If you’d like to see new local hubs for Indian cities or regions, there’s now a way to vote for this.

• Log in, head to your profile page and click ‘edit your profile’.
• At the top, click ‘change your location’.
• Enter the city or town in which you work. This will set your location.
• Nature Network will then suggest three potential ‘hubs’—regions (not necessarily cities) that may become full-fledged hubs like Boston and London once enough people from that area sign up. Click the one that you belong to.

If you don’t see an option you like, feel free to get in touch with me. We can add to or tweak the proposed hubs according to the wishes of users.

Some of you may be thinking to return home.
What are the reasons for returning?
Have you started planning? (applying for jobs, looking for schools etc.)

For those who have already returned home, what challenges have you confronted? How have you dealt with them?

Please share your views and opinions here.
It could be an eye opener and motivating factor or the other way.

The science of genetics has come a long way in the past century from understanding the fundamental laws of biological inheritance to the sequencing of genomes of several life forms. New discoveries are being made, which are constantly refining our understanding of life. This field of inquiry has in turn been crucial to the founding and continued growth of the field of biotechnology. Developments in DNA science and technology have led to historic scientific and economic advances for the world. These advances have been possible due to the collaborative efforts of several scientists and technologists across the globe.

Our society has benefited immensely with the advances in DNA science and its applications. Significant improvements to human health have been made by creating novel methods of disease prevention and treatment, better disease diagnosis and increasingly sophisticated detection of diseases. Traditional methods of crop production have been improved remarkably by knowledge of DNA science to produce better crops. Environmental and ecological problems are being addressed using technologies derived from DNA science. In essence, DNA science is influencing the essential aspects of human life on this planet.

While the benefits offered by DNA science are impressive, they have unprecedented ethical, legal, and social implications. Unless the society understands the science and its outcomes objectively, it will be hard to address many of these implications. Towards this end, public understanding of, and informed debates on DNA science become imperative.

India is becoming a notable player in the creation and use of knowledge obtained from DNA science. The sustained growth and development of this field will be highly dependent on public awareness. One of the main goals of celebrating DNA Day in Hyderabad is to create a platform for sharing knowledge and facilitate discussions on the advances in DNA science and it’s impact on the society. We urge people from all walks of life to participate in the event and help spread the awareness, and excitement of DNA science.

The event will have a walking exhibit on the history of DNA and the many applications of the science. There will also be multimedia presentations and demonstrations of experimental methods in DNA science. This event is hosted by the BM Birla Science Center and is funded by the Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences.

Contact: Anil Kumar Challa (9866481361 | challa.anilkumar@gmail.com)

I attended this speech. There was a sprectum of topics covered to highlight the root-problems. It seems, some NRIs feel that they may become invisible if they return to india and thier work will not be cited if published from India. The speech was about several issues such as possible reasons why NRI scientists do not return (one of them being fear of less recongnition of their work from India), how beaurocracy affects the policies and decisions and how indian society (with a large diversity) struggling or progressing, etc. etc. (it was described in a scenario: while there is ‘yes’ for everything in India, there
a ‘no’ too).

Also, some indian institutions/organizations were highlighted for their uniqueness in creating a good workig atmosphere as well as nice surroundings to enhance mental abilities and performance (in some unique way), however, this was described in contrast to some other universities/institutes (names were not given) having not good working culture.

It was mentioned that india is hiring foreigners in some fields (e.g., as pilots).

Well, I might have missed something but I have tried to cover the topics which were discussed recently in APS meet.

I have mentioned about the recently discussed issues above, however, I am still pondering over and feel that some experienced senior scientists may have clearer ideas to tell about such issues.

The award: a prize money of Rs. 10 lakh and a medal for outstanding contribution in any field of applied or fundamental mathematics. This includes pure mathematics, mathematical foundations of computer science and applied mathematics in the natural and life sciences, and in social sciences.

Eligibility: below 45 years of age and should have held a permanent position in India for at least five years. The nominator must send a brief report highlighting the significant achievements of the nominee along with curriculum vitae and a list of publications. Self-nominations are not accepted. The nomination must be posted to “Infosys Prize for Mathematics,” NIAS, Indian Institute of Science. Bangalore.

Last date: April 30, 2008.

The first Infosys Prize for Mathematics will be given in the last half of this year. Winners of the Fields Medal will also be among the seven-member international jury chaired by Abel Prize winner Srinivasa Varadhan.

Now, that’s great news for all Indian mathematicians who have felt neglected and unsung all these years.

we would like to invite you to participate in the 4th ISCB Student
Council Symposium and the Visual Reflections on Science Exhibition
that will take place at ISMB 2008 in Toronto (Canada). Both events are
organized by the ISCB Student Council.

Please see the calls for participation below for details and forward
this anyone who might be interested. Thank you very much!

Best regards,

Nils Gehlenborg
Chair, ISCB Student Council

Lucia Peixoto
Chair, 4th ISCB Student Council Symposium

Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern
Chair, Visual Reflections on Science Exhibition

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION: 4th ISCB Student Council Symposium

• Website: http://symposium.iscbsc.org

• Date & Location: Friday, 18 July 2008 in Toronto, Canada

• Submission Deadline: 26 May 2008

• Registration Fee: 60 US Dollars (incl. lunch and coffee breaks). ISMB 2008 registration not required.

We are accepting submissions for both posters and oral presentations
and will award the best of each category.

This year’s panel discussion topic will be “Career Paths in
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology”, and will provide delegates
with the opportunity to ask questions about their career future they
always wanted to ask but never had a chance to.

Furthermore, we will have keynotes by renowned scientists, student
presentations and a poster session.

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION: Visual Reflections on Science Exhibition

• Website: http://www.iscb.org/ismb2008/vrs_instructions.php

• Date & Location: Open for the duration of ISMB in Toronto, Canada

• Submission Deadline: 11 April 2008

For the ISMB 2008 Visual Reflections on Science Exhibition we invite
all interested conference attendees to submit artistic images and
videos that have been generated as part of a research project. We are
also soliciting images and videos resulting from creative efforts that
involve scientific concepts or employ scientific tools and methods.

Participate in this exciting new ISMB event to surprise and inspire
us, to open our eyes and minds!

My name is Raj Chakrabarti, and I’m a research scientist in chemical physics at Princeton University. Along with several colleagues, including Rajiv Malhotra, the director of the Infinity Foundation in Princeton, NJ, we are moderating an international online forum on Indian contributions to the theoretical sciences over history.

Recent work in this area indicates that in mathematics, astronomy and linguistics, ancient and medieval Indian scientists made certain seminal discoveries – pertaining, for example, to the foundations of infinite series and the calculus – several centuries before their Western counterparts, to whom these findings are currently attributed. Our goal is to publish original papers on these topics and to ultimately assemble a curriculum for the teaching of Indian science history in universities around the globe.

Members of the forum include many top Indian scientists, as well as young researchers, from India, Canada, the UK, Italy, and the US. These include: R. Narasimha, FRS, IISc, former Director of the Indian National Institute of Advanced Studies; K.R. Sreenivasan, Director of the International Center for Theoretical Physics and Prof. Of Mech. E., Physics, Math at Yale; C.K. Raju, statistician and prominent author on Indian Mathematics history; Shivaji Sondhi, Prof of Physics at Princeton. We would be pleased if you would join us by following the link below:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/indiantheory/

and contributing any thoughts you have on the subject matter. A detailed document describing the goals of the “Indian theoretical sciences discussion forum” can be found there. Various interesting articles on the topic (many by forum members, in international journals including Nature) are also posted. Please don’t hesitate to sign on as a member and make your voice heard. Scientists (including social scientists) from all disciplines, and all backgrounds, are invited. We need more scientists like yourselves from India who are interested in promoting the cause of clarifying the remarkable contributions of India to the sciences over the ages, a subject that is particularly important at this juncture, especially with the launch of Nature India.

Hope to see you soon!

With best regards,

Raj Chakrabarti, PhD
Research Scientist, Chemical Physics
Department of Chemistry
Princeton University

Its very nice to meet you all in this forum. As an NRI scientist, I have met bright, hard working and dedicated Indian scientists and students in foriegn labs. When I left the country for my post doc fifteen years ago, it was an exiting oppurtunity. I was so much thrilled to see the lab facilities, resources, freedom and the transparency of the US labs. I observed the same kind of exitement and enthusiasm in every Indian student or postdoc I met in those labs in the following years. This exitement drived us to work hard or by very nature we Indians are hard workers.

I would like to pose a question to our members. How can we bring our scientists back to India ? or If you are an NRI and scientist and wish to go back to India, WHAT are all your expectations ? Would you like to work in a government lab or would you like to join the private sectors ?

Is it possible for all of us, NRI scientists to come together as a group to start a Research Foundation? ! How can we put these words in to action? Please post your thoughts !

Thanks
Govind

Does anyone have the method for these,please help me.

What is realistic for India in the next 5, 10, 20 years?

Should India invenst in manned programs and robotic exploration of other worlds, when the country has pressing social problems?

Is there a new space race brewing between China and India?

I’m fascinated by space exploration, but know relatively little about ISRO and Indian space efforts. I would be interested to read any opinions from forum members.

For those interested, Nature Network now has a Space forum. Please feel free to start conversations there, too.

The workshop includes a tutorial and presentations of selected works in the field of systems biology. Papers of high quality are selected from three rounds of reviewing from elite panelists.

More details can be had by visiting the following page:
http://www.infocybereng.org/imeti2008/

If you wish to participate or send the abstracts/papers for the worskhop, please contact me at prash@ruc.dk

Sincerely
Prash on behalf of organizers of the workshop
Systems Biology in present day bioinformatics

Prashanth Suravajhala
PhD Fellow
http://ruc.dk/_prash/

“Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy
begins.” ~ Ralph Waldo

Call for papers: Systems Biology in present day Bioinformatics

It is with great pleasure that I announce the very first event being organised by Nature India to formally mark the launch of our portal www.nature.com/nindia. The unveiling will be done by Dr Rajendra. K. Pachauri, Chairman, IPCC. Many eminent scientists from across the country are expected to attend the launch event on 1st February, 4.30 onwards at the British High Commission auditorium. The high point of the event will be a lecture “How to get published in Nature” by Kalayani Narasimhan, senior editor, Nature. This will be followed by dinner at the BHC lawns.

We thought it would be a great opportunity to meet our friends from Nature Network and recognise their contribution towards Indian science. Since we can accommodate only a limited number of people, we have decided to invite five members from the Nature India group. Please let us know by replying to this post if you are interested in attending the event. In case the number of interested people exceeds five, we will decide by draw of lots.

For those who can’t make it to the event this time, there’s more coming through the course of the year. So, just be in the loop. Happy networking!

P.S: Incidentally, the Nature India membership has crossed the 100 mark this week…great going guys!

I welcome your valuable comments or suggestions on ”How basic science education can promote basic science research in India?”

Why not are indian women given more and better choices to fit in the society??

How to bring awareness in women themselves and the society ?

Similar concerns are also rising in developed countries but it seems that the gender-biasing from the research community itself is a major problem. Most of the times, this ‘quitting of talented women’ is overlooked or not considered that seriously. I think, although canges cannot be done overnight but the problem itself should be identified first by many and more attention is required to shake it up.

Please write your ideas on what can be done?
or
what should we, the research community, should do!??

If you think that this trend of years should not change now, then please say WHY?