Online Teaching

Private

Private, India

Jun 2005 - Present

Science, Mathematics

B.Tech in Biotechnology

West Bengal University of Technology, India

Jun 2005 - Jun 2009

Secretary of the Rotaract Club of Calcutta Metropolitan

West Bengal, India

Year Of Passing: 2009

Addison's disease is an endocrine or hormonal disorder that occurs in all age groups and afflicts men and women equally. Addison's disease occurs when the adrenal glands do not produce enough of the hormone cortisol and, in some cases, the hormone aldosterone. The disease is also called adrenal insufficiency, or hypocortisolism. Addison's disease affects about 1 in 100,000 people. Probiotics are live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host. Many of these probiotic organisms are efficient in secreting different proteins viz. antibacterial polypeptides, adhesion proteins or proteins with health promoting effects on the host. This project is aimed at designing a genetically modified organism that can colonize within the human body as a probiotic that is capable of minimizing the effects of Addison’s disease. The probiotic organism Lactobacillus reuteri is genetically modified by incorporating the CYP 17 gene that is responsible for the production of cortisol, deficiency of which causes Addison’s Disease.

Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by negative-stranded RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses), that affects birds and mammals. Three types of influenza viruses have been detected: A, B, and C. The type of our interest is Influenza B virus which circulates exclusively in humans and seals, with no subtypes. Although this type of the virus is not known to cause any widespread pandemic, it is the one responsible for the seasonal flu sickness, and can be highly fatal for children below 6 years (especially neonates), older people and immunologically compromised individuals. The Influenza B virus genome is 14648 nucleotides long and consists of eight segments of linear negative-sense, single-stranded RNA. Its capsid is enveloped while its virion consists of an envelope, a matrix protein, a nucleoprotein complex, a nucleocapsid, and a polymerase complex. Its 500 or so surface projections are made of hemagglutinin(HA) and neuraminidase(NA). This study is directed towards the HA and NA proteins of the Influenza B Virus by obtaining sequences from the different continents all over the world. After comparing the sequences, consensus sequences have been identified in the proteins, and their 3D structures have been determined. From the 3D structures, attempt has been made to identify certain common regions/domains that remain fairly conserved in all the protein sequences in a specific geographical domain. The domains thus identified, a drug/vaccine can be devised to target the conserved regions, which can fight the disease unaffected by small mutations in the virus. Hence, any drug/vaccine can be more effective if it is designed keeping in view these conserved domains of the proteins, and can decrease the severity and mortality rate of the disease, and will probably prove to be a better weapon to combat any mutated strains of the virus that might evolve.