Research Experiences for College Students

Urmi S. Bajpai
Dept. of Biomedical Science
Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi

It all started with a visit of Dr. Kanury Rao (Head, Immunology Group, ICGEB) to the department of Biomedical Science at Acharya Narendra Dev College, whom I had invited to deliver a lecture, sometimes in September, 2004. He took back home (or lab) the enthusiastic response that he got from the students and my inclination to do research. In his next project, he decided to keep a small component that would be carried out by the students of B.Sc. (Hons) Biomedical Science in our college. The aim was to build infrastructure in the college to do quality research and to expose the students to the excitement and demands of a career in science and help them contribute productively to an ongoing multi-institutional research project.

“A Virtual Centre of Excellence for Coordinated Research on ‘Tuberculosis: Development of alternate strategies” is a multi-institutional project, funded by DBT. The component of this project that was carried out in our college was to PCR amplify and clone Mycobacterium tuberculosis genes and develop a repository of fifty M. tuberculosis gene. The total grant received was Rs. 26 Lacks and the period was November 2006-March 2009. The students of B.Sc. (Hons) Biomedical Sciences (50 students) were trained in a number of molecular techniques, including gel electrophoresis, isolation of plasmid DNA, bacterial transformation, PCR, TA cloning, restriction digest analysis and DNA sequencing. The clones generated in this project shall be used in future work leading to diagnostics, drug-development or developing immune reagents. The newly constructed lab is spacious and has the facilities to carry out the research work required in the project.  The lab is equipped with gel electrophoresis system, UV trans-illuminator, PCR machines, pipettemen, and a refrigerated centrifuge.

A new research project that should begin in the coming academic session is a component of OSDD* project. The sanctioned CSIR grant is Rs. 20 Lacks, which is expected to be released in July 2010. The objective of this project is “Cloning and expression of a select number of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genes” and to study the potential of these gene products as drug targets by investigating their role in pathogenesis. B.Sc. (Hons) Biomedical Science students shall be engaged in carrying out this research project. In all, eight undergraduate colleges are short-listed from across the country, with which OSDD shall engage in drug discovery activities in the initial phase. Acharya Narendra Dev College is one of the eight chosen colleges.

Besides, the wet lab activities, students of B.Sc. (Hons) Biomedical Science are also actively involved in projects on annotation of genomes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Zebrafish, under the guidance of the scientists from Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi.  Four of the students working on these projects were awarded a laptop each for their contribution. Some of the students are also likely to be the co-authors in a couple of research publications!

The concept of involving undergraduate students in research projects has proven to be a great one for our college students! It definitely requires hard work and patience but it is worth the efforts. To watch your own students (whom you first meet as fresh school kids with tentative know-how) transforming to confident young scholars deft in technical and analytical skills gives me great joy. As an educator, my focus always has been on helping students become independent learners and giving them as much practical training as possible. The research projects not only make it possible to develop a modern laboratory in the college for the students to work on contemporary problems (unlike the usual caricatured labs deficient in funds) but also create an ambience that is motivating for the students to further continue with science! The project objective (Cloning of Mtb genes) was in coherence with the curriculum; hence students become proficient in modern techniques, as opposed to the mundane demonstrations of the techniques that happen due to the inadequate availability of expensive chemicals and other lab ware.

Acquiring knowledge from text books and the teachers has been the mainstay of the undergraduate education in India. But doing things on your own builds scientific temperament and innovative thinking. The learning process of planning and executing experiments, application of the knowledge gained in doing research work and opportunities to work with and share the experience of the scientists working on the similar problems (impact of such interactions can not be underestimated) are some of the positive manifestations of the research activities at undergraduate level!

My observation as a teacher is that students have tremendous enthusiasm and energy and are usually brimming with ideas and endless scientific queries! Their participation in research could be one way to channel these qualities into a wonderful learning experience! It is also important to train our students to work as a team, and such projects give them an opportunity to work both independently as well as in teams to achieve a common objective.

In the end, I would like to thank Dr. Savithri Singh, Principal of the college for her enthusiasm and support and to the laboratory and administrative staff of the college for their efforts and cooperation. I acknowledge DBT and CSIR for granting the funds to carry out the research projects.
 

*Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) is a CSIR (Council of Science and Industrial Research) Team India Consortium with Global Partnership with a vision to provide affordable healthcare to the developing world. This initiative has been taken to provide a platform where the scientists from across the world can collaborate & collectively endeavor towards the conquest of Tuberculosis. The major objective of this mega project is to further the understanding of the biology of the causative organism of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and hence to accelerate the discovery of novel drugs for Tuberculosis.

Comments on the Program from
Mrinal Chawla
M.Sc. Marine Biotechnology,
Goa University.

I feel extremely honored to be a part of Acharya Narendra Dev College's biomedical science department. In this department I got an opportunity to nurture my scientific temperament. In science there is always a theoretical and a practical aspect. There are very few places where a holistic approach employing both the aspects is taken into consideration and one of them is this department.

To optimize conditions for an experiment to work, one requires more practical knowledge than theoretical erudition and a lot of brain storming as well. One of the most important part of course is the summer project in which we did 2 month long research project in research centre. I did my training at ICGEB, New Delhi. It was a time when we got a real taste of research and benefited us in understanding science for our future. We were not only exposed to various sophisticated techniques but also learned the work-ethos that is necessary to succeed.

After doing this summer project, we were asked to mentor fellow students who were new to the concept. Although lab conditions of a well funded lab like ICGEB can't be provided in college lab, we learned determination and team spirit. We not only guided our friends but we ourselves also grew by leaps and bounds. I also enjoyed the cohesive teaching efforts by faculty and students. For teachers as well it was a new experience altogether. Particularly memorable to me were the brain-storming sessions, in which group discussions took place is the canteen, parking lot or other casual locations. All of these activities brought everyone very close together.  I believe that when you work towards a common goal, then cohesiveness comes naturally.

In science, research is a tough and people need to stay committed. To make this commitment possible, one needs to kindle interest and scientific temperament.  The biomedical science program at our college is able to do this successfully.