Chicago, Dec, 30 (IANS) The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) is launching a scientific exchange programme with India in honour of Nobel laureate Har Gobind Khorana.
The launch will coincide with the 40th anniversary of Dr Khorana winning the Nobel Prize in 1968 for his pioneering work in synthesis of the gene and for helping decipher the genetic code. At the time he was a member of the university’s faculty.
The Khorana Program for Scientific Exchange will “foster and expand interaction between the Indian and US scientific communities and prove to be transformative for both American and Indian students,” Aseem Zoe Ansari, professor of biochemistry who is the director of the programme, told IANS.
Although the programme is expected to become effective from June,2008, it is being formally launched in the first week of January in New Delhi. Kenneth Shapiro, professor of agricultural and applied economics and associate dean, along with Ansari will visit New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai from Jan 4 onwards. They are expected to meet officials of the ministry of science and technology, department of science and technology and department of biotechnology apart from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Ansari said the programme was a “fitting way to honor this great scientist on the 40th anniversary of his award.” Khorana, who is 85-years-old and remains at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was said to be happy with the launch of the programme in his name.
Under the programme, Khorana Scholars from India will spend 8-10 weeks in research laboratories at UW, mentored by its faculty. They will have the opportunity to become part of major research programs and join international teams of scholars under the auspices of the National Science Foundation. “In exchange, Khorana Scholars from UW would be placed in laboratories of Indian partner institutions for similarly enriching and scholarly experiences,” Shapiro said.
The new programme is expected to generate benefits for the rural-agricultural sector in India through its applied research. The university’s agricultural programs are considered among the best in the world. The 2006/7 US Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index rankings show Wisconsin first in animal sciences, plant science, and food science; second in entomology, and third in plant pathology, according to an official release from the university.
The Khorana Program will build teams of UW and Indian faculty and students to address the challenges of Indian rural development.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison continues has a strong research tradition to which Dr. Khorana contributed immensely during his tenure. The discovery of the first vitamins in the Enzyme Institute was one of the highlights. More recently, UW scientists were the first to isolate and culture human embryonic stem cells, from which they developed the stem cell lines that form the basis for most of the world’s stem cell research.
UW was selected by the US government to be home to the only national stem cell bank. Last month, university announced that they had been able to reprogramme human skin cells to become indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells. This is regarded as a major breakthrough which tides over ethical questions and the challenges of organ rejection.
In 2007 the US Department of Energy selected UW to start one of three new national bioenergy research centers that will be at the core of America’s alternative energy strategy.