Working on the bacterium Methylobacterium extorquens, the research group created several synonymous variants of a gene called fae. This gene codes for a metabolic enzyme essential for survival and growth in an environment where the only source of carbon comes from methanol or methylamine.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been renewed between the institutes at the Bangalore Life Science Cluster and The University of Edinburgh on the 18th of February 2016, to reinforce ongoing collaborations and create a framework for developing new areas of mutual interest.

The travel support from the Infosys Foundation will be a tremendous opportunity for students and post-doctoral researchers at the Cluster campus to broaden their horizons, train in the latest research techniques worldwide and make new connections.

The Sanctuary Asia Wildlife awards aim to recognise the contribution of individuals who actively work towards protecting the natural habitats and wildlife of India. Since their inception in 2000, the awards have drawn national attention to the the inspirational work of hundreds across the country.

The National Centre for Biological Sciences is delighted to welcome Dimple Notani who joins the Centre as its newest faculty member. She holds a Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Intermediate Research Fellowship, and is an expert in the field of functional genomics and epigenetics.

Karl Deisseroth, the D. H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University visited the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, while he was in the city as the featured speaker for the Cell Press-TNQ India Distinguished Lectureship Series 2016.

The National Centre for Biological Sciences held its much-awaited yearly event, the Annual Talks from 11^th to 13^th January this year.

The NCBS Annual talks for 2016 will be held from 11^th to13^th January. A full schedule for the presentations this year can be found here.

The campus extends a warm welcome to Shashi Thutupalli, the newest faculty member joining NCBS. He will be affiliated with the Theory and Modelling group, and with the Simons Centre at NCBS. During his PhD, Shashi worked on studying pattern formation in Min proteins that influence division in bacteria.

Sunaina Surana, a former PhD student from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, has won an Eli Lilly and Company Asia Outstanding Thesis Award for 2014. Sunaina's thesis titled "A framework to apply DNA nanodevices to a multicellular model organism" dealt with testing the operation of a DNA nanomachine which senses pH changes in a live organism - the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans.