Vision and Mission of the Department

Vision Impart strong fundamental back ground in the field of biology and chemical

engineering.

Train students to be methodical and systematic to pursue laboratory experiments

with utmost care and purpose.

Expose students to modern tools of Biotechnology research.

Editorial Team

Chief Editor:

Dr. M. L. Stephen Raj, Prof. & Head/BT

Editor:

Mrs. A. Aruljayanthi, Asst. Prof. /BT

Members:

S. Vidhya Bharathi

II yr M.Tech

K. Vignesh

IV yr B.Tech

S. Vanathi

IV yr B.Tech

V.L. Siva Prasad

I yr M.Tech

P.L. Praveena

I yr M.Tech

P. Sivakumar

III yr B.Tech

S. Rashmi

II yr B.Tech

January, 2015

Volume 3, Issue 2

Inside this issue:

Articles 3

Puzzle 5

Write—Ups 7

Bio Gallery 7

Key Events 8

Do you Know? 9

Opportunities 10

Mission To enable students to acquire specialized skills in core aspects of engineering and life

sciences and apply them for the development of innovative technologies.

To transform the department into a full-fledged research facility by developing

modern infrastructure to pursue research in cutting edge areas of Biotechnology.

To train students to realize enormous responsibility of being biotechnologist to serve

society taking cognizance of ethical and environmental responsibilities.

Mepco Schlenk Engineering College (Autonomous)

Department of Biotechnology

IE (I) Students’ Chapter

Page 1

Programme Educational Objectives

Understand and apply the concepts of Biology, Chemical Engineering and related aspects

of science and technology to pursue higher studies/Biotechnology oriented profession

Identify, analyze and solve the problems with novelty and updated knowledge in product/

process/techniques development to meet the societal demands.

Demonstrate professional and ethical attitude with awareness of current issues and think

about the social entailment of their work, especially its impact on safety, health and envi-

ronment.

Effectively communicate technical information facilitating collaboration with experts

across different disciplines and execute multidisciplinary projects

Participate in team oriented, open ended activities aiding constructive thinking and rec-

ognize the value of continuing education

Apply the acquired practical skills and broad biotechnological training to excel in entre-

preneurship, teaching, research and development.

January, 2015

Volume 3, Issue 2

Mepco Schlenk Engineering College (Autonomous)

Department of Biotechnology

IE (I) Students’ Chapter

Page 2

Programme Outcomes

Application of fundamentals of physical, chemical concepts and mathematics in Bio-

technology.

Showing originality and innovation in designing experiments, ability to think criti-

cally to analyze results and discussions of the experimental outcome in detail.

Develop experimental protocol/ methodology/ process to achieve set of objectives

with in constrains of bio safety

Adopt, grasp and absorb knowledge across disciplines and ability to integrate within

research areas of Biotechnology

Trouble shoot experimental problems with intellectual agility

Disposing professional and ethical responsibility.

Articulating concepts, hypothesis and problems eloquently

Understanding implications of Biotechnology in social context

Realizing significance of life-long learning by evincing interest in specialized areas

of Biotechnology

Keeping updated with contemporary issues facilitating multi-dimensional learning

process

Being inquisitive in understanding cutting edge areas of Biotechnology

Ability to plan, act and perform in consonance with set career goals and objectives

The one which

comes in ur

mind during

your sleep is

not a dream…...

The one which

never let you

sleep is

dream……

-A.P.J Abdul

Kalam

Mini Brains Created With Stem Cells

Volume 3, Issue 2 Department of Biotechnology

“ The

secret of

getting

ahead is

getting

started “

- Sally

Burger

The implications of this devel-

opment are massive, not the least of which is

eventually understanding the inner workings

of severe neurological disorders and how to

defeat them.

The researchers started with

human stem cells—the often-controversial,

undifferentiated (or “blank”) human cells that

are capable of giving rise to a host of differen-

tiated cells—and cultured them into “cerebral

organoids” (more simply, “mini brains”).

Stem cells have been used to grow a variety

of organ tissue—including a liver and a tra-

chea—but never before has brain tissue with

multiple, distinct parts been created in a lab.

To demonstrate the usefulness of their discov-

ery, the researchers used the organoids to

model the development of a rare neurological

condition called microcephaly—in which pa-

tients develop an abnormally small head. By

modeling the condition in a lab, researchers

can reverse engineer it and find out why it de-

velops.

The research team

acknowledged that they had not created a full-

scale, fully functioning human brain, and that

doing so is a long way off, but they said they

had accomplished their initial goal—to

“analyze the development of human brain tis-

sue and generate a model system…to transfer

knowledge from animal models to a human

setting.”

- Rathika & Deiva Nayagi

III-Year Biotech.

A mile stone has been

achieved in the research aspects of neu-

roscience. For the first time, scientists

grew miniature human brains from

stem cells, reported Reuters Health.

The implications of this development

are massive, not the least of which is

eventually understanding the inner

workings of severe neurological disor-

ders and how to defeat them.

The researchers started with

human stem cells—the often-

controversial, undifferentiated (or

“blank”) human cells that are capable

of giving rise to a host of differentiated

cells—and cultured them into “cerebral

organoids” (more simply, “mini

brains”). Stem cells have been used to

grow a variety of organ tissue—

including a liver and a trachea—but

never before has brain tissue with mul-

tiple, distinct parts been created in a

lab.

According to the Reuters

report, Juergen Knoblish and Madeline

Lancaster at Austria’s Institute of Mo-

lecular Biotechnology and fellow re-

searchers at Britain’s Edinburgh Uni-

versity of Human Genetics cultured the

stem cells with a cocktail of nutrients,

and grew tissue called neuroectoderm –

a layer of cells in the embryo from

which all parts of the brain and nervous

system develop.

This tissue was then placed

into a spinning bioreactor that circu-

lates oxygen and nutrients, catalyzing

the eventual growth of cerebral organ-

oids. After one month, the tissue had

organized itself into basic developing

brain regions, including the retina and

cerebral cortex. At two months, the tiny

organoids—about 4 millimeters long—

contained firing neurons and identifia-

bly different types of neural tissue. The

scientists had created tiny, primitive hu-

man brains. This past year also saw

some ground breaking news in the stem

-cell category of neuroscience: for the

first time, scientists grew miniature hu-

man brains from stem cells, reported

Reuters Health.

Page 3

Bio robotics

Volume 3, Issue 2 Department of Biotechnology

“Better three

hours too

soon , than

one minute

too late “

- William

Shakespeare

Bio-inspired robotic locomo-

tion is fairly new sub-category of bio-inspired

design. It is about learning concepts from na-

ture and applying them to the design of real

world engineered systems. Biomimicry and bio

-inspired design are sometimes confused.

Biomimicry is copying the nature while bio-

inspired design is learning from nature and

making a mechanism that is simpler and more

effective than the system observed in nature.

Biomimicry has led to the development of a

different branch of robotics called soft robotics.

The biological systems have been optimized for

specific tasks according to their habitat. How-

ever, they are multi-functional and are not de-

signed for only one specific functionality. Bio-

inspired robotics is about studying biological

systems, and look for the mechanisms that may

solve a problem in the engineering field. The

designer should then try to simplify and en-

hance that mechanism for the specific task of

interest. Bio-inspired roboticists are usually in-

terested in biosensors (e.g. eye), bio actuators

(e.g. muscle), or biomaterials (e.g. spider silk).

Most of the robots have some type of locomo-

tion system. Thus, in this article different

modes of animal locomotion and few examples

of the corresponding bio-inspired robots.

- Alagu Pandi

III– yr Biotech.

Bio robotics is making of biological or-

ganisms as manipulatable and functional as

robots, or making biological organisms as

components of robots. This is in at its in-

fancy and is sometimes referred as

“synthetic biology” or “Nano biotechnol-

ogy”

A red blood cell can circumnavigate our body in under 20 seconds.

Nerve impulses travel at over 400 Km/hr.

Our blood is on 60,000 mile journey per day.

Our nose is our personal air conditioning system: It warms cold air, cools hot air and filters

impurities.

There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human

beings on the surface of the earth.

One square inch of human skin contains 625 sweat glands.

When you blush, your stomach lining also reddens.

It is impossible to sneeze with your eye open.

Babies start dreaming even before they are born.

Humans are the only primates that don’t have pigment in the palms of their hands.

A foetus acquires fingerprints at the age of 3 months.

The tiniest muscle, the stapedius of the middle ear, is just one-fifth of an inch long.

The DNA helix measures 80 billionths of an inch wide.

Your eyeballs are three and a half percent salts.

- Sushma

III year Biotech.

Medical Facts

Page 4

Volume 3, Issue 2 Department of Biotechnology

“Believe in

you,

There is no

other way to

success”

-

Vivekananda

Down

1. The region on a gene that is transcribed into an

primary transcript molecule but not expressed in a

protein

2. Nuclear DNA and proteins

3. The region at the beginning of a gene where RNA

polymerase binds; it assists the recruitment of RNA

polymerase and other factors required for transcrip-

tion

4. A section of DNA that increases the expression of

a gene

7. The process of treating a disease or disorder by

replacing a dysfunctional gene with a functional one

8. A piece of DNA that carries one or more genes

into a cell, usually circular

10. An enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of com-

plementary RNA strands from a given DNA strand

11. A nitrogenous base composed of a single carbon

ring; a component of DNA nucleotides

12. A carbohydrate from seaweed that is widely used

as a medium for horizontal gel electrophoresis

13. A suspension or gel that provides the nutrients

(salts, sugars, growth factors, etc) and the environ-

ment needed for cells to survive

15. Two nitrogenous bases that are connected by a

hydrogen bond; for example, an adenosine bonded to

a thymine, or a guanine bonded to a cytosine

16. An instrument that creates high temperature and

high pressure to sterilize equipment and media

17. A section of prokaryotic DNA consisting of one

or more genes and their controlling elements

20. The breakdown or rupture of cells

Across

5. Not known to cause disease

6. A type of weak bond that involves the

"sandwiching" of a hydrogen atom between two fluo-

rine, nitrogen, or oxygen atoms; especially important

in the structure of nucleic acids and proteins

7. A section of DNA on a chromosome that contains

the genetic code of a protein

9. Refers to those cells that have taken up foreign

DNA and started expressing the genes on the newly

acquired DNA

12. Solid medium used for growing bacteria, fungi,

plant, or other cells

14. A region on the operon that can either turn on or

off expression of a set of genes depending on

the binding of a regulatory molecule

15. Liquid media used for growing cells

18. A nitrogenous base composed of a double carbon

ring; a component of DNA nucleotides

19. A staining dye indicator that interacts with nu-

cleic acid molecules and proteins, turning them

to a very dark blue color

21. An enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of lac-

tose into monosaccharides

22. Viruses that infect bacteria

23. The region of a gene that directly codes for a pro-

tein; it is the region of the gene that is expressed

24. A reference to the observation that strands on a

DNA double helix have their nucleotides oriented in

the opposite direction to one another

- Abinaya Devi & Saranya

III yr Biotech.

Cross word puzzles

Page 5

Volume 3, Issue 2 Department of Biotechnology

“If your

actions

inspire

others to

dream more,

do more and

become

more, you

are a

Leader”

- John

Quincy

Adams

In epic of life on earth, the human story

is brief. A few hundred generations have tried

to establish civilizations on curst of earth.

Begins of most of which is beyond memories

only India has preserved the unbroken chain

of human story. Ac-

cording to an old

Indian myth “the

humans came from

the golden egg laid

by the king of gods

in the cosmic

oceans”. But mod-

ern Science is no

indifferent to the

imagination.

What phylogenetic history states is our

ancestors walked out of Africa 70,000 years

ago by the shores of Arabian ocean down the

southern India and they were the first Indians.

So all non-African descents have traces in In-

dia, were rest of the world grew from mother

India indeed. Still we can find the traces them

in the backwaters of Kerala which is un-

doubted.

The genetics’ of Madurai Kamaraj Uni-

versity puts forth a nominal clue about the

origin of life in India. Over here in Tamil

Nadu the tribal hill belt villagers’ DNA were

tested providing a key fact about the evidence

of migration out of Africa. This led to identi-

fication of specific gene markers in them.

Prof. Ramasamy Pichayappan, says though

the migration of Indians is about 70,000 ago

still we could find people in India possessing

the M1 13 gene markers. The Indians have

inherited their language and religions senti-

ments as a mark of being societal animal

which is just 10,000 years old as par to gene

conservation of 70,000 years. But more than

we have something in common, unity in such

a diversity which is predetermined even in

our genetics.

- Siva Prasad

I yr M.Tech

Everything is natural. Anything made by

man is natural because the source is natural.

Cell phones are the result of natural processes

and are as natural as a leaf or an ant. Any re-

sults of genetic engineering will be entirely

natural. Separating man and what he does

from the rest of the natural world is an illu-

sion. Like a beaver building a dam only our

intelligence allows more complex results.

It is not like “toying with nature.”

I’m sure the scientists involved in engineer-

ing human gene sincerely want to help peo-

ple, not just mess

around with the

genome for the

fun of it.

That

said, this sort of

thing has to be

approached very carefully. If children are

born as a result of such interventions and turn

out to have unanticipated defects, they can’t

just be disposed of. Even aborting them be-

fore birth, if the defects show up in the

womb, will be wrenching, given that the fe-

tuses flaws would be mistakes of man rather

than of nature.

It’s a lot more ethical to work on

our own sorry species than to muck about

with some poor other animal writhing in pain.

I actually think there is a lot of

promise in it but I think it’s naïve to expect

people not to try stuff.

- Rashmi

II yr Biotech.

Genetics of India Is this ethical?

