medical advice
The Covid-19 pandemic provides an ideal leading to emergence of the black fungus
environment of low oxygen (hypoxia), high epidemic. Intake of corticosteroids for COVID-
glucose, acidic medium, high ferritin and 19 treatment was observed in 76% of
decreased white blood cells especially mucormycosis cases.
lymphopenia due to the use of
immunosuppressant medications like steroids, This begs to answer the question: what can be
tocilizumab etc. making the body vulnerable to done to prevent such a calamity from occurring
virulent opportunistic fungal infections. In again? The first thing that everyone should
addition, the moulds on walls, breads, realize is that good health and good sense are
vegetables or the ventilation system, not well two of life’s greatest blessings so everyone
sterilized medical supplies, using moist masks should lead an active and healthy lifestyle.
and the hot and humid environment, all together, Regular exercise will help in control and
act as a breeding ground for the disease. prevention of diabetes which will reduce the
chances of many ailments. There should be
Even though the devastating impact of covid 19 regulated distribution of steroids and it should
was felt all around the world, black fungus did be ensured that steroids or any other prescription
not cause a ruckus everywhere. India was drugs should not be available readily to the
unfortunate in this regard as it was severely hit general public without proper prescription.
with black fungus. With an overall case fatality Proper dosage charts and guidelines should be
rate of 50%, black fungus has emerged as a followed by medical practitioners while
public health concern in India, especially among administering steroids to ensure its judicial use.

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Lifesaving antifungal drugs like amphotericin B Seaweed at 3% of the diet i.e., has resulted in
should be present in sufficient quantities in
every hospital so that they can be administered up to 80% reduction in Methane emission from
as soon as the black fungus is detected in a
patient. A delay of even 6 days in initiating cattle according to the international team of
treatment doubles the 30-day mortality from
35% to 66% Therefore, early diagnosis and researchers. Adding nitrate to the diet at a
management may prevent further progression of
the disease or even mortality. The critical units specified rate optimizes rumen fermentation
or ICU in the hospitals should have pristine
hygiene to prevent any chances of further and changes the pathway of methane to
infection in patients who are already recovering
from a serious ailment. There should be produce Ammonia rather than
immediate increment in medical infrastructure
for a country as vast as India having the world's methane. Nitrates Nitrites Ammonia. W
second largest population. Awareness amongst
the general public should be increased so as to e recommend that producer seek specialist
prevent mass hysteria which only complicates
the situation. advice before using this option because

overdosing can result in nitrate

poisoning. Toxicity (on dry matter basis)

generally ranges from: -

1% to 1000 NO2
3% 0 to - ion
3000
0
ppm

0.23% to 2300 NO
0.68% to 3-
6800 ion

ppm

Role of Methylene blue in diet of The animals consume a normal forage diet
livestock to reduce Greenhouse containing large amounts of nitrates, the
effect and its impact on climate conversion of nitrites to ammonia becomes the
change limiting factors allowing nitrite to accumulate to
toxic levels. Toxicity occurs following the
Sanyukta Sharma, 1st year, Department absorption of nitrates into blood which oxidizes
of Biochemistry iron ions in haemoglobin from the ferrous (+2) to
ferric (+3) state. The resultant methemoglobin
Concept: The greenhouse effect is a natural has a poor affinity for oxygen which greatly
process that warms the Earth's surface. When reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of
the Sun's energy reaches the Earth's erythrocytes resulting in anoxia. Death from
atmosphere, some of it is reflected back to anoxia may occur if 70-80% of haemoglobin is
space and the rest is absorbed and re-radiated converted to methemoglobin. Secondary effects
by greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases due to vasodilatory action of the nitrite ion on
include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, vascular smooth muscles may occur. The nitrite
nitrous oxide, ozone and some artificial ion may also alter metabolic protein enzymes.
chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). High levels of methemoglobin can be noted at
The absorbed energy warms the atmosphere necroscopy due to the presence of chocolate-
and the surface of the Earth. This process brown discoloration of blood in about one half of
maintains the Earth’s temperature at around the cases of nitrate poisoning. Nitrate’s
330C warmer than it would otherwise be, concentration is up to 40mcg NO3/mL have been
allowing life on Earth to exist. Ammonia (CH4) present in the plasma of healthy calves. In
produced by ruminant livestock cattle, sheep, actually poisoned ruminant livestock, nitrates and
buffalo, goats, deer and camel. nitrite concentration as high as 300mg NO3/ml
and 25-50mgNO2/ml. For this it is recommended
Innovation: Methane reducing feed additives that note be grazed on feed that contains more
and supplement inhibit methanogens in the than 1%nitrate.
rumen and subsequently reduce entering
methane emission. Feeding one type of Methylene blue may be used to treat animal for
nitrate poisoning while a sodium thiosulfate

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sodium nitrate solution is used for prussic Acid help in bringing the world one step closer to a
(cyanide) toxicity. clean and healthy environment.

