The Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster (BLiSC), comprising of NCBS Bangalore, inStem and C-CAMP, has recently inducted an Early Career Researchers Council (ECRC), in a bid to involve its student, JRF and postdoc communities more actively in the day-to-day functioning of the campus.

A major project has been launched to indigenously manufacture, in bulk quantities and at much lower costs, all reagents needed for RT-qPCR-based and other molecular methods of diagnostics of Covid-19. The Rockefeller Foundation has provided financial support for the project executed by the Bangalore Life Science Cluster, which would improve access to Covid-19 diagnostics across the country. 

It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Shri R.D. John on the morning of 26 July 2020.

Scientists from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, have discovered how the Herpes virus escapes one of the defense mechanisms it encounters in its hosts. Cells infected by Herpes viruses bind the viral DNA with proteins called PML NBs (ProMyelocytic Leukemia protein Nuclear Bodies) to stop the production of viral proteins and stall virus reproduction. The viral DNA, however, escapes from its protein prison with the help of ICP0 (Infected Cell Polypeptide 0), a viral enzyme.

Indian herpetologists have discovered a new species of viper family in Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh and named it after Salazar Slytherin, a fictional character in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

To prepare for such an event, several national labs are planning to chip in with the testing, Satyajit Mayor, the director of National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), a DAE-funded institution in Bengaluru, told The Wire Science

Recently, the campus had the pleasure of hosting two eminent French scientists. Dr Pascale Cossart of the Institut Pasteur and Dr Didier Roux of the National Academy of Technologies of France spent time at the Cluster over two days this October.

Dr Dimple Notani of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore has been selected as one of the first life scientists from India to join the European Molecular Biology Organization’s Global Investigator Programme.

A new study conducted by the Bengaluru-based National Centre of Biological Sciences (NCBS) along with two other health institutions has found that the transmission of virus from one species to another may be occurring between bats and humans.