35, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata - 700 019,West Bengal,India
|
Events
and Seminars
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35, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata - 700 019,West Bengal,India
|
Events
and Seminars
|
|
Foreword-
Dr. K. Chakraborti
Head Department
of Biochemistry |
FOREWORD |
It is a proud privilege for me to
announce the commencement of the Prof. S.C.
Roy Centenary Celebration. We at the department of Biochemistry take
this opportunity to offer our respect to the memory
of Professor Sailesh Chandra Roy and his
contribution to the development and nurturing of the department
in its formative years. The Department of Biochemistry has been fortunate
to have an illustrious personality like Professor S.C. Roy since its
very inception first as a teacher and subsequently
as the head of the
department from 1962-1969. It is the spirit and
vision of great teachers such as Prof. Roy
that has brought this department to its present standing in the national
and international fields. Prof. Roy was not
only an academician and teacher but also a person
possessing high moral values that he inculcated
in his students and all who came in contact
with him. It required great determination and vision to nurture
a fledgling subject and help in bringing it to a splendid maturity. Prof.
Roy possessed both these attributes and in addition
a very pleasant personality, which could
endear him almost instantly to even the most casual acquaintance.
At a personal level I remember the awe with which I first approached
him, as a junior student, to pay him my respect. I had heard
about his knowledge and great commitment and sacrifice
for the national cause. In an instant he
had put his arm on my shoulder and smiling benignly he
made me feel the warmth of his affectionate welcome. Teaching
and research have always been intrinsically linked at the Department
of Biochemistry. The great pioneers of the likes of Prof. B.C. Guha
and Prof. S.C. Roy laid the foundations of the curriculum and research
areas of Biochemistry and their illustrious and
worthy students took up the challenge in
the years that came. All through these years, the department has
been guided by the need to constantly update and reorient its curriculum
and venture boldly into the emerging areas of research.
In doing so the department has diversified
its thrust areas both in teaching and research so as
to offer its students and research workers the competitive edge in the
national and international fields.
Today the department in addition to its core biochemistry
curricula has developed teaching and research
expertise in the areas of Nutritional Biochemistry,
Neurobiochemistry, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Reproductive
Biology, Clinical Biochemistry, Immunology, Plant Biochemistry, Biocomputation
and Environmental Biology. These subjects form major thrust areas
in research throughout the world. The objective of this department is
to equip its students and researchers with the myriad
tools and ideas of
biochemistry that would help them to integrate and
coordinate the constantly emerging opportunities
of modern day biological science. Presently this department
is acting as a coordinating agent for three relatively new departments
(1) Prof.B.C.Guha Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
(2) Microbiology and (3) Environmental Science. In recognition of
its contribution in the development of quality research and teaching the
department has received grants in the form of financial
assistance from UGC
(COSIST, 1985), DSA Phase I, II and III (1990,1996,2002)
and DST (FIST 2003). These grants have been
utilized to develop infrastructure and laboratory
facilities in this department and these facilities have been extended
to a number of Institutes and Universities of this state. The
founding fathers of this department, driven by their scholastic and nationalistic
zeal were constantly aware of the need for self-reliance and the need
to spread the benefits of research and teaching far and wide. Today this
department feels proud of its achievements and its
success in placing students in eminent positions
in a variety of fields not only in research and academics
but also in industry and as entrepreneurs. True to its spirit the department
encourages academic exchanges between teachers, students and scholars
of various institutions both nationally and internationally through summer
school training, seminars, educational tours and invited lectures by
visiting faculty members.
This symposium entitled "Advances in
Biochemistry: A Portal for Multi-tasking opportunities"
is intended to present the viewpoints of eminent scientists
from diverse disciplines which we are confident would encourage us to
utilize biochemistry successfully in newer and unexplored areas of science.
I thank Prof. Asis Kr. Banerjee, honourable Vice-Chancellor,
University of
Calcutta (the Chairman of DSA Phase III programme
and the president of the present function),
Professor Siddhartha Roy (Director, IICB, Kolkata, the Guest
of Honor) and all the distinguished personalities who have honored us
with their presence. I offer sincere thanks to all
my colleagues, scholars, non-teaching staff
and students for their interest and active participation in
this programme. Our alumni both in India and abroad
who have supported us and offered us valuable
suggestions deserve my heartfelt thanks. Owing to certain
constraints it was not possible to reach each one of our well- wishers,
I regret this failing.
I earnestly hope that this symposium serves the
purpose of constructive and imaginative scientific
interaction leading to newer avenues for applications of biochemistry.
This ultimately would be the most fitting tribute to the memory of
Prof.S.C.Roy.
Dated: November 17, 2004. Dr. K. Chakraborti
Head, Department
of Biochemistry University of Calcutta.
| EDITORIAL
|
When I joined this Department in
1958 as a student of M.Sc. class, I should
concede now that I was very much confused. I knew this department was
founded by a world renowned biochemist who was also officially the Head
of the Department, but I was informed that he was away and engaged as
a high level administrator in Damoder Valley Corporation (what a job for a
biochemist to run a hydroelectric project!). The
second in the Department in its administrative
line was Dr. S.C.Roy. Again I was informed that he was an
armed revolutionary so much so that colonial rulers
had to lodge him in high security prisons
at Hijli and Buxa during our struggle for independence for more
than ten years. As our regular Head of the Department was absent, we
the new entrants had no choice but to tip toe over
the swing door of the sitting room of the
‘Acting Head’. To our utter surprise instead of a dreaded ‘terrorist’
we found a calm and quite gentleman clad in all whites and wearing a
kind of smile on his face which we could expect only from our parents.
From that very day we understood that within his
frail body he carried a very big heart where
we, his students could easily dig in. In fact his students and associates
all were the part of his personal life. After
the sudden death of Prof. B.C. Guha in 1962, Prof.
S.C. Roy took over the charge of orphaned Department
and cared for it till his retirement in 1969.
During his tenure he shaped the Department as we see
it now. The student intake increased from 8 to 60, the faculty and supporting
staff strength increased more than three folds. The Department was
shifted from the Applied Chemistry building to its own house. By his
tireless effort and tactful approach he could secure
a large fund from the UGC and equip the Department
with modern tools and made it a leading center
in the country for biochemistry teaching and research. Prof.
Roy participated in the armed revolutionary movement
for emancipation of our motherland from the British rule when he was
just a school boy. He did his M. Sc. in Physical Chemistry from Dhaka
University and joined Prof. Guha’s Laboratoy as
research scholar preferring biochemistry
as his future field of study. His educational career was intercepted
many times as he had to spend a large part of his youthful days behind
the bar in maximum security prisons (which were equivalent to ill famed
concentration camps) of the British rulers. For his doctoral thesis he
worked on Ascorbigen and different other problems
related to Ascorbic acid metabolism. After
obtaining his D.Sc. degree from this University he joined with
Prof. Albert Szent Gyorgei in his laboratory at Woods Hole of Bethesda,
USA. While working at this place he came in contact
with several Nobel Laureates (apart from
Szent Gyorgei) like Meyerhof, Warburg, Neuberg and Lowie.
He also worked in the Laboratory of Barron at the Medical School Centre,
Chicago, for physico – chemical charaoterizatrein of muscle proteins
and learned the techniques used in biochemical analysis,
which were very ‘modern’ at that time including
the use of radioactive tracer compounds.
After returning from USA he joined as a teacher
in this Department. It may be mentioned here
that he was first to use radioactive tracer technique in biochemical
study in India. As a member of the Faculty
of this Department he developed his own Laboratory
and research groups. His research interests were
widely divergent, which covered biosynthesis of vitamins B2 and B12 in
Microorganisms, protein synthesis in plant mitochondria,
use of unconventional plant seeds as sources
of fatty acids and lipids, human essential
hypertension and biochemical studies on human uterine cancer tissues.
About fifty students come out with Ph.D. and D.Sc. degrees from his laboratory.
Many of his students became leading international figure in the subject.
His most loved research field was probably the cancer cells. His dating
with cancer came to end with his death, after brief illness, due to lung
cancer on Independence Day of 1989. As
a matter of coincidence we are celebrating the birth
centenary of our two great teachers, Prof. Guha who created this Department
and Prof. Roy who nurtured it earnestly to make it grow strong. In
the centenary year we realize how strong is the foundation of this Department.
The strong foundation assures firm growth. The
students were part and parcel of Prof. Roy’s life. He used
to cover them his tender love, protect them from all adversaries and
enthuse them at the time of despair. He was a constant
source of inspiration for all of them.
In this occasion, we remember our revered teacher,
Prof.
Sailesh Chandra Roy, who was a great visionary.
He had very high dreams for his students
and for his Department. Now it is our turn to follow his life and
teaching to make his dreams real.
A.B.Banerjee.
Professor Sailesh Chandra Roy belonged to those
very few Indians who were acknowledged and
admired in both academic world and
the political world, connected to the nationalist
movement in the pre - independence period
in India. One striking feature of Professor
Roy’s personality was the unbridgeable gap he used
to maintain between these two worlds in his
daily life. ‘LOCO PARENTIS‘ FIGURE IN THE
APPLIED BIOCHEMISTRY LABORATORY To-day while
paying my homage to Professor Sailesh Chandra Roy (more familiar
to all of us as Sai1eshda), my mind goes back to nearly sixty years back,
in the mid - 1940' s, when we first entered the Department of Applied
Chemistry as a student, in the M. Sc. Applied Biochemistry
classes of the department. Unlike the other
sections in the Department (Oils and Fat section,
Ceramics section), the conditions of the Applied Biochemistry was
miserable with no appointed teachers because Professor
B.C. Guha, the Head of the Department as
well as head of the Section, was on leave and on lien to
the Ministry of Food, Govt. of India, as the Chief Technical Adviser in Food
and Nutrition. On the first day of our class, when
we came to know that Professor Guha will
not be able to take the biochemistry class, we all became
disappointed, a few amongst us even changed their
preference for other specialization. However,
to the rest of the group, who remained practically stuck
to the Applied Biochemistry, there was some silver lining in the dark
clouds with the appearance of Dr. Sailesh Chandra
Roy as our teacher, who ungrudgingly came
forward to take the reins of teaching programme, just at
the request of Prof. B. C. Guha. Without caring
for any official intimidation.9 from the
University Office, Saileshda (by this time we were all acceptable to
him as Saileshda) started taking our regular classes
with unimaginable care and sympathetic, understanding,
which practically made us forget the absence,
of Professor Guha for the time being. Apart from under taking the
teaching responsibility, Saileshda was ever available
for consultation to all the senior research
workers working at that time in Prof. Guha's big laboratory
room, at the ground floor of the building. To all the senior research
workers like Dr. Durlav Roy; Dr. Sudhangshu Roy, Dr. Arabinda Bose,
Dr. Sushil K. Bose, Dr. Paresh Pal and many others whom I do not recall
individually at the moment were all receiving the suggestions and assistances,
whenever needed, about their research work from Saileshda,
while Professor Guha was away at Delhi. Saileshda
with his sympathetic personality and everhelping
attitude was like a ‘loco parentis’ or a local guardian-like-figure
in the applied biochemistry laboratory during those earlier
days in the 1940’s.