Page 6

Department of Biotechnology Volume 3, Issue 2

Bio Gallery

“To live a

creative life

we must lose

our fear of

being

wrong”

Page 7

Volume 3, Issue 2 Department of Biotechnology

“If you

cannot

explain it

simply, you

don’t

understand

it well

enough”

- Albert

Einstein

Conference/ Seminar/Training Program Organized

Department of Biotechnology organized a ‘National seminar on Molecular Virology’

on 27.09.2014. Dr. R. Manjunath, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry,

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Dr. T. Jebasingh, Assistant Professor,

DBT-MKU-IPLS Programme, School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj

University, Madurai were resource persons for the Seminar. Students and faculty

members have participated in the seminar

Key Events

Page 8

Achievements

The following papers were presented by our students during 19.09.2014-20.09.2014 at

Evogen -2014 , Karunya university , Coimbatore

M D Javith Ali, G. Vignesh, J. Noble Vinoth,Optimisation of aqueous two phase system

for cellulase purification bagged I Prize.

K. Vignesh, V.Senthil Kumar, C.Dinesh Krishnan, S.Udhaya Kumar,RNA Binding pro-

tein QKI suppresses cancer associated aberrent splicing bagged II Prize.

Volume 3, Issue 2 Department of Biotechnology

“Not

everything

that is faced

can be

changed but

nothing can

be changed

until it is

faced”

- James

Balown

10 RARE SYNDROMES

1.Walking corpse syndrome (Cotard Delusion):

Sufferers believe that they are dead, do not exist, or rotting or have lost their internal organs.

Over time the patient thinks he is immortal.

2.Jerusalem syndrome:

A mental phenomena involving the presence of either religiously themed obsessive clean, de-

lusions, psychosis like experiences that are trigged by a visit to Jerusalem.

3.Trichotillomania:

Sufferers of this condition have compulsive need to pull out their own hair, often resulting in

large, bald patches on their scalp, facial hair, eye lashes or other body hair.

4.Capgras syndrome:

In this, a person has the delusion that a friend, spouse, family member has been replaced by an

identical looking imposter.

5.Pica:

This syndrome causes sufferers to create an appetite for substances that are generally consid-

ered inedible and even potentially dangerous to consume.

6.Exploding head syndrome:

Sufferers hear an incredibly loud noise originating from within the head like an explosion or a

gun shot.

7.Alien hand syndrome:

Sufferers believe that one’s hand does not belong to oneself and thinks that it has its own life.

8.Uner tan syndrome:

Sufferers tend to crawl on all four like an animal, speak in grunts and suffer from severe men-

tal retardation.

9.Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive (stone man syndrome) :

In this the soft tissue of sufferer turns into hard bone over a period of time.

10.Foreign accent syndrome:

Here sufferers uncontrollably speak in a foreign accent, even if they have never visited that

area before.

- Minu

III Yr Biotech.

Do you Know??

Page 9

Mepco Schlenk Engineering College

Sivakasi—626 005

Virudhunagar District .

Phone : 91 4562 235150

Fax : 04562—235111

Email : msec_bt@mepcoeng.ac.in

stephenraj@mepcoeng.ac.in

Department of Biotechnology

Work is Worship

www.mepcoeng.ac.in/

biotech.asp

The Department of Biotechnology, MSEC comprises re-

search laboratories on par with international standard. The

department has modern class rooms and laboratories

equipped with sophisticated instruments. Students are

enlightened with the fundamental concepts of Life Sci-

ences and Chemical Engineering to acquire skill sets for

manipulating the living organisms and to exploit them for

the production of commercially important recombinant

products.

Our students are given hands on training in modern

tools of Biotechnology in our laboratories. One of the

unique characteristics of the courses offered by our de-

partment is we are having strength of 60 and 18 students

per batch for our B. Tech and M. Tech courses and learn-

ing process.

About us

Opportunities

The United States Pharmacopeia Convention (USP) is a scientific nonprofit organization that sets

standards for the identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines, food ingredients, and dietary supplements manufac-

tured, distributed and consumed worldwide. USP’s drug standards are enforceable in the United States by the Food and

Drug Administration, and these standards are developed and relied upon in more than 140 countries.

Job Description: This is a hands-on, non-supervisory position in USP-India’s Vaccine Group in Biologics and Biotechnology De-

partment. In this role, the Scientist delivers sustained contributions that result in innovative product and process

technologies for USP.

The Scientist will contribute to the scientific experience and work ethic of the laboratory through a broad range of

technical knowledge.

A Scientist has mastered some of the common techniques in the laboratory, and is able to contribute their own ob-

servations and input to projects.

Ph . D and Research centres:

1.The Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB) , Gurgaon

2.Centre for cellular and Molecular Biology , Hyderabad

3.Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad

Page 10