MGEx-Udb: A Mammalian Uterus Database for Expression-Based Cataloguing of Genes across Conditions, Including Endometriosis and Cervical Cancer

Gene expression profiling of uterus tissue has been performed in various contexts, but a significant amount of the data remains underutilized as it is not covered by the existing general resources.). The database can be queried with gene names/IDs, sub-tissue locations, as well as various conditions such as the cervical cancer, endometrial cycles and disorders, and experimental treatments. Accordingly, the output would be a) transcribed and dormant genes listed for the queried condition/location, or b) expression profile of the gene of interest in various uterine conditions. The results also include the reliability score for the expression status of each gene. MGEx-Udb also provides information related to Gene Ontology annotations, protein-protein interactions, transcripts, promoters, and expression status by other sequencing techniques, and facilitates various other types of analysis of the individual genes or co-expressed gene clusters.In brief, MGEx-Udb enables easy cataloguing of co-expressed genes and also facilitates bio-marker discovery for various uterine conditions

The Biotech-Bioinfo Interface in the Context of Education and Growth of the Biotechnology Industry in India Today

Abstract: Biotechnology and bioinformatics have a lot in common. Apart from the fact that they have been incorrectly equated to the ‘IT ’ in career aspects, the knowledge in either of these biological subjects can enhance the learning or contributions in the other. A careful attention to the common aspects of biotechnology and bioinformatics (the biotech-bioinfo interface) could improve the value of curricula in both the areas. This article identifies the curricular components which would be important not only for biotechnology and bioinformatics courses but also to other life science programs. A few examples of personal research projects have been discussed to illustrate the need to include/strengthen the biotech-bioinfo interface in our educational programs. Standards in life science education have to be improved and we can start by evaluating one aspect at a time. A decade back, several colleges taught mainly botany and zoology as life science subjects without caring much for the requirements of biologists in the country. Even though the choice of subjects has broadened now, things do not seem to have significantly changed in terms of student employability. One of the reasons may be that we, the people in education system (see Fig. 1), haven’t learned to keep pace with the changing times and demands. In fact, with less-informed students and parents, the situation seems to have worsened recently. Many colleges have opened post-graduate, and even graduate, programs in new subjects without proper teaching capacities. The lacunae include teachers ’ level of expertise and/or the infrastructure. This is not good for the growing Indian biotech-industry, which happens to be very diverse. The success of this sector depends a lot on the availability of top quality human resources. Hence, there is an urgent need to focus on specific aspects of educational programs and start improvising each of them. Certain aspects of life science curricula that involve parts of the following subjects will be discussed here

Pseudorapidity densities of charged particles with transverse momentum thresholds in pp collisions at √ s = 5.02 and 13 TeV

The pseudorapidity density of charged particles with minimum transverse momentum (pT) thresholds of 0.15, 0.5, 1, and 2 GeV/c is measured in pp collisions at the center of mass energies of √s=5.02 and 13 TeV with the ALICE detector. The study is carried out for inelastic collisions with at least one primary charged particle having a pseudorapidity (η) within 0.8pT larger than the corresponding threshold. In addition, measurements without pT-thresholds are performed for inelastic and nonsingle-diffractive events as well as for inelastic events with at least one charged particle having |η|2GeV/c), highlighting the importance of such measurements for tuning event generators. The new measurements agree within uncertainties with results from the ATLAS and CMS experiments obtained at √s=13TeV.