Post Doctoral Fellow in Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance project at NII, New Delhi

Applications are invited for the post of Post Doctoral Fellow for the following time-bound sponsored project as per the details given below:

Post : Post Doctoral Fellow

• Consolidated fellowship : As per terms governed by the Wellcome trust DBT India Alliance and National Institute of Immunology (a Minimum of Rs. 40,000/- per month). 
• Project title : Exploring the role of a developmental regulator in inflammatory immune response under Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance

Essential Qualification : a. Must hold a Ph.D Degree (not awarded before 2009), or must already have submitted their thesis towards obtaining a Ph.D degree from a reputed Institute.
b. Must have more than Five years of research Experience.
c.  Must have proven research expertise/skills in basic biochemistry, cell biology and Molecular Biology, Research Expertise in in vivo animal work is also preferred.
d. Must have one publication as first author, in international journal, preferably with impact factor above 2.5.
e. Must have basic theoretical knowledge in the area such as cell signalling, inflammation, Immunology.

• Job description/Experience : The Candidate is ready to explore alteration in the host cell signalling and transcription network in response to pathogenic perturbations. The Candidate should have sound technical skills in cell culture and biochemistry and should have working theoretical knowledge in cell signalling. The candidate must have a Ph.D Degree (or must have submitted his/her thesis towards obtaining a Ph.D degree) and more than 5 years of experience in research laboratories. 

Duration : 30.11.2015
PI : Dr. Soumen Basak | sobasak@nii.ac.in  

How to Apply :Interested candidates may apply directly, STRICTLY IN THE PRESCRIBED FORMAT GIVEN ON WEBSITE through e-mail, to the Investigator of the project, clearly indicating the name of the project along with their complete C.V., e-mail id, fax numbers, telephone numbers. Short listed candidates will be required to submit attested copies of all their certificates and a Demand Draft of  Rs 100/- drawn on Canara Bank or Indian Bank payable at Delhi / New Delhi in favour of the Director, NII (SC / ST and PH candidates are exempted  subject to submission of documentary proof), at the time of interview.

Deadline : 28.03.12

http://202.54.226.233/announcement/AnnounceIndex_106.html

Ten Years of Pathway Analysis: Current Approaches and Outstanding Challenges

Pathway analysis has become the first choice for gaining insight into the underlying biology of differentially expressed genes and proteins, as it reduces complexity and has increased explanatory power. We discuss the evolution of knowledge base–driven pathway analysis over its first decade, distinctly divided into three generations. We also discuss the limitations that are specific to each generation, and how they are addressed by successive generations of methods. We identify a number of annotation challenges that must be addressed to enable development of the next generation of pathway analysis methods. Furthermore, we identify a number of methodological challenges that the next generation of methods must tackle to take advantage of the technological advances in genomics and proteomics in order to improve specificity, sensitivity, and relevance of pathway analysis.

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Turned-off Cannabinoid Receptor Turns On Colorectal Tumor Growth

New preclinical research shows that cannabinoid cell surface receptor CB1 plays a tumor-suppressing role in human colorectal cancer, scientists report in the Aug. 1 edition of the journal Cancer Research. Endocannabinoid signaling is important to the normal functioning of the digestive system and has been shown to protect the colon against inflammation. Since chronic inflammation is a known risk factor for colorectal cancer, the researchers decided to look into the role of cannabinoid receptors in a mouse model of colon cancer.

Cannabinoids previously had been shown to kill cancer cells in lab experiments by inducing apoptosis - programmed cell death. The team confirmed the role of CB1 in apoptosis, showing that tumor cells with high CB1 expression were sensitive to apoptosis when treated by a cannabinoid agonist. Cell lines with silenced CB1 resisted cell death.

A series of experiments showed that CB1 increases cancer cell death by stifling a protein called survivin. Survivin is overexpressed in nearly every human tumor but is barely detectable in normal tissue, DuBois noted. Overexpression of survivin is associated with poor outcome and reduced apoptosis in colorectal cancer patients. The researchers pinpointed a cell signaling pathway by which activated CB1 cuts down survivin.

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Be a part of the XTractor community. XTractor is the first of its kind - Literature alert service, that provides manually curated and annotated sentences for the Keywords of user preference. XTractor maps the extracted entities (genes, processes, drugs, diseases etc) to multiple ontologies and enables customized report generation. With XTractor the sentences are categorized into biological significant relationships and it also provides the user with the ability to create his own database for a set of Key terms. Also the user could change the Keywords of preference from time to time, with changing research needs. The categorized sentences could then be tagged and shared across multiple users. Thus XTractor proves to be a platform for getting real-time highly accurate data along with the ability to Share and collaborate.

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Novel Enzyme Inhibitor Paves Way for New Cancer Drug: Agent Proves Effective Against Melanoma Cells

Previously blogging on novel anti-cancer molecules in Researchers Find that a Small Molecule Can Activate an Important Cancer Suppressor Gene. Scientists at The Wistar Institute have developed a new type of enzyme inhibitor capable of blocking a biochemical pathway that plays a key role in cancer development by combining natural organic atoms with metal complexes.

Based on studies in human melanoma cells, the research paves the way for developing new ways to treat cancer by dampening the overactive enzyme activity that leads to uncontrolled tumor growth. Details of the study, to be published in the May 16 issue of the journal ACS Chemical Biology, show how small-molecule inhibitors can be designed to target a family of signaling proteins, called phosphatidyl-inositol-3-kinases, or PI3Ks.

“The PI3K pathway has been called the most mutated pathway in human cancer,” says Ronen Marmorstein, Ph.D., a professor in the Gene Expression and Regulation Program at Wistar and senior author of the study.

PI3Ks are a family of lipid kinases – enzymes that transfer a phosphate group to an important signaling molecule in the cell called a lipid. They play a key role in a wide range of cellular functions, including cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, motility, survival and intracellular trafficking. Lipid kinases also drive cell division by modifying fatty acid molecules and directing cells to grow, change shape and move.

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