* Wildlife alumna Karnad wins 2012 John Muir Conservation Award
* Sumantra Chattarji inaugurates country's first Fragile X Clinic
* NCBS-partnered research on the White-bellied Shortwing featured on Nature India
* 10,000th Nat Geo Grant to NCBS Visiting Fellow Krithi K. Karanth 
* Schaller inaugurates wildlife alumni association's website
* A rapid assessment of Nagaland's biodiversity and threats by students of the masters program in wildlife biology and conservation
* Scientists returning to India: NCBS's Vatsala Thirumalai featured in The Sunday Express
* Two NCBS students win 1st and 2nd places for the 2011 Lilly Outstanding Thesis Awards
* Five NCBS students help police crack down on illegal snake show at Yelahanka New Town, Bangalore
* Ajith Kumar and Divya Karnad contribute to Down to Earth's Wildlife Week Special
* Jayant Udgaonkar receives award for excellence
* Two NCBS faculty among India's top 25 scientists
* Gained in Translation: "Expanding the Genetic Code of an Animal"
* Nine NCBS academics denounce indiscriminate felling of trees in Bangalore city

* Wildlife alumna Divya Karnad wins 2012 John Muir Conservation Award 

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

Alumna of the Master's Program in Wildlife Biology and Conservation, Divya Karnad will receive the John Muir Conservation Award in the Environmental Education category for the year 2012.

The US-based John Muir Association is honoring Karnad with this prestigious award in recognition of her articles on conservation issues in the Indian media. Karnad, who is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, has written numerous popular articles about challenges in wildlife conservation and particularly about pertinent problems in marine systems and fisheries. Her articles have appeared in print media  such as the Deccan Chronicle, Down to Earth and the Times of India (visit these links to read some of her articles: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/216200/troubled-waters.htm, http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/JR3S0TxvFCoi0cLRDXaIcN/Gulf-of-Mannar-The-real-pearl-of-the-South.html, http://www.downtoearth.org.in/author/1558, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-26/flora-fauna/28221028_1_hyenas-sq-km-researchers).

Karnad is thankful to the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). "Much of my writing started at NCBS," says Karnad, who worked with the NCBS News Team in 2010-2011. Karnad will receive her award from the John Muir Association on 20^th April 2013 at the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, California.

(Read an exclusive interview with Divya Karnad on Mongabay.Com)

* Sumantra Chattarji inaugurates country's first Fragile X Clinic

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

NCBS professor and Director of the Centre for Brain Development and Repair (CBDR) Sumantra Chattarji inaugurated the country's first Fragile X clinic in Mumbai on 22^nd March 2013. Chattarji delivered a lecture "Fragile X Syndrome: Hopes and Challenges" during the ceremony.

Fragile X Syndrome is a genetic illness which is known to be the most common cause of autism among boys. The Fragile X Clinic at Mumbai will offer information on Fragile X, provide medical help and offer counseling services, among other services. The Fragile X Clinic is a joint venture between the non-profit Ummeed Child Development Center and the Fragile X Society of India.

For more details, visit http://www.afternoondc.in/city-news/an-ummeed-for-children/article_79001.

* NCBS-partnered research on the White-bellied shortwing featured on Nature India

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

The research of V. V. Robin, Fellow at NCBS, on the white-bellied shortwing of the Western Ghats is now featured on Nature India. The Palghat Gap, a 30-kilometre-stretch of flat land divides the otherwise more-or-less contiguous hill ranges of the Western Ghats into the northern and southern Western Ghats. Among others, Robin's research, done in conjunction with several colleagues, has also shown that the white bellied shortwings found in these two sections of the Ghats are different from each other - different enough to be separate species. To know more about Robin's work, read the complete article here. (You can access the entire article by registering with the Nature Publishing Group advertised on the right side.)

The feature has been written by Sandhya Sekar, an alumnus of the first Science Journalism Course at NCBS, conducted in July-August 2011.

For more updates about the project and Robin's research, do visit his website www.skyisland.in.

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* 10,000th Nat Geo Grant to NCBS Visiting Fellow Krithi K. Karanth

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

National Geographic awarded the 10,000th National Geographic Grant to conservation biologist Krithi K. Karanth, Assistant Director of Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore, who is also a Visiting Fellow at NCBS.

The National Geographic has funded projects since 1890. They announced the 10,000th award on December 8^th 2011. Karanth says she will use the grant money to examine human-wildlife conflict along different areas of the Western Ghats, according to an interview with National Geographic, published in their Daily News Section.

