Department of Bioscience & Bioengineering

&ldquo;IIT Jodhpur is committed to impart quality education to facilitate the creation of qualified, competent and responsible human resources to meet the emerging technological challenges of the world. It is working towards creating an equitable learning platform that is positive, accessible and effective in the face of the modern societal and scientific advancements.

Flexibility in curriculum, in all its academic programs, encompassing elements of teaching, research, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship is the most unique feature of IIT Jodhpur. The Department of Science and Technology (DST), under the National Mission on Cyber Physical Systems, has identified IIT Jodhpur as a Technology &amp; Innovation Hub in the area of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. The institute has also been nominated as the coordinator for the Jodhpur City and Knowledge Cluster by the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India.

The sprawling 852-acre IIT Jodhpur campus is a majestic tribute to the deep-rooted diverse cultural heritage of the region. The campus is an architectural masterpiece, which is slated to become an international exemplar of sustainability with net-zero energy, and advanced water and waste management strategies.&rdquo;

IIT Jodhpur

Considering the fact that life on Earth is carbon based, carbon materials are being introduced in biological systems. However, very limited information exists concerning the potential effects of different structures of carbon materials on biological systems. In the present study, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-based carbonaceous composites were developed by reinforcing 1 wt% of three different carbon-based materials i.e. carbon nanotubes (CNTs-1D), graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs-2D), and activated carbon (AC-3D). The developed composites were characterized for physicochemical, biological, and mechanical properties. Along with their hemocompatible nature, the composites exhibited better swelling ratio, degradation percentage, bioactivity, and tensile strength. The improvement in hydrophilicity and protein adsorption resulted in the enhancement of cell proliferation and differentiation. Overall, sheet-like GNPs showed the strongest effect on the composite's properties due to their larger exposed area. These results demonstrate the potential of PLGA-based carbonaceous composites for accelerating bone tissue regeneration. © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd.

World University root node

Biomedical Materials (Bristol)

Biological and mechanical evaluation of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-based composites reinforced with 1D, 2D and 3D carbon biomaterials for bone tissue regeneration

There is a dearth of biologically active matrices for the encapsulation of bone cells. Here, we hypothesize that the use of gum tragacanth (GT) with alginate might improve the biological properties of calcium alginate (CA) beads, a common cell encapsulation system. We show that the incorporation of GT in the bead-composition significantly improves the molecular transport, swelling and degradation properties of the CA bead. Although no significant molecular interaction between GT and CA was found, a decrease in the concentration of calcium with an increase in GT concentration was noticed. We show that the presence of GT in the bead-composition resulted in improved viability, proliferation, and differentiation of encapsulated bone cells. We further demonstrate that bone cell loaded CA-GT beads are capable of inducing angiogenesis. In conclusion, we prove that CA-GT beads are more osteo-conductive and proangiogenic in comparison to pure CA beads. © 2017 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Journal of Materials Chemistry B

Gum tragacanth-alginate beads as proangiogenic-osteogenic cell encapsulation systems for bone tissue engineering

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is a rare neurogenetic disorder caused by highly unstable CAG repeat expansion mutation in coding region of SCA7. We aimed to understand the effect of diverse ATXN7 cis-element in correlation with CAG expansion mutation of SCA7. We initially performed an analysis to identify the haplotype background of CAG expanded alleles using eight bi-allelic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) flanking an ATXN7-CAG expansion in 32 individuals from nine unrelated Indian SCA7 families and 88 healthy controls. Subsequent validation of the findings was performed in 89 ATXN7-CAG mutation carriers and in 119 unrelated healthy controls of Mexican ancestry. The haplotype analyses showed a shared haplotype background and C allele of SNP rs6798742 (approximately 6 kb from the 3′-end of CAG repeats) is in complete association with expanded, premutation, intermediate, and the majority of large normal (≥12) CAG allele. The C allele (ancestral/chimp allele) association was validated in SCA7 subjects and healthy controls from Mexico, suggesting its substantial association with CAG expanded and expansion-prone chromosomes. Analysis of rs6798742 and other neighboring functional SNPs within 6 kb in experimental datasets (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements; ENCODE) shows functional marks that could affect transcription as well as histone methylation. An allelic association of the CAG region to an intronic SNP in two different ethnic and geographical populations suggests a -cis factor-dependent mechanism in ATXN7 CAG-region expansion. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/University College London

Annals of Human Genetics

A Complete Association of an intronic SNP rs6798742 with Origin of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 7-CAG Expansion Loci in the Indian and Mexican Population

Diclofenac is the most commonly used phenylacetic acid derivative non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that demonstrates significant analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory effects. Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated anti-proliferative activity of NSAIDs and examined their apoptotic induction effects in different cancer cell lines. However, the precise molecular mechanisms by which these pharmacological agents induce apoptosis and exert anti-carcinogenic properties are not well known. Here, we have observed that diclofenac treatment induces proteasome malfunction and promotes accumulation of different critical proteasome substrates, including few pro-apoptotic proteins in cells. Exposure of diclofenac consequently elevates aggregation of various ubiquitylated misfolded proteins. Finally, we have shown that diclofenac treatment promotes apoptosis in cells, which could be because of mitochondrial membrane depolarization and cytochrome c release into cytosol. This study suggests possible beneficial insights of NSAIDs-induced apoptosis that may improve our existing knowledge in anti-proliferative interspecific strategies development. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 1014–1027, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Journal of Cellular Biochemistry

Proteasomal Dysfunction Induced By Diclofenac Engenders Apoptosis Through Mitochondrial Pathway

Freezing of erythrocyte-derived nanoparticles can provide a method to extend their storage life and enable rapid deployment for clinical applications. We found that key physical properties of the particles remained unaffected after one freeze-thaw cycle. © 2017 OSA.