Methylene blue Mechanism: The preferred References:
treatment for nitrate poisoning is methylene blue 1. Yeruham I, Shlosberg A, Liberboim M. (1997). Nitrate
solution administered intravenously. Methylene toxicosis in beef and dairy cattle herds due to
blue is a reducing agent and converts contamination of drinking water and whey. Vet Human
methemoglobin to haemoglobin and restores Tox, 39(5),296-298.
normal oxygen transport by the red blood 2. Osuna DJ,Armstrong PJ,DuncanDE.Acute renal failure
cells. As the amount of nitrates increases in after methylene blue infusion of a dog.J am Anim Hosp
cattle’s body, nitrate is absorbed into RBC and Assoc 1990 Jul/Aug;26:410-2.
combines with haemoglobin to form
Methemoglobin. It cannot support oxygen in the Closing in on a complete human
body, ultimately causing the animal to suffocate genome
and die. To prevent this, methylene blue is used.
It is a reducing agent and convert Aayush Goel, 1st year, Department of
Methemoglobin to haemoglobin and restore Biochemistry
normal oxygen transport by RBCs .Slowly four
injection of 1% methylene blue in distilled water The Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) consortium,
or isotonic saline should be given at 4-22mg//Kg which includes about 30 universities from
or more, depending on severity of exposure. across the world, has sequenced the first
Since the half-life of methylene blue is about 2 completely complete human reference genome.
hour. Rumen large with cold water and This might be the most significant advancement
antibiotics may stop continuing microbial in the human reference genome since its original
publication 20 years ago.
production of nitrates. This should bring in a new era of genomics,
allowing us to get a better knowledge of a wide
Mechanism of reaction: In this reaction the range of human diseases. It might also lead to
methylene blue is converted into improved genetic screening, allowing for more
leucomethylene blue. rapid and precise diagnostic testing to treat a
variety of diseases.
Impact: As ruminants produce this much amount The first draughts of the human genome were
of Methane in the environment, by reducing released in 2001 by Celera Genomics aand
Methane production from ruminants we can
reduce the greenhouse effect. By adding International Human Genome Sequencing. This
methylene blue in the diet of livestock we can was a watershed event in genomics, allowing
prevent any further increase in levels of scientists to get a deeper understanding of
greenhouse gases. In this manner we would be human evolution and biology.
able to prevent any change in temperature leading However, because of a lack of technology at the
to global warming. Thus in this study, we have time, scientists were unable to decode 15% of
solved the problem of greenhouse effect by the genome sequence. Over the years, they made
suppressing methane formation and also by
improving the animal’s performance which will
ultimately reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of
the products. Further proper disposal and
treatment of wastes and its management would

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considerable progress, but by 2013, just 8% of The final confirmation of the sequence was also
the genome (all genes combined) had been helped by software (Winnowmap2) built by
sequenced. Chirag Jain.
Human Genome - The human genome is the Chirag said that the mapping approach has to
whole collection of DNA. DNA strands are take into consideration a significant number of
similar to a four-letter alphabet, consisting of repeated sequences since the software takes
four chemical units or bases. The ‘letters' in one genome sequencing data as input and maps it
strand join with ‘letters' in the opposite strand to into genome assembly.
produce ‘words,' which encode data. In human The existence of repeats in the genome, he
cells, all of these "words" are stored in the explained, makes it difficult since there are
chromosomes. A human genome would have many alternative alignment options for a
about 3-billion words (base pairs) spread across sequence, and the correct one is rarely clear.
22 chapters if it were a book (chromosomes). As After the data were appropriately matched, T2T
a result, with just 8% of the genome sequenced, discovered inconsistencies between the genome
several pages of this book were missing. This and sequencing data, which revealed a few
has been resolved now. errors that were fixed before the final genome
was released.
What has been achieved with the current
research? As per Nature (scientific journal), the new
sequence is not the last word on the human
The first truly complete human reference genome as T2T had trouble resolving few
genome has now been sequenced by researchers regions on chromosomes, and estimates
of the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) project, an that about 0.3% of the genome might
international co-operative. contain errors.
The publication titled 'The whole human T2T researchers, in their paper, have noted
genome sequence' refers to the new T2T- that one limitation of CHM13 is the lack of
CHM13 sequencing. Y Chromosomes. In order to finish a T2T
T2T has successfully finished the first true reference sequence for all the human
complete sequence of a human genome chromosomes, they are now in the process
according to the publication 'The Complete of sequencing and assembling the Y
Sequence of a human genome,' which addresses Chromosomes.
this 8% gap.
Glycan Shielding in Enveloped HIV
The sequence reference contains gapless Virus
assemblies for all 22 autosomes plus
Chromosome X (which appear identical in Muskan Agarwal, 2nd Year, Department of
females and males), introduces 200 million bp Biochemistry
of novel sequence containing 2,226 gene copies,
corrects errors, and 115 are predicted to be Glycosylation is a post-translational
protein-coding-important to understand diseases. modification that the Holoparasites, viruses use
All of the centromeric satellite arrays, as well as for their benefits. The enveloped viruses like,
the short arms of all five acrocentric HIV, Zika, SARS, Ebola, have lots of heavily
chromosomes, have been completed recently. glycosylated sites on their viral glycoprotein,
What part does Indian software play in this which not only helps the viruses to protect from
important research? the immune defence system or the antibodies
Genome building involves several newly but also increases the immune cell infection.
devised computer algorithms, software to handle Glycosylation is a process in which a
sequencing data, and turning it into a whole carbohydrate/sugar moiety (oligosaccharide) is
human genome, according to Chirag Jain, an attached to a glycoprotein, and is responsible for
Assistant professor at the Indian Institute of
Sciences' Department of Computational and
Data Sciences.

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several important functions in the cell such as the underlying glycoproteins from antibody
cell signalling pathways; determination of recognition. In case of HIV, which has the most
protein structure, its function, and stability. The developed glycan shields to mask the Env
two most common forms of glycosylation glycoprotein or gp160, has 2 subunits formed by
pathways are N-linked and mucin-type O-linked. cleavage – gp120 (used to facilitate the
When in glycoprotein, the sugars attachment with CD4 receptor on the host cell
(oligosaccharides) are etched to the n-atom in and further to CCR5 and CXCR4 Co-receptors)
the sidechain of Asp (N-linked) or to the oxygen and gp41 (attaches the viral cell membrane to
atom in the side chain of serine or threonine (O- host cell membrane upon the CD4 receptor
linked). binding). The glycan shielding is extensively
Glycosylation plays a major role between self dense, combined with the flexibility of the Env
and non-self-molecules and generate immune trimer and the constant evolution of these glycan
response against non- self. In the case of viruses, shields makes HIV a difficult immunological
it’s important to note that these glycosylation target.
pathways aren’t always perfect, they’re more Due to the result of the heavy glycosylation,
likely to be truncated in some cases where some there is formation of some Mannose patches on
viral particles bud off early in the pathway, the surface of the glycoprotein, which makes
resulting in an unusual these glycans weakly immunogenic since they
glycan structure on the viral glycoproteins. As are processed by the host processing pathway.
these under-processed glycans are seldom However, in case of HIV, these under-processed
presented on mature host cell glycoproteins, the conserved glycans result in the production of
innate immune system can recognize these bnAbs or Broad-neutralising antibodies, which
glycans as pathogen-associated molecular target these glycans only.
patterns (PAMPs) using soluble lectins and A bnAb called PGT128 does so by recognizing
activate the complement system but the HIV and targeting an oligomannose glycan by
contains some complement penetrating the glycan wall on Env and making
regulators on its envelope and infected cells like contact with the underlying viral protein. Since
CD59. Moreover, HIV takes the advantage of these bnAbs recognize several specific epitopes
the body’s complement system by interacting on the surface of the glycan shields, the vaccine
with the complement receptors on circulating candidate should have to imitate the native
cells for spreading and amplifying the infection glycosylation of the virion to generate or elicit
several folds. these bnAbs.
Glycans also play a major role in protein folding In conclusion, with the growing knowledge in
by mediating the chaperone interaction. Lack of the field of viral glycobiology, scientists are
these glycans can cause misfolding in the moving closer towards the development of
trimeric 'Env glycoprotein (gp160) of HIV potent therapeutics and vaccines.
preventing its display on the viral surface. Due
to this importance of the folding of the proteins Nanoparticles for Brain tumour
in the smooth viral activity, certain drug designs diagnosis
are researched like iminosugars are used as the
sugar mimics and have been researched for their Laxmi Tanwar, 2nd Year, Department of
antiviral activity. Iminosugars like N-butyl- Biochemistry
deoxynojirimycin (NB-DNJ), function by
inhibiting the α-glucosidase enzyme in the ER Brain tumours are a diverse group of neoplasms
resulting in nonfunctional, unfolded that often carry a poor prognosis for patients.
glycoprotein. The antiviral activity of Despite tremendous efforts to develop
iminosugars has been tested on different viruses diagnostic tools the treatment of brain tumours
including HIV, influenza, Ebola virus, etc. but remains a challenge in the field of neuro-
the main barrier which stagnates their clinical oncology. The barrier allows the brain to absorb
application in HIV treatment is the off-target necessary nutrients, but prevents potentially
effects of the drug, resulting in the inhibition of
the gut glucosidases of the host, resulting in
diarrhoea and abdominal pain.
The enveloped viruses like HIV and Ebola have
evolved their glycan structures to mask or shield

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harmful substances from entering the brain weighted MRI. However, this measurement
tissues. Unfortunately, also works against many technique can be greatly influenced by vascular
types of cancer drugs, effectively blocking them leakage that may not be present throughout the
from reaching their target. With the rapid entire tumor. Other MRI techniques to image a
development of nanotechnology for biomedical tumor include perfusion-weighted imaging,
applications recently solid metal-based which can measure blood perfusion
nanoparticles (NPs) have shown potential as and permeability, and diffusion-weighted
diagnostic probes for brain tumors. Gold imaging, which can be helpful for
nanoparticles (GNPs) emerged among those, grading gliomas.
because of their unique physical and chemical
properties and biocompatibility. Future challenges: Goal of multifunctional
nanoparticles for brain tumors is to enhance
Brain tumors: A brain tumor is an abnormal patient survival and improve their quality of life.
There are a number of nanomaterials with
growth
of tissue in the brain or central spine unique properties that can serve as imaging
probes or therapeutic agents for brain
that can disrupt proper brain function which are tumors. Theranostic nanoparticles will open
life-threatening diseases characterized by the even more opportunities to create
low survival rate. A number of factors make innovative nanomedicines for brain tumors.The
brain cancer a challenging disease to treat, unique chemical and physical properties of
including the brain’s natural defenses, nanomaterials make them attractive for therapy
accessibility of the tumors and their ability to and diagnosis, potential neurotoxicity and
spread rapidly and the complexity of brain systemic toxicity are concerns related to
cancer. implementing these particles in actual
patients.Manufacturing nanoparticles on a large
Key features of Nanoparticles: Nanoparticles scale for clinical trials poses additional
include composition, unique physical properties, challenges that include: 1) efficient and reliable
passive targeting abilities, as well as tunable production of the desired nanoparticles 2)
surface functionality for active targeting. These governmental regulations.
features enable the detection of brain tumors in
a sensitive and specific manner as well as the References:
transportation of diagnostic or therapeutic
agents across the blood-brain barrier. Versatile 1. Bhojani MS, Van Dort M, Rehemtulla A, Ross BD.
compositions and physical properties of Targeted imaging and therapy oF brain cancer using
nanoparticles can be made from materials such theranostic nanoparticles.
as compositing polymers, lipids, proteins,
metals and semiconductors. 2. Dobrovolskaia MA, McNeil SE. Immunological

Nanoparticles with well-defined shapes such as properties of engineered nanomaterials.
solid spheres, rods, tubes, and other complex
shapes can be designed by engineering 3. Khlebtsov N, Dykman L. Biodistribution and toxicity of
techniques. engineered Sgold nanoparticles: a review of in vitro and in
vivo studies.
Current nanoparticle platforms for brain tumors
can be classified into three major categories 4. Yan HH, Wang L, Wang JY, Weng XF, Lei H, Wang
including organic-based, inorganic-based and XX, Jiang L, Zhu JH, Lu WY, Wei XB, Li C. Two-order
hybrid nanoparticles targeted brain tumor imaging.

Diagnostic nanoparticles for brain tumors which 5. Berman SMC, Walczak P, Bulte JWM. Tracking stem
have high-resolution image before surgery cells using magnetic nanoparticles.
is important for Glioblastoma Multiforme or
(GBM), which are characteristically invasive. 6. Liu G, Wang Z, Lu J, Xia C, Gao F, Gong Q, Song B,
Such invasiveness makes it quite difficult to Zhao X, Shuai X, Chen X, Ai H, Gu Z. Low molecular
accurately determine a clear tumor boundary by weight alkyl-polycation wrapped magnetite nanoparticle
eye. Proper imaging is critical for measuring the clusters as MRI probes for stem cell labeling and in vivo
extent of tumor is necessary for the successful
treatment. By far the most common method for imaging.
imaging brain tumors is contrast-enhanced T1-

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