Other papers which have covered the news include The Hindu and the Deccan Herald.

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* Schaller inaugurates wildlife alumni association's website

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

November 22nd, 2011: George Schaller inaugurated the wildlife biology and conservation programme alumni's website at NCBS on 22^nd November 2011. Schaller, one of the world's most eminent field biologists and the current vice-president of international NGO Panthera, was in NCBS to give a talk about his five decades of work in ecology and conservation. Addressing the alumni association's members afterwards, Schaller said, “We need to let more people across the world know about your course,” pleased that the website would also play this role.

Former students of the course formed an alumni association Researchers for Wildlife Conservation in August 2010. Though the association is yet to be formally registered as a trust, basic requisites such as a board of executive members and trustees are already in place. K. VijayRaghavan is a trustee together with three other alumni. Chaitanya Krishna (president of the association) and six other alumni are listed on the Executive Board. The aim of the trust is to “form an academic platform for members to share knowledge, facilitate learning, and trigger innovation in our chosen field.” Members hope that the website will help further this objective.

The website currently houses alumni member profiles and versions of articles related to ecology and conservation contributed by members to various print media such as The Hindu and Deccan Herald. It also provides a home for tutorials on basic ecological and statistical concepts, written by members. "It will primarily be a showcase for the trust's activities,” says alumnus Sachin Sridhara, who along with others, is helping shape the website. “We will also add news about wildlife research and conservation. Plus some useful stuff for beginners like localized job posting, scholarship information, grant opportunities, resale/borrow/lending of used equipment or field gear and other resources like books and software,” he says.

The master's course is a collaboration NCBS and the Centre for Wildlife Studies, with the degree being awarded by TIFR. Forty-five wildlife biologists have been trained in the master's course so far. Most alumni are practising biologists, conservationists or activists while some are pursuing higher studies across the world.

For more information, visit the Researchers for Wildlife Conservation website.

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* A rapid assessment of Nagaland's biodiversity and threats by students of the masters program in wildlife biology and conservation

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

November 14, 2011: Students of the masters course in wildlife biology were part of a rapid assessment of biodiversity in the north-east Indian state of Nagaland in summer 2011. The executive summary of the report is now out, titled "Nagaland: Biodiversity and Conservation Program, An Action Document".

The report deals with Phase 1 of the program, which included a scientific survey to identify the status of biodiversity, the identification of the threats it faces in Nagaland and the prioritisation of biodiversity-rich sites for future conservation programs. Hunting and traditional jhum cultivation are prominent among the various threats that have been listed in the report. The teams also came across many captive wild animals in these areas.

The survey was conducted by a team that included ten current and former students of the masters course in wildlife biology and conservation conducted at NCBS. Team members were Aamod Zambre, Anup B. Prakash, Shashank Dalvi, Suman Jumani and Vishnupriya S. from the current batch and Dipti Humraskar, Girish A. Punjabi, Nisarg Prakash, Priya Singh and Swapna N. Reddy from former batches.

A more detailed report on the survey is in the making. It is envisaged that Phase 1 will be followed by Phase 2 (conservation programs are expected to be executed in critical areas) and Phase 3 (in which a state-wide five-year-plan will be formulated based on results from Phase 2). The project is funded by the Nagaland state government. Dr Ajith Kumar, director of the masters course in wildlife biology and conservation is scientific advisor to the project.

The report can be accessed online at http://issuu.com/conservationindia/docs/nagaland_report_23-10-11.

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* Two NCBS students win 1^st and 2^nd places for 2011 Lilly Outstanding Thesis Awards

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

October 28, 2011: Shameer Khader and Shweta Jain have received the first and second places respectively for the 2011 Eli Lilly and Company Asia Outstanding Thesis Awards.

Khader's doctoral thesis is titled Identification and analysis of domains in proteins. His thesis advisor R. Sowdhamini nominated him for the award. Khader is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Mayo Clinic, Rochester in the United States of America.

Jain's thesis is titled Characterization of the structural events involved in mouse prion protein aggregation. She is currently affiliated with the Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA and is working on the characterization of molecular mechanisms of polarized sorting of proteins in neurons.

Ten first and ten second prize winners are selected from Indian research institutes every year for the Lilly Outstanding Thesis Awards. The prizes include a Lilly plaque for each winner, with prize money of US $1500 for the first place winner and US $1000 for the second. The award ceremony will be held on 15th December 2011, during the J-NOST Conference being held at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research at Mohali in Punjab.

