N.E.Quest Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011

Newsletter of North East India Research Forum
Newsletter Of NORTH EAST INDIA RESEARCH FORUM
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/northeast_india_research/ www.neindiaresearch.org
N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
EDITORIAL
It is a great privilege to address the editorial of N. E. Quest. Thanks to for giving me this opportunity. At the outset I wish success for N. E. Quest, current and forthcoming issues. Congratulations for all published issues with the accomplishments in its intended purposes. Thanks to advisory committee, editorial board and members and contributors for their leadership in bringing the community into one place called North East India Research Forum. Heartiest welcome to all new members and hope they will actively participate exchanging their ideas and goals. I am glad to introduce few new contents in this issue. Spectrum is one of them that holds you dream. Facebook discussion brings us to talk about several crucial and sensitive topics with valuable opinions by the forum members. Invited article is a creative thought particularly publishing articles like Industrialization, Capitalism and Communism that surely provides flavour from off domain. Thank to authors and contributors. I want to focus the importance of two closely related all-encompassing topics, teaching and research. Teaching and basic research can only bring the prosperity and integrity of a nation. The famous quote by Abraham Lincoln during the midst of civil war, "I strongly refused to accept America's sole purpose was mere survival, so I created National Academy of Sciences, founded colleges, and began the work of the transcontinental railroad and towards the discovery of new and useful things" easily demonstrates tremendous importance of science for a better world and mankind. People always love to talk about "research", "technology", "innovation" like exciting phrases. But we should be always cautiously attentive to teaching and how to educate people. Nevertheless we all know the quality of teaching is the most influential single factor in determining whether a student will succeed or fail. The progress and prosperity of future generations will depend on what we do now to educate the next generation. Thus without genuine expertise in the field of teaching the problem is only going to get worse. It is true that integration of a nation is strongly dependent on basic scientific research, innovation, and technologies. Vannevar Bush, who was the scientific advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt, quoted as "Basic scientific research is the scientific capital". Let me share you one novel thought of present time in the development of pharmaceutical industries. We all probably know the development of just one successful drug from its design stage to over the counter (tablets or doses form) costing billion dollars and 10-20 valuable years to the industry. All manufacturing processes involved in this development are performed individually known as batch processes. MIT and the Swiss pharma industry Novartis in collaboration started a multi-year innovative project with the aim of bringing all batch processes into continuous mode. This means starting from the synthesis of a drug in organic laboratory to the manufacturing of tablet will be in continuous. This is one of the simple attempts to put forward ideas towards application and ease life. I am sure if we work with our friends around the world, we proceed more rapidly and more cost-effectively to resolve many of the challenges we face. Also this will help us reflect globally in character. Lets work hard with a genuine goal and legal motivation and look for new frontiers. I wish long live of this forum. We shall feel happy if N. E. Quest is contributing something toward educate our people by sharing knowledge.
Dr. Bipul Sarma Chem. Eng. Dept., MIT, USA
CONTENT
1 2 3 4 About The North East India Research Forum Science News Spectrum by Bipul Sarma Instrument (a) Flash Chromatography [CombiFlash Companion] by Progyashree Goswami (b) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) - Mega Hertz to Giga Hertz by Dr. Ashim J. Thakur Article Section (a) Synthesis and Radical Polymerization of Adamantyl Methacrylate Monomers having Hemiacetal Moieties by Dr. Balaka Barkataky (b) Quantum Dots and its application in cancer research by Dr. Mausam Kalita (c) The Flying Jewel of Nature - Butterfly by Nabanita Das (d) Next generation optical tools for biomedical applications by Dr. Bhargab Das Invited Article (a) Industrialization, Capitalism and Communism by Pradyumna Kalita (b) Growth of Single Crystals from Hydrothermal Synthesis by Dr. Prashanth W. Menezes Thesis Synopsis (a) Automated Analysis of Stellar Photometric and Spectroscopic Data from Space Missions and Classification of Astronomical Objects Archana Bora (b) Synthesis and labeling strategy for indirect detection of estrogen-derived DNA adducts using aqueous quantum dots Mausam Kalita (c) Total Synthesis of Medium Sized Natural Lactones Partha Pratim Saikia Facebook Discussion Does Indian Research meet World class standard? Eds: Saitanya K Bharadwaj Members Face News & Achievements Letters to Editor by Gitashree Goswami Through The Lenses by Bipul Sarma Fellowship, Advertisement, Opportunity 5 9 12 13 16
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum 5. Apathy from Central Govt. = 4% Which area of science is going to dominate by creating a great impact on society in next decade? 1. Nanoscience & nanotechnology = 22% 2. Biotechnology = 11% 3. Nanobiotechnology = 38% 4. Chemical Engineering = 0% 5. Medicine = 11% 6. Others = 16% 7. None = 0% Kindly let us know your view regarding the following topic. What activities of this group you like most? 1. Research articles = 33% 2. Information about vacancy/positions available = 10% 3. Way to have a contact with all members = 29% 4. Scientific discussions = 14% 5. Others = 2%
ABOUT
North East India Research Forum
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1. Created on 13 November 2004. 2. Growth Every forum has to pass through difficult phases at the time of birth. NE India Research Forum is also no exception. At the very beginning, it was a march hardly with few members (from chemistry only) and today the forum comprised of a force of over 400 elite members. Now we are in a position such that people voluntarily come and join the group irrespective of disciplines.
Graph of no of members vs months