AT PROFESSOR SZENT- GYÖRGYI’S LABORATORY, WOODSHOLE,
N.Y., USA: MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES
Some time in 1949 - 50, Saileshda went to the Woodshole
Laboratory in the USA, as a "Visiting scientist"
to work with Professor Szent- Györgyi;, who had by
this time immigrated from Europe and settled at Woodshole, which was
known as the biologists' paradise for its unparalleled
natural beauty and bio-diversity. Woodshole
was also famous for another reason - it was the Mecca for
the annual meeting place of all the top biochemists like Warburg, Meyerhof,
Nachmansohn, Lipmann, Ochoa and many others during every- summer
in those post-war years. Obviously this was the occasion for any aspiring,
younger biochemist to come closer to these "giants" in a very
informal atmosphere. I still cherish preserving
a copy of the group photo of
these stalwarts, which I procured from Saileshda.
Equally stimulating was the laboratory environment
where the research laboratory remained accessible 24
hours a day, as described by him on later occasion..10 INTEREST
IN CANCER METABOLISM STUDY ORIGINATED FROM HIS BRIEF DISCUSSION
WITH WARBURG AT WOODSHOLE While at the Woodshole,
the most unforgettable experience in his research career
was the brief discussion he had with Prof. Otto Warburg, who was at
that time most critically involved with the controversial
hypothesis -‘whether the aerobic glycolysis
resulting from mitochoncdial damage is the cause or effect
of cancer formation’. Warburg fanatically believed that it was the cause
whereas Sydney Weinhouse, Warbug's ex-student, and
the whole American School believed that it
was simply the effect. This controversial hypothesis
brought a commotion in the then bio-chemical world
in the late 1940's. Naturally and quite expectedly,
during this brief discussion, Saileshda had a glimpse
of the turbulent personality of Otto Warburg, for which he was so well
known to all his ex-collaborators in his laboratory! All these colorful
interactions left no doubt some impression on his
future research programme in the building
of his research school at Calcutta University. RE-ESTABLISHMENT
OF THE BIOCHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT TO THE
BALLYGUNGE SCIENCE COLLEGE CAMPUS INITIATED BY PROF.
ROY. The shifting and re-establishment of
the Department of Biochemistry from the Rajabazar
Campus to the Ballygunge Science College Campus was done in
the mid-1960’s, during Prof. Roy's time. No doubt this shifting has been
vital for further expansion and development of the
department, which has
taken place in the last two or three decades. All
teachers and students therefore gratefully
remember Professor Sailesh Chandra Roy on this occasion
of his birth centenary celebration.
| TO
PROFESSOR S. C. ROY – A HOMAGE- Prof.
T. M. DAS |
Adversity often makes a man and perhaps
also an institution, provided the challenge
is met with courage, determination and above all indomitable spirit.
This is very aptly illustrated by the life of Professor S.C. Roy and the
development of the Department of Biochemistry, Calcutta
University. Dr. Roy joined the laboratory
of late Professor B.C. Guha after a political detention of
more than ten years. He participated in the revolutionary
movement for the emancipation of our motherland
from the British domination when he was quite
young – just a schoolboy. From the very beginning he had been steeled
and groomed well for a revolutionary life involving
much hazards and hardships. His untiring
zeal for revolutionary work, organizing ability and
above all his devotion and dedication to the cause
of our country, very soon put him high in
the hierarchy of leadership. As such he was very often entrusted
with jobs, requiring exceptional ability, caution, devotion and drive.
It may be stated that any of them could land him
to fatal disaster. Dr. S.C. Roy was a bright
M.Sc. in Physical Chemistry of Dacca University and
Professor J.C. Ghosh and his younger brother Professor B.N. Ghosh introduced
Roy to Dr. B.C. Guha, who was the Professor of Applied
Chemistry, Calcutta University. Dr.
Roy was by discipline and training a physical chemist. He had been practically
cut off from the scientific world for nearly a decade. To add to that
biochemistry was entirely a new subject, if not
Greek to him. He took a
revolutionary decision in preferring biochemistry
for his future field of study and research.
His mind was exceptionally receptive and resourceful. By dint of
sheer hard work, sustained labour and steadfast pursuit he caught up with
the subject in a minimum of time and was in a position
to be of considerable assistance to Prof.
Guha in teaching and research.. Biochemistry
was then a small section under Applied Chemistry and very ill-equipped
for biochemical research. Items of equipment at
that time were an
ordinary centrifuge, a freeze (3-4 ºC) a Warburg
manometer, a few incubators, autoclaves and
an animal house not worthy of the name. These scanty
resources put a great constrain on the choice of research activity. Pet
problem with Prof. Guha after his return from Cambridge
was ‘ascorbigen’ (supposed precursor of ascorbic
acid) and a number of workers tumbled on it
in their attempt to establish its identity. Roy
was given the problem of isolation, purification
and if possible crystallization of the product from natural
sources, such as green cabbage, etc. As there was no fellowship, Roy
had to work without any financial assistance for
more than two and half years. In spite of
that he put his heart and soul on the problem, worked from
morning 8 a.m. till 9-10 p.m. in the night. He had
to do this because cabbage was seasonal in
our locality and he had to process the raw material up
to a certain stage suitable for storage and future use. Time was very hard
for him because he had to earn his livelihood on
tuition fees from students he coached and
also by contributing to some Malaysian daily and weekly,
commentary on current political affairs in India.
We have information that these articles were
very much appreciated by the Indian community there. Those
sources were also suddenly cut off with the Japanese occupation of Singapore
and Far Eastern countries during the World War II. He
carried out extensive work on various aspects of ascorbic acid metabolism
and the mechanism of accelerated synthesis in rats
under narcotics. For this work Roy was awarded
D. Sc., which is the highest degree of our University.
Afterwards, Dr. Roy was offered a fellowship to
work with Prof. A. Szent-Györgyi at
Woods Hole or Bethesda.
He was very warmly received at Woods Hole by Prof.
