Workshop at the Biophysics Soc. Meeting, Feb 2010 in San Francisco

Will you be at the Biophysical Society Meeting next week? If so, check out this workshop...


"Biosciences in India: Directions, Challenges and Opportunities"

Date: 1-3pm, Tuesday 23rd Feb., 2010.

Venue:
Biophysical Society Annual Meeting,
Moscone Convention Center (Room R124)
747 Howard Street,
San Francisco, California, 94103.

Bioscience research in India is growing at an unprecedented rate. This workshop highlights several opportunities created as a result of increased funding from the Indian government and International funding agencies, formation of new research institutes across the country, and attractive initiatives for new investigators and young scientists. The event will focus on questions encountered by postdocs from US and Europe looking at India for academic faculty positions. The workshop will also highlight opportunities for collaborative research with/in India, and should be helpful to established scientists interested in working with Indian laboratories. This is a unique opportunity to meet with young and dynamic scientists who are involved in building new scientific institutes.

The 2-hour event includes presentations by Indian scientists and an interactive question session. The event is open to all nationalities and to anyone interested in exploring collaborations and careers in India.

Information about research opportunities in India is available on the website www.indiabioscience.org

Speakers:
Jyotsna Dhawan, Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem)
Sudipta Maiti, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)
Mrinalini Puranik, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS)

Neuroscience in India

(part of a series of Young Investigators’ Meetings, see www.indiabioscience.org/yim)
A Satellite Event at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago

Date: Monday, October 19th 2009

Time: 6:30-8:30 pm

Location: McCormick Place Campus
Room: S403AB

***Snacks will be served***

This event is aimed at candidates considering faculty positions or postdoctoral fellowships in Neuroscience in India. Bioscience research prospects in India are set to expand enormously - a commitment by the Department of Biotechnology (Govt. of India) that is backed by plans for infrastructure and funding opportunities. The job opportunities in Neuroscience in India are increasingly attractive, but until now not well publicized. We will showcase Neuroscientists who have successfully set up labs in India over the past decade. The program will present a broad perspective of Neuroscience in India by Prof. Vijayalakhsmi Ravindranath, who was the Director of the National Brain Research Center for 10 years from 1999 to 2009, and is now heading a new Center for Neuroscience at IISc. This will be followed by a perspective by Prof. Shubha Tole (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), who started her lab as an Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in 1999. Tole will discuss the trials and triumphs of setting up the first vertebrate lab at her Institute, leading to recent publications in leading international journals. Dr. Anuradha Lohia will also showcase Neuroscientists at Institutes all over India who started their careers funded by the Wellcome Trust.

The panel discussion will present an overall picture that the stage is set for a huge influx of neuroscientists who can build upon what has already been started.

We hope for a strong participation from the Indian community and friends of Indian Neuroscience. Many, if not most, of the attendees will have left India at a time when Neuroscience research was barely a presence, except as Neurology or Neuropharmacology in a very limited set of Institutions. Indeed, aspiring Neuroscientists had to leave the country to get trained in this field. Furthermore, neuroscience as a subject was missing from most undergraduate and post-graduate syllabi across the country, which meant that interest or expertise in subsequent generations of students would be hard to cultivate. The proposed program seeks to change this impression of the Indian Neuroscience training at the student level. The DBT has sponsored MSc-Neuroscience courses at several Institutions. Over the past decade, several Neuroscience graduates have emerged and have applied to graduate programs all over the country. It is no longer difficult for a new PI to find students interested in this exciting field- in fact, it is now being regarded as one of the "happening" areas of research, as well it should be. the Department of Science and Technology has sponsored workshops in Neuroscience to build interest and train new generations of students. Significantly, the first IBRO workshop in Neuroscience was hosted by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 2006, which entailed experimental training and lectures with a panel of Indian and Asia-Pacific faculty members. The number of Institutions with Neuroscience faculty is growing- IISER Pune, TIFR, NCBS, NBRC, IITK, and now, IISC have joined the oldest- NIMHANS. Therefore, it will not only be much easier for new faculty to set up labs in india, but the manpower to run these research programs- PhD students- will be available in increasing numbers. The Wellcome-DBT early career awards will bring in an important component that has been thus far lacking- post-doctoral researchers who will add invaluable experience and expertise to labs fortunate enough to attract them.

