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New genus of treeshrew from Ramnagar in J&K to provide precise age estimate for the locality Scientists have spotted fossils of a small mammal resembling squirrels called treeshrew belonging to a new genus and species from Ramnagar in Jammu and Kashmir. This treeshrew currently represents the oldest record of fossil tupaiids in the Siwaliks, extending their time range by 2.5–4.0 Million Years in the region. The scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology (DST) found fossils of the new genus and species of treeshrew (known as Sivatupaia ramnagarensis n. gen. n. sp) from the middle Miocene (extends from about 23.03 to 5.333 million years ago) site of Ramnagar in Jammu and Kashmir. According to the study, the treeshrew can help provide a more precise age estimate for the Ramnagar locality lying in the Udhampur District, Jammu & Kashmir. Treeshrews are very rare elements of the fossil record, with only a few species known throughout the entire Cenozoic era. About the discovery The fossil record of treeshrews, hedgehogs, and other micromammals from the lower Siwaliks of India is sparse. The study reports on a new genus and species of fossil treeshrew, specimens of the hedgehog Galerix, and other micromammals from the middle Miocene (Lower Siwalik) deposits surrounding Ramnagar at a fossil locality known as Dehari. The occurrence of Galerix has only been recently documented from the Indian Siwaliks. The Dehari specimens help establish the likely presence of a relatively large Siwalik Galerix species in the Ramnagar region. Further, new specimens of the rodents Kanisamys indicus, Sayimys sivalensis, and Murinae indet. from Dehari will help confirm that age estimates for the Ramnagar region are equivalent to the Chinji Formation in Pakistan, most likely corresponding to the middle to upper part of the Chinji Formation. The murine rodents are highly important because different species and dental features are well-known to be time-sensitive, as has been documented throughout a continuous, time-controlled Siwalik sequence on the Potwar Plateau of Pakistan. Therefore, the identification of these time-sensitive dental features and species in the current collection help to provide a more precise age estimate for this Ramnagar locality as between 12.7-11.6 Million Years. #prelims2023 #speciesinnews

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.— Albert Einstein Medicine cure diseases but only doctors can cure patients.- Carl Jung Always remember the privilege it is to be a physician. ― Daniel P. Logan Drugs are not always necessary. Belief in recovery always is.—Norman Cousins Wherever the art of Medicine is loved, there is also a love of Humanity. ― Hippocrates Happy Doctor's Day ❤️

#prelims2023 Say hi to Asteroid Day! ‘Small but Beautiful,’ know why the day is celebrated And the Asteroid Day is here! Officially, on 30th June every year, International Asteroid Day is observed to raise public awareness about the threat of asteroids to Earth and the crises communication actions that can be taken at the international level in case of a credible near-Earth object threat. Asteroid Day: Story of Commencement: The United Nations General Assembly passed the resolution A/RES/71/90 in December 2016, to declare June 30th as International Asteroid Day. June 30th, 1908 marks the anniversary of the Earth’s largest asteroid impact in recorded history – the Tunguska asteroid’s impact over Siberia. The idea to mark the day belongs to astrophysicist and famed musician Brian May of the rock group Queen, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, filmmaker Grig Richters and B612 Foundation president Danica Remy. Their objective is simple – to spread awareness and impart education on the importance of asteroids in our history and the role they play in the solar system. The General Assembly took the decision on the basis of a proposal by the Association of Space Explorers that was endorsed by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). Do you know that each year on this day, a snapshot of the cutting-edge asteroid research from the largest telescopes on Earth is released into the public domain Small is Beautiful The 8th Annual Asteroid Day event is ongoing in Luxembourg, Western Europe. The theme for this year is “Small is Beautiful.” The idea behind is – Asteroids are indeed small but to the eyes of those who study them, and research them, the boulder-strewn surfaces become beautiful in close-ups to them. In the event organised, researchers will be sharing some small but beautiful samples of asteroids and meteorites. Example – JAXA’s Hayabusa 2 mission returned samples of asteroid Ryugu to earth in 2020. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx reached asteroid Bennu in 2018. Its sample return should arrive next year. Understanding the phenomena of Asteroids Asteroids are sometimes misunderstood as just the ‘life-threatening,’ hazardous objects, whose purpose is to destroy! They can be better understood as the leftover remnants of the birth of the planets in our solar system, that can serve humanity with knowledge and understanding of the universe. Asteroids are small rocky bodies that orbit around the sun. Usually, they orbit between Mars and Jupiter and form, what is known as the ‘Asteroid Belt.’ They can be as small as 10 meters across or as huge as 530 km in diameter. There are thousands of asteroids that are believed to exist in our Solar System.

Rare carnivorous plant species recorded in Chamoli, Uttarakhand The research team of Uttarakhand Forest Department has recorded for the first time in the western Himalayan region, a rare carnivorous plant species called ‘Utricularia Furcellata’. The plant was found in the Mandal Valley situated in the Chamoli district. The plant sighted for the first time in not only Uttarakhand but in the entire western Himalayan region, belongs to a group referred to as bladderworts. They are semiaquatic, terrestrial, lithophytic, or epiphytic (Gyeltshen and Dema 2020) and widely distributed in tropical and subtropical and a few in temperate regions of the world (Janarthanam and Henry 1992). About ‘Utricularia Furcellata’ The team of Uttarakhand Forest Department collected a few specimens of Utricularia in September 2021. The specimens were identified as Utricularia furcellata, a rare species, known to occur in Meghalaya, Sikkim, and West Bengal (Darjeeling), China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Bhutan (Gyeltshen and Dema 2020) but hitherto unrecorded from the Western Himalaya. It uses one of the most sophisticated and developed plant structures for trap and the targets range from protozoa to insects, mosquito larvae, and even young tadpoles. Their operation is based on a mechanical process of creating a vacuum or negative pressure area, to draw prey inside the trap door. These plants are found mostly in fresh water and wet soil and grows on damp rocks, associated with mosses along with other associated species like Didymocarpus aromaticus. Based on earlier limited collections from Northeast India and the present report based on a small size of population (200 individuals), the species is categorized as a vulnerable species in Garhwal Himalaya. The species faces heavy biotic pressure within a tourist spot and needs immediate attention towards its in-situ protection. Earlier, a rare orchid species ‘liparis pygmaean’, found by the research wing was added as a new orchid species Cephalanthera erecta var.oblanceolata in the list of Indian flora last year. #environment #prelims2023

"Strong enough to make holes in the rock are tiny drops of water that persist to fall. Persistence is the attitude that breaks down mountains one rock at a time!" — Israelmore Ayivor

‘Cross-linking’ S proteins: The SIH-5 miniprotein was designed to block the binding of the RBD to human ACE2. When a SIH-5 dimer encountered an S protein, one of its faces bound tightly to one of the three RBDs on the S protein trimer, and the other face bound to an RBD from a different S protein leading to a ‘cross-linking’ that allowed the mini-protein to block both S proteins at the same time. The study finds these miniprotein to be ‘thermostable,’ meaning, they can be stored for months at room temperature without deteriorating. What are the possible usage of microproteins in drug development or in form of any other medicine? To explore this we need more therapeutic intervention. In our experiments, the molecules were given through intranasal administration to engage the target. Now it depends on where the molecule needs to go, through circulation we need to start the target interaction – this can be done through injection. If the target is in the gastrointestinal tract then we can probably give these molecules orally. As of now, we are still trying to access the stability of these molecules against degradation by the enzymes but we can easily design the molecules to be periodically resistant because they are primarily designed to be chemical peptides resistant. We’ll figure out more about the process of delivery as we move ahead with the application of miniprotiens. Will miniproteins work like vaccines? What would be the possible lasting effects/period of its efficacy once injected or consumed in the body? No, these molecules are very very different from vaccines. These Miniproteins could be classified as standard drugs, their duration of action will depend upon pharmacological findings i.e how long these molecules are circulating in the body, and that needs to be thoroughly researched. They could eventually work like antibodies. Could there be any side effects of miniprotiens? The first thing that we need to note is that the ones we have developed are “lab-made miniprotiens,” infact the whole existence of miniprotiens is being taken up as research quite recently. There’s a scope of wider research for the same and it is happening worldwide. So far, we have not noted any such existence of their side effects. There’s more scope to Miniprotiens and their implications for medicinal use! We are also currently interested in taking these miniprotiens inside the cells since there are many interesting targets inside them and many antibodies fail to reach them. We would also research more if we can block tumour growth using miniprotiens and injecting them into the cells, then there’s the possibility of testing how they can help in finding treatment for cancers. But all of that needs much extensive research and we are happily looking forward to it. WATCH the Whole Story here: https://twitter.com/PBNS_India/status/1537700320788217857

Prasar Bharati News Service - PBNS: Medical Breakthrough! Miniprotiens that can inactive COVID19 virus; PBNS speaks to IISc Researchers The rapid emergence of new strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus can potentially threaten the protection offered by COVID-19 vaccines. To overcome this, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore have developed a new approach that provides an alternative mechanism to render viruses like SARS-CoV-2 inactive. As per the researchers, this new class of artificial peptides or mini-proteins can render viruses like SARS-CoV-2 inactive. The study, published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, states that the mini-proteins can not only block virus entry into our cells but also clump virus particles together, reducing their ability to infect. In an exclusive conversation with PBNS, one of the brains behind this massive development, Jayanta Chatterjee, Associate Professor in the Molecular Biophysics Unit (MBU), IISc explained to us all about miniproteins and what will be the future of these findings. What are miniprotiens & How do they prevent viral infections/diseases? Miniproteins are an upcoming area of study. As the definition goes proteins composed of less than 100 amino acids are classified as miniprotiens. One interesting feature of these molecules is that “they have a very compact structure and a small size which allows them to decorate their surfaces with any functional groups which can then be used to target the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.” In essence, miniprotiens are a completely new class of molecules, so they certainly are not antibodies, and not small molecules, they fill the gap that lies within. When you are capable of manufacturing something chemically that is not typically found in nature, we gain an additional handle to alter their structure & make them more stable. How does it work against COVID19? To answer this, the team first tested the miniprotein for toxicity in mammalian cells in the lab and found it to be safe. Next, in experiments carried out in the lab of Raghavan Varadarajan, Professor at MBU, hamsters were dosed with the miniprotein, followed by exposure to SARS-CoV-2. These animals showed no weight loss and had greatly decreased viral load as well as much less cell damage in the lungs, compared to hamsters exposed only to the virus. The researchers believe that with minor modifications and peptide engineering, this lab-made miniprotein could inhibit other protein-protein interactions as well. What is a protein-protein interaction? A protein-protein interaction is often like that of a lock and a key. This interaction can be hampered by a lab-made mini protein that mimics, competes with, and prevents the ‘key’ from binding to the ‘lock’, or vice versa. In this new study, the team has found an approach to design mini-proteins that can bind to, and block the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This binding has been further characterised extensively by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and other biophysical methods. As per the study, these mini-proteins are helical, hairpin-shaped peptides, each capable of pairing up with another of its kind, forming what is known as a ‘dimer’. Each dimeric ‘bundle’ presents two ‘faces’ to interact with two target molecules wherein the researchers have hypothesised that the two faces would bind to two separate target proteins locking all four in a complex and blocking the targets’ action. Testing the Hypothesis The team decided to test their hypothesis by using one of the miniproteins called SIH-5 to target the interaction between the Spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 protein in human cells. What is S Protein? It’s a trimer – a complex of three identical polypeptides wherein each one contains a Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) that binds to the ACE2 receptor on the host cell surface. This interaction facilitates viral entry into the cell.