Under its ‘Biotechnology career advancement and reorientation programme for women scientists’ (Bio-CARe) scheme, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has selected a total of 96 projects submitted by women scientists from different institutions in the country.

According to sources, in the Early Career Scientists category, the DBT has selected a total of 32 projects and in the Research Grant Opportunity category, 64 projects have been selected by the DBT under the scheme which was launched by the DBT to build capacities for women scientists employed full time in universities and small research laboratories or unemployed women scientist after a career break so as to help them undertake independent R&D projects.

The selected projects include, A Drosophila model to study adult epithelial stem cells and their role in cancer initiation; Understanding the importance of Gins-DNA polymerase interaction during replication; DOP-2 modulates Acetylcholine and GABA signaling in Caenorhabiditis elegans; Targeting Mitochondria in Ischemic Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury; miRNA in the regulation of Sclerostin, A therapeutic approach for osteoporosis; Functional dissection of cAMP regulated AKAP9 in Vascular dysfunction: Strategy for treatment of Breast Cancer; to name only a few.

Earlier in 2010, the DBT had launched the Bio-CARe scheme to facilitate participation of women scientists in biotechnology research. The programme is targeted towards career development of employed/unemployed women scientists. The scheme is open for all areas of life science/biology including agriculture, veterinary science and medicine.

The programme aims at providing support for project grants to women scientists (employed & unemployed) for whom it is the first extramural research grant. Women scientists who have received any earlier grant from any government funding agency as principal investigator are not eligible for this programme. The purpose is to build capacities for women scientists employed full time in Universities and small research laboratories or unemployed women scientist after a career break so as to help them undertake independent R&D projects.