Perhaps the most attractive aspect of Neuroscience opportunities in India is the impact even single individual PIs can make in their respective Departments and Institutions (new courses, new ideas for training students, contributing to nationwide training workshops- all extremely rewarding opportunities). The entire breadth of Neuroscience is yet to be represented in India, but the prospects look excellent in terms of opportunities and funding. We critically need to change the mental picture of Indian Neuroscience within the community of Indians who left the country years ago- so that they may encourage colleagues and students to return, or consider doing so themselves. This satellite event will hopefully motivate a wide spectrum of Neuroscience applicants at various levels- the very best of which will be candidates for prestigious fellowships and awards- but ALL of whom will be in a position to make a contribution to the teaching or research effort in Neuroscience in India.

Program:

1) Introduction: Genesis of the Young Investigator’s Meeting series (5 mins)

Prof. Shubha Tole (co-organizer of YIM-2010, Feb 8^th-13^th)

2) Neuroscience in India- A Nationwide Perspective (15 mins)

Prof. Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath, Director, Center for Neurosciences,

Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore

3) Setting up Vertebrate Neuroscience at TIFR- a 10 year journey (15 mins)

Prof. Shubha Tole, Department of Biological Sciences,

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai

4) The Wellcome-DBT India Alliance: showcasing success stories (10 mins)

Dr. Anuradha Lohia, CEO, WT-DBT India Alliance

Drs. Arun Sripati and Vastala Tirumalai (recent WT-DBT fellowship awardees) ( 5 mins)

5) Panel discussion

Prof. Prasun Roy (National Brain Research Center- NBRC) (5 mins)

Prof. Shankaranarayana Rao (5 mins)

(National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences- NIMHANS)

Prof. Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath, (IISc)

Prof. Shubha Tole (TIFR)

Dr. Anuradha Lohia (WT-DBT India Alliance)

Dr. Martin Reed (HFSP) (5 mins)

Prof. Mriganka Sur (MIT) (5 mins)

6) Question session (45 mins)

YIM, Boston - OPEN SESSION on Sept 11th 2009

The hosts of the YIM, Boston received ~200 outstanding applications for the closed session on Sept 12-13 2009 of which around 40 have been selected for the meet. Going by the overwhelming response for the event and the inability to accommodate all those who applied, there will now be an open meet on September 11th from 3:55PM to 7:30PM. This will be an unique opportunity to network with faculty, researchers from various prestigious institutions.

Date & Time:
Fri, Sept 11; 3:55PM-7:30PM

Venue:
MIT, Bldg E25
Room. 111
Cambridge, MA 02139


The tentative program for the session is as follows:


• 3:55 – 4:20 Arrival/ Mingle

• 4:20 – 4:30 Introduction to YIM Open Sessions

• 4:30 – 6:00 Presentations
o The Bangalore Cluster
Satyajit Major (NCBS), Ramaswamy Subramanian (Center for Cellular and Molecular Platforms), Vijay Raghavan (NCBS), Jyotsna Dhawan (iSTEM)

o The HBS Cluster in Delhi
Martha Gray (THSTI), Dinakar Salunke (UNESCO RCB), Satyajit Rath (THSTI-Child Biology Center), Sudhanshu Vrati (THSTI-Vaccine Research Center)

o The CSIR System
Rajesh Gokhale (IGIB), Gautam Biswas

o The IISERs, IIT, TIFR (Hyderbad)
KN Ganesh/Shashidhara (IISER Pune), Pradip Sinha (IITK), Jitu Mayor (TIFR)

o Grant Opportunities / NIH – Thomas Mampilly

o DBT/Welcome Trust - Natesh, TS Rao

o DST – Hari Gopal

• 6:00 – 7:00 Panel Discussions on Emerging India
o Satyajit, Jitu, Jyotsna, Sashidhara, KN Ganesh, Pradip Sinha, Dinakar Salunke, Natesh, Hari Gopal, moderated by Martha Gray