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* Five NCBS students help police crack down on illegal snake show at Yelahanka New Town, Bangalore

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

October 8, 2011: With a tip off from a group of NCBS students police arrested three people at Yelahanka New Town for the illegal possession of snakes. The students, Anup B. Prakash, Arjun Srivastava, Shashank Dalvi, Suman Jumani and Uddipana Kalita, had noticed the snakes being exhibited at a fair held for the Dasara festival. The arrested are William D., a resident of Mathikere and two others Sati alias Karthikeyan and Chala alias Anbalazhagan from Chennai. They had two Indian rock pythons, three spectacled cobras and three rat snakes in their possession. Indian rock pythons are listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972) and classified as 'Near Threatened' by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Three papers have covered the story: the Deccan Herald (you can access the link at http://www.deccanherald.com/content/196548/3-held-hiss-dance-snakes.html), the Deccan Chronicle (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/bengaluru/three-dancers-%E2%80%98stung%E2%80%99-arrested-331) and the Times of India (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-09/bangalore/30259781_1_snake-species-cobras-police-custody).

The five students are currently pursuing their masters degree in wildlife biology and conservation at NCBS.

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* Ajith Kumar and Divya Karnad contribute to Down to Earth's Wildlife Week Special

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

October 7, 2011: It's been World Wildlife Week from the 1^st to 7^th of October. NCBS's affiliate teaching faculty and co-director of the master's program in wildlife biology and conservation, Ajith Kumar and former NCBS journalist Divya Karnad are among the eleven biologists who have contributed to a special wildlife edition of Down to Earth magazine.

Ajith Kumar writes about how many primates of India are facing a decline – including the ones we normally see in urban areas. But all's not bleak, and some monkeys are faring well: you can read more about it at http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/lives-others?page=0,2.

Alumna of the master's programme in wildlife biology and conservation at NCBS, Divya Karnad is currently pursuing her doctorate at Rutgers University. She writes about the ecological implications of fishing – what goes into that fish curry you and I eat with so much relish? Mindless trawling, a multitude of middlemen hiking seafood costs, quashing of local livelihoods – the list doesn't even end there. Find out more at http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/lives-others?page=0,5. I'll definitely think twice before I eat my fish curry the next time!

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* Jayant Udgaonkar receives award for excellence

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

September 28, 2011: Jayant Udgaonkar, professor in the Biochemistry, Biophysics and Bioinformatics group at NCBS, is the recipient of the 2011 Prof. G N Ramachandran Gold Medal for Excellence in Biological Sciences and Technology. It is awarded every year to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to "human knowledge and progress, fundamental or applied in the particular field of endeavor, which is his/her specialization".

Previous recipients of the award include Dinakar M. Salunke (Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Gurgaon) in 2010, R. V. Hosur (TIFR, Mumbai) and M. R. N. Murthy (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore).

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* Two NCBS faculty among India's top 25 scientists

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

September 12, 2011: India Today lists Upinder S. Bhalla and Satyajit Mayor, two principal investigators at NCBS, among the top 25 scientists of the country. In their photo gallery section “Galleries from India”, a brief profile of each scientist and their respective fields of research have been detailed.

One can access Upinder S. Bhalla's profile at http://indiatoday.intoday.in/gallery/profile-of-top-25-scientists-in-india/1/5470.html#photo3 and Satyajit Mayor's at http://indiatoday.intoday.in/gallery/profile-of-top-25-scientists-in-india/1/5470.html#photo23.

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* Gained in Translation: "Expanding the Genetic Code of an Animal"

MINI-STORY BY GEOFF HYDE

August 12, 2011: For the first time ever in a multicellular animal researchers have been able to use re-engineered transfer RNA to direct the incorporation of unnatural amino acids into an animal's proteins. The article reporting the finding, by Sebastian Greiss and Jason W. Chin, was published yesterday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and is already causing news around the world, being covered in an online article of BBC News. The news will be of particular interest to NCBS's C. elegans lab, because the new technique was developed in this well-known model organism, a transparent nematode whose development is arguably the best understood of any multicellular animal.

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* Nine NCBS academics denounce indiscriminate felling of trees in Bangalore city

MINI-STORY BY AATHIRA PERINCHERY

Eight principal investigators and a post-doctoral fellow from NCBS figure among the seventy-one academicians who denounced the felling of trees along the Sankey Tank Road in Bangalore city. The Hindu, a widely-circulated newspaper and Citizen Matters, a Bangalore-based e-newsmagazine, reported the public statement addressed to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the administrative body responsible for civic upkeep in Bangalore.

You can find The Hindu's article here and the Citizen Matters detailed report on this link.

Tree-felling in order to widen roads has been on the rise in many parts of the city. The submitted statement requests the BBMP to consider other alternatives such as setting up of methods to control haphazard parking along streets, and conducting environmental and social impact assessments before executing such "misguided" schemes.

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* NCBS paper wins best Computer Aided Drug and Molecular Design Award

MINI-STORY BY GEOFF HYDE

A research publication on 5ht2a receptor has received the "Best Research Publication Award 2011" in the field of "Computer Aided Drug and Molecular Design" from "VLife" sciences at Pune. The authors are: Karuppiah Kanagarajadurai, Manoharan Malini, Aditi Bhattacharya, Mitradas M. Panicker and Ramanathan Sowdhamini. Dr. K. Kanagarajadurai, an ex-student of Prof. Sowdhamini, and now Assistant Professor at the Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics, Madurai Kamaraj University, will receive this award at a ceremony held at "Hyatt Regency" in Pune on 21st May 2011. The award includes award memento, certificates and prize money (Rs. 25000/-).

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* Nandini Velho wins award in Scholl Research Challenge 2010

MINI-STORY BY GEOFF HYDE

 

Nandini Velho, an alumnus of the MSc Wildlife Biology and Conservation, received the Scholl Research Challenge award, which recognizes innovative action-based Social Science Research in Development and Governance in North East India. Her award citation says:

"For raising serious issues of the malaria hazards of the people on duty against poaching in Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Arunachal Pradesh. It highlights significant gaps in health delivery system and resource gaps that the State needs to address."

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* Sudha Kumari wins TIFR's TAA - Zita Lobo Memorial Prize for best thesis of 2009-2010

MINI-STORY BY GEOFF HYDE

Sudha Kumari who completed her PhD project at NCBS in Jitu Mayor's lab has been awarded the TIFR Alumni Association's Zita Lobo Memorial Award for best thesis of 2009-10. Her thesis was titled: Dynamin independent endocytosis: molecular mechanisms and membrane dynamics. Sudha is now doing a post-doc in Michael Dustin's lab in the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, part of the NYU's School of Medicine. You can read more about the TAA - Zita Lobo Memorial award here.

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* Xtreme Cells of Day: Sympotein VIII Coming!

MINI-STORY BY GEOFF HYDE

You may have noticed strange mini-posters around the canteens, with even stranger things upon them: the Xtreme Cells of the Day! But even stranger things await you because Sympotein VIII: Xtreme Cell Biology takes place this Wednesday, post-lunch. Be there, be amazed!

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* NCBS link to Commonwealth Games

MINI-STORY BY GEOFF HYDE

An eagle-eyed sports fan has alerted us to the fact that Harry Leitch, a postdoc at the Azim Surani group at Cambridge, is part of Team Scotland's Commonwealth Games squash team. Azim was the Dorabji Tata Professor at NCBS-TIFR till a year ago. Read more about Harry on the Cambridge News site.

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* Uma Ramakrishnan appointed to National Wildlife Board

MINI-STORY BY GEOFF HYDE

NCBS Faculty member and inveterate champion of wildlife Uma Ramakrishnan has been appointed as one of the new members on the National Board for Wildlife, headed by the Prime Minister. The Board has more policy-making power in India than any other body apart from Cabinet. The new board was finalised in New Delhi in early September, but announced later. The Board also includes a well-known frequent visitor to NCBS, A J T Johnsingh, and other experts such as Valmik Thapar, Brijendra Singh, M K Ranjit Sinh, and Bittu Sahgal. Uma will be happy that as reported in the TOI, the Satpuda Foundation, an NGO committed to tiger conservation, has also been appointed to the Board.

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* Black Hawks vs Panthers: Sun. Sept. 26th

MINI-STORY BY GEOFF HYDE

Cricket matches are always a big crowd puller at NCBS and this Sunday promises a fierce contest in honour of Abhishek Kumar, a cricket stalwart, but sadly soon to say farewell. The match, organised by Muzamil Majid, start 9.30am, Sunday Sept 26, at the NCBS cricket ground.

BLACK HAWKS:
Abhishek(CAP),Taslim,Anoop,Ashwin,Joginder,Amit,Nataraj,Umesh,Parmesh,Sundra,Prasana.
PANTHERS:
Bala Ji(CAP),Ajeet,Prabhat,Tafheem,Naseer,Srikanth,Kemparaj,Guru,Ananth,
Raju,Muzamil