• Prof.  Ananda Chakrabarty  to Attend Intl. Symp. on Regulatory & Safety Issues from December 2-4 in Dhaka

  
  Austin, 21st April, '08. Professor Ananda Chakrabarty, Distinguished Professor  at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, is attending the December Conference on, “Intl. Symposium on Regulatory & Safety Issues in Commercialization of Biotech Res. in Developing World"  to be held in Dhaka on December 2  through 4, 2008. Professor  Chakrabarty and his group have shown that when exposed to cancer cells, certain bacteria, namely, Pseudomonas aeruginosa  secretes azurin, a protein  that enters cancer cells in preference  to normal ones. Azurin and another related compound Laz synthesized by the bacterial species,  Neisseria interfere  with the growth of cancer cells both in  vitro and in vivo  by blocking several steps in the cancer progression pathways. What was even more revealing  was their effectiveness to inhibit significantly the growth of  unrelated microbes such as the malarial parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) and the AIDS virus HIV-1 by forming complexes with their surface proteins. Thus, a single protein, azurin/Laz has been found to have potential therapeutic application against such unrelated diseases as cancer, malaria or AIDS. This has also been effective against breast- and skin cancer. It may take 3 years or so for this drug to be certified for its non-toxicity to human system. Once it passes the tests, there will be no funding problem, Prof. Chakrabarty remarked. For a list of other speakers...click here. .Pl read  also the motto of the Dept of Microbiology & Immunology: For each question we answer, many more arise, thus providing a life long opportunity for investigation, discovery and self-fulfillment.
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  Our Newest Member: His Two Publications as a Lead Author in JBC

  Austin, May 1, 08. What a sense of pleasure to see Bangladeshi Scientists publish their papers in prestigious journals such as Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC).  We congratulate them from the bottom of our heart. Latest to join our Forum is Dr. Akhter Hossain, Senior Research Officer (SRO-4), Howard Florey Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia. His two publications as a lead author in JBC are as follows:

  Mohammed Akhter Hossain, K. Johan Rosengren, Linda M. Haugaard-Jönsson, Soude Zhang, Sharon Layfield, Tania Ferraro, Norelle L. Daly, Geoffrey W. Tregear, John D. Wade and Ross A. D. Bathgate (2008) J. Biol. Chem (in press).

  Mohammed Akhter Hossain, Ross A. D. Bathgate, Chze K. Kong, Fazel Shabanpoor, Suode Zhang, Linda M. Haugaard-Jönsson, K. Johan Rosengren, Geoffrey W. Tregear, and John D. Wade (2008) ChemBioChem  (in Press).
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  Comments  From Eight Members about Intl Funding. Isn't It Amazing? 
  Austin 15th April, '08. GNOBB feel exceedingly happy,  proud and also amazed  that shortly since the posting of the above news, as many as six  Forum members have offered their constructive comments in spite of their extremely busy schedule. These gestures portend a bright future of biotechnology for BD. Such activity on the part of biotech community will awaken all stake holders - policy makers, administrators,http://www.gnobb.org/Faruque_NIN_Grant.pdf industrialists and news media to do their part in harnessing the power of biotech for the economic  benefit of the country. Here are the comments retrievable by only one click on their names in blue fonts: 

  Dr. Parvez Haris, Dr. Zaheed Hussain, Dr. Hemayet Ullah, Prof. Zeba I. Seraj, Dr. Abidur Rahman, Dr. Abed Choudhury. Dr. Parvez Haris (second letter), Prof. Ahmed Azad.

  Dr. Shah Md. Faruque's original letter has generated a lot of stimulating and thought-provoking discussion among GNOBB members, not hitherto seen since its birth a little more than three years ago. Here are Dr. Faruque's remarks in reply to comments so far received (see the above comments  to refresh your memory by pressing the individual names in blue fonts.) In order for Bangladeshi scientists to apply for a foreign grant related to infectious diseases, he requested GNOBB to post the announcement in its website. So here it is including the link to obtain detailed information about this funding source.

  Addenda: Professor Ahmed Azad enriches the ongoing discussion on International Funding with his valuable experience on this issue. Pl. read the letter which he begins by congratulating Prof. Maqsudul Alam on the outstanding achievement of himself and his team on unraveling the genetically modified papaya genome.

Congratulations to Dr. Ekramoddoullah  & Liu for the Award of a US patent
Dhaka, Jan. 18, ’08. A US  patent No. 7,285,656 B2  was awarded to  Dr. Abul K. M Ekramoddoullah and Jun-Jun Liu on their discovery of  "the root specific conifer gene promoter ".  Dr Ekram and his associates were also recipients of  similar patents earlier in 2003 and 2004.
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Protein-Protein Interactions in Mammalian Cells: A Dual-light Assay developed by Dr. Nasim

 Austin 27 July, ’07. GNOBB feel proud in announcing that Forum member, Dr. Talat Nasim at  Division of Genetics and Molecular Medicine Guy's Tower, Guy's Hospital, King's College, London has developed a dual-light assay for determining the efficiency of protein-protein interactions in mammalian cells which was published in Nucleic Acids Research vol. 33, e66, 2005. Based on the interest generated by this paper the journal has described it as a ‘hot paper’. Dr Nasim has requested the Moderator  to publish the letter in the GNOBB homepage, inviting comments from the members regarding this discovery and at the same time offering to distribute the reagents, should any forum members wish to use the system. Pl read the letter by clicking here.
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Dr. Parvez Haris is speaking on the 19th as a guest speaker  in  an Intl Conf. in Structural Biol.