• 7:00 – 8:00 Food/ Mingle


Please RSVP to Nandita Shetty at nandita@thsti.org

Young Investigator Meeting, Kolkotta, 2010

Dear Friends of the Bay Area YIM

I am writing to inform you about the second Young Investigator Meeting (Feb. 8-13, 2010) in Kolkata. This gathering should be of great interest to postdoctoral fellows who are working abroad or within India and might be potentially interested in an academic career in India. The meeting also will be attended by Indian junior faculty, and we seek applications from this group as well. The meeting will take place in an attractive resort along the Ganges River in the viciniity of Kolkata. Travel will be covered or mostly covered from a grant (depending upon the final funding).

Information on the meeting, the invited participants, meeting site and application information can be found at:

http://www.indiabioscience.org/yim

In brief, this meeting follows upon a very successful first Young Investigator Meeting held in Kerala in 2009. The response to this
meeting was extraordinarily positive, and it was very motivating and informative for both the young and senior scientists who attended. There was high demand for a similar meeting in 2010. The main attendees of the 2010 meeting will be 30 postdoctoral fellows and 30
Indian junior faculty (both picked through an application and selection process) and a distinguished group of international
scientists, senior Indian scientists, and leaders in Indian government and international granting agencies (see web site for details). The meeting will consist of a combination of science as well as mentoring on issues of how to set up a successful laboratory (through talks, panel discussions and poster sessions). Importantly, the meeting provides a venue for young people (the future leaders of Indian biology) to meet each another and discuss their questions with scientific leaders who are interested in mentoring young people. For the 2010 meeting, we will include a new 1 day satellite meeting where invited postdoctoral fellows will learn more about jobs in India and interact with institute/university directors and chairs.

As an important component of this meeting, we are seeking outstanding postdoctoral researchers who might consider applying for jobs and
setting up their laboratories India. These postdoctoral scientists will present their work (with brief talks and posters) and will benefit enormously from the opportunity to meet young Indian investigators, learn more about the current environment for scientific
research in India, and hear about developments that will take place in the near future. We would greatly appreciate if you could bring this
meeting to the attention of other postdoctoral researchers at your institution or elsewhere. We also are seeking outstanding junior
faculty in India (or abroad who might return to India). If you know of such individuals, please bring this meeting to their attention as well.

If you have questions, please email the organizers, Deepak Barua, Sandhya Koushika (NCBS), Shubha Tole (TIFR,
Mumbai), or Ron Vale (UCSF) individually or through the meeting contact at Yimeet2010@ncbs.res.in

Application are through the web site: http://www.indiabioscience.org/yim

As an additional note, this web will be fully functional in about 4-6 weeks, and it will hopefully become a central hub of information and interactions.

Best regards,

Ron

Ron Vale
Chair, Dept. of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology
Investigator, HHMI
University of California, San Francisco

Optimizing participation from different universities!

One of the challenges in organising a meeting of this nature is how to maximize participation from the target audience in different universities and institutes. Using the information on the sign up sheet on the June 11 meet (likely a subset of total participation) we plotted the participation as a function of distance of instituition from location of meet. Considering only the large instituitions with comparable number of post-docs in life-sciences(unverfied), it would seem that participation falls off roughly exponentially with commute distance. If true, ideas will be necessary to make commute distance a less important factor. Have a suggestion? Let us know!

Talks from the Young Investigator Meet UCSF, June 2009 on the available and growing opportunities in India

Talk by Dr MK Bhan, Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology

Talk on the Bangalore cluster - NCBS and Stem Cell Institute- by Drs K. Vijayraghavan and Satyajit Mayor

Talks on the Delhi Cluster - THSTI, Regional Center for Biotechnology,VIDRC and Child Biology Center - by Drs Martha Gray (MIT), Dinakar Salunke (NII), Sudanshu Vrati (NII) ans Satyajit Rath (NII)

Pictures from the SF June 11 meet

http://picasaweb.google.com/youngindianinvestigator/Yimeet_sf_09#