Rock on

It's said that when we start dreaming, actually we try to visualise what are the things which can happen with us in our virtual life. It is no where related to what actually will happen with us in real life. There are times when we realize we had been through certain things in our dreams, which, when we come across in reality. There are times when we feel we certainly had few things done in our virtual level of thinking and find it happening in reality. So how much are this things related, let us try to think from a example, as such being a science student it makes better explanation with a reference rather then simple explanation, also it fetches us more marks..that's brighter part of it..

There is a student who has been a big time dreamer, dreams can be classified, like dreams which can become aims to achieve in life and dreams which are better suited for fantasy. So specifically considering former part, he always wished to become a doctor, not knowing what it needs to be a doctor, not knowing how many people have felt down chasing that dream, how much time is spent in coaching classes to just think about strategies to be used to get admitted to medical college, how much money should be flown if there's any back door option available.

It is not different then usual story that my reference example couldn't get admission in any medical college, although the effort which was put in was also not up to that mark, but that's where limits play a major role. It is general trend to choose something related to biology when medicine shows stop gate option, so something called biotechnology enters therein with special appearance, but it was not known that this entry would lead to biotech will become source of lamp for achieving in different terms of what couldn't be done in straight forward manner. The relation which I am about to show between dreams and reality is quite amazing, definitely put a notice over it.

Getting into graduation for biotechnology was although seemed to be blur option for people within field with contrasting views of having highest scope from layman. So moving ahead, it was fairly easy for this student to clear graduation, again not scoring too high, there again came time to decide which way to follow, to lead towards a normal masters in biotechnology or something interesting knocking on future door. It was easier this time as average marks made it confirmatory of not getting admission to M.Sc, but it's said, just look around and there will always be something to survive. It came a hard core change in the life of this student who although never realized which way he was leading but was getting himself towards more closer of achieving his goal of becoming doctor, although just doing diploma. Just keep eyes flowing through further part and definitely the relation will become more clearer like how a person with diploma is inching towards becoming a doctor.

Life is extremely sweet, it teaches us in it's own terms, but it always fun to have those lessons, sometimes little boring, little painful, little irritating, little funny, little sad, little adventurous but every bit of it meaningful.

Well, diploma led to the project and it involved working in hospital under trained doctors, with one of the best subject of study, cancer, what more can one ask..so a step again towards becoming a doctor, involved dealing with patients, and many features of being a doctor, with a definite recognition that follows.

Next step is further interesting of him taking admission into masters but a slight different subject as being majors, bio informatics. It's nice always to have variety but there should be only one target in eyes, in every storm, in every minute, but with a sense of care for one's own self that life gives what we need rather then what we want, a big difference between the two.

Well, next step is about doing PhD, they are referred as doctors, I suppose, that time will decide whether final step or final jump will make it to perfect gold or something else is stored in this adventurous journey. Doing PhD is not about getting a tag line of being doctor but with sense of working towards better society in terms of specific specialization.

It's nothing specifically related to biotechnology, but it's just to make a feeling around that life is sweet, whatever we are into, it just needs to keep out hands open and there won't be space to grab things coming in our way but u c there should be some kind of sticky substance( glue) should be developed by us, being biotechnologists, which will allow us to stack this things on our hands and we could have our hands full rather then just being people with source of cribbing of having nothing for us in market.

If there is confusion of what is going on in this post, then better skip it, or if you find interest in what happens to this student, whether he achieves his dream or settles for something satisfactory, then do stick to this blog, it will need patience but then beautiful things come only after having patience, so again I say develop some glue, but this time for your eyes to remain on this blog...lol

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A Comprehensive Guide To Using This Blog

To all blogger newbies and also to those that are viewing this blog for the first time, I put forward this comprehensive guide to using this blog. I shall begin by dividing the blog page into 3 parts: Left, Center and Right. Before I begin describing the 3 sections in detail I would like to speak about the Top section of the blog which contains a box with our aim for creating this blog: Learning With Interest and Freedom From Xeroxes.

Left-Hand Side: The very first thing which is visible to you is the word BOOKMARK under which there is a button saying Add This. By clicking on this button you can save this blog to your bookmarks.
Below it is SUBSCRIBE TO BIOTECHBUSTER with an RSS feed button. By clicking on this button you can subscribe to this blog via the feedburner feed which will give you live updates about the blog as and when they are made by us.
Below this is a box displaying various ads.
Next is a Google Mini Search bar followed by a Google Scholar bar which allows you to search the huge google database directly from our blog.
Following the google search bars is a tab connected to the NCBI site giving access to the huge repository of data via Pubmed, OMIM, Gene and various other tools.
Finally there is a Quotation of the Day and a section showing snippets related to Microbiology courtesy The Encyclopedia Britannica.

Center Section: This is where the actual blogging begins. Dominating the top of this section are 3 names.. Biotechbuster, Madscorpion and J(Z)ubin... Each name having a corresponding pic below it... These 3 names belong to the Co-Authors of this blog, yours truly.. Messrs Anand, Moiz and Jubin...
Following us is a tab which allows you to Search this blog.
Next start the Blog Posts, arranged in descending order i.e. from the most recent posted going chronologically backwards . The end of each post is marked by a Peacock-Feather Quill alongside which the name of the blogger and the time of the post is given. There is also a Label which says Blogger Speaks.. Blogger is replaced by the name of whoever posted the post.. Beside this label is a Comments() button.. By clicking on it you can leave behind your precious comments regarding the post.. We eagerly await your feedback to our posts and always keep them in hindsight while making subsequent posts..

Right-Hand Side: At the top is a tab saying Drop One which is an Entre Card.. click on it to find out more about what it is..
Below it are the Statistics of the blog showing the number of people who have visited the blog and how many users are currently online..
Next is the Labels section.. This shows three labels: Biotechbuster speaks, Madscorpion speaks and J(Z)ubin speaks... By clicking on any of the labels you can view all the posts made by the specified blogger...
Followed by the Labels is the Contributors section enlisting those that contribute to this blog..
Next is the Contact Us section where our email id is given.. Please feel free to contact us with any queries regarding any difficulty or problem you may have regarding your studies or even career-related problems.. We will try our level-best to help you out..
Then comes the Archives listing the various posts made each month..
This is followed by a Blog List containing several blogs of note which you can visit..
Next comes a Must Visit section which contains external links that are quite fascinating and every visitor should visit them..
And finally come the snippets related to Biochemistry and Genetics courtesy Encyclopedia Britanninca..

Will keep updating this guide as and when new Tabs or Labels are added. Enjoy and keep commenting. We love your critiques and reviews to the posts we are putting up. Hope this guide will help make your experience navigating this blog a truly pleasurable and joyful experience.
Yours Biotechnologically,
Biotechbuster, Madscorpion & J(Z)ubin.

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Mysterical mysterious

The title goes with topic I am about to discuss or put my thoughts into it.

'Biotechnology', which has scored all time hit score in becoming most difficult mystery to crack, even DNA code seems easier to decode this days.

It's a nice feeling that I am part of it, as it gives me a opportunity to look at this difficulty from different perspectives, from layman's view who thinks this is gold pot being waited to get emptied on any one who gets a touch of it, from students view, who feel they are struck in mid sea, where they have water but really can not drink it, from people who are involved with imparting imparting theories or principles of biotechnology into students head, who themselves are encircled with thoughts of understanding biotechnology.

Biotechnology for me, has been a great source to understand myself, reasons being if u learning such great mystery, it's bound to somewhat look into within one's own self which is on similar grounds.

It is not only about learning what goes within a small space of a living cell to a huge limits of a fermenter, it's more important if we can apply it to daily terms of life. Biotechnology, as we all know encompasses limits of such varied subjects, so how do we really understand what are we doing here or how are we suppose to carry the lights of this distantly seemed light of gold, which it can become if properly churned, but it becomes a type of radiation, which throws off people who cannot handle it.

People who are waiting to enter this division, I would suggest and also I wish they bear a goal in mind, with exact picture of their aim, whether research into it makes them fancy their dreams or marketing products can fill up their pockets, patience is term which stands so important for any one who can even distantly relate themselves to biotech. Frustration is other aspect of any biotechnologist, it is for anyone actually, it's really a need for a person to handle frustration, there are times when person thinks if he/she can mutate him/herself so that they can know which way to drive themselves to instant success, so people anyone who is facing this difficulties can really contact my friend 'ANAND', a person who can easily get you out of such mentalities, with his biotechnological art of of living, I am exactly in my senses when I am writing this, so please do put a thought on it.

Biotechnology can put you in front of so many choices that we can blind to view anything through and feel there's nothing which is meant to be out of it. It's said that excess can make you blind.

I just wish institutions enrolling students for imparting degrees of biotechnology in their resumes should make it accountable for years which students put in, by innovative thinking like making students earn for any project they carry out, or recognition in front of crowd, or putting students through compulsory counselling sessions, grinding students to practical aspects of principles they learn in theory, not only by just visiting industries but having their own labs to terms which can allow students to stand with confidence among anyone in terms of trouble shooting or handling of different lab apparatus.