Optics InfoBase Conference Papers

Effects of freezing on erythrocyte-derived optical nanoprobes

As per the requirement of metabolism and fitness, normal cellular functions are controlled by several proteins, and their interactive molecular and signaling events at multiple levels. Protein quality control (PQC) mechanisms ensure the correct folding and proper utilization of these proteins to avoid their misfolding and aggregation. To maintain the optimum environment of complex proteome PQC system employs various E3 ubiquitin ligases for the selective degradation of aberrant proteins. Glycoprotein 78 (Gp78) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that prevents multifactorial deleterious accumulation of different misfolded proteins via endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD). However, the precise role of Gp78 under stress conditions to avoid bulk misfolded aggregation is unclear, which can act as a crucial resource to establish the dynamic nature of the proteome. Present article systematically explains the detailed molecular characterization of Gp78 and also addresses its various cellular physiological functions, which could be crucial to achieving protein homeostasis. Here, we comprehensively represent the current findings of Gp78, which shows its PQC roles in different physiological functions and diseases; and thereby propose novel opportunities to better understand the unsolved questions for therapeutic interventions linked with different protein misfolding disorders. © 2017 Joshi, Upadhyay, Kumar and Mishra.

Fulltext

Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

Gp78 E3 ubiquitin ligase: Essential functions and contributions in proteostasis

Dengue is considered as a major health issue which causes a number of deaths worldwide each year; tropical countries are majorly affected by dengue outbreaks. It is considered as life threatening issue because, since many decades not a single effective approach for treatment and prevention of dengue has been developed. Therefore, to find new preventive measure, we used immunoinformatics approaches to develop a multi-epitope based subunit vaccine for dengue which can generate various immune responses inside the host. Different B-cell, TC cell, and TH cell binding epitopes were predicted for structural and non-structural proteins of dengue virus. Final vaccine constructs consisting of TC and TH cell epitopes and an adjuvant (β-defensin) at N-terminal of the construct. Presence of B-cell and IFN-γ inducing epitopes confirms the humoral and cell mediated immune response developed by designed vaccine. Designed vaccine was not found allergic and was potentially antigenic in nature. Modeling of tertiary structure and the refined model was used for molecular docking with TLR-3 (immune receptor). Molecular docking and dynamics simulation confirms the microscopic interactions between ligand and receptor. In silico cloning approach was used to ensure the expression and translation efficiency of vaccine within an expression vector. © 2017 The Author(s).

Scientific Reports

Exploring dengue genome to construct a multi-epitope based subunit vaccine by utilizing immunoinformatics approach to battle against dengue infection

Solitary waves in alignment of elastic beads have been an important area of study. An important and rich area has been the behavior of solitary waves at a boundary, where features such as localization, anomalous behavior in scattering and transmission, quasiequilibrium phase, etc. are being studied. An application area of significance is the design of artificial granular alignments for shock decimation and dispersion. In this review article, we first present a summary and background of these unique features, and some designs in 1D which exploit these features. We further discuss some extensions to higher dimensional systems and their impact decimation ability. © 2017 World Scientific Publishing Company.

International Journal of Modern Physics B

Impact decimation using alignment of granular spheres

Gliomas are the most common solid tumors among central nervous system tumors. Most glioma patients succumb to their disease within two years of the initial diagnosis. The median survival of gliomas is only 14.6 months, even after aggressive therapy with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Gliomas are heavily infiltrated with myeloid- derived cells and endothelial cells. Increasing evidence suggests that these myeloid- derived cells interact with tumor cells promoting their growth and migration. NLRs (nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-containing protein like receptors) are a class of pattern recognition receptors that are critical to sensing pathogen and danger associated molecular patterns. Mutations in some NLRs lead to autoinflammatory diseases in humans. Moreover, dysregulated NLR signaling is central to the pathogenesis of several cancers, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. Our review explores the role of angiogenic factors that contribute to upstream or downstream signaling pathways leading to NLRs. Angiogenesis plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of variety of tumors including gliomas. Though NLRs have been detected in several cancers including gliomas and NLR signaling contributes to angiogenesis, the exact role and mechanism of involvement of NLRs in glioma angiogenesis remain largely unexplored. We discuss cellular, molecular and genetic studies of NLR signaling and convergence of NLR signaling pathways with angiogenesis signaling in gliomas. This may lead to re-appropriation of existing anti-angiogenic therapies or development of future strategies for targeted therapeutics in gliomas. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews

Role of NOD- like Receptors in Glioma Angiogenesis: Insights into future therapeutic interventions

Inflammation is the body’s response to injury, pathogen exposure, and irritants. Pattern recognition receptors allow our body to recognize a diverse array of patterns generated during exposure to these insults. In 2002, thenucleotide-binding domainleucine-richrepeat-containing (NLR, also known as NOD-like receptor) gene family of pattern recognition receptors was discovered (1-3). While several members were already recognized at that point, reports of the entire NLR family provided a global view. In the past 15 years of research, the physiological relevance of these genes has been revealed to include a diverse variety of functions. Gene mutations in some of the family members have been linked to autoinflammatory diseases in humans (Fig. 1). This association of mutations in NLR genes to autoinflammatory diseases indicates critical functions in the regulation of immunity and inflammation. © 2017 American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC.