Research Interest:

The molecular mechanism of aging and cancer using normal and cancer cells as model system.

Education &Professional Career:

Dr. Renu Wadhwa had her first PhD from the Guru Nanak Dev University, India and the second PhD from the University of Tsukuba, Japan.  She had her post-doctoral trainings at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England and RIKEN, Japan.  She has been working in Japan for last 29 years and has been leading a research team working on the mechanisms of cell proliferation controls at the Biomedical Research Institute, AIST, Japan. Her major research interest is to understand the molecular mechanism of aging and cancer using normal and cancer cells as model system.  She had first cloned a novel member of hsp70 family protein in 1993 and named it “mortalin”.  Since then she has made several original findings describing the functional characteristics of this protein and its role in cancer and age-related disorders.She has more than 200 publications in International peer reviewed journals with many invited/plenary talks in international conferences. She has served as a member of AACR (1997-2000) and President of 86^th Annual meeting of Japanese Tissue Culture Association at AIST Tsukuba, and is a leader of DBT-AIST International Laboratory for Advanced Biomedicine (DAILAB) at AIST, Japan. She has been in Editorial board of several scientific journals including Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences and Mechanism of Ageing and Development.  As honorary academic positions, she has served as an Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo, Professor at the Yonsei University College of Medicine (Seoul).  Presently, sheisaHonorary Scientist at the Children’s Medical Research Institute (Sydney),Adjunct Professor at the Hanyang University (Seoul).  She is a Fellow of Geriatric Society of India, Indian Academy of Neurosciences and Biotech Research Society, India.

Dr. Renu Wadhwa
Affiliation & Contact:
Head, DBT-AIST International Laboratory for Advanced Biomedicine (DAILAB),
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST), Tsukuba – 305 8565, Japan
Tel: +81 29 861 9464
E-mail: renu-wadhwa@aist.go.jp

Research Interest:

Molecular mechanism of stress, aging and cancer; gene silencing and imaging to understand the mechanism of action of Ayurvedic herb, Ashwagandha and others.

Education &Professional Career:

Dr. Sunil Kaul was born and brought up in Kalimpong (Darjeeling).  He obtained his MPhil and PhD degrees from the University of Delhi, India.  After his initial post-doctoral training, he was appointed as a researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST) in Japan, and has been working there for last 30 years. He is now a Chief Senior Research Scientist.  His major research interest is to understand the molecular mechanism of stress, aging and cancer. He has been merging the traditional knowledge with modern technologies like gene silencing and imaging to understand the mechanism of action of Ayurvedic herb, Ashwagandha and others.  He is a coordinator of the DBT (India)-AIST (Japan) International Laboratory for Advanced Biomedicine at AIST, Japan.  With more than 200 research publications in International peer revised journals and several invited talks Internationally, he has been in Editorial board of several scientific journals.He is a Fellow of Geriatrics Society of India (FGSI), Overseas Fellow of Biotech Research Society of India (FBRSI), Fellow of Indian Academy of Neuroscience (FIAN), and Foreign Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc).

Affiliation & Contact:

Chief Senior Research Scientist, International Coordinator, DBT–AIST International Center for Translational and Environmental Research (DAICENTER), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST)
Central 5-1, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba – 305 8565, Japan
Tel: +81 29 861 6713
E-mail: s-kaul@aist.go.jp

Abstract

Chromosome condensation is essential for the faithful transmission of genetic information to daughter cells during cell division.However, the chromosome condensation process has been still poorly understood. Here I introduce two factors, chromosome scaffold structure and divalent cations, are required for chromosome condensation. Chromosome scaffold was found in chromosome arms as an axial structure of chromosome and it has important role in chromosome construction. The scaffold structure has been observed as a single tick axis in a single chromatid. Using super-resolution microscopy and electron microscopy, I revealed that the scaffold structure mainly consists of two thin axes. It will generate stiffness and elasticity to chromosome. Although chromosome structure was severely changed without chromosome scaffold structure, chromosome condensation itself can be achieved by another factor, divalent cations. One of divalent cations, Ca²⁺ depletion caused defects in proper mitotic progression and chromosome condensation after the breakdown of the nuclear envelope. Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy-Förster resonance energy transfer and electron microscopy demonstrated that chromosome condensation is influenced by Ca²⁺. Ca²⁺ is also required for stabilization of kinetochore microtubules by loading CENP-F to kinetochore. Thus, combination of several imaging techniques is highly advantageous to understand chromosome structure.