3. Forum Discussions Necessity of directory of all the members of the forum. Possibility of organising conference in the N. E. India. Taking initiation on setting up of South East Asian Scientific Institute. On selection of Best paper award. Let us introspect. 4. Poll conducted and results North East India is lacking behind the rest of the country due to1. Geographical constrain = 0% 2. Bad leadership = 40% 3. Lack of work culture = 36% 4. Corruption = 18%
Selection of name for Newsletter There were total 36 proposals submitted by members of the forum for the Newsletter. The name proposed by Mr. Abhishek Choudhury N. E. QUEST received the maximum number of votes and accepted as the name of the Newsletter. How often should we publish our newsletter '' N. E. Quest? 1. Every 3 months = 61% 2. Every 6 months = 38% 3. Once a year = 0%
5. Editors of NE-Quest Issues 1. Vol 1 Issue 1 April, 2007 Dr. Arindam Adhikari 2. Vol 1 Issue 2 July 2007 Dr. Tankeswar Nath 3. Vol 1 Issue 3 October 2007 Dr. Ashim Jyoti Thakur 4. Vol 1 Issue 4 January 2008 Mr. Pranjal Saikia 5. Vol 2 Issue 1 April 2008
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Dr. Sasanka Deka 6. Vol 2 Issue 2 July 2008 Dr. Rashmi Rekha Devi 7. Vol 2 Issue 3 October 2008 Dr. Prodeep Phukan 8. Vol 2 Issue 4 January 2009 Dr. Manab Sharma 9. Vol 3 Issue 1 April 2009 Dr. Debananda Ningthoujam 10. Vol 3 Issue 2 July 2009 Dr. Robert Singh Thangjam 11. Vol 3 Issue 3 October 2009 Dr. Pankaj Bharali 12. Vol 3 Issue 4 January 2010 Dr. Abdul Wahab 13. Vol 4 Issue 1 April 2010 Dr. Utpal Bora 14. Vol 4 Issue 2 July 2010 Dr. Babita Baruwati 15. Vol 4 Issue 3, October 2010 Ms. Ananya Saikia 16. Vol 4 Issue 4, Janury 2011 Dr. Saitanya Bharadwaj 17. Vol 5 Issue 1, April 2011 Dr. Mahen Konwar 18. Vol 5 Issue 2, July 2011 Dr. Bipul Sarma 6. Moderator Arindam Adhikari, Ph.D. CECRI, Kadaikudi, Tamilnadu Email: arindam_tsk@yahoo.com Ashim J. Thakur, Ph.D. Chemical Science Dept, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam Email: ajtthax@yahoo.com Utpal Borah, Ph.D. Dibrugarh University, Assam, India Email: utbora@yahoo.co.in Khirud Gogoi, Ph.D. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA; Email:khirudg@gmail.com 7. Cover Page design Anirban Adhikari 8. Logo design Manab Sharma 9. Domain/URL www.neindiaresearch.org 10. Future activities Proper planning and consequent implementation always play an important role in every aspect. Some of the topics / activities / suggestions which were being discussed, time to time in the forum will get top priorities in our future activities. Those are mentioned here, Preparing complete online database of N.E. researchers with details. Organising conference in the N.E. regionproposed by Dr. Utpal Bora. Research collaboration among forum members. Motivate student to opt for science education. Help masters students in doing projects in different organisation-proposed by Dr. Khirud Gogoi. Supporting schools in rural areas by different ways. Best paper awards. Compilation of book on Education system of different countries. Initiative for this project is taken by Dr. Mantu Bhuyan, NEIST, Jorhat, Assam
11. New activities Guidelines for the members are being formulated by the moderators of the NE India Research Forum. These guidelines are placed in the forum for discussion. HiMedia Laboratories Pvt. Ltd is willing to sponsor some future activities of the forum and have asked for space to advertise for their products in the N. E. Quest. Starting this issue (July 2009) N. E. Quest is providing one page for the advertisement. Details about this deal will be informed soon once finalised. Thanks to Dr. Robert Thangjam for his initiative in this matter. North East India Research Forum cell has been started in the following colleges,
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Dibrugarh University; Contact: Dr. Jitu Ranjan Chetia, Dept. of Chemistry Email: jituranjan@yahoo.co.in Tezpur University; Contact: Dr. Ashim J. Thakur, Dept. of Chemistry Email: ajtthax@yahoo.com Phone: 03712 267008/9/10 (5059) Manipur University; Contact: Dr. Debananda S. Ningthoujam, Coordinator, Microbial Biotech Lab Reader & Head, Dept of Biochemistry, Manipur University, Imphal Email: n.debananda@gmail.com Mizoram University; Contact: Dr. Thangjam Robert Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University, Aizawl Jorhat Institute of Technology; Contact: Mr. Prasanta Kumar Bordoloi, Senior Lecturer Email: prasantabordoloi@yahoo.co.in Mobile: 09957036339 Arya Vidyapeth College, Guwahati Contact: Mr. Pabitra Kalita, Senior Lecturer Email: pabitra_kalita@rediffmail.com Mobile No: 09613133859 & Dr. Pradip Bhattacharyya, Senior Lecturer Email: prdpbhatta@yahoo.com Mobile No: 09864087494 Pandu College; Contact: Mr. Sanchay Jyoti Bora Lecturer, Department of Chemistry E-mail: sanchay.bora@gmail.com Mobile: 09854078814 Bajali college, Pathsala; Contact: Mr. Arindam Talukdar, Lecturer, Environmental & Tourism Dept. Email: katharpankaj@yahoo.com & Mr. Satyendra Nath Kalita, Lecturer, Dept. of Zoology; Email: satyendranathkalita@gmail.com B. Borooah College, Guwahati; Contact: Dr. Diganta K. Sarma, Lecturer, Dept of Physics. Email: digantasarma02@rediffmail.com To run the forum smoothly, to make it more organised and to speed up activities, formation of a committee/team is essential. The combined N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011 discussion of the moderators and senior members make the forum feel the importance of Advisors, co-ordinator, volunteer, webmasters etc. Of course it needs more discussion and will be approved by poll. 12. Guidelines for the forum
The moderators formulated some guidelines for the forum which are as follow. These guidelines were kept open for discussion in the forum. With time and need the guidelines will be changed. 1. Anybody in the forum can start a meaningful and constructive discussion after discussion with moderators. 2. Comments from the individual members do not necessarily reflect the view of the forum. 3. No single moderator can take a crucial decision. All decision would be taken by the moderators unanimously or together with the group as majority. 4. One should not write any massage to the forum addressing some particular members. It should always start with Dear all / Dear esteemed members etc. 5. If one has to write a mail to a particular member she/he should write personal mail. 6. Everyone has the freedom to speak but that doesnt mean that one should attack personally. Of course we do have differences. There can be debate or discussion, but it should always be a healthy one. Ones personal comment should be written in such a way that it reflects his/her view only. It should not touch other's sentiments/emotions. 7. Whenever we are in a forum, society, home, members should be sensitive / caring enough to their comments so that it does not hurt sentiment of any second members. 7
8. Members should not post greetings messages (Bihu wish, New Year wish etc) to the forum. 9. Members should post authentic news only. The source of the news should be authentic. No controversial news or comment should be posted to the forum. 10. Our main aim is to discuss science to generate science consciousness, scientific temperament, sensitivity, awareness and research for the benefit of the mankind in general and North East India in particular. 11. In severe cases, moderators can take a hard decision unanimously or majority wise (may be through poll). (This point needs to be accepted by all the members). While sending request or while fulfilling request for articles please follow the following points. The forum has been formed to help each other. When a member requests articles/literature to forum, members of the forum are always happy to help the
person by supplying the articles. But at this stage we have to keep in mind that the article should be sent to the person who requested it, not to the whole forum as it creates lots of unnecessary mails in the message box of the forum. Moreover if it continues, it become a irritation also for many members. It is also the duty of the person who requests article to acknowledge the person who helped him/her. This can be done by writing ' Request fulfilled by......' in the subject area while composing the mail and write a thanking message in the main message board. Once this is done, then if some other members want to send the article will know about the status of the request. This will also help members in keeping mailbox clean. For example Moreover sending articles (copyright protected articles) to the open forum violates copyright act. So please send the article to the person who requests not to everybody through this open forum.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/northeast_india_research/ http://www.neindiaresearch.org/ -------0-------
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Ten, Jose, Katia etc. are recent examples of tropical storm. Irene storm slashed York directly across Puerto Rico, headed out to sea north of the Dominican Republic and buffeting 1. Hurricane: Irene 2011 Hurricanes begin as tropical storms over the warm moist waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans near the equator (also called typhoons). As the moisture the north coast with dangerous sea surge and downpours. Irene grew into a category 2 hurricane when arrive United States coast from category 3 at Turks, Caicos Islands, southeastern Bahamas which could have been a monster. Then moved to the Bahamian capital of Nassau, Henry Vera, of Long Island, New York and shifted towards New England areas. 2. Mind-Altering Microbes Recently researcher from McMaster University in Canada reported that probiotic bacteria have the potential to alter brain neurochemistry and treat anxiety and depression-related disorders. They demonstrated that mice fed with Lactobacillus rhamnosus JB1 showed significantly fewer stress, anxiety and depression-related behaviours than those fed with just broth. Moreover, ingestion of the bacteria resulted in significantly lower levels of the stress-induced hormone, corticosterone. These findings highlight the important role that gut bacteria play in the bidirectional
SCIENCE NEWS
Bipul Sarma, MIT Sources: www.sciencenews.org, New Times, Scince Daily, MIT Tech News
evaporates it rises until enormous amounts of heated moist air are twisted high in the atmosphere. The winds begin to circle counter clockwise north of the equator or clockwise south of the equator. Around this center winds moves at speed between 74 and 200 miles per hour. As long as the hurricane remains over waters of 79F or warmer, it continues to pull moisture from the surface and grow in size and force.
communication between the gut and the brain, the gut-brain axis, and opens up the intriguing When a hurricane crosses land or cooler waters, it loses its source of power, and its wind gradually slow until they are no longer of hurricane force less than 74 miles per hour. The most recent hurricane Irene formed in the southern Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011 opportunity of developing unique microbialbased strategies for treatment for stress-related psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. The researchers also showed that regular feeding with the Lactobacillus strain caused changes in the expression of receptors for
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum the neurotransmitter GABA in the mouse brain, which is the first time that it has been demonstrated that potential probiotics have a direct effect on brain chemistry in normal situations. The authors also established that the vagus nerve is the main relay between the microbiome (bacteria in the gut) and the brain. This three way communication system is known as the microbiome-gut-brain axis and these findings highlight the important role of bacteria in the communication between the gut and the brain, and suggest that certain probiotic become increasingly able to distinguish speech sounds of their native language, while at the same time their ability to distinguish sounds from a foreign language declines. E.g. they are better at detecting the difference between "r" and "l" sounds, which are prevalent in the English language.
organisms may prove to be useful adjunct therapies in stress-related psychiatric disorders. 3. Vocabulary Linked to Early Brain
Differentiation Researchers at the University of Washington's report that the brains of babies raised in bilingual households show a longer period of being flexible to different languages, especially if they hear a lot of language at home. The researchers also show that the relative amount of each language, English and Spanish, babies were exposed to affect their vocabulary as toddlers. The study is the first to measure brain activity throughout infancy and relate it to language exposure and speaking ability. The bilingual brain is fascinating because it reflects human abilities for flexible thinking. Bilingual babies learn that objects and events in the world have two names, and flexibly switch between these labels, giving the brain lots of good exercise. Previous studies show that between 8 and 10 months of age, monolingual babies This is the same age when Japanese babies, who are not exposed to as many "r" and "l" sounds, decline in their ability to detect them. Babies from monolingual (English or Spanish) and bilingual (English and Spanish) households wore caps fitted with electrodes to measure brain activity with an electroencephalogram, or EEG, a device that records the flow of energy in the brain. Babies heard background speech sounds in one language, and then a contrasting sound in the other language occurred occasionally. For example, a sound that is used in both Spanish and English served as the background sound and then a Spanish "da" and an English "ta" each randomly occurred 10 percent of the time as contrasting sounds. If the brain can detect the contrasting sound, there is a signature pattern
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum called the mismatch response that can be detected with the EEG. Monolingual babies at 69 months of age showed the mismatch response for both the Spanish and English contrasting sounds, indicating that they noticed the change in both languages. But at 10-12 months of age, monolingual babies only responded to the English contrasting sound. Bilingual babies showed a different pattern. At 6-9 months, bilinguals did not show the mismatch response, but at 10-12 months they showed the mismatch for both sounds. 4. Kill any Type of Virus Researchers at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory has designed a drug that can identify cells that have been infected by any type of virus, and then kill those cells to terminate the infection (published in PLoS ONE). Drug against 15 viruses were tested and found effective against all of them including technology says this is a broad-spectrum technology, could potentially be use to combat outbreaks of new viruses, such as the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). When viruses infect a cell, they take over its cellular machinery for their own purpose that is, creating more copies of the virus. During this process, the viruses create long strings of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), which is not found in human or other animal cells. As part of their natural defenses against viral infection, human cells have proteins that latch onto dsRNA, setting off a cascade of reactions that prevents the virus from replicating itself. However, many viruses can outsmart that system by blocking one of the steps further down the cascade. They combined a dsRNA-binding protein with another protein that induces cells to undergo apoptosis launched. Therefore, when one end of the DRACO (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers) binds to dsRNA, it signals the other end of the DRACO to initiate cell suicide. However, if no dsRNA is present, DRACO leaves the cell unharmed. Most of the tests reported in this study were done in human and animal cells cultured in the lab.
rhinoviruses that cause the common cold, H1N1 influenza, a stomach virus, a polio virus, dengue fever and several other types of hemorrhagic fever.
The drug works by targeting a type of RNA produced only in cells that have been infected by viruses. Todd Rider, inventor of this new N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
@ "If it's green or wriggles, it's biology. If it stinks, it's chemistry. If it doesn't work, it's physics..." Science handy guide.
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum home. Soon after, Bolla made a commitment to excel. I worked hard, and I never looked back. First, he learned Braille, then English, then how to use a computer. He won awards in debating, creative writing, chess, and blind cricket. He became the schools top student. Thanks to Bolla for his efforts, because of that all blind students in India can study science beyond grade 10. Bolla, who now stars on a blind baseball team in Cambridge, is working with the Board of Education in the Indian state of Andhra Srikanth Bolla, a 19-year-old sophomore who is blind recently realized a dream when he travelled to Hyderabad, India, to develop a computer-training center for visually challenged students. Last year, Bolla shared his dream to create the center with staff at MITs Public Service Center, which provided Bolla with a fellowship and know how to make his dream come true. He created a curriculum, then with additional grants, he bought five computers, rented a building, hired a faculty member, and began 10-week computer classes. The center now trains 30 blind high school students each year, but with more funding, he hopes to add more computers and more students. Villagers told my parents: He cannot see. Let him die. My grandmother said, No. One day he may be useful to our family. He spent his childhood in loneliness and always wanted to play sports and games with other children, but they gave him no attention. At the age of seven, one of his uncles urged him to enroll in a school for the blind in Hyderabad, a city 250 miles away from his N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011 Pradesh to get his computer-training course accredited. His other goals include expanding the computer center to several locations in India, finding jobs for trained students, and raising money to educate more young people. My lifetime ambition is to become the President of India, says Bolla, who was a member of Lead India 2020, a national movement to train youth in leadership, human values, and employment skills. The idea is that the transformed 540 million youth would lead India to become a developed nation by 2020. In 2010, Bolla received an excellence award from that organization from the former President of India. I want to dedicate my life to community and social service, he says. I want a place in society where people look up to me as a role model and great leader. I am glad to meet him at MIT campus and around. I wish all his dream come through and stay healthy. composed by Bipul Sarma
SPECTRUM
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum the mixture or separated during analytical chromatography. Chromatogram is the plot between retention time (x-axis) versus signal (yaxis) corresponding to the response created by analytes that is proportional to the concentration Progyashree Goswami Ph. D. Student Natural Products Chemistry Division, NEIST, Jorhat. progyashree.goswami@gmail.com The Greek word chroma means color and graphein means to write is collectively known as Chromatography. This is a of the components. The equipment is known as chromatograph. In chromatography which is a physical method of separation consist of two phases. The eluate is the mobile phase leaving the column and the eluent is the solvent that will carry the analyte. The second one is a stationary phase which is immobilized on the support particles.
INSTRUMENTS
1. Flash Chromatography [CombiFlash Companion]
laboratory technique for the separation of mixtures based on the difference in partitioning between the two phases, i.e. mobile and stationary. The mixture dissolved in a "mobile phase" and passes through a stationary phase, which separates the analyte in the mixture. Every compound has a unique partition
coefficient result in differential retention on the stationary phase that changes the separation. There are two principal (i) is used to applications of The mobile phase moves in a definite direction which may be a liquid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid distinguishing them as Liquid Chromatography (LC), Gas Chromatography (GC) and Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC). Gas chromatography is always carried out in a column, which is typically "packed" or "capillary". Gas chromatography is based on partition equilibrium of analyte between a solid stationary phase (i.e. silica, alumina etc.) and a mobile gas (i.e. Helium). GC is widely used in the petrochemical, environmental monitoring and remediation, and industrial chemical fields
Chromatography. chromatography
Preparative separate the
components of a mixture and (ii) Analytical chromatography is done with smaller amounts of material to measure the relative proportions of analytes in a mixture. Chromatography was first used primarily for the separation of plant pigments such as chlorophyll in the beginning of the 20th century. Before going into details I would like to put a short note on the terms and phrases used in chromatography. Analytes are the components in N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum and extensively in chemistry research. However in liquid chromatography the mobile phase is a liquid and carried out either in a column or a plane. The High Performance Liquid separation time exceptionally to a great extent. In planar chromatography the stationary phase is present as or on a plane. The plane can be a paper (paper chromatography) or a layer of solid particles spread on a support such as a glass plate (thin layer chromatography). Apart from these common chromatographic techniques there are several modified or integrated techniques available depending on the type of the mixture to be separated. Affinity chromatography, Ion exchange chromatography, size exclusion
Chromatography (HPLC) uses non-polar solvent as normal phase and polar solvents in reverse phase that consist the mobile phase. The stationary phase normally includes irregularly or spherically shaped particles, a porous monolithic layer, or a porous membrane. Depending on mobile phase HPLC can be of two types, (i) more polar stationary phase than the mobile phase (e.g. toluene as the mobile phase, silica as the stationary phase) are termed normal phase liquid chromatography (NPLC) and (ii) less polar stationary phase (e.g. water-methanol mixture as the mobile phase and C18 = octadecylsilyl as the stationary phase) is termed reversed phase liquid chromatography (RPLC). RPLC has considerably techniques more based use. on The the
chromatography etc. In some cases it is possible to direct a series of unresolved peaks onto a second column with different physico-chemical properties. Since the mechanism of retention on this new solid support is different from the first dimensional separation, it can be possible to separate compounds that are indistinguishable by one-dimensional chromatography. The
sample is spotted at one corner of a square plate, developed, air-dried, then rotated by 90 and usually redeveloped in a second solvent system. This technique is known as the two dimensional chromatography. Chiral chromatography is another technique involves the separation of stereoisomers. Only difference appears in the stationary phase which is now made chiral. Coming back to the discussion about Combi Flash chromatography where normal phase and reversed phase chromatography are fully supported in all modern equipments. Isco also offers empty RediSep columns that can be packed with user-supplied media. Isco
chromatographic
concept of bed shape can be two types, (i) Column chromatography and (ii) Planar
chromatography. Planar chromatography can be subdivided into (a) Paper chromatography and (b) Thin layer chromatography (TLC). In column chromatography the stationary bed is within a tube with two open ends. A modified version of column chromatography that the solvent is driven through the column by applying positive pressure was first introduced in 1978 by W. Clark Still from Columbia University, New York and is known as flash column chromatography. This reduces the N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
CombiFlash systems are designed specifically
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum for organic purification customers. They are compatible with organic solvents, hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, also chlorinated solvents, including methylene chloride and chloroform. The CombiFlash Companion personal flash chromatography system can be controlled or monitored from anywhere via internet with plenty of modern facilities like e-mail for that column. The column runs with flow rate 5 to 100 ml/min and pressure 50 psi (3.5 bar). The software is specifically designed to meet the needs of purification rather than analysis. We can change the gradient any time during a run to immediately modify the solvent mixture in real run time. The primary applications are in drug discovery, agrochemistry, petrochemistry, and quick scale up of intermediate compounds from milligram to several standard grams. features CombiFlash like (i)
notification when separation is done, advance automation and communication capabilities.
Companions
parameters may be changed during the run, (ii) automatic detection of column size, (iii) quick conversion from normal to reversed phase conditions, (iv) change solvents rapidly with the optional solvent management module, (v) sensory detection of remaining solvent volume in each reservoir, (vi) tunable UV (Photodiode array absorbance detector) wavelength from 200 to 360 nm, (vii) touch screen, desktop, or laptop and control from anywhere using Internet, (viii) reliable fraction collection uses Isco Foxy Fully touch screen operational with optional solvent management module that controls via sensor up to 4 solvents on line. Companion uses precision packed RediSep Rf columns to yield more pure compound in less time than any glass column or other disposable. Columns from 4 grams to 330 grams are quickly interchangeable with no additional hardware, for fast, easy scale-up from milligrams to tens of grams of purified sample. CombiFlash technology, (ix) auto rack-sensing eliminates spilled compounds, (x) equipped with a vapor sensor and an over-pressure sensor to meet regulatory safety requirements. Accessories like solvent management module, fraction collector (External Foxy), collection racks for additional tube sizes, RediSep Rf prepacked columns (4g to 330g), sample load prepacked, silica gel cartridges, sample load empty cartridges etc. are provided a hustle free smooth functioning of the instrument. (Information culled from web sources)
Companion automatically senses the column size and programs itself with optimal conditions
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2. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) - Mega Hertz to Giga Hertz

Dr. Ashim J. Thakur Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University ajtthax@yahoo.com Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) phenomenon interaction is of a the manifestation magnetic due to
were developments both in hardware and software, NMR tried to enter into other fields, like biology and medical science. In 1971, Damadian publishes and patents describing idea for using NMR to distinguish healthy and malignant tissues. At that time, no image formation method proposed. In 1973, Lauterbur described projection method for creating NMR images. That marked the milestone for using NMR in medical sciences. As superior to X-ray, NMR has many advantages: (i) eliminate risk of X-radiation, (ii) excellent spatial & contrast resolution, (iii) detecting diseases at earlier stages. Following are some of the important milestones in NMR starting from 1938 1938 - Discovery of magnetic properties of nuclei Isadoor Rabi (Columbia University) 1946 - NMR first detected (protons in water) at Stanford (Felix Bloch) and Harvard Edward Purcell) 1952 - First commercial NMR spectrometer, Varian HR-30 1962 - First Superconducting Magnet for NMR 1968 - Fourier Transform NMR invented (Richard Ernst) 1969 - First Concept of MRI Scanners 1970 - FT-NMR instruments available 1971 - First 2D NMR Experiment COSY (Jean Jeener), applied by Ernst in 1975 1980 - 2D NOESY, Ernst & Kurt Wthrich 1983 - Solution conformation of protein (Lac repressor headpiece), Erik Zuiderweg, Robert Kaptein, Kurt Wthrich
moment
characteristic of every nucleus with an external magnetic field. NMR is a powerful, versatile, indispensable, nondestructive, contact free
analytical and diagnostic tool. The NMR technique is based on the sensitivity of magnetic properties, typically isotropic chemical
shieldings (ICS), to the chemical environment of the nuclei. In this article, a very brief chronology of developments of NMR is being given. At the very beginning, NMR was used only for chemical analysis: (i) Characterisation &
molecular structure determination; (ii) Content & purity Checks: Detection/quantisation of impurities, detection of enantiomers, analysis/ deconvolution of liquid mixtures, water content measurement; (ii) Process & reaction
monitoring: suitable for studying molecular dynamics (processes & reactions. It also helps chemists in optimizing chemical processes & to determine equilibrium constants, rate constants, diffusion coefficients & to evaluate structural properties. NMR was mostly used in chemistry, petroleum industry and food industry. There were no medical applications. As soon as there N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum 2009 - First Gigahertz NMR Spectrometer (AVANCE 1000). AVANCE 1000 , the worlds first 1 Gigahertz NMR spectrometer with breaking 23.5 T standard-bore a record(54 mm) 1975-85 1966-75 <100 atoms, analytical tool for Chemists <1000 atoms, small proteins,
nucleic acids cellular NMR Magnetic resonance spectroscopy of tissues and animals MRI,
superconducting NMR magnet delivered to the new Centre de RMN Trs Hauts Champs in Lyon, France in July 2009. 1985-95 1995-
Biomedical NMR <3000 atoms, Functional MRI large biomolecules
Following are the developments in NMR technology wise: Magnetic Fields (kGauss) 7.0 - 23.4 23.4 - 46.8 46.8 - 117 117 - 141 141 - 187.9 221 235
1
1946-60 1960-70 1970-80 1980-90 1990-00 Since the discovery, the impact of NMR is very strong and thatswhy, Nobel Prize was awarded to few scientists for their contribution in NMR: 1944, Isador Rabi, Physics, Discovery of magnetic properties of nuclei 1952, Felix Bloch & Edwin Purcell discovery of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision 1991, Richard Ernst methodology of high resolution NMR 2002, Kurt Wthrich determined 3D structures of biological macromolecules by NMR. 2003, Paul Lauterbur & Sir Peter Mansfield discoveries concerning MRI Research in NMR era wise can be considered as (based on molecular size): 1946-66 Small molecules (<30 atoms) 20002009-
H Frequency (MHz) 30-100 100-200 200-500 500-600 600-800 900 1000
Over the years, NMR theory and instrumentation have advanced symbiotically supported by developments in hardware and software. Multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a widely used tool in the study of biomolecular dynamics. Modern NMR-based structural biology relies on acquisition of multidimensional spectra. In recent years, coupled instruments have revolutionized the whole concept of spectroscopy/ cheaper spectrometry and
chromatography. Coupled instruments are:
17
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum can couple many techniques e.g. LC-MSNMR. quite easy routinely used as an analytical technique of mixtures high speed and use of deuterated solvents can be minimised maintaining balance between chromatography and spectroscopy/spectrometry (http://www.picospin.com, picoSpin -45 nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer) with (i) operating frequency, 45 MHz, (ii) 100 times smaller and 10 times less expensive, (iii) resolution better than 80 parts-per-billion, (iv) resolves proton chemical shifts, (v) very small sample volume of less than 40 micro liters, (vi) liquid phase 1H NMR
For an example, LC-NMR and LC-NMR/MS are two very powerful analytical techniques for resolving complex mixtures.LC-NMR is the hyphenation of (i) an HPLC (reversed-phase) separation, (ii) followed by implied To conclude, I want to quote the following statement from Prof. Richard Ernst (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1991): Because there is hardly any technique that is so informative for so many different types of applications & because, no other technique provides so much fun
chromatographic detectors such as UV, RI, etc., (iii) followed by NMR detection (serially). The following chromatographic variations have been published (listing the year of the first
publication): GPC-NMR (gel-phase chromatography; 1981) SFC-NMR (supercritical fluid chromatography; 1988) CE-NMR (capillary electrophoresis; 1994) CapLC-NMR (capillary LC-NMR; 1996) CEC-NMR (capillary electrochromatography; 1998) SEC-NMR 1998) Most recently, miniature is the given name to new technology, i.e. going smaller and smaller. The Worlds First Miniature NMR Spectrometer Debuts at $20,000, developed by picoSpin, LLC, Boulder, Colo., (size-exclusion chromatography;
18
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum tool so far in the advancement of
ARTICLE SECTION
1. Synthesis and Radical Polymerization of Adamantyl Methacrylate Monomers having Hemiacetal Moieties
Dr. Balaka Barkakaty
microelectronic devices. The success story of this emerging technology is aided by the innovation of novel architecture to meet the demands of properties required to fabricate integrated circuits with continuously decreasing feature sizes. It is largely the successful etching of gradual smaller structures that have fueled the continued performance increases in
Research Associate University of Akron, USA

balaka.barkakaty@gmail.com The design strategy and synthesis of bulky, hydrophobic and thermally stable adamantyl methacrylate monomers with attached
microprocessors. The core chemical property utilized in the present state of art for chemical amplification is the acid sensitivity of the protective group unit in the various copolymer systems used as photoresists. The ideal features for designing a novel protective group unit for photoresist applications can be assigned as 1) high acid sensitivity 2) good solubility in common organic solvents 3) thermal stability to withstand the pre and post exposure bakes 4) high transmittance to the exposed wavelength of irradiation 5) no out gassing during the deprotection step and 6) high base solubility of the deprotected part. In the meantime, hemiacetal esters as latent initiators have attracted enormous attention for their wide applications in developing adhesives and coating materials with simple procedures. Their characteristic thermal stability (>160 C) coupled with high acid sensitivity also makes them an attractive and potential candidate to be used as the protective group unit part in chemically Photolithography using chemical amplification technology has been a powerful N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011 amplified photoresist systems.
hydrophilic and acid labile three different types of alkyl (1, 2, 3) hemiacetal side groups are described. Free radical polymerizations of the obtained monomers furnished the desired
polymers with high molecular weights. The properties such as thermal stability, moisture stability and acid sensitivity of the obtained adamantyl hemiacetal ester homopolymers were evaluated which showed strong structureproperty dependence. The bond dissociation enthalpy of the obtained polymers depended on the electronic effects of the type of pendant hemiacetal ester side groups.
However, there are only few reports using different hemiacetal ester moieties for such
19
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum photoresist applications. It might be due to the high acid and moisture sensitivity of hemiacetal polymers which raises serious concerns about easy decompositions on exposure to stringent conditions during resist formulations. property relationship of the polymers. The fundamental properties of the polymers such as moisture stability, thermal stability and acid sensitivity were examined, which are essential to evaluate their feasibility to function as possible protective group units for photoresist
Incorporation of rigid and bulky adamantyl groups to the side chain of various parent polymers are driving great interests due to its ability to tune the various chemical and physical properties of the polymers such as thermal properties, stiffness, glass transition
applications. It was found that all the polymers show good thermal stability along with high acid sensitivity. The comparative moisture and thermal characteristics of the polymers
correlates to the electronic effects of the hemiacetal ester moieties. The adamantyl methacrylate monomers with hemiacetal side groups were synthesized by using 3-hydroxy-1-adamantane acetic acid as the starting precursor. The synthesis of the
temperatures (Tg), solubility, high density, resistance to oxidation, hydrophobicity, and crystallinity. Therefore, the architecture of a sophisticated molecular system such as one having the highly acid sensitive hemiacetal ester functionality tethered to the thermally stable adamantane group might offer a plausible solution in developing a new and high performance chemically protecting amplified group unit for with
monomers follows a very simple and facile synthetic pathway as shown in Scheme 1.
O OH O O O O OH
(i)
OH O O
(ii)
O O
resist
systems
2
O O OR
contrast characteristics like high thermal and moisture sensitivity. Herein, we report the synthesis and free radical polymerization of novel adamantyl methacrylate monomers having various types of alkyl hemiacetal ester moieties. Typically alkyl types of hemiacetal esters were synthesized in order to meet the requirement of imaging at 193 nm of light. Different types of alkyl vinyl ethers (1, 2, 3) were used to synthesize
4a-c
a R= b
O O
stability
along
with
high
acid
(iii)
Scheme 1 Synthesis of adamantyl methacrylate monomers with hemiacetal moietiesa

a
Conditions: (i) triethylamine, methacryloyl
chloride, CH2Cl2, 0 C- room temperature; (ii) pyridine, H2O, room temperaturet; (iii) vinyl ether, bis(2-ethylhexyl)hydrogenphosphate, room temperature. The presence of both carboxylic acid group and hydroxyl group in the starting precursor 1
electronically and sterically different hemiacetal ester monomers in order to investigate structureN. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
20
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum makes it feasible to attach two different functional groups (anhydride and ester) with varied reactivity in a single one pot reaction. The more reactive anhydride group was then entry selectively hydrolyzed in pyridine / H2O system to obtain the adamantane 3. acetic Finally, acid the methacrylate monomer Table 1 Polymerization monomers of with adamantyl different
methacrylate
hemiacetal ester side groups in MEK monomer
Conv. (%)a
Yield (%)b
1. 2. 3. 4b 4a
100 100 100
87 73 79
289, 000 475, 000 412,
93,0 00 134, 000 139, 000
3. 09 3. 54 2. 95
methacrylate type adamantane acid monomer 3 on reaction with various types of vinyl ethers in presence of catalytic amount of bis(2the
ethylhexyl)hydrogenphosphate
yielded
desired methacrylate type adamantyl hemiacetal ester monomers 4a-c in reasonable overall yields (27-32 %). The free radical polymerization of the obtained adamantyl methacrylate monomers with hemiacatal side groups were carried out in MEK using 3 mol% AIBN as initiator (Table 1).
O O O
4c
000
a: Confirmed by 1H NMR of the crude after 16 h of reaction; b: Determined by the weight of the dried polymer after precipitation in hexane; c: Determined by SEC using CHCl3 as the eluent and polystyrene as the calibration standards.
n
O
AIBN(3 mol %) MEK, 60 C, 16 h

O O R O O R O O
The obtained homopolymers showed high solubility in common organic solvents like MEK, CHCl3, toluene, DMF and THF. The presence of bulky and high carbon containing adamantyl groups is expected to impart rigidity, good thermal and moisture stability to the hemiacetal ester polymers which is an important
R= a
The hemiacetal monomers 4a-c showed high polymerizability and good stability in the reaction conditions as evident from their high conversions and high yields without any decomposition (Table 1).
requirement for designing a photoresist with high etch resistance and longer shelf life. On the other hand, the presence of hydrophilic, highly sensitive acid labile hemiacetal ester group as the side chain of the bulky adamantyl moiety can assist to meet the solubility parameter in common organic solvents and is also expected to improve the acid sensitivity of the resist
21
PDIc
Mw
Mn
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum polymer. The thermal stability of the obtained hemiacetal polymers were tested by TGA analysis (Table 2). Table 2 TGA analyses of the polymers %Td-5 (C) 191 166 140 Figure 1 Dependence of bond dissociation energy on the electron donating ability of side groups in hemiacetal ester polymers. Thus, poly-4a and poly-4b showed from the disappearance of the hemiacetal peaks around = 6.0 ppm in the 1H NMR.
entry 1. 2. 3.
polymer poly-4a poly-4b poly-4c
The difference in thermal stability of the hemiacetal polymers poly-4(a-c) can be
correlated to the electron donating ability of their corresponding alkyl groups with higher the electron donation, lower is the bond enthalpy of the ester bond and hence lower is the corresponding Td. Since the order of electron donation from an alkyl group varies in the order 3 > 2 > 1 therefore the order of thermal stabilities for the obtained hemiacetal ester polymers corresponds to the order poly-4c < poly-4b < poly-4a. To determine the moisture stability of the hemiacetal ester polymers poly-4(a-c), solution of each polymer in PGMEA were immersed in more than 4900 equivalent of H2O at room temperature and allowed to stir in the same condition for 7 days. The H NMR of the samples before and after the study showed similar results to that obtained for thermal stabilities. Poly-4a and poly-4b showed no decomposition while poly-4c decomposed under the conditions as evident
1
exceptional stability to moisture while poly-4c decomposed on exposure to high moisture content due to lowering of the dissociation enthalpy of the hemiacetal ester bond as a result of higher electron donating effect of the attached t-butyl group. The acid sensitivity of the polymers poly4(a-c) was evaluated by addition of aqueous HCl to polymer solution in THF. The dried polymers obtained after 5 min reaction with an aqueous solution of 5.0 M HCl in THF were found to be insoluble in most of the common organic solvents at normal temperature which made it difficult to analyze the obtained materials by 1H NMR spectroscopy. However, the solubility of the polymers increased to some extent in DMSO at higher temperature thereby making it feasible to measure the 1H NMR of the decomposed compounds in DMSO-d6 at 40 C. Although the intensity of 1H NMR signals of the polymers
22
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum after acid addition were not very distinct even at 40 C but the clear absence of the hemiacetal ester peaks around = 6.0 ppm justified the high acid sensitive nature of the synthesized adamantyl type hemiacetal polymers (Figure 24). Furthermore, the clear difference in the IR spectra of the dried polymers before and after acid exposure measured at room temperature reconfirms the decomposition of hemiacetal ester bond and formation of acid group by its typical broad absorption around 3300-2500 cm-1. The insolubility of the polymer in common organic solvents after acid addition might be the result of crosslinking in the fully or partially decomposed polymers via ionic interaction of the polar acid groups or hydrophobic interaction between the adamantyl moieties. However, the weight of the dried polymers after treatment with acid corresponded to the quantitative loss of the hemiacetal ester side groups. Moreover, the hemiacetal ester polymers were insoluble in the standard developer solution for resist formulation (2.38 % tetramethyl ammonium
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
after acid addition (at 40 C) DMSO-d6
O before acid addition (at rt)
O CDCl3
8 7 6
O 5.8 H O
5 4 3 2 1 0
Figure 2 1H NMR of poly-4a before and after acid addition
after acid addition (at 40 C) DMSO-d6
hydroxide) before reaction with acid whereas the polymers which were obtained after reaction with acid showed high solubility in the standard developer solution. The selective solubility of the polymers in the developer basic solution before and after reaction with acid also implies the decomposition of the hemiacetal ester moiety and formation of acid group as indicated by IR spectroscopy.
8
O before acid addition (at rt)
O CDCl3 6.0 O H O
6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Figure 3 1H NMR of poly-4b before and after acid addition
23
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum In summary, adamantyl methacrylate
monomers having hemiacetal ester side groups

after acid addition (at 40 C)
were synthesized. Free radical polymerizations of the obtained monomers at 60 C proceeded to obtain the corresponding polymers with high
DMSO-d6
molecular weights in high yields. The obtained

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
hemiacetal
polymers
showed
high
acid
sensitivity with deprotection of the hemiacetal

before acid addition (at rt) O
groups when exposed to acid. The comparative moisture and thermal stability of the bulky hemiacetal ester polymers exhibited strong
CDCl3
O 6.10 H O
6 5 4
structure-property inter dependence with the bond enthalpy of the hemiacetal ester polymers progressively decreasing with increase in
Figure 4 1H NMR of poly-4c before and after acid addition
electron donation from the substituted ester group. The easy synthetic pathway, high polymerizability of the monomers, good thermal and moisture stability of the homopolymers with high acid sensitivity along with strong structureproperty dependence ideally fits into the characteristic properties required for designing potential protective group units for photoresists.
Note: Visit http://pubs.acs.org for experimental details, synthesis, tests for moisture stability, test for acid sensitivity and references.
@ A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective. Edward Teller
24
2. Quantum Dots and its application in cancer research