Austin Nov. 17, ’07. Dr. Parvez Haris at De Montfort University, UK is speaking on the 19th as a guest speaker in an Intl Conf. in Structural Biol.to be in held in the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 19th through 22nd November. On the same day, Nobel Laureate Kurt Wuthrich at ETH Zurich, Switzerland is also addressing conference. Read More >>

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Three GNOBB Members at the Recent American Society of Plant Biology Meeting

Abidur Rahman

Hemayet Ullah

Enamul Huq

Austin July 29, '07 We always take pleasure in highlighting the new scientific findings of GNOBB members, whether these are research publications in peer-reviewed journals or oral/poster presentation in International Meetings. Here we report the achievements of three GNOBB members, Dr.  Enamul Huq at MCDB, UT, Austin; Dr. Abidur Rahman at Iwate University, Cryobiosystem Research Center, Japan and  Dr. Hemayet Ullah  at  the Dept. of Biology, Howard University, USA and their associates. The details of the papers they presented as the guide of the respective group  at the  last ASBP meeting (Plant Biology and Botany 2007 Joint Congress)  July 7-11 in Chicago are given below. Clicking the title will enable you see the abstracts of the papers.

1. Moon Jennifer, Zhu Ling,  Shen Hui, Huq Enamul. PIF1 directly regulates chlorophyll biosynthesis to optimize the greening process in Arabidopsis.

2. Ullah Hemayet, Uvetta Dozier, McLauchlin April, Kundu  Nabanita, Fennel Herman. Arabidopsis Receptor for Activated C Kinase 1 (RACK1) scaffold proteins regulate diverse environmental stress signaling pathways.

3. Rahman Abidur, Bannigan Alex, Sulaman Waheeda, Pechter Priit, Blancaflor Elison, Baskin Tobias. Auxin, actin, and growth of the Arabidopsis thaliana primary root.
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Protein-Protein Interactions in Mammalian Cells: A Dual-light Assay developed by Dr. Nasim
Austin, 27 July, ’07. GNOBB feel proud in announcing that Forum member, Dr. Talat Nasim at  Division of Genetics and Molecular Medicine Guy's Tower, Guy's Hospital, King's College, London has developed a dual-light assay for determining the efficiency of protein-protein interactions in mammalian cells which was published in Nucleic Acids Research vol. 33, e66, 2005. Based on the interest generated by this paper the journal has described it as a ‘hot paper’. Dr Nasim has requested the Moderator  to publish the letter in the GNOBB homepage, inviting comments from the members regarding this discovery and at the same time offering to distribute the reagents, should any forum members wish to use the system. Pl read the letter by clicking here.
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Young Bangladeshi  Scientists meet Nobel Laureates at  Lindau Germany 
Austin, July 20, ’07. Led by Prof. Muhammed Zafar Iqbal at Shah Jalal university  S&T  (SUST), six young Bangladeshi scientists in the filed of biology, namely, Minhaz Ahmed (Japan Advanced Institute of S&T Japan), Ms. Jakia Amin  and  Khademul Islam (Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan), Ms. Sutapa Barua (Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana , USA), Touhidul Islam (Dept. of Genetic Engineering and Biotech. DU) and  Ms. Ayesha Sania (ICDDRB, Center, Health & Population Res.,  Dhaka) attended the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting July 1 through 6. This is the first time that young Bangladeshi scientists got this unique opportunity to be a part of this assembly of 560 young scientists from 64 countries. Sixteen Nobel Laureates addressed this unique gathering of young scientists in the field of physics
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Heartiest Congratulations to Dr. Abdur Rahman Sikder 
Austin, July 8, 2007. GNOBB convey their heartiest congratulations to Dr. Abdur Rahman Sikder for being awarded Ph.D. by the University of Sydney, Australia. His specialization is in the field of bioinformatics and the topic of his dissertation is, "Inferring Protein Domain Boundaries and Protein Structure from Amino Acid Sequences."  From the University of Sydney, he has been relocated now as a Postdoctoral Scientist at Biotechnology Research Center, Michigan Technological University, MI, USA. Pl click the title to know more about Dr. Sikder.
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Congratulations to Dr. A. Razzaque and Associates for their latest Publication
 Austin 2nd July, 2007. GNOBB convey their  warmest  congratulations to Dr. Md. Abdur Razzaque and 17 other  associates for their latest paper captioned, “Germline gain-of-function mutations in RAF1 cause Noonan syndrome”. The paper  of which Dr. A. Razzaque (at the International Research and Educational Institute for Integrated Medical Sciences (IREIIMS), Tokyo Women's Medical University) is the lead author,  has been published online  in Nature Genetics on 1 July. The paper reports the results of a collaborative project involving 12 research institutes, all located in Japan. Click the title to access to the paper.
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GNOBB Member Attending Summer School on Abiotic Stress in Leibniz Univ. 
Austin, June 02, 2007.  GNOBB member, Dr. M. Nurul Islam at the Department of Botany, DU has been selected to attend Summer School on "Abiotic Stress" to be held July 1 through 13 in Leibniz University, Hannover under the sponsorship and financial support  of the  Humboldt Foundation. We owe to Professor Jacobsen as always for his valuable contribution in staff development of the Botany Department, Dhaka University in the field of Biotechnology. 
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GNOBB member  Nagib Ahsan  awarded Ph.D. by KNU University, Republic Korea.
Austin Dec. 21, '06. The Graduate School of KNU  (Kyungpook National University, Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Republic of  Korea) has recently awarded the Ph.D. Degree to GNOBB member, Mr Nagib Ahsan. Two important papers have resulted from his Ph.D. work.  The papers  were published in Chemosphere and Plant Science respectively. GNOBB heartily congratulate Dr. Nagib Ahsan and wish him all the best in whichever research career he chooses.
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GNOBB felicitate Dr. Arifuzzaman for his Recent publication  in Genome Research 
Austin  Nov. 19, ’06. The outstanding piece of research work published under the title “Large-scale identification of protein–protein interaction of Escherichia coli K-12”  by Dr. Mohammad  Arifuzzaman* as a lead author and 21  other scientists at Nara Institute of S&T, Japan appeared in Genome Research vol. 16: 686-691. The work executes a large scale identification program on protein–protein interactions of E. coli K-12.  The research findings elucidate cellular activities, targeted drug design and innovative ways to bioengineer the whole cell.  The research team headed by Professor Hirotada Mori  employed a large-scale comprehensive pull-down assay using a His-tagged Escherichia coli ORF clone library.  According to the authors, the analysis of the interacting networks by bioinformatics and experimentation  will open up a new vista  equipping the researchers with  new insights in their search for novel strategies for E. coli systems biology.
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*Dr. M. Arifuzzaman is now working as an Associate Professor in the Department of  Biotechnology & Biochemistry, University of Science & Technology Chittagong (UST
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Warmest Congratulations to  GNOBB Member, Dr. Md. Aminul Islam
Austin Sept, 29,'06. GNOBB offer their heartiest congratulations to Dr. Md. Aminul Islam, now working as a Visiting Fellow in  the  Canadian Forest Service, Victoria, B.C. Canada for his latest publication in    Genetic Diversity and Crop Evolution (2006), published by Sringer. Dr. Amin is the lead author along with four others; to view the article entitled, "Genetic diversity and cytogenetic analyses in Curcuma  zedoaria (Christm) Roscoe", pl. click the title above this line in blue font.
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Heartiest Congratulations to Dr.  Md. Kamruzzaman  Munshi on his Award of Ph.D.

Austin, Sept. 25, '06.  GNOBB have the pleasure of announcing that the Forum Member,  Md. Kamruzzaman Munshi (on study leave from AERE, Dhaka) has successfully completed his PhD course in Kyushu University, Japan and was  awarded the degree on September 25, 2006. The topic of his  Ph.D. was “Molecular and genetical characterization of the chloroplast NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (NDH) complex in Arabidopsis”. Based on the results of his  Ph.D. study, he has published two papers in prestigious International Journals, one in  “The plant Journal” published by Blackwell Publishing, UK and the other in “Plant Physiology”, the Journal of American Society of Plant Biologists (Cf. Member's profile of Dr. Munshi)
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Warmest Congratulations to  GNOBB Member, Dr. Md. Aminul Islam
Austin Sept, 29,'06. GNOBB offer their heartiest congratulations to Dr. Md. Aminul Islam, now working as a Visiting Fellow in  the  Canadian Forest Service, Victoria, B.C. Canada for his latest publication in    Genetic Diversity and Crop Evolution (2006), published by Sringer. Dr. Amin is the lead author along with four others; to view the article entitled, "Genetic diversity and cytogenetic analyses in Curcuma  zedoaria (Christm) Roscoe", pl. click the title above this line in blue font. 

Dr. Md. Anwarul Azim Akhand Recipient of TWAS Young Scientists Award

Austn Sept. 15, '06.  Dr. Md. A. A. Akhand, Associate Prof. of Genetic Eng. and Biotech., D.U. was awarded the TWAS  (the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World) Young Scientists Award 2005 with a cash prize of $ 1,000  and also BAS-TWAS Gold Medal for his outstanding  research contributions in the field of animal biotechnology during his graduate studies. The coveted prize was  awarded to him in an impressive ceremony by the Prime Minister of the country. To see the picture of the ceremony click here. Next to PM, are Prof. Shamsher Ali and Prof. Naiyyum Choudhury, President  and Secretary of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences.

Dr.  Ekramoddoullah will present a paper in the Annual Meeting of  IUFRO
Austin Aug. 31, '06. IUFRO (International Union of Forest Organization) Five-Needle
Pines Conference in Vãliug, Romania will be held September 19 through 23,06.
GNOBB member, Dr. Abul Ekramoddoullah will be  presenting a paper captioned,
 “Molecular Mapping of the Pinus monticola Cr2 Gene using AFLP and SCAR
Markers” and also chair a session. To see the abstract click here pl.
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Keystone Symposia Conf. on Multi-protein Complexes in Cell Regulation

Austin, Aug 10, ’06. GNOBB member, Dr. Talat Nasim, a research associate in the Division of
Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Guy’s Hospital,  King’s College London is attending the Keystone 
Symposia Conference (http://www.keystonesymposia.org/) entitled ‘Multi-protein Complexes 
Involved in Cell Regulation’  to be held August 18-23, 2006 in Cambridge University, UK. Explaining
 the theme of the conference, Dr. Talat writes, ”Protein-protein interactions are common in most 

biological processes in cells and altered interactions are responsible for the development of many
pathological states. Protein interactions, both transient and stable are far more extensive than originally 

thought form highly coordinated networks that govern biological processes. The aim of this meeting is to 

assess the structural and functional basis for protein-protein interactions with a view to exploring how 

these approaches augment and complement each other. 
GNOBB also take this opportunity to congratulate Dr. Nasim for his important 
publication as a lead author in the prestigious journal Nature Protocol (See below):

Md. Talat Nasim and Ian C Eperon  (2006) A double-reporter splicing assay for determining splicing 

efficiency in mammalian cells. Nature Protocols 1 (2): 1022-1028.
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Ministry of  Information and S&T, GoB Funds Pure Basic Research in Dhaka University
Austin June 29, '06. It is heartening to note that right in Bangladesh fresh Ph.D.s are marching forward toward working on projects directly related to molecular biology. The  Ministry of Information, Science and technology, GoB is  funding a project submitted by GNOBB member Dr. Mohammad Nurul Islam on "Isolation and Characterization of viral genome from mungbean germplasm infected by mungbean yellow mosaic virus".  We do hope that Dr. Nurul Islam will be able to unravel the real status of the virus belonging to the Geminiviridae family  by determining  its genome size and sequencing  the genes that constitute it through PCR and  identifying its various ORFs. Indeed he can use the DNA sequencing facility provided by the DU Center of Excellence. GNOBB members are requested to extend their help to this young scientist.
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Why Genetically Modified  (GM) Tree? UN Convention Recognizes GM Tree Threat
Austin, June 27, '06. In the following, GNOBB member, Dr. Abul K.M.  Ekramoddoullah gives his comments on GM forest trees. The original article is linked with the title. The debate surrounding modified organisms that have spread to non-food sectors such as forest trees.  An innovative technology has had to stand the test of time. Even public address system such as microphone did not receive universal acceptance; now we cannot even think of a large gathering without this modern appliance. So it is but natural that GM crops including forest trees have raised genuine concerns in the minds of policy makers and administrators. In this short article the question is being critically examined in regard to merits and demerits of genetically modified trees.
What are the risks and benefits associated with GM TREES? Genetic modification of trees may prove beneficial to combat specific situations, such as when forest trees are subjected to environmental stresses (e.g. pests, including invasive, disease outbreaks, or pollution). The use of advanced genetic tools may go a long way to modify trees so that they can resist new environmental threats preventing social and economic damages.
Read the whole article in PDF format by clicking here.
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Dr. Rafiqur Rahman Retires from  the Dept of Biochemistry and Mol. Biol.,  DU
Austin June 17, '06 Prof. Rafiqur Rahman has recently retired after rendering 34 years of distinguished service to  the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, D. U. Students, past and present, admire in one voice that Dr. Rafique had been an ideal, inspiring and excellent teacher. Most staff members in the department and those serving in various teaching and important research positions all over the globe were his students and drew inspiration from Dr. Rafique – the inspiration that helped them build up the career they are pursuing today, bringing fame to themselves through their research and  the country they belong to. Here is a poem written in his honor.
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Dr. Abidur Rahman's New Appointment as  an Asst. Prof. at Iwate University, Japan 
June 24, 2006. It is a great pleasure to inform the GNOBB  readers that Dr. Abidur Rahman, one of the co-founders of GNOBB has been appointed   as an Assistant Professor at the Cryo-Bio Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture,  Iwate University Morioka, Japan.  
GNOBB join with all his well-wishers and colleagues to wish him well in his new Job. 
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Congratulations to Kamruzzaman for publishing an article  in Plant Physiology
Austin June 1, '06. GNOBB convey their heartiest congratulations to their new member, Munshi Md. Kamruzzaman for publishing online the following article as a lead author in Plant Physiology Preview vol. 141, April 28, 2006; (10.1104/pp.106.080267).
"CRR6 a Novel Factor Required for accumulation of the Chloroplast NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase Complex in Arabidopsis M. Kamruzzaman Munshi , Yoshichika Kobayashi and Toshiharu Shikanai." Below is given the summary in the lead author's own words.

"Arabidopsis genes, CRR6 and CRR7 were identified in the mutant that specially lacks NDH activity. Arabidopsis thaliana mutants, crr6 , crr7 (chlororespiratory reduction) were isolated using chlorophyll fluorescence imaging to detect reduced activity in NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (NDH). CRR7 (At5g39210) encodes a protein of 156 amino acids, including a putative plastid target signal, and does not contain any known motifs. In contrast to CRR2 and CRR4 involved in the expression of chloroplast ndh genes, CRR7 is conserved in cyanobacterial genomes. Although CRR6 and CRR7 did not contain any transmembrane domains, these were localized to the membrane fraction of the chloroplast. Stability of CRR6 as well as CRR7 protein was analyzed by Western blot using antibodies against tag epitopes to study whether they are subunit of NDH complex or not within the crr2 mutant background. CRR7 was unstable in the crr2-2 mutant background, in which the expression of ndhB was impaired. These results strongly suggest that CRR7 is a novel subunit of the chloroplast NDH complex.
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GNOBB member,  Ahsan Participates in an Intl Conf. in Sweden
Austin 29th May, '06. GNOBB member, Mr Nagib Ahsan, a Ph.D. student from  Kyungpook National University (KNU),  S. Korea is presenting a paper in Session 4 at an International Conference for PhD students to be held   in Sweden from 15^th to 18^th June. The topic of his oral presentation  on the 17th is, "A proteomic approach for investigating water-logging proteins in tomato leaves." His email address is: nagib_ahsan@yahoo.com
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Forum Member Abed Chaudhury's Interview with "Saptahik 2000"
 Austin March 9, '06. A Forum member has requested GNOBB Moderator to post an interesting interview which took place between Dr. Abed Chaudhury and Staff reporters of "Saptahik 2000". In the interview , Dr. Chaudhury underscored the urgent need of the Government to give due attention to promote science in general and biotechnology in particular and also recognize the talents of Bangladeshi farmers who developed outstanding rice varieties from the landrace,  Lathisail in the past.  In fact , all high yielding modern rice  varieties owe its origin in one way or the other from this spectacular landrace.   It also contributed  the crucial gene for earliness.  Another very important line is Kasalot that is currently being used as a parent in crosses to map and clone naturally varying alleles controlling many important traits such as cooking quality.
IRRI scientists have recognized this fact. According to G. Khush (who was until recently the principal breeder at IRRI) high yielding varieties  released from IRRI contain in their genome important genes from Lathisail.  Dr Chaudhury talked of Japanese rice scientists who are benefiting by researching on Bangladeshi rice varieties. The Japanese scientists should give due recognition to this fact and share the profit with Bangladesh.  Dr. Chaudhury went on to say  that an atmosphere needs to be created with proper facilities so that people do not leave their villages in search of jobs. He emphasized on the importance of arranging science fairs in villages and inspire the youth to undertake scientific investigations. He said that in merit and capacity to work Bangladeshis are unparalleled. About his research on the production of  high-yielding apomictic  hybrid rice, he said that release of such a variety is possible within the next 5-10 years with the help of IRRI. Once such varieties come to the market, it will eliminate the need of farmers to buy their seeds from multinational companies at an exorbitant price. Read the interview by clicking here or the title.

Addendum: Pl click here to read the comments by Dr. Chaudhury regarding his above interview and also here to view the comments by Prof. Zeba I. Seraj about landraces.
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A Faculty Position  Open in the Dept. of  Biology, Claflin University, SC
Austin, March 22, '06. Dr. Kamal Chowdhury, Associate Professor at the Department of Biology, Claflin University has requested the moderator that a news item about the following vacancy in his Department be posted at the GNOBB website, "We are looking for a protein biochemist and a Biostatistician in our Biology department at Claflin University. The announcement appeared in Science, Chronicles of Higher Education. Application deadline is April 30, 2006."  The purpose of this posting is to bring the news of this vacancy into the notice of Bangladeshi scientists so that those who are interested may apply for either of the positions to Dr. Randall Harris, Search Committee Chair, Department of Biology, Claflin University,  email: rharris@claflin.edu. For details click here and Click here to download the application form.
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Prof. Haseena Khan Participates at  Asian Food Hygiene Workshop in Japan
Austin March 16, '06. Professor Haseena Khan at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, DU, a Forum member participated in the "Asian Food Hygiene Network Workshop 2006" recently held in Tsukuba, Japan from March 7 through 8. The workshop was organized by Japan International Research Centre for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS)  in cooperation with the National Food Research Institute (NFRI) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). This workshop was attended by representatives from China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Bangladesh and the delegate from the host country, Japan. Among other things, the workshop dwelt on biosafety-related issues for introduction of GM food crops in some of the Asian countries, notably in China, Japan, Philippines and Bangladesh. Professor Khan apprised the delegates about the situation as currently confronted by Bangladesh following its decision about introducing selected transgenic crops such as borer-resistant egg-plants (aubergine). Read more about the workshop by clicking here. 
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Recent Publications of the Forum Member Md Abdul Khaleque
Austin March 30, '06.GNOBB feels proud to announce that within a short span of time three forum members have their papers published in peer-reviewed journals. Below are the two papers co-authored by Dr. Md. Abdul Khaleque.
1. Stuart K Calderwood, Md Abdul Khaleque, Douglas B. Sawyer and Daniel R. Ciocca (2006) Heat shock proteins in cancer: chaperones of tumoregenesis. Review. Trends Biochem. Sci. 31(3):164-72 .

2. XiaoZhe Wang, Md Abdul Khaleque, Mei Juan Zhau, Rong Zhong, Matthias Gaestel and Stuart K Calderwood (2006) Phosphorylation of HSF1 by MAPKAP Kinase 2 on serine 121, inhibits transcriptional activity and promotes HSP90 binding. J. Biol. Chem. 281 (2):782-91.
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Recent Publications of the Forum Member Dr. Ekramaddoulla et al. in Phytopathology  Austin March 23, '06. With great pleasure GNOBB announces that the following two papers have been jointly published by Dr. Ekramoddoullah AKM and his colleagues at the Pacific Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, Victoria, British Columbia Canada. The lead author in the first publication is Dr. Ekramaddolla. Hyperlinks have been provided to both the articles for the interested GNOBB members to view the abstracts.
1. A. K. M. Ekramoddoullah, J.-J. Liu, and A. Zamani. (2006) Cloning and Characterization of a Putative Antifungal Peptide Gene (Pm-AMP1) in Pinus monticola. Phytopathology  (February) 96:164-170.
2. Liu, J.-J, Ekramoddoullah  AKM, Hunt RS and Zamani A (2006) Identification and characterization of random amplified polymorphic DNA markers linked to a major gene (Cr2) for resistance to Cronartium ribicola in Pinus monticola. Phytopathology (April) 96:395-399.
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Recent Publication by  N. Chowdhury along with Dr. SM Faruque
Austin March 24, '06. With great pleasure GNOBB announces that Mr. Nityananda Chowdhury, who has just joined the forum has the following publication to his credit as one of the coauthors. Dr. SM Faruque who is already a Forum member is another coauthor along with five others. Click the title of the news or the citation below.
Susan M. Butler, Eric J. Nelson, Nityananda Chowdhury, Shah M. Faruque, Stephen B. Calderwood, and Andrew Camilli (2006)Cholera stool bacteria repress chemotaxis to increase infectivity. Molecular Microbiology 60(2):417-426.
Warmest Congratulations to Seraj et al. for  their Recent Publication
Austin Feb.  20, '06. GNOBB members are delighted to convey their warmest congratulations to Professor Zeba I. Seraj and her associates at the Department of  Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dhaka University for contributing a valuable chapter in a recently published book, "Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants" by Springer, The Netherlands.  The details are as follows:
Zeba I. Seraj, Laisa A. Lisa, M. Rafiqul Islam, Rokeya Begum and Deepok K. Das (2005) Genetic Diversity of Saline Coastal Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Landraces of Bangladesh. In: Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants.  Toward Improvement of Global Environment and Food.  Ashwani K. Rai and Teruhiro Takabe (eds.). Springer, The Netherlands, pp. 229-244. Click the title to know what this book is all about and its contents.
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Dr. Kamal Chowdhury Appointed as  an Associate Professor in Claflin University, SC

Austin Feb. 12, '06. GNOBB takes this opportunity of offering  their heartiest congratulations to Dr. Kamal Chowdhury on his new appointment as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology (Plant Biotechnology) in Claflin University, South Carolina. Dr. Chowdhury has been given the responsibility to develop and direct the agricultural / plant biotechnology program. We wish him all success in his new career from a Senior Scientist of a multinational company, Forestry Biotech Startup ArborGen to a senior position in  Claflin  University.

We would like to congratulate warmly Dr. Chowdhury  as a coauthor for the following publication which has just appeared  in In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol.- Plant    

Nehra NS, MR Becwar, WH Rottmann, L Pearson, K Chowdhury, S, Chang, HD Wilde, RJ Kodrzycki, C Zhang, KC Gause, D Parks, MA Hinchee (2005) Forest Biotechnology: innovative methods, emerging opportunities. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. - Plant, 41: 701- 717. 
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Heartiest Congratulations to Dr. Mohammad Nurul Islam

GNOBB congratulates warmly Dr. Mohammad Nurul Islam on the award of Ph.D. conferred on him recently by the Delhi component of ICGEB. During his study he covered a lot of ground in different facets of molecular biology such as gene silencing, functional genomics, identifying   PTGS (post transcriptional gene silencing) suppressor, identification and isolation of viral genome etc. Dr. Islam has resumed his duties as a faculty member in the Department of Botany, Dhaka University. GNOBB wishes that he is able to continue research relentlessly in the field in which he has specialized and that DU provides him all possible facility to pursue it.
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One of Five Research Professorships awarded by TWAS goes to Bangladesh

Austin Dec. 27, '05. Forum member Professor Ahmed Azad has been offered one of the five Research   Professorships for LDCs (Least Developing countries) awarded by the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). He will be working at the newly created Department of Biotechnology at BRAC University over the next five years for three one-month periods. 

While warmly congratulating Prof. Azad,  one of the pioneer active Bangladeshi Biotechnologists and a member of the Council of Scientific Advisers, ICGEB, we hope that all the arrangements between BRAC University and Professor Azad are finalized so that the latter can take up this prestigious appointment forthwith.
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Forum Member, Dr. Hemayetullah  Receives NSF Grant to Work on RACK1 Proteins
Austin Dec. 27, '05. The Molecular and Cellular Biosystems Program of NSF has awarded a 2-year grant to   Hemayet Ullah at  Biology Department, Howard University, Boston  to carry out a research project under the title, "Arabidopsis Receptor for Activated C Kinase (RACK1): Role of Protein-Protein Interactions  in environmental Stress Signal Transductions Pathways. GNOBB convey their heartiest congratulations to Dr. Hemayet for obtaining this research award in the midst of  an extremely hard competition. GNOBB also wish  the entire team God speed to succeed in their mission; i.e., to come up with new and exciting findings about RACK1 proteins.

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Mini Review by  Dr. Abul K. M. Ekramoddoullah

A mini-review entitled, "Molecular tools in the study of the white pine blister rust [Cronartium- ribicola] pathosystem" by the Forum member, Dr. Abul K.M. Ekramoddoullah has just been published  in Can. J. Plant Pathol. 27: 510-520 (2005).

This paper is in recognition of Dr. Abul K.M. Ekramoddoullah's award for Outstanding Research

granted by The Canadian Phytopathological Society at the Annual Meeting, held in Ottawa, Ontario, June 2004. GNOBB join with the Canadian Phytopathological  Society in conveying their heartiest congratulations to the  forum scientist for this valuable publication.

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Congratulations to Dr Chaudhury for their PNAS Paper on  Seed Development
Dec 04, '05. GNOBB is glad to announce the publication of a  recent paper in PNAS by  Luo M, Dennis ES, Berger F, Peacock WJ, Chaudhury A. (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Nov 29;102(48):17531-6). The title of the paper is: MINISEED3 (MINI3), a WRKY family gene, and HAIKU2 (IKU2), a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) KINASE gene, are regulators of seed size in Arabidopsis. GNOBB is pleased to report that the leader of the research team is the Forum member, Dr. Abed Chaudhury. The researchers observed that the phenotype of the double mutants iku2 (haiku2), mini3 (miniseed3) is characterized by early cellularization  and reduced growth of  the endosperm. Their study also revealed that  (a) the normal allele, MINI3 is a  WRKY class of transcription factor, (b) MINI3 promoter is expressed in pollen and at  early developmental stages of  the endosperm  (from 2-cell stage at 12 hr  to 96 hr following fertilization) as well as in the globular embryo. The normal allele of the other mutant, IKU2  encodes a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) KINASE (At3g19700) and was found to have  a similar expression pattern. From earlier and the current data on seed development, they concluded that in Arabidopsis seed development, IKU1, IKU2 and MINI3 genes work in the same pathway.
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Dr. SM Faruque is the Recipient  of the 2005 TWAS Prize for Medical Research

Austin Dec 2, 2005. From Alexandria, the venue of  the current General Meeting of  the Third World Academy  of Sciences (TWAS), Professor Ahmed Azad, an Academy member informs the GNOBB  that Dr. Shah M. Faruque* at the Molecular Genetics Laboratory, ICDDRB has won the 2005 TWAS Science Prize for Medical Research."

All Forum members join Dr. Ahmed Azad in felicitating Dr. Faruqe from the core of their hearts on his outstanding achievement. As Bangladeshi we feel extremely proud for this unique honor conferred to him by the World's one of the most prestigious academic institutions.

Dr. Faruque's research addresses health problems of developing countries, and has contributed significantly to our understanding of  natural phenomena associated with the emergence of  bacterial pathogens.  Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera epidemics represents a paradigm for this process in that this organism evolved from environmental nonpathogenic V. cholerae by acquisition of virulence genes.  In toxigenic strains a lysogenic bacteriophage known as CTX prophage carries genes for cholera toxin.  Dr. Faruque demon- strated  that naturally occurring toxigenic V. cholerae strains can produce CTX phage particles which convert non-toxigenic V. cholerae strains to toxigenic strains. Dr. Faruque has also discovered a novel filamentous phage named KSF-1, which helps the propagation of CTX phage.

Dr. Faruque and his co-workers have also proposed  a model explaining the dynamics of cholera epidemics. Recently, the outstanding contribution made by Dr Faruque and his associates at ICDDRB and Harvard University has elucidated greatly our understanding of  the self-limiting nature of cholera epidemics. The results of their studies have revealed that there is a inverse correlation  between seasonal epidemics of cholera with the occurrence of environmental cholera phages.  In their latest publications in PNAS, Faruque et al. have shown that a cholera phage kills  the bacteria, Vibrio chorlerae, the causative microbe of one of deadliest diseases of the world.  They have further shown that when the balance of phage and bacteria tips in favor of the phage, there is a dramatic decline of  numbers of bacteria to a point, where they are  no longer able to sustain the epidemics.  Our hats off  to Dr. Faruque that he has accomplished this unique feat working in the Bangladesh environment. Dr. Faruque has shown that given the facility, Bangladeshi scientists can conduct scientific  research  comparable in excellence with that of any  other laboratory in the world as adjudged by as many as four of his recent research publications in PNAS,  one of the high impact international journals in science. In line with Dr. Faruque,  GNOBB has been advocating creation of the state of the art facilities in the newly created NIB in order that  Bangladeshi scientists can compete with the rest of the world in the quality of their research output. 

According to  Professor David Sack, Director,  ICDDRB,  there are practical implications to the above study. He thinks that treatment of sewage may kill the virulent cholera bacteria through a selective process, thereby halting the spread of the epidemics." GNOBB  hopes that in the foreseeable future the present basic study of this cholera phage would lead to a real and practical solution to a major public health problem. We wish Dr. Faruque God speed in his great mission.
*Dr. Shah M. Faruque has since joined the forum and has assured GNOBB to promote its cause.
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Online The Plant Journal Paper from Dr. Enamul Huq's Photobiology Lab, UT, Austin

Austin Dec 01, 2005. A paper entitled, "PIF1 is regulated by light-mediated degradation through the ubiquitin-26S proteasome pathway to optimize photomorphogenesis of seedlings in Arabidopsis" by Hui Shen, Jennifer Moon and Enamul Huq, has just been published on line in Plant J.  The photobiology lab of Dr. Enamul Huq is fairly  new. GNOBB congratulate him and his associates for high quality papers  they have been publishing  ever since  Dr. Huq set up his lab. Below is the summary of the latest publication of E. Huq and his associates. 
Researches involving PIF1 a phytochrome-interacting basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor have revealed that a number of features of photomorphogenesis are affected negatively by PIF1. In the present investigation the authors were investigating the mechanism of reduction of transcriptional activity of PIF1 by light, which they have shown in a previous report. They constructed the LUC-PIF1 fusion protein in order to monitor the stability of PIF1 protein under various light conditions. While they observed that control LUC remained stable, the fusion protein degraded under light. Furthermore, they found that the process was sensitive to both quality and the quantity of light. Their observation that re-accumulation of PIF1 occurs in the dark period following their exposure to light led them to deduce that PIF1 may have an important role not only during the transition period from etiolated to de-etiolated phase of growth, but also during diurnal cycles of growth of Arabidopsis seedlings. Their results further revealed that the ubiquitin-26S proteasome pathway is directly involved in the degradation process. They concluded that the degradation of PIF1 and possibly other phytochrome interacting transcription factors by light might be one mode of phytochrome signaling to promote photomorphogenesis
Austin Dec 15, 2005. Dr Enamul Huq's review article entitled, "Degradation of negative regulators: a common theme in hormone and light signaling networks?   is available

online  from today in the journal, "Trends in Plant Science". GNOBB congratulate the young scientist  heartily for his valuable contribution to this emerging science of photobiology.
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Dr. Sarker

GNOBB Congratulate AH Sarker and Members of the Research Team for Elucidating the Mechanism of  Cockayne Syndrome (CS)

Austin 23rd Nov. '05.  In the October 28, 2005 issue of  Molecular Cell (Vol 20, 187-198, 28 October 2005),  Altaf Sarker as a lead author has published a paper  explaining the underlying mechanism behind CS, an extreme form of accelerated aging that is inevitably fatal early in life. CS patients suffer from severe physical and mental retardation and have an average life span of only 12 years, with the most severe cases not surviving past infancy or early childhood. In normal DNA transcription, genes are copied into messenger RNA by a large complex molecular machine known as RNA polymerase II (RNAPII). As the RNAPII engine transcribes DNA, it sometimes encounters a damaged nucleotide on the strand it is transcribing -damage that has been inflicted by ultraviolet radiation or oxidative damage, for example, which make progress difficult.   Read the summary of this exciting finding by  clicking here.
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Genetic analysis of seed coat development in Arabidopsis" - A Review article Authored by George Haughn and Abed Chaudhury
Austin Sept 19. A  review article entitled, "Genetic analysis of seed coat development in Arabidopsis" is due to be published in the October issue  (vol. 10) of  Trends in Plant Science. The article has been authored by  George Haughn at the Univ. of British Columbia and the Forum member  Dr. Abed Chaudhury at CSIRO, Australia and now available online. The review describes the structure of the Arabidopsis seed coat and the contributions that genetic analysis has made in understanding its development and function.  The Arabidopsis seed coat develops from the ovule integument in response to fertilization.  Three of the five cell layers of the ovule integuments differentiate into distinct cell types; a mucilage containing epidermal cell layer, a sub-epidermal palisade layer and a tannin containing endothelium.   By seed coat maturity, all seed coat cells have undergone programmed cell death.     Genetic analysis suggests that a signal from the multinucleate endosperm initiates differentiation of the seed coat cell types.  Endosperm and seed coat development proceed independently of one another in all aspects except growth.   A number of genes encoding transcription factors that regulate the differentiation of both the mucilage cells and endothelium have been identified.  Targets of these transcription factors that have been identified include enzymes for the biosynthesis and secretion of both tannins and pectinaceous mucilage.   At least one gene needed for programmed death of the two undifferentiated  cell layers has also been identified.  The analysis seed coat mutant lacking tannins or mucilage has generated evidence implicating these products as having roles in seed dormancy, germination and storage longevity.  In the future it should be possible to bioengineer seeds of different crops with modified traits suitable for planting under varied climatic conditions.
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Heartiest Congratulations to Dr. Abed Chaudhury for his Recent Report in Nature
Austin. Sept 1.  The Arabidopsis hotheaded recessive  mutants (hth-4, hth-8, hth10) are characterized by fused petals and leaves. The progeny of the  hotheaded mutants were found to produce normal flowers and leaves suggesting that it was an instance of non-Mendelian inheritance. Reporting this unusual type of phenomenon in the March issue of Nature (434, 505–509 (2005),  Lolle et al.  suggested that it was a case of reversion due to “an ancestral RNA-sequence cache”.  
In the section brief communications  entitled "Hothead healer and extra-genomic information published in the first of Sept. issue of Nature (vol. 437), Dr Abed Chaudhury at the CSIRO, Australia (another story in CSIRO Newsletter) has put forward an alternative explanation. Aided by a convincing  diagram,  he   shows that short  stretches of DNA  exist in varying numbers in the Arabidopsis genome, matching  the normal allele of the ‘hothead’  mutant gene. They are called reverting sequences consisting of 13-18 nucleotides. They have the ability to replace the mutated part of the  hth gene with the corrected version. Such events of  reversion restoring the normal allele took place resulting in the production of offspring with normal petals and leaves.
 

Dr. Ekram

Outstanding Achievement of a Bangladeshi Scientist,  Dr. Abul K. M. Ekramoddoullah Senior Research Scientist, Tree Biotechnology and Adv. Genetics, Pacific Forestry Center, Victoria, B.C., Canada M.Sc.  in Biochemistry,  Dhaka University Ph.D. in Immunochemistry, McGill University (1968)

Dr. Abul K. M. Ekramoddoullah, Senior Research Scientist Tree Biotechnology and Advanced Genetics, Canadian Forest Service,  at the Pacific Forestry Center, Victoria, B.C. has recently received the outstanding research award from the Canadian Phytopathological Society in recognition of  his outstanding achievements in forest pathology research (See Can. J. Plant Pathol. Vol. 26, 604-06 (2004). His innovative research approach and collaboration with national and international research organizations have earned for him a coveted place in the community of forest Pathology Group, using molecular techniques including  novel (Proteomics) approaches to the analysis of plant defense responses. Molecular Forest Breeders now use his innovative strategies to genetically engineer single chain antibodies. Below are given two of his recent publications. Anyone browsing this site may request for the reprints by sending him an email.

Liu J-J, Ekramoddoullah AK, Piggott N, Zamani A. (2005) Molecular cloning of a pathogen/wound-inducible PR10 promoter from Pinus monticola and characterization in transgenic Arabidopsis plants.
Planta 221(2):159-69

Ekramoddoullah, A. K. M.  (2004) Current strategies for studying proteins in forest tree-pathogen interaction. Recent Res. Devel. Biotech. Bioeng. 6:51-63.

Liu, J-J, Hunt, R.S. and Ekramoddoullah, A. K. M.  2004. Recent insight into western white pine genetic resistance to white pine blister rust. Recent Res. Devel. Biotech. Bioeng. 6: 65-76.

GNOBB takes this opportunity to congratulate him most warmly and is very happy to welcome him as a participant in the GNOBB forum. GNOBB associates feel proud to be associated with Dr. Ekramoddoullah and look forward to be benefited by his  valuable pieces of advice for the improvement of this site which is still in its gestation period. For details please see member's profile.
email: aekramoddoullah@pfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca
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Heartiest Congratulations to Dr. M. N. Saha for his Recent Paper as a Lead Author in J. Virology

Austin Nov. 8, '05. GNOBB take the opportunity to congratulate Dr. M. N. Saha heartily for publishing as a lead author the following article in the prestigious J. Virology. Pl click the title for the abstract. It is an honor to the Bangladeshi community of scientists.

Manujendra N. Saha, A. Tanaka, A. Jinno-Oue, N. Shimizu, K. Tamura, M. Shinagawa, J. Chiba, and H. Hoshino. 2005. Formation of Vesicular stomatitis virus pseudotypes bearing surface proteins of hepatitis B virus. J. Virol. 79:12566-74.
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Dr. Abidur Rahman Interviewed by ASPB
Austin Oct 12, ’05. Forum member and one of  its founders,  Dr Abidur Rahman is an ASPB (American Society of Plant Biologists) member since 2000.  He is employed as a Senior Post Doctoral Researcher at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. ASPB interviewed him recently in recognition of  his dedication and innovativeness for sharing a common goal of promoting the growth, development and outreach of Plant Biology as a pure and applied science. GNOBB is featuring this news as an attachment. The interview  was published  in the September/October issue of ASPB News (vol 32, No. 5). Please click here to read the interview.
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Congratulations to Dr Ashraf for Obtaining Two Research Grants
Austin Oct 8, 05. Dr.Syed Ashrafuddin Ahmed, a Forum Member has been awarded two new federal grants for 3 years with a first year total of ~$800,000. GNOBB heartily congratulates Dr. Ashraf and wish him all success in his research projects.
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Professor Ahmed Azad re-elected to ICGEB's Council of Scientific Advisers
Austin, November 23.Profesor Ahmed Azad, Director of Research, Health Science, Cape Town University, South Africa will be attending the 10th session of CSA (Council of Scientific Advisers)  meeting to be held on 22nd through 23rd of November, '04 in New Delhi. Prof. Azad has completed two terms as a member of CSA and his name has been proposed for re-election to this prestigious international body of eminent scientists. CSA is an organ of ICGEB (The International Centre of Genetic Engineering of Biotechnology) which controls and evaluates the research proposals and other vital issues pertaining to the running of ICGEB. Bangladesh is a regular member of ICGEB and also one of the Affiliated Centres.

Dr. Mahfuz R Sarker's Outstanding Achievement Dhaka, January 10. GNOBB feels proud to announce  that Dr. Mahfuz Sarker Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University received "Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)" in 2004. PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding Scientists and Engineers. It recognizes exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge.