Nate's podcast- What is CRISPR?

Nate Butkus is 6 years old and he wants to become a biochemist when he grows up.  Meantime, he is a podcast host who talks about science because he likes science.  What he would like to do for his homework is to create a creature that has flaps of skin on its face, antennae on its head, and spikes on its back like a hedgehog.  And on his podcast, he wonders whether CRISPR can help him do it. 

CRISPR is the new exciting technology on how we can change the genome.  We are planning to use it in our laboratory to create knockouts so that we can learn what the gene we are interested in does in a cell.  But obviously its use extends far beyond that.  One of the things that the technology can do is to change a bad gene into a good gene and thus, effect gene therapy.

But listen to the podcast- the explanation is much better than what I am offering.

The Right to Silence

We are fond of noise.  Living as I do inside the campus, I thank every day for the sound of silence. On a cold winter day, just stop and listen to it.  It is so soothing and refreshing.  In the summer, early morning, I go for a walk.  The only sound I hear is that of the birds chirping. It is blissful, such a lovely way to start the day.
Stepping outside is a hazard- horns of all kinds being tooted randomly.  Every vehicle is in a rush. They have to move fast, fast, faster and what better way to do than to blow the horn. As loudly as possible.  The pedestrian, the lowest form of human being, has to make way for the moving vehicle. It does not matter what age the pedestrian is.  The old and the young, the able and the disable- all have to make way for the vehicle. It will remind you by blowing the horn, deafening you in the process.
Then there are all the religious establishments who have to reach out to the faithful and to God.  The jagrans are other thing- the all night jagrans, the nine-day puja during navaratri, the list is endless. The loud speaker is put at the highest possible volume so that no one gets sleep.
And don't get me started on Deepavali- a festival completely ruined by the high volume, highly polluting fireworks.  Without that noise and smoke how could the festival be complete?
We also have student events- fresher's party and the Hostel nights- neither of which are complete without the loudspeaker.  The Hostel nights coincide with the board exams of the children on campus. I often wonder our students have also gone through those torturous time of board exam.  Don't they remember how irritated they would be if any body made noise? Then what gives them the right to put loud speakers at high volumes during exam time?
My sympathies with Sonu Nigam, though the original statement he made could have been made little bit more diplomatically.  It is not the mosque only- it is every religious shrine.  The thing is I have the right to Silence, to be not bothered by raucous noise.
Will anything come out of it this controversy?  I doubt.

Three interesting links

1. The first one is about HeLa cells. As almost all in biological sciences know, HeLa were the first cells to be successfully cultured in the laboratory.  The cells were taken from Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman suffering from cervical cancer, without her knowledge.  Those interested should read the book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. I read it my cousin's place in one night- well, I was leaving the next day and I had to finish the book. It is riveting because it touches one of the issues that we rarely talk about in Indian Universities- Ethical practices. To return back to the point, STAT News has an interesting article on HeLa cells- 5 important ways these cells changed medical practice.

The second and third links are something I found on Nanopolitan blog. 

2. First of this is for the academics- Get a life.  I loved this message at the end of the article.  It is so important for all of us.  I often find it incomprehensible when I find some of my students working all sorts of hours in the laboratory. It is almost as though they have no other life other than the laboratory. Of course, there are things that they are interested in but I do not think many of them have a serious hobby that they take time out to pursue.  I also do not think many of them pay attention to their physical health. So for all of them- Go Get a Life and you will find that rest is easy.

3. The third link..well...I will leave it to you to read.

Of this and that

The past month has been difficult.  For one, Summer arrived with a bang. Overnight temperatures shot up giving us a taste of what was in store for us ahead. I am so not looking forward to May and June.  The mornings are cool, for now.  On walks in the morning, I can hear the koels, the barbets, and the oriental magpies.  The peacocks look magnificent as they perch on trees modeling their tails. This year I have been lucky to have caught sight of Shikra- last year I missed them.  The bougainvillea have just started blooming and the winter flowers have faded away.
On the garden side, we have planted the usual summer suspects- Bhindi (okra), Brinjals (eggplants), spinach and amaranth.  Ever optimistic, Nanku Ram has planted tomatoes once again. He thinks they will fruit this year. My mother, who is staying with me at present, was happy when I gave her the first brinjal.
On the university side- the rankings have rated us once again as the 2nd Best University (one spot behind IISc) but I cannot help think how long we will remain so. This year most of the schools are not accepting Ph.D. students. Only our numbers remained unslashed- this was due to the decision that we took about 4 years ago.  When the Supreme Court ruled that there would be 54% increase in seats, it was taken to mean at Ph.D. level too.  We ended up admitting 60-70 Ph.D. students per year which translated into 2-3 students per lab per year. After two years of this policy, it became evident to all of us that this cannot continue. We needed laboratory space and more important we needed enormous funds to support these many students.  So we requested the University to reduce our numbers. Needless to say it caused great consternation but we persisted and finally got the numbers reduced. As a result when the University decreed that we have to follow the UGC guidelines (8 Ph.D. scholars/professor; 6 scholars/Associate Professor; and 4 /assistant professor) we found that we were within the limits and thus, can admit students. 
But the question remains- how many will apply and how many will end up coming to us.
For the rest- a blanket ban has been put in place till the number of Ph.D. scholars reduce down to the UGC defined guidelines.  While it was truly mind-boggling to think that there were faculty with 20-30 students (how do they manage to guide these many students and ensure that they did good research work is something no one is talking about), yet a blanket ban will adversely affects us.
It is thus, a season of despondency as we ponder on what will be the impact of these guidelines on us.