It's said that biotechnology has a great scope, but can anyone tell me in terms of what?..jobs?...is it really so..explaining it, biotechnology can have only people who are into aspects of this field from a considerable part of their life, this field deals with living science so it does enforces to choose for people who can give outputs with minimum error, it does lessens chances of newer minds to enter at speeds, when compared to other sectors. It does have scope if you choose to put your brains behind opening up your own venture or dealings with share market related to biotech. It is bound to change, again patience needs a mention here, also make yourself stand at that point, at least try to, it is definite that you will be recognised as a potential and earn up for efforts put in.

People who think I have touched tip of biotechnological iceberg, then hold on as I am still trying to bind to upstream elements which will allow me to transcript my message through this blog and help translate proteins in any living system reading this blog post.

For now, I just wanna put a temporary regulation and come back with some more interesting stuff to put my brains view behind it. So, people who are checking this out, just remain constitutively expressed in terms of holding your senses on this blog. I am sure it will be beneficial for anyone and everyone, just don't loose hope, it does make world for this world of people.

P.S By Anand/Biotechbuster: J(Z)ubin is a grad in Biotechnology, PGDip. in Applied & Industrial Biotechnology , currently pursuing M.Tech in Bioinformatics. This Iceberg is really huge.

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Indian biotech's bumpy road

The rush to join in India's latest boom sector has led to a bottleneck.

Vinay Vasant didn't think twice about returning to India from England, after a year-long biotechnology master's at Newcastle University. He missed home and had heard a lot about India's blooming biotechnology sector. The career prospects, he predicted, would be bright. Although most of his Indian classmates stayed on in Britain, Vasant packed his bags and flew to Pune.

A year later, Vasant is wondering whether he should have boarded the plane. Despite his foreign credentials and several promising interviews, Vasant has yet to land a job. "I thought I would come back and get opportunities, but I am sitting at home," he says. "A lot of young students now ask me for advice on whether they should go into biotech, but I don't know whether to encourage or discourage them."

Vasant's confusion reflects a growing anxiety among graduates who are struggling to find a foothold in India's growing biotechnology market. It's been a rude awakening for those who flocked to the field after widespread media reports likened the growth of Indian biotech to the country's startling information-technology boom that began in the 1990s. Cashing in on that perception, hundreds of private institutes sprang up and now churn out thousands of bachelor's- and master's-level biotechnology graduates every year.

Unfortunately, the hype has outstripped reality, say industry observers. India's biotech industry is growing, but hasn't matured enough to absorb all the country's fresh talent. Making matters worse, the quality of biotech education is often inadequate. Despite the many degree holders, industry officials say it has been a chore recruiting talent with the requisite skills. "Unless we do something now, human resources will be a big limitation for the growth of India's biotechnology industry," says Kottaram Narayanan, president of the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) and managing director of agri-biotech company Metahelix Life Sciences in Bangalore.

Indian biotech generated revenues of some $2 billion in 2006–07, 60% of it from exports, according to the latest industry survey by ABLE and trade publication BioSpectrum India. Biopharmaceuticals — particularly the development of generic drugs and affordable vaccines — is the sector's biggest profit-maker, generating about 70% of total biotech revenues fuelled, in part, by profitable partnerships and mergers with companies in the West and other parts of Asia. The 'bioservices' market — typically drug companies outsourcing clinical-trial tasks to contract research organizations (CROs) — takes in around 13% of the total biotech pie. Bt cotton, the only transgenic agricultural product on the market, has made about 10%. Biomanufacturing and bioinformatics are also starting to play a part.

Innovation needed

Yet India's biotech market is still finding its feet when it comes to home-grown biotech inventions and discoveries. For a real boom, Indian scientists need to start innovating, says Virender Kumar Vinayak, president of biopharmaceutical R&D at health-care company Panacea Biotec in New Delhi. The emphasis should be on developing new biomolecules, tools and medical devices. This will require a steady supply of critically thinking scientists with solid hands-on skills. But therein lies the problem.

The inconsistent and largely unregulated biotech education sector is producing up to 30,000 graduates every year, according to reports from BioSpectrum India. "A large number of teaching shops have opened up in India, but most of these churn out improperly trained biotechnologists," says Vinayak. There is a dire need to improve course curricula to meet the requirements of the industry, he adds.

Many of the estimated 300 private programmes lack lab space and basic equipment. "Some of these graduates have never even seen a gel apparatus," says Rajeev Soni, chief operating officer of CRO Premas Biotech, based near Delhi. Soni says Premas has to train graduates for at least six months before they are ready for the job. "This lag time is really hurting the industry," he says.

Krishna Ella, managing director of vaccine-maker Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad, says that his company receives 300–500 applications for every new job opening, but the vast majority of candidates don't fit the bill. "It's not just a degree that is important," Ella says. "The most important things are practical skills and the ability to think critically as a scientist." Worsening matters, there's a dearth of good teachers at private programmes, particularly in small or remote towns.

Aparajita Mitra, who did a bachelor's degree in biotechnology at Fergusson College in Pune, laments the lack of hands-on training and equipment. Dissatisfied with her career prospects in biotech, she is pursuing an MBA. Barely one-third of her college class of 30 are still working in biotech, with most stuck in underpaid administrative and technician positions, Mitra says.

Not all private programmes are poorly equipped. New Delhi's Amity University and Tamil Nadu's SRM University, for example, have spacious labs and cutting-edge equipment such as protein-purification and electrophoresis systems. These programmes have the money to attract qualified staff. SRM also has ties with industry, enabling bachelor's students to do company internships in their final year. But such schools charge up to 100 times more — around US$4,000 in tuition fees per year — than government programmes.

India's government has actually fostered some strong biotech feeder programmes. In the mid-1980s, prime minister Rajiv Gandhi gave $500,000 to five universities to establish world-class biotech degrees; they bought modern research tools and recruited high-profile Indian scientists from around the world. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) funds 60 programmes producing some 1,000 graduates every year, according to Suman Govil, a DBT adviser for human-resource development. The government awards recurring grants of up to $75,000 a year to each of its sponsored programmes, and has spent more than $5 million this year on biotech teaching and training alone, Govil says.

"Our students have not really faced any problems with regard to finding opportunities," says Rakesh Bhatnagar, chair of the biotechnology centre at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, who left a research career at the US National Institutes of Health to come to Delhi. The university was among the first five to receive the government's biotech grant and is regarded as one of India's top biotech centres. Only 20–30 students get in, by way of a competitive exam. They learn basic sciences such as immunology and genetics in the first year and spend another year working on a real research problem in the lab, says Bhatnagar.

Expansion limited

But even India's best institutes have struggled to recruit experienced staff, says geneticist Bharat Chattoo, coordinator of the biotech programme at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, one of India's first feeder programmes. The government hasn't helped much, he says: "Most places have not got additional faculty positions after their programmes were started. How is the programme meant to rejuvenate and grow?"

Even qualified graduates are finding few jobs with a real biotech focus, says Kumaraswamy Ramasamy, dean of SRM's school of biotechnology. Every year, almost half of SRM's 180 BSc graduates end up going into the IT sector to work in bioinformatics companies, Ramasamy says. Many others find work at CROs. To expand skill sets and attract an array of employers, SRM is giving mandatory computer courses and emphasizing communication and languages. This flexibility sets private schools apart from government programmes, which accept far fewer students and focus entirely on research, Ramasamy adds.

Although that approach may serve a short-term need in the market, Chattoo believes that it's not seeding a new crop of scientific innovators. "We need to provide an ecosystem in which innovations can thrive," he says. "My role as a teacher is not to produce people who are vocationally trained but people who can be leaders."

Government and industry officials are now kick-starting various measures to ease the mismatch between academia and industry. The DBT offers short-term training courses for biotechnology teachers around India. The department also runs a programme that places fresh master's graduates in six-month, paid industry internships. It placed 200 students last year, and intends to place at least 500 this year, Govil says.

Meanwhile, ABLE, in collaboration with a government advisory group, plans to start a series of competitive 'biotechnology finishing schools' for master's-level graduates who would spend six months to a year working on a real industry project while honing fundamental science concepts and analytical skills. The first such venture — with an initial group of 100 students — is due to start with the 2008 academic year in the southern state of Karnataka. Narayanan and others hope the model, if successful, will be copied in other parts of the country. "Once a person in biotechnology is properly trained, he or she will be immediately picked up by companies," says Narayanan. But this runs counter to the experiences of young graduates such as Vasant, who are anxiously waiting for the Indian biotech sector to live up to the hype.

Article source: Nature

Nature 450, 580-581 (21 November 2007) | doi:10.1038/nj7169-580a

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Biotechbuster

Biotechbuster is a blogger concept, happy to serve sorts of. We conceived this name & idea to create a weblog (simply blog!) that would cater the needs of individuals interested in learning & teaching biotechnology. The primary purpose is to demystify biotechnological concepts, offer solutions, create a sound Help and Discussion Forum constituting eminent Bioscience Alumni, Faculty, Professionals and overseas as well as local Students from diverse fields related to biotechnology.

To contact the authors, please click image below.

Overall, our blog Biotechbuster aims at making learning & teaching process interesting through co-ordination, communication and innovation. Wish you a happy blogging & learning with us.

Hope you enjoy,

Biotech Busters.

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