Abstract

Development and application of bio-based and bio-inspired technologies to (i) screen for, identify and quantify molecules of interest; (ii)  profile and characterize molecular activities/events; and (iii) help elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms is major field _with applications in various fields including biomedical, environmental, energy, food and agriculture. In this talk, we aim to introduce development and exploitation of biosensor technology. Specifically, we will highlight the fundamental chemical principles intrinsic in biological interactions and their exploitation in development of this technology.The exploited molecular interactions are largely driven by natural affinities between biological molecules such as substrate-enzyme, antibody-antigen, receptor-ligand, and Watson-Crick base-pairing. The figure shows an example of a biosensor for detection of Alzheimer’s disease biomarker (amyloid beta peptide) fabricated using antibody sensing platform in conjunction with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.Advances in science and technology has allowed the inclusion of artificially synthesised molecules that mimic biomolecules of interests, such as peptide nucleic acid (PNA) and molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs).

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 at the UN General Assembly as the 2030 Development agenda. They are a set of 17 inter-related goalswith overarching elements: peace, prosperity, health, planet and partnerships. In this talk, besides discussing biosensor technology and some applications, we will highlight the challenges that we face in this field and the prevailing gaps between different economies in the world. We will provide specific examples of areas that this technology could be useful in the less developed economies, and hopefully open a discussion point for future collaboration efforts.

Keywords: Bio-Inspired technologies, Nature, Sustainable development, Biosensor, Sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Abstract

We devised a simple and rapid method to analyze fidelity of reverse transcriptase (RT) using next-generation sequencing (NGS). The method comprises a cDNA synthesis reaction from standard RNA with a primer containing a tag of 14 randomized bases and the RT to be tested, PCR using high-fidelity DNA polymerase, and NGS. By comparing the sequence of each read with the reference sequence, mutations were identified. The mutation can be identified to be due to an error introduced by either cDNA synthesis, PCR, or NGS based on whether the sequence reads with the same tag contain the same mutation or not. The error rates in cDNA synthesis with thermostable variant of Moloney mouse leukemia virus (MMLV) RT, MM4 (E286R/E302K/L435R/D524A), or the recently developed 16-tuple variant of family B DNA polymerase with RT activity, RTX, from Thermococcus kodakarensis, were 0.75−1.0 × 10^-4 errors/base, while that in the reaction with the wild-type human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RT was 2.6 × 10^-4 errors/base. Overall, our method could precisely evaluate the fidelity of various RTs with different reaction conditions in a high-throughput manner without the use of expensive optics and troublesome adaptor ligation.

We next optimized the conditions so that one NGS run could handle cDNA products from multiple cDNA synthesis reactions performed at different conditions. This was achieved by using a primer containing not only the tag of 14 randomized bases to label each cDNA molecule but also a tag of five bases to label each reaction condition. With this method, we quantitated the error rates of 44 cDNA synthesis reactions by retroviral RTs or genetically engineered DNA polymerases with RT activity under different conditions. The results indicated that high concentrations of MgCl₂, Mn(OCOCH₃)₂, and dNTP decrease the fidelity and that these effects are more pronounced in reactions using RT from human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

Keywords:  cDNA, DNA polymerase, error rate, NGS, reverse transcriptase

Test for convergence of series:

Series : Expression of that form in which the successive terms are always according to some
definite rule as

Is called series. Here is called n th term of series.
There are two types of series
1) Finite Series
2) Infinite Series
Finite Series: If the no. of term in any series is finite then the series is called finite
series.
Infinite Series: If the no. of term in any series is infinite then the series is called
infinite series.
Eg. it’s denoted by
Now we discuss about convergence of an infinite series of positive terms.
Convergent Series :
An infinite series is said to be convergent if the sequence of its partial sum <Sn> is
convergent = S (finite).

Test for convergence of series :

1) D’ Alembert’s Ratio test :
If be a series of positive terms such that
then
(i) if > 1, will be convergent
(ii) if < 1, will be divergent
(iii) if = 1 may either convergent or divergent
Cauchy n th root test :
If be a series of positive terms such that
= (a real number)
then
(i) if <1, will be convergent
(ii) if, >1 will be divergent

(iii) if =1, may either convergent or divergent
Raabe’s tests :
If be a series of positive terms such that

then
(i) if >1, will be convergent
(ii) if <1, will be divergent
(iii) if =1, may either convergent or divergent
D’e Morgan and Bertrand’s Test :
If be a series of positive terms such that

then
(i) if >1, will be convergent
(ii) if <1, will be divergent
Cauchy’s condensation test :
If the series is a positive terms such that <f(n) is a decreasing sequence and
if a >1 and is a positive integer, then the series and both converge or diverge
together.

Gauss tests :

If be a series of positive terms and

Where sequence <Yn> is bounded then
(a) if
(i) is convergent if
(ii) is divergent if
(b) if
(i) is convergent if
(ii) is divergent if < 1