Szent- Györgyi and his group, consisting
mostly of his old research associates from Hungary. He remembered
with fond memory the kindness, warmth and affection he. received
from his Prof. (Szent- Györgyi was endearingly called so by his
research associates) and his wife, a highly accomplished
lady. She was
almost like a mother to the whole group.
Woods Hole is one of the most picturesque places
in the States and a very
pleasant summer resort. Marine Biological Laboratory
(MBL) and the Institute of Oceanography stood
majestically amidst sylvan setting with blue expanses of
the sea playing around. The abundance of fauna and marine species attracted
a host of biologists, particularly biochemists, physiologist, etc. to
MBL during the summer session. The institute offered
exceptional facilities
for work. Academic and research atmosphere that
prevailed there at that time was unique.
Seminars, symposia, lectures, group discussions, workshop training
for different techniques, were amongst a few of the routine programme.
Six Nobel Laureates - Meyerhof, Warburg, Neuberg, Lowie, Szent-
Györgyi were amongst them. Their participation in all these activities
greatly heightened the general interest. Summer
months in Woods Hole were really bonanza
for biochemists and people of allied disciplines. Woods
Hole gave people opportunity for coming in contact with others who were
really pioneers in their respective fields. This greatly helped cross-fertilization
of ideas, which is essential for development and
growth of science. It was here Roy became
somewhat intimate with Warburg, a teciturn type,
very grave, not encouraging any personal intimacy beyond his close
circle of limited friends. Roy was a close neighbor
to Warburg at Woods Hole and as such got
some opportunity to come in contact with him and this soon developed
into some intimacy. Roy used to call at Warburg and occasionally spend
evening with him. Warburg was very much Interested to know the status
of biochemistry as an independent discipline of science and teaching
and research facility in our country at the University
level and so on. He was not very much in
favour of instrument-based research though himself a great experimentalist
and held "Idea is the last word in research and not the instrument".
It is true, but we have long outlived the time of Warburg and to. depend
on sophisticated instruments for our biological research, but supremacy
of idea in science is still there and will remain so for the most time
to come. The 'Double Helix' is a glorious example to that.
Prof. Roy and his group worked in the following
areas: (1) Protein biosynthesis, (2) Biochemical
studies of human uterine cancer,
(3) Biosynthesis and metabolism of some Vitamins,
(4) Vitamin K and prothrombin, (5) Human
essential hypertension, (6) Bacterial metabolism. In
each of these fields his associates made quite significant contributions as
will be evidenced from a large number of publications
to their credit. About fifty of his students
and research associates have been the recipients of Ph. D.
& D. Sc. degree of our University. Many of his research associates are at
preset holding high academic and executive positions
in India and abroad.
By his tireless effort and tactful approach Dr.
Roy was able to secure good funds from the
University Grants Commission and equipped the department with
almost all the modem tools necessary for biochemical research and teaching.
Within a very short space of time the department became a leading centre
in India for biochemical research and teaching, and attain considerable
international reputation. The new trend for
the development of interdisciplinary-studies in biological sciences
under 'life science' gained much momentum in different Indian universities.
More than 12 universities of India have included this new course
of study in their academic curriculum. Our University
is perhaps in a position to claim that Life
Science for the first time in India came into being and was given
a concrete shape and formulation. We organized the Centre for study and
research in our University in 1968. Prof. Roy being a biochemist of multi-disciplinary
outlook and man of exceptional fore-sight and drive
played the
most decisive role in bringing our Calcutta University
to initiate works on multi-disciplinary problems
with sowing the seeds of study and researches on ecology
and environmental sciences. We first initiated the works on social. accounting
of natural resources, we assessed the environmental benefit rendered
by a medium size tree for 50 years is equivalent to over 15 lakhs of
rupees which was internationally acclaimed and gave
rise to a new methodology for Social Accounting
and Corporate Social Reporting of intrinsic value
of natural resources. Indian Association of Biological Sciences was amalgamated
with the Centre and continued to publish its research journal 'Indian
Biologist' since the last 36 years from 1968. I
have the unique opportunity of working with him in the field of environmental
science and other academic fields for a long time. His personal and
endearing touch has always added grace to and enlivens all our activities.
I fervently hope that his unstained help and guidance would always
be with us and we would hold them as precious assets
in our life. I hereby offer my sincere love
and deep gratitude as homage to him in his Birth Centenary.
| My
reminiscence of Professor S.C.Roy -
Prof. Manju Mukherjee |
My association with Prof. S.C.Roy
dates back to Sept. 1959, when I Joined the
laboratory of Prof. Roy at Rajabazar Science College as an ICMR research
Scholar, after leaving my post of Biochemist at
S. S. K. M. Hospital, IPGMER,
Calcutta. I have
many fond memories of Prof. S.C.Roy who was a friend, philosopher and
guide to many of us in true sense. With his pleasing personality and
inspiring leadership, he had the capacity to instill
scientific curiosity and a sense of confidence
in the mind of his students. Prof. Roy had varied research
interest at that time; besides his favourite field of research - protein
biosynthesis in plant mitochondria, other areas
were: human uterine cancer, biosynthesis
and metabolism of some vitamins and human essential
hypertension. Prof.
Roy assigned me with the task of isolating Riboflavin from pseudomonas
species – a strain ‘isolated’ in the laboratory by Dr. Subrata Ganguly.
I later learnt that the project was continuing for the last 2-3 years
and one ‘Khokada’ (Arabinda Guha) and Nilimadi had
left for the USA after working unsuccessfully
on that project. Sir was confident that I would not
leave the project abruptly since I was recently
married and my husband just returned from
Germany. The environment in the lab was very
congenial and I don’t recall any unpleasant
feeling among fellow scholars. We used to work in the 1 st floor lab
of Applied Chemistry building where Amiya Banerjee,
Rajsudhir Mitra, Arati, Sreelekha, Bijon
Ghosh and Ranjit Dutta have been working. Dwarikda was working
on a Tea-board project. Dr. N.C. Ganguly
used to sit in the next room where Hirenda (H.K.Das),
Shantida, Rashbehari Guchhait also worked and so
far I remember, Arun Baran Banerjee and Ananda
Chakraborty have been working on their M.Sc.. project.
Pradip Roy Barman, Sumitra, Jharnadi and others used to work under
Prof. B.C. Guha in the groundfloor laboratory. I
remember with nostalgia our tiffin time at the canteen where Amiya used to
sing with his melodious voice. Prof. Roy trained
many excellent students, who, in later years,
have earned international recognition for their research
in Biochemistry. He took active interest in the
development of all students and took pride
in their accomplishments.
For my research I had to handle very large quantities
of culture media and Sir had kindly assigned
his nephew Jyotirmoy to help me in this work. Subrata
Ganguly often came after his office at ICI to supervise the progress
of my work since he was the initiator of the project.
Sir was very upset when I eventually left
the project in August 1960 for my doctoral study at Tuebingen
University, West Germany. Though my stay at Germany was very pleasant
and successful in getting the coveted Alexender von Humboldt
Fellowship, I was disappointed to learn that Biochemistry
was not recognized as separate science subject
in Germany even in 1962. My Ph. D. supervisor Prof.
Dr. Karl Brecht wrote to Prof. S.C. Roy about the problem. Sir helped
me and as per his suggestion I submitted the thesis
for D.Sc. degree of Calcutta University.
His kindness and help overwhelmed me, although I did
not join his lab at that time. Prof.
Roy advised me to join the Dept. of Biochemistry at Ballygunge Science
College as pool officer (CSIR) in 1966 after my
return from the USA. He assigned me teaching
Physiology and Endocrinology to M.Sc. Biochemistry students.
I am grateful to Sir that he initiated my teaching and research career
at the Biochemistry dept., which I continued for the next 34 years. I
remember many pleasant and fruitful moments of my long association with
Prof. S.C. Roy. I was impressed by his greatness
as a teacher, his affection for his students
and his humane nature. Sir had good command in English
language and writing and gave me useful suggestions
for writing a paper. We fondly remember the
Bijoya Sammilani at his residence. Sir liked to have big lunch
gathering for his research scholars and I was often invited with my children..18
He was a connoisseur of good things. I had the good
luck to having very good quality of Darjeeling
tea served in fine china crockery, which Sir brought
from Japan. He was very music loving and enjoyed listening to long playing
records of western classical music of Beethoven, Mozart that I brought
from Germany. Often Prof. S.C. Roy commemoration lecture was followed
by a Rabindra Sangeet session. I think it
will not be out of context to mention about Prof. S.C. Roy Commemoration
Committee and the lectures.
The idea of offering felicitation to Prof. S.C.
Roy after his retirement was first mooted
by Dr. Durlav Kr. Roy. A committee was eventually formed in July, 1980
with some faculty members of the University, Prof. Roy’s old associates
here and abroad and his friends – with Prof. S.K.
Mukherjee, ex Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta
University as President, Prof. J. J. Ghosh and Prof.
T.M. Das as secretaries and Prof. G.C.Chatterjee
and myself as treasurers. We have received
liberal financial aid from many of Prof. Roy’s old students in
the USA and also from here. I had the opportunity to discuss about the
program (during my visit to the USA in 1981), with
some of Prof. Roy’s students – like Amiya
Banerjee, Umadas Maitra, Naba Gupta, Ananda Chakraborty,
Subhas Basu, Salil Das and others. The overwhelming response by
way of contribution was very encouraging and Amiya handed over to me a
dollar draft when I left USA in May 1981.
To celebrate 76 th Birthday of Prof. Roy, 1 st commemoration
function was held
in December 1981, coinciding with the Silver Jubilee
celebration of the Biochemistry department.
A commemoration volume containing scientific papers
was published as a befitting tribute to Sir. The committee decided to
institute an annual "Prof. S.C. Roy award"
to an outstanding Biochemist or Life Scientist.
1 st medal for 1981 was awarded to one of Prof.
Roy’s illustrious students –
Dr. Ananda Mohan Chakraborty. For
the past two decades, the committee has been able to invite distinguished
colleagues and students of Sir from here and abroad and listen to
their contribution to their respective areas. Many of Prof. Roy’s freedom.19
fighter friends and Shri Hiren Dutta Gupta of East
India Pharmaceutical Works were always present
in these functions.
I must admit that we were fortunate in having Sir
always with us in the initial years – editing
the commemoration volume, suggesting the names of the awardees
and for revival of funds. Sir suggested to include the name of Dr. D.J.
Chattopadhyay as co-treasurer after the illness of Prof. G.C.Chatterjee.
