The country's premier research institution, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) is taking the lead in the educational programmes in the specialized areas of biotechnology such as proteomics in India with the launch of an exclusive training programme.
The ongoing training programme at CCMB in proteomics has given excellent exposure to the participants, in both theory and practical. The classes are being conducted by eminent scientists from India and abroad using the latest instruments.
According to Ravi Sirdeshmukh, who has played an important role in setting up the country's first proteomics facility at CCMB and is involved in national research programme on cancer proteomics to identify new molecular markers and drug targets, the training programme consists of two sections. Fourteen scientists from various research institutions in the country are attending the hands on lab training in proteomics and seven scientists are attending hands on training in DNA Micro-Array. While the first section addresses the question of differential expressions of proteins, the second one addresses the differential expressions of genes. Besides, 17 scientists are attending the lectures.
Currently, proteomics technology has opened up new avenues for the study of diverse biological processes ranging from the understanding of development and differentiation to studying the basis of multi-factorial human diseases. And it is also important that the study cannot be done in isolation by individual scientists or single institutions and should be a collaborative effort with national research institutions.
"This is something which is fascinating and not seen elsewhere," says Pierre S Paroetaud, Senior Application Specialist, Applied Biosystems, Courtaboeuf Cedex, France while talking to Pharmabiz.com. He added that the participants were willing to learn. "There is also motivation, which is absent in the European countries."
According to Pierre Paroutaud, the study of proteomics depends on the development of comprehensive, high-throughput methods to look at all of the forms of all of the proteins with which a potential protein therapeutic, small molecule drug or protein target can interact. Thus proteomics has the potential to revolutionise the development of innovative clinical diagnostics and pharmaceutical therapeutics.
He said there is scope for great many applications of proteomics in agriculture, cattle development and human healthcare. Proteomics, he said, is now going beyond genomics. People were looking for the design of new drugs, personal medicine, treatment designed for every individual and probably diagnostics for cancer. There was scope for a lot of discovery that can be made by using even small equipment in small labs, he said.
CCMB also offers the participants training in Mass Spectrometry and Mass-Array Technology in genomics and proteomics. Dr Dinkar Sahal from International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology, New Delhi, one of the participants, said at the training programme they were learning how to identify differentially expressed genes from a normal and a cancerous cell and simultaneously to identify differentially expressed proteins from two groups. Technology facilitates study of all the newly expressed proteins or proteins whose levels are changing in response to any stimulus or abnormalities. New tools have come to offer us means to understand diseases which were not understood earlier. A particular medicine cannot treat all individuals because of the variation of gene expression or expression of proteins or rRNA and proteins. There will be drugs specific to patients. This is the futuristic trend, says Dr Dinkar Sahal.
Dr Lata Ravi Kumar from National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, protein is an expression of environmental changes. We can detect the changes comparing the protein factors. Through Spectrometry, we can do protein finger-printing. By attending the course we have learnt that our environmental or marine samples can be used for protein analysis and comparisons and get very valuable data. She said every institution cannot install the Mass Spectrometry equipment which costs from Rs 1.5 to Rs 4 crore depending on the size and usage. Other institutions must work in collaboration with CCMB to make use of this facility.
The equipment can analyse 300 samples in one hour. No institute will have that many molecules for analysis. Therefore, the equipment must be put to maximum use by sharing the facility, according to Dr Lata. Dr Maya Nandkumar, scientist, Division of Microbiology, Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, said equipment like Mass Spectrometry, robots and bioinformatics had been instrumental in bringing out the revolution that is going on in genomics and proteomics. State level institutions would be looking to national institutions like CCMB for biological databases and sharing knowledge and technology.