Effective Scientific Writing -- Manuscripts and Grants

Name of movies produced by a Chemist!!! Fun Chemistry

Collected by Mahesh Bhatt. You can add more onto the comment box!!

1. Tero acid mero base
2. Rang de benzene
3. Hamara beaker aapke pas hai
4. Life in a Lab
5. Laga apron me daag
6. 3 test tubes
7. Hybridization kardi aapne
8. Munna bhai HCl
9. Ajab element ki gajab valency
10. My name is oxygen
11. I hate Dalton's theory
12. Jab we experiment
13. Kabhi oxidation kabhi reduction
14. Experiment ... aapna aapna
15. Jis rxn me ppt aata hai
16. Meri Boron ka Duplet
17. Compound na milage dobara
18. acid or base ka mahasangram
19. KABHI TYPHOID KHABI CHOLERA
20. MY NAME IS RHINO VIRUS
21. Bacteria ka dil virus ke pass hai
22. Hogi bacteria ki jeet
23. Once upon a time in Biotechlab
24. Ajab bacteria ka gazab disease
25. Jis bacteria me plasmid rahata he
26. Product Na Milega Dubara!!!

A Novel Platform to Investigate G-quadruplex and Ligand Interactions

A collaborative research of the scientists from United States, United Kingdom and Japan has introduced a novel platform to investigate the binding interactions between human telomeric G-quadruplexes and small molecule ligands at single molecule level. This research work has been recently published in Nature Chemistry (link: http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v3/n10/pdf/nchem.1126.pdf) which is one of the most reputed Journals in the related field. 

G-quadruplexes are four-stranded nucleic acid secondary structures formed by the guanine rich DNA and RNA sequences. The telomere is one of the critical parts of the eukaryotic chromosomes including those of humans which has propensity to form G-quadruplexes. Telomeres play a vital role in aging and cancer. In normal cells telomere is shortened each time when a cell divides and finally leads to the programmed death of the cell. However in most of the cancer cells, telomere length is maintained because of the over expression of an enzyme called telomerase. The telomerase acts on the telomere and extends its length which makes the cell immortal causing cancer.  The telomeric G-quadruplexes have been proposed to play an important role in the maintenance of telomere because quadruplex structures are not extended by the telomerase. The small molecule ligands have been demonstrated to bind to telomeric G-quadruplexes and suppress telomerase activity. This fact has begun the expansion of telomeric G-quadruplexes into potential therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. Therefore understanding the kinetic, thermodynamic, and mechanical properties of small molecule binding to these structures is important but the classical ensemble assays are unable to measure these properties simultaneously. This novel platform provides the all information at once.

The single molecule assay employs a telomeric G-quadruplex structure to evaluate its interaction with small-molecule ligands in a laser tweezers instrument. Using a force based single-molecule technique, it has been shown that ligand not only promotes the folding of human telomeric G-quadruplex but also increases its mechanical stability. This platform simplifies the dissociation constant assay without the requirement for ligand or receptor titration and offers a general platform that can be applied to other biologically relevant ligand-receptor systems. 

According to Deepak Koirala, a lead author of the paper from Nepal and PhD student of Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Kent State University, USA, this study highlights G-quadruplexes that are important dynamic structures involved in the mechanism of telomere elongation by the action of the enzyme complex telomerase. He adds "the mechanical information acquired by this system could provide novel perspectives for drug testing and design in the future".

Congratulations to those starting Graduate study in Chemistry abroad, 2011

We would like to congratulate following fellow Nepalese chemists who departed from Nepal this year for higher studies (MS/PhD) in western countries. This list may not be complete. Your input is necessary to complete this.

1. Rishi Sapkota, University of New Mexico, USA
2. Janak Poudyal, Florida International University, USA
3. Ram Khattri, Akron University, USA
4. Binod Nepal, Utah State University, USA
5. Dipak Giri, Kansas State University, USA
6. Arun Sapkota, North Carolina Central University, USA
7. Ramjee Kandel, Tohoku University, Japan
8. Radheshyam Pant, University of Missouri-Rolla, USA
9. Rajesh Adhikari, Sun Moon University, South Korea
10. Ritesh Gurung, Sun Moon University, South Korea
11. Jay Jha, Southern Illinois University, USA

Thank you Hem and Mount Everest Chemist.

Winners of 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Predictions!!

Time is coming soon to see a list of new names for Nobel prize. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be announced on Wednesday 5 October, 11:45 a.m. CET, 9:45 a.m. GMT, according to Nobel.org.


But who will win this time? Lets see the names predicted by thomsonreuters.com for Chemistry.

• Allen J. Bard 
  University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX USA 
  WHY: for the development and application of scanning electrochemical microscopy
• Jean M. J. Fréchet 
  Department of Chemistry, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley CA USA, and Vice President of Research, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
  WHY: with Donald A. Tomalia and Fritz Vögtle, for the invention and development of dendritic polymers
• Martin Karplus 
  Harvard University, Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France 
  WHY: for pioneering simulations of the molecular dynamics of biomolecules
• Donald A. Tomalia 
  Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI USA 
  WHY: with Jean M. J. Fréchet and Fritz Vögtle, for the invention and development of dendritic polymers
• Joseph P. Vacanti 
  Harvard Medical School
  WHY: with Robert S. Langer, for their pioneering research in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
• Fritz Vögtle 
  University of Bonn, Bonn Germany 
  WHY: with Jean M. J. Fréchet and Donald A. Tomalia, for the invention and development of dendritic polymers.
• Share your thoughts!!!What do you think?
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