The meticulous care with which Prof. T.M.Das looked
after the publication, communicating with
the awardees and other activities of the committee promised
success of the commemoration festival. Thus
with the award presentation ceremony every year, we have an occasion
to remember Prof. Roy and pay our respect and appreciation
for his
contribution to the department as well as to the
discipline of Biochemistry. Sir, who was
a disciplined man, non-smoker taking morning walk everyday at dawn
had to suffer from lung cancer. I think it is an irony of my fate when
Sir breathed his last on August 15, 1989; I was
then the Head of the Dept. of Biochemistry
to which he initiated me. May his soul rest
in peace.
| INAUGURAL
PROGRAMME |
November 17, 2004
10:00 A.M. Registration
11:00 A.M. Invocation
11:05 A.M. Welcome Address:
Dr. K. Chakraborti, Head,
Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Calcutta
11:10 A.M. Address by Prof. D. J. Chattopadhyay,
Dean,
Faculty of Science, University of Calcutta
11:15 A.M. Address by Prof. S. Roy, Director,
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Jadavpur
11:25 A.M. Reminiscence
11:45 A.M. Address by Prof. Asis K Banerjee
Vice Chancellor, University of Calcutta
11:55 A.M. Vote of Thanks: Prof. M. K. Poddar,
Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Calcutta
12:00 P.M. Tea Break
12:30 P.M. Scientific Programme.
| SCIENTIFIC
PROGRAMME |
12:30
– 1:15 P.M. CHAIRPERSON: Prof. B. B. Biswas
Former-Director, Bose Institute, Kolkata
Speaker: Prof. T. Ramasarma
INSA Honorary Scientist, Solid State & Structural
Chemistry
Unit and Department of Biochemistry
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Coenzyme Q, a vitamin?
1:15 – 2:00 P.M. Lunch
2:00 – 2:35 P.M. CHAIRPERSON: Prof. Sudhamoy
Ghosh
Former-Prof., BREF-BIOTEK, IIT-Kharagpur
Speaker: Dr. H. S. Sen
Director
Central Research Institute for Jute & Allied
Fibres
Kolkata, West Bengal.
New Frontiers of research in jute and allied
fibres
2:35 – 3:10 P.M. Speaker: Dr. Raman K Roy
AstraZeneca India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India
TB: The unmet Medical need & a fresh perspective
for
the Drug Discovery Path.
3:10 - 3:30 P.M. Tea Break
3:30 – 4:05 P.M. CHAIRPERSON: Prof. J. J. Ghosh
Former-Head, Dept. of Biochemistry,
University of Calcutta
Speaker: Dr. Nishit K Mukhopadhyay
Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital,
Harvard Medical School, USA.
Unraveling Androgen Receptor Interactions by
Proteomic Approach
4:05 – 4:40 P.M. Speaker: Dr. Ranjan Sen
Laboratory of Transcription Biology Center for DNA
fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad.
Mechanism of transcription termination and
antitermination in E.coli.
4:40 – 5:15 P.M. Speaker: Dr. Tamal Raha
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of Massachusetts
Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
| PROFESSOR
S.C.ROY BIRTH CENTENARY CELEBRATION COMMITTEE
|
Patron
Prof. Asish K. Banerjee
Vice Chancellor, University of Calcutta
Advisory Members
Dr. S. K. Basu. New Delhi
Prof. A Datta. New Delhi
Prof.(Mrs) K Datta, New Delhi
Prof. Sudhamoy Ghosh, Kolkata
Dr. Dolly Ghosh, Kolkata
Prof. S.C.Pakrashi, Kolkata
Prof. T.M.Das, Kolkata
Prof. N.C.Ganguly, Delhi
Prof. H.K.Das, Delhi
Dr. Pabitra Maitra, Kolkata
DR. Amit Sen, Kolkata
Prof. Malaya Gupta, Kolkata
Prof. J.J.Ghosh, Kolkata
Prof. S.K.Bose, Kolkata
Prof. G.C.Chatterjee, Kolkata
Prof. I.B.Chatterjee, Kolkata
Prof. Manju Mukherjee, Kolkata
Dr S. Maitra, Kolkata.
Organising Committee
President: Dr. Subrata Ganguly
Vice President: Prof.D.J.Chattopadhyay
Convenor : Dr. K.Chakrabarti,
Head, Dept. of Biochemistry.
Treasurer : Prof. M.K. Poddar
Members:
Prof A Mondal,Biochem.Dept.
Prof. A. B.Banerjee, Biochem.Dept
Prof,C. K. Ghosh, Biochem.Dept
Prof.A.K.Bhattacharyya,Biochem.Dept
Prof S. K. Banerjee, Biochem.Dept
Prof. M.K. Poddar, Biochem.Dept
Dr. A. Dasgupta, Biochem.Dept
Dr.(Mrs)M.Bhattacharyya,Biochem.Dept.
Dr. (Mrs) M. Dasgupta, Biochem.Dept
Dr. P. K. Bag, Biochem.Dept
Dr. S. Ghosh, Biochem.Dept.
| ABSTRACT
OF PAPERS |
Prof. T. Ramasarma
Honorary Distinguished Chair, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting
& Diagnostics,
Hyderabad 500 076,
INSA Honorary Scientist, Solid State & Structural
Chemistry Unit and
Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore 560 012.
At the University of Wisconsin (USA), Crane et al.
discovered in 1957 a lipid-quinone in mitochondria
and named it coenzyme Q. Delineation of its function
in electron transport chain had opened its redox-based cellular role.
At the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, we
found in 1961that coenzyme Q is not confined
to mitochondria and is distributed in liver cell fractions.
Other functions became implicit. Indeed Mellors and Tappel found in
1966 its antioxidant function of protecting membranes. Is the cellular
function of coenzyme Q restricted to "redox only"?
Morton and coworkers at the University of Liverpool
(U.K.) independently
discovered the same compound, and named it ubiquinone.
Helping in its isolation was the advantage
of its enormous increase in the liver of animal deficient
in vitamin A, later found by us to be due to decreased catabolism. The
native molecule was absorbed through intestines into liver, and was degraded,
but not when the side-chain double bonds were saturated. Quinone
products with truncated side-chain were found to be excreted in urine
of animals fed coenzyme Q by Gloor et al. at Hoffman-La Roche,
Switzerland (with Q9), and later Imada et al. in
Japan (with Q7). Coenzyme Q is ubiquitous
with varying length of the side-chain isoprene units
(animals and plants, Q10; rats/mice and insects, Q9; yeasts, Q6/7; bacteria,
Q8/9/10). No diet is free of coenzyme Q and its consumption is therefore
inescapable in any form of food. Then how is it only Q10 is present in
animals and humans? Are other forms not absorbed? Experimentally
Coenzyme Q, a vitamin?
homologues of Q10 - Q6 given orally were absorbed
into liver, albeit in small amounts. These
absorbed compounds must be degraded rapidly. Do these degraded
products appear in blood and tissues transiently and exhibit other functions?
We made an observation in 1968 that blood pressure
decreased in a hypertensive patient given
Q10 30 mg daily for few days. Several reports appeared
after from Japan and USA on this NO-like effect of fed lipid quinone.
Indeed is used extensively for this purpose. Treatment of coenzyme
Q with ozone yielded a degradation product having unmodified ring
that retained its spectral characteristics and a truncated side-chain that
made it water-soluble. This derivative, but not
the intact lipid-quinone, showed relaxation
of phenylephrine-contracted rat arterial rings. This effect offers
an explanation for the known hypotensive action of exogenous coenzyme
Q regardless of its side-chain length.
New Frontiers of research in jute and
allied fibres
Dr. H.S. Sen
Director,
Central Research Institute for Jute & Allied
Fibres
P.O. Barrackpore, Kolkata – 700 120, West Bengal
Prospects of jute and allied fibres have been a
subject of fresh review in terms of various
value added uses identified for each in the wake of deep inroads
of polythene and polythene based products into the market. In the recent
past fresh assessments have been made in several quarters involving researchers,
planners and developmental agencies taking into consideration the
nitty-gritty of the issues in terms of market potentiality of the fibre based
products vis-à-vis synthetic products inside
and outside the country. The
picture gradually emerging is that all these fibre
crops should have still wider prospects in
the future in view of these being eco-friendly and renewable. To achieve
the fresh target in production which may have an accelerated growth in
future days all stakeholders involved in the production of fibre, manufacture
of fibre based products and those in the marketing sector have
to work in a systems approach mode. This should
essentially involve developing a comprehensive
jute policy in the first place by the government taking
into consideration every aspect of the entire chain. CRIJAF
has been involved over more than fifty years in looking into the research
on productivity of fibres, which now has more than doubled as national
average in jute since fifties. Progress has not been so spectacular in
other allied fibres, although reasonable progress
has been made for each including ramie, sisal,
mesta and sunnhemp. Flax, being one of the highly demanding
fine quality fibres, has been a neglected area so far and deserves
much more attention in future. Perhaps, production
alone is no more the main issue. Alongwith
this quality improvement has to be addressed with equal
importance in view of various diversified uses coming into the market
other than the traditional uses so far in jute in
the form of hessian sacks and CBC.
CRIJAF has considered various approaches to address
the quality issues, in particular, and has
already yielded results mainly through genetic manipulation.
A significant achievement made in quality front through normal
hybridization programme is development of a line
with optimal lignin content to stabilize
at around 8-10% in contrast to 13-14% normally present in jute. This
is already in advanced generation. A number of other important varieties
with improved quality fibre has already been developed. Protocols for
tissue culture in jute and sisal have already been established in this
institute waiting for commercialization. There are
various other means for genetic manipulation
and CRIJAF, for that matter, is concentrating on wide
stock of germplasms available in its gene bank,
particularly the wild species. Studies on
identification of molecular markers of capsularis and olitorius jute
were initiated. Standardization of DNA isolation
protocol and PCR protocol for RAPD analysis
were partially completed. Breeding for complex
characters like drought, salt or flood tolerance or yield
characteristics for crop improvement is difficult because these characters
are controlled by more than one gene that is they are quantitative
traits. The improvement of quantitative traits has
been an important goal for many plant breeding
programs. The breeder would like to identify as early as
possible those lines which contain QTL alleles that contribute to a high
value of the trait under selection and assemble
the QTLs having positive effects to develop
a new variety with higher yield level. Exploitation of heterosis
in jute is another area which will enable the breeder to boost the yield
level further. In this backdrop, biotechnological approaches are
considered to pay rich dividends in future.
The other issues to be addressed include developing
varieties tolerant to biotic stress conditions,
weed management by biological means, and microbial
intervention for retting of jute, mesta and sunnhemp. Developing
transgenic resistant lines for jute, in particular,
to combat biotic and abiotic stress is an
important area receiving serious attention at CRIJAF. Following the
examples in other crops like wheat, tobacco etc. source genes may be
identified to be incorporated in jute to overcome
the drought susceptibility. In a significant
research achievement at CRIJAF growth enhancement of
jute & mesta through inoculation of RNMV was observed. From a detailed
field verification backed with detailed laboratory
investigation the results
have shown than in energized jute plants RNMV has
significantly improved pentose phosphate
shunt, which in turn enhanced the metabolic pathway leading
to vascular differentiation better than the normal ones. The hyperactive
profiling of esterase enzyme in energized plant indicated a probable
reflection of overcoming stress situation developed in plants due to
lower fertilizer input by RNMV inoculation.
In ramie, the gum content in raw fibre is 23% or
above, which is the main detriment to quality
fibre based production by textiles. The technology so
far available for degumming is neither cost-effective nor user-friendly.
The institute developed, in collaboration with the
Biotechnology Department of Calcutta University,
a cost effective, eco-and user-friendly technology using
Bacillus strains and green papaya as pectinase source for degumming
to reduce the gum content by about 16-17%.
It is hoped that biotechnology in jute and allied
fibres in combination with conventional approaches
in breeding and other areas, a few of them as indicated
above, will guide future research in pursuit for market-driven productivity
package where allied fibres will play increasingly important role in
future.
TB: The unmet Medical need & a fresh perspective
for the Drug
Discovery Path.
Dr. Raman K Roy
AstraZeneca India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India
The search for new antibacterials in general and
for M.tb in particular, has been rather disappointing
over decades. There have been no new drugs to treat
tuberculosis in the last four decades. TB now infects one third of world
population and causes close to 8 million new cases
of active TB and 3 million deaths each year.
HIV has had a devastating impact on the existing TB control
programmes. Nine percent of all new TB cases in adults are now co-infected
with HIV. The threat of MDR-TB was long recognised
but the impact on the TB epidemic was not
perceived until in recent time. The existing regime
of drugs for the treatment of M.tb although efficacious in many ways,
has obvious limitations in an effective TB control
programme. The long duration of the therapy
and the associated side effects and non-compliance, are
the most important drawbacks of the current regime. Another limitation
of the current therapy is in the treatment of the
latent form of the disease. The physiology
of the TB organism in this state of its persistence in the human
body is totally unknown. Although TB is known to be one of the oldest
diseases inflicting the human population, the level
of academic research in understanding the
molecular and pathogenic aspect of the disease has been
rather limited, until in recent times. There
is urgent need for new drugs to combat the present scenario of the TB
epidemic. This is a very challenging task and will
demand our innovative thinking at many crucial
steps of the drug discovery process. The process of TB
drug discovery will be discussed in the context of the disease pattern and
our current knowledge of the physiology of the pathogen.
Unraveling Androgen Receptor Interactions by
Proteomic Approach
Dr. Nishit K Mukhopadhyay
Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital,
Harvard Medical
School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts
02115 USA
The functional characterization of genes and their
gene products is the main challenge of the
genomic era. Transcriptional activation of a gene involves an orchestrated
recruitment of multiple components of the basal transcription
machinery and intermediate factors. Androgen receptor
(AR), a member of the nuclear receptor (NR)
superfamily which plays a key role in proper development
and function of male reproductive organs, activates transcription
through association with androgen responsive elements (ARE) located
within the promoter regions of target genes. As a steroid induced transcriptional
regulator, AR needs to communicate with many co-activators and
co-repressors for its activity. Examining the simultaneous interactions of
AR with multiple transcription factors in the network
is a direct way to assemble the jigsaw puzzle
of AR interacting proteins into a functional map. I will
demonstrate a novel, high-througput, transcription factor-transcription
factor (TF-TF) interaction array method to capture
the AR interacting network of proteins in
a single experiment using androgen responsive cells. Moreover, while
steroid receptors act as ligand-induciable transcription factors regulating
expression of target genes, their other biological functions
including activation of diverse signal transduction
pathways are also emerging. Using this novel
(TF-TF) array technology, we have recently identified
multiple new partners of AR (). Identification and probable function
of some of the new partners of AR will be discussed
in the talk.
Mechanism of transcription termination
and antitermination in E.coli.
Dr. Ranjan Sen, Anoop Cheeran, Bibhusita
Pani, Jisha Chelesary, R.
Suganthan, G. Swapna and Irfan Bandey.
Laboratory of Transcription Biology
Center for DNA fingerprinting and Diagnostics
Hyderabad.
Transcription elongation complex comprising of RNA
polymerase (RNAP), DNA template and nascent
RNA is extremely stable and processive yet
dynamic in nature. However this complex can be readily dissociated in
response to specific signals called terminators.
These signals comprise of run of Us followed
by a hairpin in the nascent RNA in case of factor-independent terminators
and for factor dependent terminators, a protein called rho is involved.
RNA polymerase can overcome these termination signals if it is
modified by a class of factors called antiterminators.
Most well-known antierminators are N and
Q proteins and PUT RNA, all of which are from lambdoid
phages. Several host factors such as NusA, NusG etc. are also involved
in both these processes. Although the biochemical properties of terminators
and antiterminators are worked out, the basic mechanism of these
processes are still not clearly understood. Our
laboratory is focused to understand these mechanisms. Our studies
involve 1) probing of the interaction of antiterminator N with elongation
complex using genetic and biochemical techniques, 2) probing the active
site rearrangement of the elongation complex at the terminators and 3)
understanding how rho can dissociate RNAP. We have recently isolated
several RNAP mutants specifically defective to N
dependent antitermination which are located
in and around the active center. This indicates that N
exerts its effect through active site rearrangement.
In a parallel study we have also probed the
state of elongation complex stalled at terminator signals.
I will present these results in the light of the model structure of ternary
elongation complex
.
HIV-1 Tat Stimulates preinitiation Complex assembly
through an
Alternative TBP Complex that Lacks TAFs
Dr. Tamal Raha
Umass Medical Center, HHMI,
Worcester, MA 01605, USA
Typical eukaryotic transcriptional activator proteins
(activators) function by stimulating preinitiation
complex (PIC) assembly and transcription initiation. By
contrast, the human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) trans-activator
protein Tat stimulates transcription of the HIV-1
long terminal repeat (LTR) but is thought
to act by promoting transcription elongation. Here
we study the mechanism of Tat action by analyzing transcription complex
assembly in vivo using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)
assays. We find, unexpectedly, that like typical
activators Tat dramatically stimulates PIC
assembly. Most surprisingly, the PIC formed on the HIV-I LTR does
not contain TFIID but rather an alternative TATA-box-binding protein
(TBP) complex that lacks TBP-associated factors
(TAFs). Tat activity is mediated through
a direct interaction with the cellular cofactor, P-TEFb. Artificial
tethering of Tat or P-TEFb subunits to HIV-1 promoter DNA or nascent
RNA activates transcription by stimulating assembly of a PIC that
containsthe alternative TBP complex. Finally, we
show that CIITA, a cellular activator that
also uses P-TEFb as a cofactor, functions through this alternative
TBP complex. Thus, transcription of protein-coding genes in mammalian
cells involves multiple TBP complexes whose TAF compositions differ.