Dr. Mausam Kalita Research Associate Kansas State University, USA mausamkalita@gmail.com Introduction During last decade and half, the research in the field of quantum dots and its applications has been explosive. The number of publications in recent years is very suggestive of staggering research in this area:
Publications on Quantum Dot Vs Publication Year
4000 3500
working on to develop DNA-nanoparticle conjugates.2 Quantum dots, the smallest regime of nanoparticles, are semiconductor nanocrystals of the size between 2 and 10 nm. They have the size and composition tunable electronic and optical properties with sharp, Gaussian emission spectra. The following table shows the large absorption coefficient of quantum dots across a wide spectral range. These are definite
advantages of quantum dots over traditional dyes as imaging agent in vivo and in vitro. In this review, I would like to discuss the application of quantum dots in cancer research and its future promises in cancer detection and therapy. I will also address the issues of cytotoxicity of quantum dots at the end of the review. Quantum Dots: A Brief Overview Quantum dots are semiconductors
Number of Publications
3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0
20 06 20 05 20 04 20 03 20 02 20 01 20 00 19 99 19 98 19 97 19 96 19 95 19 94 19 93 19 92 19 91 19 90 19 89 19 88 19 87
Years
composed of atoms from groups II-VI or III-V elements of periodic table3 e.g. CdSe. CdTe, InP etc. Their brightness is attributed to the quantization of energy levels due to confinement of an electron in a three dimensional box. The optical properties of these dots can be
Figure 1 There is an exponential growth in the number of quantum dot related publications which gives an idea of its future applications (from Scifinder) The discovery of quantum dots and its high luminescence properties has inspired this generation of scientists to explore its application as bioimaging agents in detection of cancerous cells and photosensitizing agents in
manipulated by a shell around it. Such dots are known as core-shell quantum dots. e.g. CdSeZnS, InP-ZnS, InP-CdSe etc. In this section, different properties of quantum dots based on their size and composition will be discussed. Electronic and Optical Properties of Quantum Dots A quantum dot, also often called an
photodynamic therapy of cancer. 2006 Nobel Prize winner Roger D. Kornberg is also part of this nanotechnology revolution and he has devised a method of rigid, specific labeling of proteins with gold nanoparticles1 and has started
25
Table 1 Size and composition tunable properties of quantum dots (www.evidenttech.com)
artificial
atom,
represents
the
electron
confinement in a sphere smaller than its exciton (electron-hole) Bohr radius which gives rise to discrete energy levels. The band gap, E, between the valance and conduction band of the semiconductor is a function of the nanocrystals size. (Fig 2)
Figure 2 (a) electron confinement in a sphere, (b) a typical semiconductor with band gap, E, between the valance band and conduction band. (by Dr.Viktor Chikan) As the quantum dot size increases, E decreases and there is a red shift in the first excitation peak. The emission can be tuned to even the far-red and near-infrared (NIR) region by increasing the size. Electronic excitations at N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
26
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum short wavelengths are possible due to presence of multiple electronic states as the quantum dot size increases. 3 Large molar extinction On the contrary, the shell of the type II QDs have both conduction and valance bands lower (or higher) in energy than those of the core. Thus, the motions of the electron and the hole are restricted to one dimension.6,7 e.g.
coefficients across a wide spectral range allow in simultaneous excitation of multiple color Q-dots with single light source. (Figure 3) These dots have slightly lower quantum yield than the traditional organic dyes but they have much larger absorption cross-sections and low rate of photobleaching. Molar extinction coefficients of Q-dots are about 105106 M
-1
CdTe/CdSe (c/s), CdSe/ZnTe (c/s).6 Radiative recombination of the exciton at the core-shell interface gives rise to the type-II emission. Type II QDs behave as indirect semiconductors near band edges and therefore, has an absorption tail into the red and near-infrared. This property of type II QDs was employed for sentinel lymph node mapping which will be discussed later in this paper.8 Alloyed (CdSeTe) have semiconductor been reported; the Q-dots alloy
cm-1 which is 10-100 times larger than dyes.4,5 2.2. Type I and type II core-shell quantum dots. Core-shell quantum dots have higher band gap shells around their lower band gap cores which emits light without any absorption by the shell. This shell passivates surface nonradiative emission from the core thereby enhancing the photoluminescence quantum yield and preventing natural degradation.5 The shell of the type I QDs has the higher energy conduction band and lower energy valance band than those of the core which results in confinement of both electron and hole in the core. e.g. CdSe/Zns (c/s), CdSe/CdS (c/s).
composition and internal structure, which can be varied, permits to tune the optical properties without changing the particles size.9 These Qdots can be used to develop near infrared fluorescent probes for in vivo biological assays as they can emit up to 850nm.(Figure 4)9
Figure 3 A. Absorption Spectra and B. Emission Spectra of CdSe quantum dots. As the Q-dot size increases the absorption and emission maxima shift to longer Wavelength (or, red shift) (www.evidenttech.com) N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
27
Surface modification of quantum dots for biocompatibility Quantum dots are synthesized in organic solvents and therefore, incompatible to use in vivo and in vitro. Q-dot solubilization in aqueous phase can be achieved by attaching these dots with polar ligands. The tri-(n-octyl) phosphine oxide passivated quantum dot surface can be functionalized by adding a layer of amphiphilic molecules such as cross-linked polymer (Figure 5)13 shells10, or amphiphilic phospholipids triblock micelles.12 copolymers11
them biocompatible for in vivo imaging of lymph nodes, liver, spleen and bone marrow of mice.16 PEGylation of Q-dots reduces its uptake by reticuloendothelian system and thereby increases circulating lifetime. Other ligands such as streptavidin to detect Her2 cancer markers,17 secondary antibodies to detect the integrin v subunit in SK-N-SH human neuroblastoma cells18 and recognition peptides for protein recognition18 are also used to link the quantum dots. In the next section, I will discuss the role of quantum dots in detecting cancer cells in vivo.
Figure 4 Comparison of emission spectra of core-shell and alloyed CdSe0.6Te0.4 quantum dots. (3) and (4) are homogeneous and gradient alloyed dots respectively.9 TOPO exchange with other ligands such as thiol,14 amine,15 containing molecules can bring the Q-dot from the nonpolar organic to polar aqueous layer (Figure 6).13 Use of amphiphilic poly(acrylic acid) as a primary coat on Q-dots followed by methoxy-terminated poly-(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) coating makes N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011 Figure 5 Quantum dot functionalization to solubilize in aqueous buffer by adding amphiphilic polymer coat around TOPO passivated Q-dot surface.13
28
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Luminescent quantum dots can detect the cancer cells even when injected at the picomolar level. In this section, I will discuss the reported in vivo cancer targeting and imaging with quantum dots in recent times. First in vivo cancer targeting and imaging with quantum dots: passive and active targeting mechanisms20 The first ever in vivo use of ZnS capped-CdSe quantum dots as fluorescent probes to target human prostate cancer grown in nude mice have been carried out by Shuming Nie and his group.20 The surface of these dots was made biocompatible by an amphiphilic ABC triblock copolymer, multiple PEG
molecules and tumor antigen targeting ligands cross-linked with the amphiphilic polymer (Figure 7).20 Each Q-dot had about 200 TOPO molecules, 4-5 triblock copolymers, 5-6 PEG molecules and 5-6 antibody molecules. Figure 6 Ligand exchange is another way to functionalize the Q-dots to enhance its biocompatibility.13 Quantum Dots in detecting Cancer Cells There is no doubt that cancer is one of the most life threatening diseases in the world. According to WHO, cancer accounts for 13% (7.6 million) of all deaths in 2005. The number of deaths is increasing very fast and will touch 9 million in 2015 and 11.4 million in 203019, if no major breakthroughs in cancer treatment can be achieved. The early and effective detection of cancer can reduce the deaths dramatically. N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011 The tumor targeting is achieved by both passive and active targeting. Accumulation of quantum dots sans any affinity ligands Figure 7 Surface modifications of quantum dots for in vivo cancer targeting.20
(antibodies in this case) at the tumor sites through enhanced permeability and retention is the passive mode of targeting which is achieved
29
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum since the tumors lack an effective lymphatic drainage system (leaky tumors). targeting involves the
20
undergo a large Stokes shift and hence, can be detected at low signal intensities whereas GFP emits in the region of background fluorescence (autofluorescence) and therefore difficult to distinguish. The detection of photons limited by in vivo conditions demands very bright probes with large absorption coefficients. The quantum dots are the best bets since they can absorb 1050 times more light than the organic dyes at same excitation wavelength. Immunofluorescent labeling of breast cancer marker Her2 and tongue cancer marker pglycoprotein (p-gp) with quantum dots.21,22 Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and streptavidin
The active
antibody-conjugated
quantum dots. They were used to target a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). (Figure 8)
20
Figure 8 Passive and active modes of tumor targeting.20 When PSMA Ab conjugated Q-dots are injected, strong and specific binding of these dots with human prostate cell line, C4-2 (which expresses PSMA on cell surface) is observed although these dots couldnt target the PSMA-negative cell line, PC-3. Q-dots without PSMA Ab fail to detect C4-2 cell line (Figure 9).20
conjugated CdSe-ZnS core-shell quantum dots have been used by Wu et al.21 to target the breast cancer marker Her2, which is, overexpressed on the surface of human SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells. These dots were also used for
simultaneous labeling of nuclear antigens and to stain actin and microtubule fibers in the cytoplasm. These SK-BR-3 cancer cells
incubated with monoclonal anti-Her2 antibody were recognized by QD-IgG. The
immunofluorescent labeling of Her2 was also successfully Figure 9 Spectral image of PSMA Ab conjugated Q-dots in (a) a healthy mouse without any tumor and (b) in a mouse with human prostate cancer growing which is confirmed by the orange red fluorescent signal.20 When the probe brightness is compared between green fluorescent protein (GFP) dye and Q-dots, it is found that the emission spectra of the dots N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011 human IgG.21 L-cysteine capped CdTe quantum dots synthesized in aqueous solution were linked to biotin and PEG to detect Tca8113/BLM cells which overexpress p- glycoprotein (p-gp). This was the first time when water-soluble quantum achieved by QD-streptavidin
conjugated with anti-Her2 antibody and anti-
30
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum dots have been used as immunofluorescent probe. The Q-dots conjugated to streptavidin, which are, in turn, linked to anti-p-gp antibody, have successfully stained p-gp on the surface of Tca8113/BML cells. Confocal luminescence images showed that there was target specific binding on the Tca8113/BML cells (Figure 10).22 3.3. Near infrared emitting type II quantum dots for imaging and image-guided cancer surgery.23, 24 Near infra-red emitting (NIR) type II quantum dots (10 nm in diameter) have been used in pico molar level to map sentinel lymph node, 1cm deep in the skin, for successful imaging guided cancer surgery.23 Polydentate phosphine coating of these CdTe(CdSe) coreshell Q-dots was responsible for their solubility in serum and for enhanced brightness as fluence rate increased showing no deterioration in fluorescence emission. On the contrary, The conventional NIR fluorophores, such as
IRDye78-CA, photobleach when the fluence rates exceeds their photobleaching threshold. Figure 10 Overexpressed p-gp (a) and low expressed p-gp (b) is labeled by CdTe quantum dot as observed under confocal microscope.22 When the photostability of the Q-dots was compared with a organic dye, FITC; fluorescence of Q-dots remained unchanged even after 30 min whereas FITC luminescence became diminished over this time period. (Figure 11)22 The first in vivo targeting and imaging of peptide based NIR Q-dots has been reported.24 Arginie-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptidelabeled CdTe(ZnS) core-shell Q-dots have been used to image integrin v3-positive tumor vasculature. Integrin v3 is overexpressed in some cancer cells such as breast, ovarian and prostate and in almost all tumor vasculature. Inhibition of integrin v3 requires its precise detection and NIR Q-dots have great potential in its imaging and image-guided surgery of the cancer cells. In vivo NIR fluorescence imaging of U87MG tumor-bearing mice shows the precise location of the tumor cell after injection Figure 11 Photostability of Q-dots (the top row) conjugated to Tca8113/BLM tongue cancer cells remain unchanged when fluorescence was observed in the interval of 5 minutes. The bottom rows show the emission of FITC conjugated signals.22 of 200 pmol QD705-RGD (emission maximum= 705nm) (Figure 12) 24
31
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum ZnS capping can stop air oxidation of the surface though it failed to eliminate UV assisted oxidation of the CdSe surface (Figure 14).25 The Figure 12 U87MG tumor cell mapping by QD705-RGD (left) and QD705 (right).24 Quantum dots and cytotoxicity Though quantum dots are supposed to revolutionize clinical diagnostics and surface oxidation can be reduced to almost zero by adding more layers to the Q-dots which is also a requirement to enhance biocompatibility. It is more difficult to stop UV light or inflammatory response assisted CdSe surface oxidation in vivo. Surface modifications by using polymer coating or lipid-micelles with protein cross-linking may successfully protect the surface from deterioration. More research in this field will make quantum dots an appealing replacement of the organic dyes.
therapeutics, these nanocrystal semiconductors are not without damaging effect inside the cell. The heavy metal toxicity is the impediment in using Q-dots as most potent fluorescent probes. In this section, I will review the cytotoxicity studies of Q-dots in vitro and in vivo.25,26 Studies have shown that synthesis and ligand exchange of CdSe Q-dots with
marcaptoacetic acid in an inert atmosphere made them nontoxic. However, exposure of the Q-dots to air before ligand exchange and to UV light after ligand exchange made these Q-dots cytotoxic. This may result from the oxidation of surface of CdSe Q-dots to SeO2 and Cd2+ ions. (Figure 13)25 The toxicity depended linearly upon the exposure time of these dots to UV light and dose of the dots injected. Figure 14 ZnS capping almost eliminates the surface oxidation of CdSe and thereby the cytotoxicity due to Cd2+ ions.25 Conclusion Figure 13 Surface oxidation of CdSe catalyzed by air and UV light.25 The surface coating of CdSe by ZnS, DHLA, BSA and polyacrylate reduces the surface oxidation significantly. It was found that N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011 The promise of quantum dots in the field of cancer diagnostics and therapeutics is enormous. These dots can detect cancer cell markers by bioimaging and remain stable for a long time, thus, they are to replace the dyes which suffer from photobleaching in the living
32
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum system. The biggest advantage of quantum dot is their size tunable optical properties and
3. The Flying Jewel of NatureButterfly

Nabanita Das Ph. D. Student NEIST, Jorhat, India Email: nabaneetaa@gmail.com Introduction North-East India is a part of
inexpensive synthesis in the lab. Though a few questions of safety issues have to be addressed before its adoption in human trials, a widespread revolution can be envisioned in
biosensing and analytical detection in coming years. In other words, quantum dot are going to change the perception of clinical world.
vavilion centre of biodiversity and holds a large number of rare species that are now under serious threat. North-East India comprising 8
Reference 1. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 2635-2640; 2. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2004, 102, 1338313385; 3. Anal. Biotechnol. 2002, 13, 40-46; 4. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 8706-8715; 5. J. Phys. Chem. B 1997, 101, 9463-9475; 6. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 11466-114467; 7. Phys. Rev. B 1998, 57, 4635-4641; 8. Nat. Biotechnol. 2004, 22, 93-97; 9. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 7100-7106; 10. J. Nano Lett. 2004, 4, 703707; 11. Nat. Biotechnol. 2004, 22, 969; 12. Science, 2002, 298, 1259-1762; 13. Science, 2005, 307, 538-544; 14. Science, 1998, 281, 2016; 15. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 6115; 16. Bioconjugate Chem. 2004, 15, 79-86; 17. P. Nat. Biotechnol. 2003, 21, 41-46; 18. Avd. Mater 2001, 13, 1673; 19. http://www.who.int/media centre/factsheets/fs297/en/; 20. Nat. Biotechnol. 2004, 22, 969-976; 21. Nat. Biotechnol. 2003, 21, 41-46; 22. Anal. Biochem. 2006, 354, 169174; 23. Nat. Biotechnol. 2004, 22, 93-97; 24. Nano lett. 2006, 6, 669-676; 25. Nano Lett. 2004, 4, 11-18; 26. Nano Lett. 2005, 5, 331-338.
states including Assam represents one of the few hot spots of biodiversity of the world. Insect comprises more than half of earths diversity of species (May, 1992). Healthy biological
communities depend on insects as pollinators, seed dispersers, herbivores, predators and prey. Butterflies are regarded as one of the best taxonomically studied groups of insect
(Robbins, 1997). They have been studied systematically since the early 18th century and about 19,238 species are documented worldwide by 1998(Heppner, 1998). India possesses 1501 species of butterflies (Kunte et al.1999) out of which northeast India accounts for nearly a twothird (962 species) (Evans,1932) of the species. Their admirable beauty of this flying jewel has been admired since human civilization.
Butterflies are free living; they go wherever they please and whenever they please. They are the messenger of nature, not only by adding brilliance pollinating healthiness exhibit to our surroundings and but also the
flowers of our
expressing
community. Butterflies mimicry and
polymorphism,
33
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum aposematism. Some, like the Monarch, will migrate over long distances. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic family. These differences are, however,
superficial. The butterflies are classified into 5 families. Among the families, diversity is more in the families Lycaenidae and Nymphalidae, comprising 6000 species each. The member of Papilionidae is the most acclaimed butterfly for the collector for their extra large size and unique beauty. A brief introduction of their Life Cycle Butterfly completes their life cycle into 4 stages i.e. egg, larva, pupa and adult.
relationships with social insects such as ants. Butterflies are important economically as agents of pollination. The caterpillars of some
butterflies eat harmful insects. A few species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees. Butterfly & Moth The butterfly and moth, included in the order Lepidoptera means the wings with scales. The butterfly and moth complete their lifecycle in 4 distinct life stages i.e. eggs, larva (caterpillar), pupa and adult. Although both group of insects are included in the same order, but they bear distinct difference in all life stages of the insects. The evolutionary root of both group of insects are same but on the way of evolution the divergence of butterfly group has appeared. The emergence of butterfly and their rapid modification subsequently with time, make them fit in survival for which butterfly could be designated as one of the modern group of insects. With time, the butterfly is losing their phylogenic origin property and subsequently gaining new qualities, essential for better survival in the changing nature. But still
Image Life Cycle of Palm Fly Butterfly on it host Plant About the Egg, Larva or Caterpillar, Pupa and Adult The adult female after mating, lays their egg on the undersurface of the tender leaves of host plants. In general eggs are laid singly or in group of 5 to 10. During laying, the mother always consider the availability of larval food for the young. The choice of tender leaves for egg laying assures the mother about the longevity of the leaves for a longer period with available soft tissues up to the emergence of potential young. The limited number of eggs deposited per leaf (single or 5 to 10) also provides opportunity for the young in feeding the resources without any competition. Further, tedious effort that is undertaken by the mother in finding suitable host plants for egg laying gives the larvae better opportunity to survive.
some dominant quality of their origin is remained on their body for which no distinct difference could be drawn in between butterfly and moth. The members of Hesperiidae are better representative of this ambiguity which possesses both the characters of butterfly and moth, though of course included under butterfly N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum pupal site, they migrate to nearby area for pupation. The pupae either remain hanging Image Different types of Eggs of Different Butterflies The tiny caterpillar just after emergence, satiate their appetite by feeding the egg shell. The egg shell, which is rich in nitrogenous nutrients, is like vitamin tablets for the tiny caterpillar. By feeding the egg shell, they could remain turgid for another 6 to 7 hours and during this time they could search the required host plants, host parts (if necessary). The grown up caterpillars are voracious feeder. They generally feed on the leaves of the host plants from the edge, in a way of curve. Their harvested nutrients during larval stages, also serve as the resources for survival and reproduction during adult. The caterpillar undergoes 5 to 6 moults and each successive moults facilitate to increase their body size. Caterpillars mature through a series of stages called instars. After pupation is completed, the adult butterfly emerges with speckled hues in their wings. The adult, sexually mature, stage of the insect is known as the imago. As Lepidoptera, butterflies have four wings that are covered with tiny scales. The fore and hind wings are not hooked together, permitting a more graceful flight. The adult butterfly has feeding upon the nectar of the Image Larvae of different butterfly species When the larva is fully grown, hormones such as prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH) are Image Some butterfly species nectaring on their host plants The longevity of adult butterfly varies with species to species. Thus the longevity ranges from 5 days to 1 years. Smaller the size less is the longevity. Likewise, the larger butterflies flowers. Image Common Earl (Adult Female) with its Pupa after and before adult emergence freely by sticking their cremaster on the leaf surface or partially so for the upper side of the body by a body band. The pupae have little or no protection device as in larvae and adults. Even they cannot move like larvae and adults. Therefore, camoflaguing their body with the background is very commonly seen in pupae and very often they escape from the sight of predators.
produced. At this point the larva stops feeding and begins "wandering" in the quest of a suitable pupation site. The pupae of butterfly are naked and optect in form. The mature larvae take position on twigs or undersurface of the leaves for formation of pupa. In absence of suitable
35
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum survive for many days even months. Butterflies are host specific i.e specific butterfly depends on specific host plant for their food in larval and adult stage, all the species of butterfly not feed upon all the species of plants. Each species of butterfly has its own hostplant range and while some species of butterfly are restricted to just one species of plant, others use a range of plant species, often including members of a common family. during the early part of the 20th century, have now declined rapidly throughout much of their range. Our campus (CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat) itself possess more than 70 species (Bhuyan et al., 2005). Very little work has been done regarding its diversity in Assam. We found more than 70 species of butterfly in Garampani WildLife Sanctuary too, situated at the border of golaghat and karbi angling district of Assam covering 6 sq K.M.s of area, during our study covering 4 seasons. And existence of these species also indicates that these areas also possess their host Image Some Common Larval Host Plants of Butterflies Diversity in North-East India The 1st major account on the butterflies of Assam was compiled in a series of papers by Butler (1879), Doherty (1889), Elwes (1891) & Swinhoe (1893). The biogeography of the Assam butterflies was discussed by several authors including Bingham(1907),Evans(1932), Importance of Butterfly As butterflies are extremely sensitive to changes in vegetation composition and structure, butterfly assemblages may be used to characterize different habitats (Erhardt, 1985). Within the ecological Image Some Butterfly Species from Garampani Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam plants too.
Talbot(1939),Parsons&Cantlie(1947),WynterBlyth(1957), Gupta & Shukla(1988). The State of Assam in NE-India is home to a rich butterfly fauna. Some reports of butterflies in certain areas of northeast India have also been published by various workers (Borang et al., 2008; Talukdar and Sarma,2010; Choudhury and Ghosh,2009; Bhuyan et al.,2005;
communities insect comprise a large proportion of the biomass and are critical conduits of energy through the system (Battist,1988).
Butterflies are one of the most important foodchain for birds, reptiles, spiders and predatory insects. They are also good indicator of environmental changes. They are also good pollution indicator. Now a days, butterflies encounter a number of threats viz. habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation due to expansion
Greeshma,2010). Large scale deforestation & habitat fragmentation have led to the decline several butterfly populations in the region and many species, which were listed as common
36
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum of agricultural land, industrial set-up, extensive monoculture tree or tea-plantation, grazing, forest fires, application of pesticides and weedicides, air pollution etc. As the butterfly has a great role towards the environment, so we should take some measures to conserve such an important component of our ecosystem, through legal protection by creating protected areas like national parks and sanctuaries and thus are thus needed for diagnosis of lesions or tissue dysfunctions. Optical microscopy has been a major tool for biological and biomedical imaging for centuries and various related technologies have been developed over the past years [Science 2003, 300, 82]. Although other techniques such as electron microscopy offer significantly better spatial resolution, light microscopy occupies central role in biomedical science because of its ease of use and the potential for being noninvasive, live cell imaging. In particular, since the invention of the phase contrast microscope by Frits Zernike, for which he was awarded Nobel Prize in physics 1953, this instrument and its related techniques have been a
protecting butterfly habitats, research and management, nature education and awareness among the public and plantation of more larval and nectaring host plants. Butterflies are living creature of our earth and they also have equal right to live as we human do.
4. Next generation optical tools for biomedical applications

Dr. Bhargab Das Research Associate, Physics Department University of Massachusetts Boston, USA Email: bhargab.das@umb.edu Modern medicine and therapy rely on early and precise diagnosis to permit localized and specific treatments. In particular imaging the various epithelia at the surface of organs inside or outside the body is of particular importance for the early detection of dysfunction and lesions. Three-dimensional (3D) imaging of complex microscopic and sub-microscopic
cornerstone of every cell biology laboratory [Science 1955, 121, 345; Research (London) 1955, 8, 385; Opt. Express 2010, 18, 4717]. In spite of their enormous value as non-invasive investigational tools, however, traditional phase methods such as phase contrast and differential interference contrast (DIC) are inherently
qualitative and lack sub-cellular specificity. At the same time, extrinsic contrast techniques such as fluorescence microscopy offer molecular specificity and high spatial resolution.
Nevertheless, these methods generally require alteration or modification of cellular and molecular structure including cell
processes in tissues, down to cellular level, is still a challenging issue. Rapid, sensitive, noninvasive methods with high resolution capability
permeabilization, chemical or immune-staining, or genetic modification, and are therefore less than ideal for characterization of live cells in their native physiological state.
37
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Digital Holographic Microscopy Various wavelength of the light source in air. Over the past several years, significant progress has been made in quantitative phase microscopy methods that promise to overcome limitation of
biological samples, including live cells, are quite transparent under visible light illumination and behave essentially as phase objects. Phase objects do not provide contrast with their environment and alter only the phase of the incident light wave. The optical thickness of such objects generally varies from point to point due to changes either in the refractive index or sample thickness or both. Since our eyes or a digital camera cannot detect these phase changes, such biological specimens are invisible with conventional bright field microscopes. Retrieving the phase information from biological structures in a quantitative manner allow for a variety of novel applications in the biological investigation of structure and dynamics.
traditional phase microscopy. In particular, fullfield quantitative phase microscopy techniques that provide simultaneous information from a wide field of view offer an ideal experimental approach to characterize spatial and temporal behavior of biological specimens. Digital
holographic microscopy (DHM) is a quantitative phase microscopy technique which based on
interferometry
methods
enables
simultaneous imaging of amplitude-contrast and quantitative phase-contrast images of biological specimens such as cellular bodies [Appl. Opt. 1999, 38, 6994; Opt. Lett. 1999, 24, 291; Opt. Lett. 2010, 35, 3426; SPIE Reviews 2010, 1, 018005; Opt. Lett. 2005, 30, 468]. DHM has the advantage of being non-invasive thanks to its low requirement of light intensity, and of providing high contrast images without requiring any extraneous dye, making it particularly suitable for live cell imaging. Quantifying the optical phase shifts associated with biological structures reveals information about the
Quantitative phase provides unique information about unstained live cells. Light travels slower in the cell than in the medium due to the relatively higher refractive index of cells, which causes a relative phase delay of light in the cell with respect to that in the medium. The magnitude of the phase delay is approximately proportional to both thickness and the average refractive index of the specimen. Specifically, the physical relation between phase and optical path is given by , where the cell, ; is the phase delay induced by the cell height map, is is is the
morphological and dynamical properties at the nanometer scale. Principle of digital holographic microscopy Digital holography is based on the classical holographic principle, with the difference that the hologram recording is performed by a digital image sensor, e. g. CCD or CMOS sensor array [Appl Opt 1994, 33, 179]. The subsequent
the average refractive index of cell, the refractive index of medium, and N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
38
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum reconstruction of the holographic image that contains the information about the object wave is carried out numerically with a computer. Figure 1 depicts the schematics of an off-axis setup for DHM based on a Mach-Zehander interferometer. A linearly polarized light from an Ar-Kr laser (=488 nm) is first spatial filtered and collimated. The beam then divided by a beam splitter (BS1). The sample is illuminated by one beam through a condenser (C). A microscope objective (MO) collects the
........1
Where, k, l, m, and n are integers (-N/2 k, l, m, n N/2 ), FFT is the fast Fourier transform operator, A= exp(i2d/)/( id), and are the sampling intervals in the observation plane, x and y are the pixel size of the CCD.
transmitted light and forms the object wave (O), which interferes, in off-axis geometry, with a reference wave R to produce hologram intensity (IH). The reconstruction of the digitally recorded holograms is performed numerically in a standard computer. A detailed procedure for digital hologram processing in particular for phase reconstruction of the object wave is described. Holograms acquired by the CCD are first submitted to a procedure of apodization and filtered in the Fourier plane in order to remove the zero order and the twin image. Then, the resulting hologram (IH) is multiplied by a digital reference wave (RD) that simulate an illumination wave and a propagation calculation in the Fresnel approximation is applied to reconstruct a focused image of the specimen in a plane of co-ordinates reconstructed wavefront . In summary, the , is Figure 1 Basic configuration of a DHM for transmission imaging. BS, beam splitter; C, condenser lens; M, mirror; MO, microscope objective; O, object wave; R, reference wave. Inset: a detail showing the off-axis geometry at the incidence on the CCD
As seen from the above equation for phasecontrast imaging, the digital hologram has to be multiplied by a digital reference wave RD, which must be an exact replica of the experimental reference wave R. If we assume that a perfect plane wave is used as reference for hologram recording, RD is calculated as follows
........2 where AR is the amplitude and kx , ky are the two components of the wave vector that must be adjusted such that the propagation direction of RD matches as closely as possible to that of the experimental 39
computed according to the following expression:
reference wave. Further, (m, n) in Eq. (1) is a digital phase correction applied to compensate for the wave front curvature induced by the objective lens. This digital phase correction is computed according to the expression of a parabolic wave front and is given by
corresponding width of the line is 4.4 m. In order to demonstrate the imaging capability for phase objects, we performed experiments on human airway smooth muscle cells cultured on a 4 kPa stiffness Polyacrylamide gel. Figure 2(c) shows the bright field image of the cells and as expected it is not possible to extract any information about the cells from this image. Figures 2(d) shows the reconstructed wrapped
where parameters d1 and d2 define the field curvature along respectively and digitally
phase profile of the cells using DHM and Figure 2(e) shows the unwrapped quantitative phase contrast image of the cell. The vertical bars represent the phase values in radians. The image clearly shows the shape of the cell. The cell thickness can be determined from the
adjusted to correct the defocusing aberration due to the objective lens. Since is an array
of complex numbers, we can obtain an amplitude contrast image by calculating the intensity,
quantitative phase contrast image (representing the optical path length changes effected by the cells in comparison to the surrounding medium)
and a phase-contrast image by calculating the argument,
by taking into account the integral cellular refractive index and the refractive index of the cell suspension medium. The specific advantages of DHM are-
An example of microscopic imaging DHM is shown in Figure 2. A USAF (U. S. Air Force, 1950) resolution chart constitutes the amplitude object. Fig. 2(a) shows a digital hologram recorded with the experimental setup presented before with a MO of magnification 20, with the details shown in the inset where the interference fringes are visible. The reconstructed
1. DHM provides quantitative measurement of the optical path length distribution that allows semitransparent samples, such as living cells to be described with diffraction limited transverse resolution and sub-wavelength axial accuracy. This quantitative information can be employed in order to recover biological parameters such as intracellular refractive index or dry mass [Opt. Express 2005, 13, 9362]. 2. DHM provides a marker-free topographic or morphological analysis, which enables a noninvasive dynamic detection of deformations and
holographic image is shown in Fig. 2(b) depicting clearly resolved images of Group 6 and 7 of the resolution chart. The finest structure shown is the sixth element of Group 7, and the N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum movements in cell biology. For this reasons, DHM is particularly suitable for investigations of dynamic processes in the field of life cell analysis with high potential for applications in basic research as well as for commercial utilization e. g. in the fields of pharmacy and tissue engineering [Biomed. Opt. Express 2010, 1, 414; Opt. Lett.2007, 32, 1572; Phys. Rev. Lett. 2006, 97, 218101, Blood cells Mol. Dis. 2008, 41, 10; Opt. Express 2009, 17, 12031]. 3. The capability of modular approach of DHM opens up prospects for integration into various existing commercial microscopy systems as well as for combined measurements with other established methods such as fluorescence components such as 3D spatial distribution of refractive index (RI). Pioneering works have established the theoretical basis of
reconstructing the 3D scattering potential of weakly scattering objects, by recording the waves scattered from the different directions of parallel illumination. The main advantages of DHM for complex diffracted wave retrieval is that only a single hologram is needed for each orientation of the specimen, leading to short acquisition time and low stability requirements for the system. The knowledge of the 3D RI spatial distribution of a cell leads to invaluable information concerning the distribution and the optical properties of the intracellular organelles
microscopy. Thus comprehensive information about any biological specimen can be obtained by combining the optical imaging modalities of QPM and fluorescence microscopy [J. a b c
Biophoton. 2010, 3, 432; Opt. Express 2006, 14, 8263]. 4. DHM offers new opportunities that are likely to fulfill the current challenges associated with three-dimensional imaging (3D) of complex microscopic and submicroscopic processes. It has been shown that, when this technique is combined with the use of light with low temporal coherence, it is possible to perform wide-field optical coherence tomography
(WOCT) of the specimen [Opt. Lett. 2006, 31, 178; Opt. Lett. 2009, 34, 1243]. DHM can also be efficiently combined with optical diffraction tomography (ODT) to reveal the three-
d e Figure 2 An example of microscopic imaging using DHM. (a) Digital hologram of a USAF resolution chart (inset shows the interference fringes); (b) Reconstructed holographic image; (c) Brightfield image of human airway smooth muscle cells cultured on a 4 kPa stiffness Polyacrylamide gel; (d) Reconstructed wrapped phase profile of the cells; (e) Unwrapped quantitative phase image of the cell. The vertical bar shows the phase values in radian.
dimensional internal distribution of cellular N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum 2. How to save time which is commonly lost in passing from one work to another Adam Smith suggests that it is impossible to pass very quickly from one kind of work to another that is carried on in a different place, and with quite Pradyumna Kalita Zarb business school of Hofstra University in New York different tools. A country weaver, who cultivates a small farm, must lose a good deal of time in passing from his loom to his field and from the field to his loom. When the two trades can be carried on in the same workhouse, the loss of time is no doubt much less. [Smith, A. (N. d.). The industrial revolution had started from around 18th century up to 19th century. This revolution has changed the socioeconomic condition of the whole world, especially Europe and North America. Then it spread to all over the world. In the Industrial revolution, Adam Smith, Karl Marx and F.W. Taylor have numerous influences. In the book wealth of nation, Adam Smith refurnished the idea division of labor (Plato, David Hume already talked about Division of Labor) and it represents mainly qualitative increase in productivity. This idea relates primarily to the specialization of the labor force. It emphasized on three key points as how to increase the quantity of work, 1. Incease the dexterity of each and every workman The division of labor reduces every The Wealth of Nation, Glasgow ed., pp. 17-19, N. p.: Oxford University press.] 3. Adam Smith saw the importance of machines and thats why he said Invention of new machines would be more effective According to Smith, the use of the machines in manufactures made the work more efficient. F.W. Taylor is regarded as the father of scientific management. The main aim of the scientific management was to improve economic efficiencies in the industry. This was one of the revolutionary thought in the industrial revolution. In the 1st chapter of the book The Principles of Scientific Management, F.W. Taylor found that there are three reasons why workers are inefficient and the reasons are inefficient rule of thumb methods, Defective management systems and wrong belief that a material increase in the output of each man or each machine in the trade would throw people out of work. In the 2nd chapter F.W. Taylor explained how to solve those problems through
INVITED ARTICLE
(a) Industrialization, Capitalism and Communism
mans work to one simple operation, and by making this operation the sole employment of his life and it will increase the dexterity of the workman significantly.
42
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum his principles of scientific management. They are as follows --1. Replace rule of thumb work methods with scientific study methods. 2. Scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the workman. 3. Provide detailed instruction and supervision of each worker. 4. Divide the work between managers and workers, managers will apply scientific Capitalism economy, capitalist removes the right of the worker to exercise control over the value or effects of his labor. 3. Alienation of the worker from himself Industrialization gave capitalist more power and eventually progress to a state of near-total mechanization and automation of productive processes. During this process, the newly dominant Bourgeoisie Capitalist class would exploit the Industrial working class. 4. Alienation of the worker from other workers or producers Capitalism reduces labor to a commercial commodity to be traded on the Karl Marxs reaction on industrial revolution and criticize the concept of market, rather than a social relationship between people involved in a common effort for survival or betterment. [According to Karl Marx species-being' or 'species-essence' means this is that humans are capable of making or shaping their own nature to some extent.]
management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks.
capitalism. He believed that alienation is a systematic result of capitalism and in the long run, it wont create harmony in the society. Karl Marxs identified there were four types of social alienation of labor under capitalism --- they are 1. Alienation of the worker from the work he produces, from the product of his labor The product doesnt belong to the workers. The
capitalist class determined the products design and the manner in which it is produced. Both intellectual and creative workers will be under the control of capitalist. 2. Alienation of the worker from working, from the act of producing itself Labour is forced and doesnt satisfy worker. According to Marx, one's species being is fulfilled when it maintains control over the subject of its labour by the ability to determine how it shall be used directly or exchanged for something else. In N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
Pradyumna Kalita graduated from the Gauhati Commerce College in 2002 with a Bachelors degree in Management and Post Graduation from Dubin Business School (Ireland) in 2007. Since post graduation Pradyumna has held several positions in bank, telecommunication and marketing. He then joined Zarb business school of Hofstra University in New York in 2011 for his masters in business management. He keeps his passion towards
travelling, photography, social activity, soccer and cross cultural interest.
43
(b) Growth of Single Crystals from Hydrothermal Synthesis

Dr. Prashanth W. Menezes Lehrstuhl frAnorganische Chemie mit Schwerpunkt Neue Materialien Technische Universitt Mnchen,Germany
carbonate by cooling an ammoniacal solution from 200C and 15 bars.
Figure 1 Selected single crystals grown from the hydrothermal techniques (a) Zinc oxide (b) blue topaz (c) citrine quartz. The introduction of hydrothermal synthesis in its
Introduction
The
hydrothermal
modern form into geological science is ascribed to de Snarmont, who produced only
technique has been most popular, garnering interest from scientists and technologists of different disciplines, particularly in the last twenty years. The term hydrothermal is purely of geological origin. It was first used by the British Geologist, Sir Roderick Murchison (17921871), to describe the action of water at elevated temperature and pressure in bringing about changes in the earths crust leading to the formation of various rocks and minerals. The term hydrothermal usually refers to any
microscopic crystals. In the following years, the method became widely used in Europe and in the USA. By 1900 about 80 silicate minerals were synthesized. Over the period of time this method was further developed by the
contribution of various scientists. Other notable contributions have been made by Chrustschoff (1873), Morey (1914), Smith (1923), Adams (1923), Nacken (1943), Tuttle (1949) and Capponi (1973). The year and the developments in the hyrothermal synthesis are listed Table 1. Experimental To withstand the pressures involved in hydrothermal syntheses, the use of autoclaves is usually required (Figure 2). They serve to protect the reaction vessel; often the autoclave itself assumes the role of reaction vessel. Autoclaves usually have thick-walled steel cylinders with a hermetic seal so as to withstand high temperatures and pressures for
heterogeneous reaction in the presence of aqueous solvents (water) under pressure and at temperatures above its normal boiling point (100C) as a means of speeding up the reaction between solids. Some of the single crystals grown by hydrothermal method are shown in Figure 1. History Probably the first clue was found by Schafhutl in 1845, when he observed quartz micro crystals upon transformation of freshly precipitated silicic acid in a Papins digestor. In 1848, the German chemist Bunsen obtained crystals of barium carbonate and strontium N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
prolonged periods of time. Furthermore, the autoclave material must be inert with respect to the solvent. The closure is the most 44
important element of the autoclave. In most cases steel-corroding solutions are used in hydrothermal experiments.
when NaOH is added as a mineraliser, large single crystals can be grown. Advantages and disadvantages
Hydrothermal synthesis, in contrast to conventional synthetic methods, offers a number of advantages which include (1) to obtain
Figure 2 Reaction vessels employed for hydrothermal syntheses: Teflon autoclaves used below 170C is shown on the left (1. Teflon autoclave, 2. Inline, 3. Lower part, 4. Screw Cap). The Teflon- lined steel autoclave used up to 240C is shown on the right
compounds
with
elements
in
oxidation states that are difficult to attain, especially important for transition metals (2) the ability to create crystalline phases which are not stable at the melting point, (3) the materials which have a high vapour pressure near their melting points can also be grown by the hydrothermal method and (4) useful for the so called low-temperature phases, and (5) the method is also particularly suitable for the growth of large good-quality crystals while maintaining good control over their composition. Disadvantages of the method include the safety as it can be dangerous to open such high-pressured autoclaves, need of expensive autoclaves and the impossibility of observing the crystal as it grows. Uses A large number of compounds belonging to practically all classes have been synthesized under hydrothermal
To prevent corrosion of the internal cavity of the autoclave, protective inlets are generally used. These may have the same shape of the autoclave and fit in the interior. Inlets are usually made up of Teflon, carbon free iron, copper, silver, gold, platinum, titan ium, glass or quartz, depending on the
temperature and solutions used. Mineraliser For the growth of single crystals by hydrothermal methods it is often necessary to add mineralisers. A mineraliser is any compound added to the aqueous solution that speeds up its crystallization. It usually increases the solubility of the solute through the formation of soluble species. For instance, the solubility of quartz is very low at 400C and 2 Kbar to permit recrystallization in a temperature gradient within a reasonable space of time, however
conditions: elements, simple and complex oxides, tungstates, molybdates, carbonates, silicates, germinates, stannates,
chacogenides etc. Hydrothermal synthesis is 45
commonly used to grow synthetic quartz, gems and other single crystals with
temperatures
and
pressures.
Also
the
inorganic-organic hybrid materials of the heavier periodic group 13-15 elements have been extensively synthesized under
commercial value. Some of the crystals which have been efficiently grown are emeralds, rubies, quartz, alexandrite and others. The method has proved to be extremely efficient both in the search for new compounds with specific physical properties and in the systematic
hydrothermal syntheses. Reference 1 A. Rabaneu, The Role of Hydrothermal Synthesis in the Preparative Chemistry, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl 1985, 24, 1026-1040; 2 A. West, Solid State Chemistry and Its Applications, John Wiley & Sons.
physicochemical investigation of intricate multi-component systems at elevated
Table 1 Developments in the field of hydrothermal synthesis Year 1845 1848 1851 Name Schafhutl Bunsen Snarmont Arrangement Papins digestor Thick-walled glass tubes Comments Quartz microcrystals carbonates: forerunner of the visual autoclaving Glass ampoules in autoclave Mineral carbonates, sulfates, sulfides, fluorides; founder of hydrothermal synthesis in geological sciences Noble metal lining Protection against corrosive solvents Morey-type autoclaves Closed system; standard Internally heated autoclave very high pressures and temperatures: 10 kbar, 1400C Foundation for the industrial quartz Introduction of hydrothermal growth synthesis into solid state physics Cold steal or test tube external pressure regulation and arrangement measurement, more extensive working range than Morey-Standard Modified belt apparatus Extremely high pressures and temperatures: 100 kbar, 1500C
1873 1914 1923 1943 1949
Chrustschoff Morey Smith, Adams Nacken Tuttle
1973
Capponi
46
Newsletter of North East India Research Forum stellar spectra. Photometry is another powerful tool to reveal some other host of important parameters, not only about the source objects but also about the intervening medium between the objects and the observer. On the basis of such Archana Bora Gauhati University Thesis Supervisors: Dr. Kalpana Duorah (G.U), Dr. Ranjan Gupta (IUCAA) Astronomers today are awash by sea of data. The current rapid progress in science and technology and the subsequent developments in the astronomical instruments provide us with a torrent of new data. These data are being collected everyday in huge volumes through both automated ground based telescopes as well as by the space based surveys. The light reaching us from a distant star contains plethora of information about the source, the medium it has passed through and other objects it has encountered on its way to the observer. The temperature of the source object, its velocity, the red shift and hence the distance, the metal abundance of the object as well as of the intervening medium, are some of the physical quantities that can be extracted from the spectra. The most usual way of extracting these parameters is to visually inspect and compare the program spectra with a set of standard spectra. The presence or the absence of the absorptions and emission lines yield the temperature information of the source on the basis of the Saha's ionization equation. The measurements of the equivalent widths and line ratios tell about the surface gravity in case of the N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011 measurable features a stellar database, for instance, can be grouped into different classes. Such classification is important to identify each individual newly seen star as well as to study the stellar atmospheric composition and their
THESIS SYNOPSIS
1. Automated Analysis of Stellar Photometric and Spectroscopic Data from Space Missions and Classification of Astronomical Objects
population. Similarly, classification can be carried out for galaxy or other astronomical database also. There was time when manpower 1 was invested in large scale for stellar
classification. In those days, people used to visually compare the program star spectra with that of the standard stars. Such practice of classification was subject to human error and time consuming. Further, the human vision system is not apt to repetitive identification task often required in classification work. Also in this new age of astronomical instrumentation, tera byte of data is getting collected every day. To compile a comprehensive and homogeneous database of billions of data sets, it will be necessary to devise and develop highly robust, fast, efficient and automated classifiers, based on computer vision and artificial intelligence tools. In fact, it is only this increasing availability of large data sets that has motivated the astronomer to use computer-aided statistical and pattern recognition analysis techniques, which can emulate the behavior of human experts. Some examples of such statistical methods are the
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum cross correlation and height of correlation function, principal component and cluster analysis. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has also been used for similar purposes. The starting of the Space Science has also opened up a new window to the astronomer in the shorter wave band of the electromagnetic spectrum. The UV window, including both the far-UV (FUV) and near-UV (NUV) windows, was found to be extremely useful to address wide range of astrophysical aspects ranging from planetary science to cosmology. However, this does not signify any lesser contribution of the other wavebands to the understanding of the temporal analysis of astrophysical sources like AGNs, X-ray binaries, Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and to detect the correlation between different energy bands. 2 The measurement of such correlation is important to put constraints on the number of radiative processes active in the sources and can be used to validate or to rule out their physical models (which are based on their spectral analysis). The detection is usually carried out numerically either by using
expensive simulations or by dividing the timeseries in large number of segments to and the variance, which makes the process ineffective for light curves of transient sources with lesser number of data points in the light curve. Like any other successful missions, the TAUVEX and the AS-TROSAT satellite missions were
astrophysics. As a matter of fact, to understand the nature of cosmic sources, their radiation processes and environment, it is necessary to measure their emissions over the entire
expected to yield a huge set of data during their lifetime, requiring automatization of
electromagnetic spectrum simultaneously. To accomplish such objectives India is going to join this golden era of Space Astronomy by launching its first dedicated multi-wavelength astronomy mission, ASTROSAT. Another joint collaborative UV dedicated mission, Tel Aviv University Ultraviolet Explorer (TAUVEX), between Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), India and Tel-Aviv University, Israel, was also on-schedule for launch. ASTROSAT is expected to focus on high resolution UV imaging for morphological studies of galactic and
classification and parameterization process of the astronomical data. Till now several studies have demonstrated that ANN schemes can reliably and successfully classify stellar spectral data and extract fundamental stellar parameters in the visible region. However, the extension of applicability of this scheme to UV region has been less prevalent mainly because of nonavailability of abundant data in the region. Nevertheless, some attempts have been made in the past to automate the process of classification of spectral data of hot stars from the IUE satellite. Going beyond the full spectra and also beyond the hot stars, this thesis is aimed to use ANN with simpler topology that can improve
extragalactic objects, broadband studies of X-ray sources and other multi-wavelength targets ranging from nearby stars to the very distant AGNs. This will facilitate multi-wavelength
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum with experience, and generalize what it learnt to accomplish the job of the astronomical 2010. The following provides a brief overview of the structure of the thesis. Chapter 1 of the thesis gives a general introduction to the stellar spectral classification, galaxy morphological classification, and interstellar extinction and on the importance of the temporal analysis of the astro-physical sources. Classification is the process of systematic grouping of a database so that each group reflects some of the fundamental characteristics of their own. It provides a better framework and logical approach for any further study on the data base. A general survey on the available method for temporal analysis has been presented with the emphasis that there is yet need to and out method other than the available ones, to be useful in the analysis of short duration light-curves. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) can emulate the behavior of human experts by the process of learning. When this learning takes place under the supervision of examples, the learning is known as the supervised learning; otherwise it is known as the unsupervised learning. The present work has made use of the supervised multilayer back propagation algorithm based ANN for the astronomical classification and parameterization. In Chapter 2 we present a pedagogical introduction to ANN. Stellar spectra show wide range of spectral variation on the course of their evolution. Yet the underlying factors that shape them can be summarized as the effective temperature and the gas pressure at the outer surface of the star. It is these two factors that are attributed to the two dimensions - spectral type
classification, segregation and parameterization. Such tools are truly useful when one needs to solve for some hidden parameters and
particularly when such parameters are related by nonlinear relation. This goal has been achieved by using both the full spectra as well as the band-integrated spectra in the UV waveband. Such photometric band integrated data were expected from the upcoming TAUVEX satellite. As a matter of fact, this part of the thesis is one of the integral aspects in the development of the automated pipeline for analyzing the TAUVEX database (http://tauvex.iiap.res.in/htmls/projects). In the process the pipeline will also prepare us for other upcoming missions like AS- TROSAT and GAIA. The work has used the multilayer back propagation based algorithm in the hierarchical fashion to segregate galaxies from stars, to classify the stars into different spectral types, and to and interstellar reddening in terms of the E (BV) magnitude. This will provide the interstellar extinction map of our Galaxy, which in turn could be used for dust modeling. An analytical expression to estimate the error on the cross correlation between two light curves 3 is also worked out in this thesis. This will facilitate the analysis of light-curves with relatively small (~1000) number of points, as well as to obtain the longest time-scale available. However, it is to be mentioned here that the TAUVEX mission went down after the GSAT-4 failure in April
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum and luminosity class, of the stellar classification system. Chapter 3 features the stellar spectra in the light of UV waveband. The implementation of the application of the ANN for stellar classification and for determination of the interstellar extinction in terms of the E (B V) has been accomplished in this chapter. As a matter of fact, the stars are not standing alone in the sky; rather they group among themselves to form the galaxy in conjunction with the gas, dust and other form of matter. The spectra of the galaxies are the integrated spectra of their constituent stars. But their appearance has only a small number of shapes and galaxies have been classified on the basis of these morphological structures. Chapter 4 presents some of the special features of the spectra of different galaxy morphological structures and how the galaxy spectra can be separated from the stellar spectra using ANN Many space missions monitor the sky in their respective wave bands to look for new transient events. The temporal analysis of such transient events in multi-band can tell us about the size and shape of the emitting region. This is usually done by calculating the cross correlation function (CCF) in different energy bands using numerically expensive simulations or by dividing the light curves into large number of segments to and the variance. This makes it ineffective to use the method for the shorter light curves from the transient sources. In Chapter 5, we present an analytical expression to and the CCF and to estimate the error on the CCF for A variety of experimental evidence led to the hypothesis that catechol estrogen-3, 4-quinones (CE-3, 4-Q) react with DNA to initiate cancer. CE-3, 4-Q reacts with DNA purine bases to form depurinating adducts: N3-adenine and N7guanine adducts of 4-hydroxyestrone (estradiol) [4-OHE1(E2)-1-N3Ade and 4-OHE1(E2)-1Mausam Kalita State University, Manhattan, KS Advisors: Prof. Stefan H. Bossmann and Prof. Ryszard Jankowiak Chapter 1 Synthesis of DNA-Estrogen Adducts and Their Structural Modifications for 2. Synthesis and labeling strategy for indirect detection of estrogen-derived DNA adducts using aqueous quantum dots such light curves containing relatively small (~1000) number of points.
Bioconjugation
N7Gua]. These depurinating estrogen-derived DNA adducts are released and found in urine of women at high risk and women with breast cancer making these adducts potential
biomarkers. It is feasible that by inhibiting formation of estrogen-derived DNA adducts, one
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum could prevent initiation of breast cancer. Therefore new methodologies for detection of these adducts need to be developed. Organic synthesis of the standard adducts and their structural modifications to conjugate with highly fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) and to particle size distribution. The ligands were
synthesized by nucleophilic substitution (SN2) reaction using 4, 4-bipyridine as a nucleophile. Confocal microscopy images confirmed the orange color of the QDs with nanocrystal diameter of ~5nm electron as observed under (TEM)
formhapten for monoclonal antibody (mAb) generation have been reported.
transmission
microscopy
images. As part of our strategy; 85% of 4, 4bipyridinium salt of carboxylic acid was used to
Chapter
Direct
Synthesis
of
Aqueous
both stabilize the QDs in water and label basic amino acids and different biomarkers through carboxylic acid functional group. 15% 4, 4bipyridinium salt of N-propyl maleimide was used as second ligand in order to label any protein containing cysteine amino acid through 1, 4- Michael addition.
Quantum Dots through 4, 4-bipyridine-Based Twin Ligand Strategy
Chapter 3 Double Bioconjugation Schemes with We report a new class of derivatized 4, 4bipyridinium ligands to synthesize highly Aqueous Quantum Dot Synthesized By Twin Ligand Strategy
fluorescent, extremely stable, water soluble CdSe and CdTe quantum dots (QDs) for bioconjugation. We employed evaporation-
condensation technique, also known as solvated metal atom dispersion (SMAD) followed by digestive ripening procedure. This method is used to synthesize both metal nanoparticles and semiconductors in gram scale with different stabilizing ligands in different solvents. The
SMAD involved evaporation/ condensation and stabilization of CdSe or CdTe in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The as-prepared product was then digestively ripened both in water and dimethyl formamide (DMF), leading to narrowing of We present double bioconjugation schemes by using a new class of aqueous quantum dots (QDs) synthesized by evaporation/co-
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum condensation/digestive ripening method. These QDs were synthesized through 4, 4-bipyridine based twin ligand strategy for both water solubility and covalent conjugation. The labeling schemes involved (a) potential breast and prostate cancer biomarkers: 4-hydroxy-estradiol2-N3-Adenine (4-OH-E2-N3-Ade) and 43. Total Synthesis of Medium Sized Natural Lactones Partha Pratim Saikia Supervisor: Dr. N. C. Baruah North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, India Short Review Total Synthesis of Medium Sized Natural Lactones. This short review discusses a few total syntheses of medium sized natural lactones which are categorized as a rare class of organic molecules. Chapter I An efficient reduction protocol for the synthesis of -hydroxycarbamates from -nitro alcohols in one pot: A facile synthesis of (-)-conhydrine Selected Publication Kalita, M. et.al. (submitted to JACS) Kalita, M. et. al. (manuscript in preparation) Kalita, M. et. al.; Chapter 16 Optical and Electronic Properties of Metal and Pokhrel, M.; Gamage, P. Kalita, M.; Shi, A.; Bossmann, S. J. Nepal Chem. Soc., 2009, 23, 210. Dani, R. K.; Kang, M.; Kalita, M.; Smith, P. E.; Bossmann, S. H.; Chikan, V. 2008, 8(4), 1229-1236. Nano Letters,
hydroxy-estradiol-2-N7-Guanine
(4-OH-E2-N7-
Gua) adducts through EDC/NHS coupling reaction of 4, 4-bipyridinium carboxylic acid ligand, (b) known carcinogen thio-pyrene
through 1, 4- Michael addition reaction of 4, 4bipyridinium maleimide terminal ligand. The labeling of QDs with DNA-estrogen adducts and thio-pyrene was investigated by ion exchange high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis. Imaging of these labeled ELISA adducts-antibodies plate substantiated interactions the in on vitro
application of these QDs. The TEM images of the labeled QDs are also presented.
Semiconductor
Nanostructiures;
Editor(s): An efficient and practical one-pot protocol for the reduction of -nitro alcohols to their corresponding N-(tert-butoxycarbonyl) amino alcohols using Zn-NH4Cl in aqueous methanol is described. This methodology allows a short synthesis of (-)--conhydrine to be achieved.
Klabunde, Kenneth J.; Richards, Ryan M. Nanoscale Materials in Chemistry (2nd Edition) (2009), 539-578. Publisher: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., Hoboken, N. J.
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Chapter II An efficient and stereoselective route to 1-deoxy-5-hydroxy sphingosine analogues PhD Comics (www.phdcomics.com)
A short and efficient synthesis of 1-deoxy-5hydroxy sphingolipid is described. The key steps involved are a Jacobsen hydrolytic kinetic resolution (HKR) and Shibasakis asymmetric Henry reaction.
Chapter III Stereoselective Total Synthesis of Cytotoxic Oxylipin Topsentolide B2
An efficient stereoselective synthesis of marine oxylipin Topsentolide B2 is described. The key steps involved are Yamaguchi coupling, ring closing metathesis and Julia-Kocienski
olefination.
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum itself. No one can forget the discovery of "ZERO" by an INDIAN. The well known "Raman effect" originated in India. The current status of India as well as world has changed. The other countries developed very fast and India remain in the same position, in fact one can say it is going down. Once British left India, Facebook is found to be one of the best communications media worldwide. Facebook offers easy, fast communication among group members and open discussions. A group has been created for "North east India Research Forum" which was long before created in yahoo. Few active students join in the group recently. One of the members Mr. Neelkamal Deka put a question from the lecture of Indian-Origin Nobel Laureates Venkataraman Ramakrishan, who won Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009. Since 1930 there is no Nobel Prize in Science from India, However Indian Origin staying abroad are honored with the same. The young student Neelkamal Deka, therefore, put forward his doubt in the form of question-Is the research environment/facility in India not meeting the world class standard. Many of forum members responded on this query and it is the longest discussion in the forum ever. Few members shared their view from their personal experience. There is no doubt about the advanced facility in western research laboratory and to compete with them India must need some well equipped laboratory. Indians were more scientific in ancient time. The concept of TV, Rocket, Missile were given in the era of Mahabharat It is always better to go abroad and learn the advanced techniques for 3-5 years and should be back to the motherland, should spread the knowledge, idea improve the system, however it doesnot happen. Once left, Indians never come back, even CSIR/DST/DBT spending millions in research Viz Brahma Ramchiary said. However current trend has been changed, after recession majority of the Indian returned home and started own career in India- Neelkamal and Gitanjal pointed out the current status. they took away everything except the language English. The Poverty, corruption, not having proper leader are some of the main cause for being developing country. Indians were smart, intelligent, intellectualand still they are!!! USA does not have anything they import all the good things from other countries. They import smart people, really smart people from INDIA- one documentary mentioned!!! USA buys brain of INDIANs and use to develop them. The first class INDIANs move to USA and settled in- Saitanya K Bharadwaj bubbled his feeling. In reality, the whole western research positions mostly occupied by Indian, Chinese and Japanese- Gitanjal Deka added.
FACEBOOK DISSCUSSION
Does Indian Research meet World class standard? Edited by Dr. Saitanya K Bharadwaj
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum We can never agree with the fact that there is no facility or research exposure in India. In basic Research India is always in first row and is from ancient time. Government has invested so much now a days in all the aspects of Science, we cant say that there is lack of facility. If one is willing to expense his knowledge with those facilities, surely he/she can do the best. We need to have attitude-again Ramchiary expressed her feeling. Then Saitanya raise a question about own people. After returning people are trying to create something of their own, becoming entrepreneur. However there are so many factors to carry out your own research eg. your file not in time without buttering, long time to get project funding and many more Govt. system is totally rotten system. One who is in the system he understands well. Againg Neelkamal Deka mentioned that
Brilliant students are not heading towards the basic research, which may be one of the reasons why Indian research is not far behind from the other. In this contrast, Bharadwaj referred a documentary where it was shown 60% computer engineers in USA are Indian. The brilliant students get into the IIT and they fly to USA for a comfortable life and work for them. Saitanya again mentioned that an institute should have minimum basic facilities for basic research. He was experienced with lack of distill water, proper ventilation etc. in IIT Guwahati, which is one of the premier institute. If there is scarcity of distill water in such institute, what can be expect from it!!! Ramchiary pointed out that there are funding agencies to make the lab well equipped which may be competitive. So one should go for that!!! However institute should have at least some basic infrastructure before staring
cancellation of appointment letter of an INDIAN scientist joined in CSIR lab from MIT. Viz Brahma Ramchiary replied that he (the
scientists) wanted to change the entire Indian CSIR system to MIT, which was not possible in INDIA and therefore he has been sent back!!! Arindam Adhikari supports the comment made by Ramchiary. And he added- That's not totally correct. It's not because of recession. The trend has changed over the years. People who left few decades back, they are not returning or they don't want to return or they can't return after spending so many years now. Whether for last 810 years it has changed, may be it's because of effect of globalisation, opening of market, moreover everything one gets in India now a days. There is increasing urge to do something for its own people and for the country eventhough everywhere. the corruption is rampant now
research- Saitanya argued. Ramchiary then said that she belongs to a CSIR Lab and it has some good facilities than in USA and if Scientists are competitive enough foreign funding agencies also provide funds.
Younger
generation
understand pain of living abroad far from family and friends and wants to spend time with his/her
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Arindam Adhikari mentioned that people from abroad say Indians and Chinese are good in basic research. May be it was good several decades back during C.V.Raman, Satyendranath Bose 's time. But now we are in nowhere, neither in basic and for applied, its a dream. Govt. lab scientists are getting project funding just to get some PhD students on whom they can dictate terms. We are not able to do good innovative research, no originality, no new idea, no good quality papers, which can atleast give a new dimension in science. We are just doing permutation combination, change the %, ratios, check properties and publishing, that's not a real science. Gitanjal Deka pointed out that the facilities in western countries are not comparable with India. He is a student of laser and told that hardly few lab has modern laser system in India, but in western labs almost every lab has highly equipped and modern lasers. Debajyoti Mahanta, a researches from IISc Bangalore, compared Indian Science with World Science under three different points. 1) Talent or man power: Talent is well distributed all over the World. If we consider the Brain Drain, then also we have enough talent in India to lead us. 2) Money or facilities: Yes, we dont have world class facilities or money. But the important question: are we utilizing the less money, we have in a proper way???? The answer is NO. Then the question is why???. For this let me move to the third but the most important point. 3) Research Culture: The main difference comes from this point. In any World top university, they take a problem where they really have interests and many good people work on it to understand the problem and to find out a solution. In the process they may take long time, but finally they make a contribution to Science. But in India, research is publication oriented. We take ten different problems (it does not matter whether we have interest on it or not, but it should give us a publication), and work hard on all these problems and get some publications. Finally we dont have any clear understanding in any of those problems. So, there is no proper contribution to Science. Now important thing is Can we change it?. Binita pathak said Its time for refinement of old systems...Its time to reunite and do work for benefit of society, nation and off course for survival of human being. From my opinion its their (say Vekataraman Ramakrishan etc)
responsibility to contribute to resolve the shortcomings in Indian Scientific research systems (to an extent excluding Govt. policy as Iis a different issue, still modification is also required there ) if they are aware of those (as they are experiencing it)! Surely its possible for them. Prof. Gautam Desiraju discussed all these themes that relate to research globally in his editorial in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 2Bipul Sarma added. Anupam Patgiri, a researcher from NYU, shared the original video of the Interview of
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Ramakrishnan, given to CNN-IBN just after his Nobel Prize was announced ALL though) IISc labs (most Indian labs for that matter) lack vision or long term goals. Again, following up Viz Brahma Ramchiarys
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dr-ramakrishnan-onwinning-the-nobel-prize/102884-11.html. Anupam said that Ramakrishnan never applied to any Institute in India for an academic position, but his application was rejected by most American universities, which made him work at the Brookhaven National Lab before finally moving to University of Utah as a tenured faculty member
comment, he said that we lack innovation in India (or we are not encouraged to cultivate it), most grad students in India are treated as lab rats (by their PIs) rather than stimulating them to think independently. One of the reasons why the PIs in India lack innovations is because there is no competition for grants (US labs stand at the opposite pole in this matter). Lastly, there is no collaborative mindset (except for NCBS,
(http://www.nigms.nih.gov/News/Meetings/Stett en/venki.htm, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laur eates/2009/ramakrishnan.html). There are people who contributed more to ribosome research than Ramakrishnan, but he had a big MRC lobby (famous for producing Nobel laureates) behind him-Anupam hinted. Again, regarding Rarayana Murthy's statement in the interview with Leslie Stahl on CBS 60 min, it is important to mention that he always brags about Indian engineers to the western media mostly for commercial gain (Infosys hasn't invented anything in its 30 years of existence with Narayana Murthy's legion of geniuses). Anupam also suggested to read "Geek Nation" by Angela Saini where real measure of India on a global stage is described. Anupam has been a student at IISc and now a grad student at NYU, and he has visited some US labs (including some at Harvard, MIT and Berkeley), from his experience he said that IISc has no less facilities than most US universities to do "WORLD CLASS" research, but most (NOT
Bangalore), which is important to foster innovation (most big grants by NIH or NSF are awarded to collaborative projects only). He sum upped-we can't just whine about not having facilities or money in India to do WORLD CLASS RESEARCH, when we have no clear idea about what to do with these instruments or money, substituting Chlorine with Bromine kinda science will take us nowhere, At the same time, most of the good chemistry publications (JACS, Angew Chem, Org Lett etc) is also coming from Indian Lab, these days. Pankaj Barah, a graduate student in Norway Institute was fortunate to meet and listen to Venky, It was in Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB-Hyderabad)
(http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/08/stories/2009 100857520200.htm). "Dr. Ramakrishnan
advised researchers at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to use highresolution tools to get valuable insights into the functions of bio-molecules in cells or bacteria."-
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum The Hindu. Pankaj mentioned that labs like PhD Comics (www.phdcomics.com)
IISC, TIFR, NCBS etc also have world class brains and dedicated scientists and researchers, still they have to struggle a lot for international recognition. The same way in the past G. N. Ramachandran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._N._Ramachand ran ) was being deprived of Nobel Prize simply because he was an Indian. However, all the Indian research laboratory is not well equipped, for example, Indian Synchrotron facility in Indore is not powerful enough for such high resolution works. Rajan Shankarnarayan the key scientist in macromolecular crystallography lab has to go to Germany every now and then to collect x-ray diffraction data. India purchases a technology when western world things that it is time to procure next generation technology for the same. Political and bureaucratic red tapping is also one of the major draw back in Indian science- Pankaj concluded. In conclusion, as an editor and participant of this discussion, I would like to thank all of the research scholars of North East India Research Forum, for sharing their view among us. Finally one can conclude that some Indian laboratory has world class facility, however there is no long term innovative goal. No one can directly say we donot have ultramodern technique to do basic research, we need an innovative mind.
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Nagar, Dibrugarh, Assam. She received her B.Sc. degree under Gauhati University and M.Sc. from IIT-Delhi in 2007 and 2010 respectively. She qualified following national level examinations: (1) Joint admission to M.Sc. program (JAM) 2008 [rank 207], (2) joint CSIRUGC test for junior research fellowship (NET) Dec 2009 [rank 33], (3) Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) March 2010 [rank 182]. Currently she is working with Dr. Perumal Alagarsamy, Associate Professor, Department of Mausam Kalita Received his MS from Physics, Indian Institute of Technology University of Delhi in 2003. Then he moved to USA for his doctoral research and completed graduation from Kansas State University, USA under advisors Dr. Prof. Stefan H. Bossmann and Prof. Ryszard Jankowiak in 2010. His Ph. D. thesis entitled Synthesis and labeling strategy for indirect detection of estrogen-derived DNA adducts using aqueous quantum dots. Currently he is a post-doctoral research at the same university. He is the older son of Mr. Dilip Kalita, residence of Guwahati. Dr. Archana Bora Gauhati University
MEMBERS FACE
Dr. Mausam Kalita Kansas State University, USA
Guwahati, in a project entitled Development of Domain wall free Fe-Ta-C based soft magnetic thin film.
Papori Gogoi IIT-Guwahati Archana Bora, received her Ph.D. degree in 2011 jointly from Gauhati University and Inter University Center for Astronomy Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune. Her thesis title is Automated Analysis of Stellar Photometric and
Spectroscopic Data from Space Missions and Classification of Astronomical Objects with Dr. Papori Gogoi (papori_ph@student.iitd.ac.in), daughter of Joy Nath Gogoi and Bonti Gogoi belong to Niz Mancotta Gaon, East Milan Kalpana Duorah (G.U), Dr. Ranjan Gupta (IUCAA). Her other major achievements are (i) GATE in Physics in 2004, (ii)JEST in Physics in
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum 2004, (iii) NET (LS) in physics in 2005. During 2005-2009 she worked as JRF on ISRO respond project at IUCAA, Pune. She worked as assistant professor at Arya Vidyapeeth College, Guwahati in 2010 -2011 and currently she is at department of physical science, G.U. as assistant professor. Dhrubajyoti Talukdar belongs to Tezpur, Assam. He received his B.Sc. degree from Biswanath College in 2006 and M.Sc. from Tezpur University in Applied chemistry (Specialization in catalysis) in 2008. Currently he is a Ph. D. Student in the department of Chemical sciences, Tezpur University with Dr. Ashim Jyoti Thakur, Nabanita Das NEIST, Jorhat Assistant Professor. His research area is green chemistry and catalysis. He published his work in the international journal.
Quotes @ Facts are the air of scientists. Without them you can never fly. Linus Pauling @ Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. Martin Luther King, Jr. @ A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections, - a mere heart of stone. Charles Darwin @ Scientific truth is marvelous, but moral truth is divine and whoever breathes its air and walks by its light has found the lost paradise. Horace Mann @ I have frequently been questioned, especially by women, of how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy. Marie Curie @ Socialism is... not only a way of life, but a certain scientific approach to social and economic problems. Jawaharlal Nehru @ Anybody who has been seriously engaged is scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: 'Ye must have faith.' Max Planck
Nabanita Das, daughter of Sri Kanak Ch. Das from Barpeta town (Assam). She received her Masters of Science from Gauhati University in 2007 and then joined North-East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST), Jorhat as Rsearch Scholar under the supervision of Dr. P. R. Bhattacharyya, senior principal scientist. She is also registered as a Ph. D. Student to Dibrugarh University, Assam.
Dhrubajyoti Talukdar Tezpur University
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NEWS & ACHIEVEMENTS

1. Dr B K Saikia, Research Officer, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Haldia has been conferred the title of 'Fellow of Institution of Chemists (India), FIC' in 2010 by the Institution of Chemists (India), Kolkota for his achievement in
LETTERS TO EDITOR
I have been recently introduced to this North-East India Research Group by the group elite members. I thank to them. I would say this is a fantastic idea by our researcher, scientists grown from this community. This is certainly a strong inspiration to all, particularly in science related subjects. I think no one can deny that this group is not a great source of help and
contributing towards analytical chemistry.
2. Dr. Pankaj Bharali joined Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University as
motivation. I am really happy to be associated to this family. Currently I am working at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat and look forward to this community to share news, views and
Assistant Professor in August 2011.
3. Dr. Gakul Baishya joined as Scientist at North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST), Jorhat in September 2011.
opportunities as well as help in pursuing research work. We all are more or less facebook addicted and the idea of North East India Facebook Research Forum is simply candid. I
4. Dr. Pranjal Gogoi joined as Scientist at North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST), Jorhat in September 2011.
have gone through several must and sensitive topics that have been discussed and shared our opinions. I believe this kind of discussion and blog writing would build up motivation and
5. Partha Pratim Saikia received his Ph. D. degree from Dibrugarh University. He did his doctoral research under the supervision of Dr. N. C. Baruah at the Natural Products Chemistry Division, North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, India.
carry expected changes. I would like to thank all associated with this group specially moderators, the editorial team, contributors towards NE Quest and others. Loads of information by NE Quest, Forum discussions, and email response are definitely an honest help towards the community. I admire and wish long-live of North-East Research Group.
Gitashree Goswami Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat
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Through The Lenses

by Bipul Sarma
Sunset is evenly beautiful whether in Grand Canyon (a) or historic Joysagar Pukhuri (b)
The nature conservancy protects earth's natural resources and beauty. Whether a concrete world or a household flower tub (Kopou phool) can never barricade the beauty of Spring.
All comes from our culture (left, Ranghar Bakori) in confronting ourselves pride worldwide (right)
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Fellowship/ Advertisement/ Opportunity

1. The Erasmus Mundus programme aims to enhance quality in higher education through scholarships and academic co-operation between Europe and the rest of the world. It offers scholarships to students and researchers of exceptional quality to work at two or more European universities. Nearly 130 masters and doctoral courses are available to choose. Study periods are typically between 3 months and 3 years. Since the start of the programme in 2004, more than 1200 Indian students have been selected for Erasmus Mundus scholarships. Details can be found in the following link http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/22022308/1814175536/name/Erasmus_Mundus_Scholarship.pdf 2. The Norwegian Government Scholarship for Masters and PhD Students from Developing Countries at universities and university colleges in Norway is open now. Scholarship provider is the Norwegian Government. Eligibility: As a student, you must apply directly from your home country. You must have stayed at least one year in your home country directly prior to the planned course of study at the Norwegian university/university college. All candidates should typically have the following basic qualifications: Secondary school certificates. Minimum two years of higher education from their home country. Scholarship application deadline is 1st December 2011. Read more in the following links http://studyinnorway.no/Tuition-Scholarships/Scholarships http://scholarship-positions.com
3. Exchanged Postdoctoral fellowship of Max Planck Society & DST India invite applications /
proposals for Max Planck Partner Groups (PG) at Indian Partner Institutions (IPI) for Junior scientists/postdoc and junior faculty. The programme for Max Planck Partner Groups is open to all MPI and to all research institutions / universities in India. General Max Planck Partner Groups have been developed as an instrument for the support of cooperative research in target areas which are scientifically promising and innovative, geared to the future and of mutual interest to Max Planck Institutes (MPI) and to the designated partner institutions in India. Max Planck Partner Groups enable both the MPI and the Head of the Partner Group to continue a sustained scientific interaction. Heading a Max Planck Partner Group is a distinction. The Max Partner Group is initially established for a three-year period allowing the scientist to build up their own research group in India and to remain in close research interaction with a MPI. It can be extended for a further two years (maximum period: five years) based on the outcome of the review and the recommendation of the Scientific Advisory Board. Candidates for Max Planck Partner Groups will be officially and finally designated by the President of Max Planck Society (MPG) and the Secretary of Department of Science & Technology (DST). Qualification Partner Groups are led by former Indian guest researchers of MPI of proven scientific excellence, who have returned or are about to return to a high-performance research institution / university in India and continue their research activities in close co-operation with their former hosts. The candidate should be an Indian scientist of proven excellence at young faculty / postdoc level and maximum 38 years of age (i.e. not yet 39 years as on 1st January 2012) who has spent minimum 12 months at a MPI. If the candidate is not working at a research institution / university in India at the time of submitting the nomination, the candidate is expected find such a position by 1 March 2012. Funding MPG will allocate up to 20,000 EURO p.a. for up to 5 years for the Max Planck Partner Group. Funding provided by MPG will be allocated through the MPI towards the Indian host institution according to standard MPG rules for Max Planck Partner Groups. Funding provided by MPG towards the Max Planck Partner Group will be governed by a bilateral standardized agreement between the MPI and the Indian host institution. The MPI will only take responsibility for the funding provided by MPG. DST will provide matching funds as per project approval, according to standard DST rules and under a separate agreement. Funds should be utilized, as far as possible, for the purpose of creating MPI like facilities at the respective Indian host institution. Application Modalities The programme for Max Planck Partner Groups is open to all MPI and to all research institutions / universities in India. Two procedures are applicable to bring forward suitable candidates: i) Directors of MPI can
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum nominate candidates to MPG. ii) Candidates for the Head of a Partner Group can apply directly to DST, conditional that they fulfil the criteria as set forth above. Documents must be submitted in parallel in duly signed original copies to MPG by Directors of MPI and to DST by the Indian scientist. Documents to be submitted, both by the Director of a MPI nominating a candidate to MPG and by the Indian scientist for the Head of a Partner Group applying directly to DST: (a) detail letter of reference (laudation) from the director of MPI where the candidate has spent minimum 12 months, (b) list of publications, (c) curriculum vitae, (d) three letters of reference from senior scientists at least one of which will come from outside Germany and India, (e) project description and planned research activities which must also specifically elaborate on the intended bilateral cooperation with the MPI, (f) description of previous and future research objectives, (g) existing ties of the candidate for the Head of Partner Group to Germany other than to the MPI, (h) details of other grant support, (i) letter of intent by the director of the Indian host institution in which the acceptance to host a Partner Group is declared, (j) for candidates who at the time of nomination are not based in India, please state: The name of the Indian host institution to which the candidate will return and the date by when candidate will take up this position, (k) two separate macro-budget outlines for DST and MPG budgets for first year of operations. Documents to be sent to the Max Planck Society: Send one signed original application to: Max Planck Society Mr. Michael Nagel, Division of International Relations, Hofgartenstr. 8, D-80539 Mnchen, Germany and one electronic copy to: Mr. Michael Nagel: E-mail: nagel@gv.mpg.de. For any questions regarding the programme you may also contact Felix Kahle Representative Max Planck Society at German Embassy New Delhi. Tel.: 009111-4419 9163; E-mail: Kahle@gv.mpg.de. Documents to be sent to DST: Send one signed original and signed application to DST. Please contact: Mr. R. K. Sharma, Scientist D, International Division, Department of Science & Technology, Technology Bhavan, New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi 110 016, Email: Sharma_rk@nic.in. Note: Please ensure to send only complete applications to DST, i.e. submitting documents consecutively is not accepted and such applications will be rejected. Deadline for submitting Nominations: 28 September 2011 4. Named Postdoctoral fellowship, Argonne National Laboratory Argonne offers these special postdoctoral fellowships to be awarded internationally on an annual basis to outstanding doctoral scientists and engineers who are at early points in promising careers. The fellowships are named after scientific and technical luminaries who have been associated with the laboratory, its predecessors and the University of Chicago since the 1940s, including: Alexei Abrikosov, theoretical physicist George W. Beadle, biologist Arthur Holly Compton, high energy particle physicist Ugo Fano, atomic physicist James Wallace Givens, mathematician and computer scientist Joseph Katz, nuclear organic inorganic chemist Maria Goeppert Mayer, nuclear physicist Aneesur Rahman, computational physicist David Schramm, astrophysics Glenn Seaborg, chemist Harold Urey, nuclear chemist Eugene Wigner, theoretical physicist Walter H. Zinn, nuclear reactor physicist Fellowship recipients will be assigned according to his or her scientific or technical discipline. For detail visit http://www.dep.anl.gov/postdocs/namedpostdoc.htm 5. Imp link for postdocs and job opportunities in Switzerland: http://www.academicjobseu.com 6. An International Conference on Nanotechnology And Biosensors (ICNB-2) -2011 will be held During Wednesday 28th Dec to Thursday 29th Dec 2011 at Raghu Engineering college, Dakamarri,
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Newsletter of North East India Research Forum Bhimilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, 531162, Andhra Pradesh, India. Details in the following link http://www.iacqer.com/ICNB_callforPapers.htmzl 7. Few important links on workshop/conference listing http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2011&program=catchment http://www.conference-service.com/conferences/in/index.html http://www.chemistry-conferences.com/ 8. Inorganic Analytical Chemist Company/Institution: Avalon Staffing Location: Ventura County, CA, USA Date Posted: 14 September 2011 Bench chemist to carry out chemical and physical laboratory tests. This position will support existing production and new development programs by following standardized formula and experimental procedures to prepare & analyze chemical solutions and products. The focus of this position is two-fold: (1) Dedicated to assisting specification development with regards to material composition and its impact on product performance, (2) Dedicated to providing analytical assistance with Failure Analysis/Autopsy of the production and development of our electochemical product, (3) This is a hands-on, data driven, summarizing-results position that requires a bachelor's degree and at least 2 years experience in a professional laboratory. Responsibilities will include: (1) Standardize & document in-house analytical testing, First goal of establishing a baseline of existing materials, review material specification documents, and ensure accuracy, (2) ICPMS testing for incoming raw chemical materials on an Agilent 7500ce, (3) Particle size analysis for incoming and in-process materials on a Horiba LA-930, (4) Titration testing of chemical solutions, (5) FTIR fingerprinting to detect gross contamination of organic materials on a PerkinElmer Spectrum BX with an AutoIMAGE microscope, (6) XRF for in-process testing of cathode and anode on a Spectrace QuanX, (7) X-ray machine for FA, dimensional measurement on a CRT 2000, (8) General: (a) Testing, (b) Lab set-up, (c) Equipment handling, (d) Documentation of results Qualified and interested candidates should forward a resume immediately to: Jackie Hoofring, Avalon Staffing, 818 961 7272, Email: jackie@avalonstaffing.com
Note: We post all relevant advertisements/opportunities in a regular basic at www.neindiaresearch.org http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/northeast_india_research/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/neindiaresearch/
Do visit and post if you find new.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/northeast_india_research/ http://www.neindiaresearch.org/ -------0------N. E. Quest; Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011
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N.E.Quest Volume 5, Issue 2, July 2011

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Newsletter Of NORTH EAST INDIA RESEARCH FORUM