Circa 2004, the egghead-world is excited about nanotechnology, micro electro mechanical systems (or MEMS), stem cell research, fuel cells, biotech, and genomics, though not necessarily in that order. If that's too much jargon, think regenerative medicine or growing another liver to replace one damaged by cancer; think atom-sized robots; think innovative drug delivery systems; think the power to suppress genes responsible for hereditary diseases; and think pocket-sized power plants (well, almost). Now, how would you react if we told you that work-not just ordinary work but bleeding edge stuff-on all these areas was progressing (and very well indeed, thanks for asking) in India? Surprised. Well, Indian scientists aren't just participants in these areas, they are leaders in several, and leaders who are busy acquiring patents and getting commercial. Not too much noise, however, is being made about this work at the bleeding edge. Attribute that to the uniquely Indian trait of understatedness. This may be the first time you hear about some of these technologies and people, but mark our words, it won't be the last.

PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH
In Quest of the Next Blockbuster
Indian pharma's search for new chemical entities.

Ranbaxy's R. Barbhaiya: Talent + Experience = Success

It has been 17 months since Rashmi Barbhaiya, a 50-year-old non-resident American, took up Ranbaxy's offer to head research and development at the company. Since then, the Bristol-Myers Squibb vet has seen Ranbaxy's research facility in Gurgaon-its strength now stands at 906- grow some 40 per cent in size. And Barbhaiya has pulled off an alliance with Europe's largest drug maker GlaxoSmithKline for the joint development of new drugs with shared rights in marketing. More alliances, and some new chemical entities, or new drugs in layspeak, are in the offing says the researcher.

From high throughput screening (testing multiple new drug molecules at one go) to research on novel drug delivery systems to clinical studies, there's nothing multinational pharmaceutical companies can do that Indian ones cannot. "There is incredible talent here. Blend it with experience and you have a winning proposition," says Barbhaiya. Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy's are Indian pharma's research hothouses, but others like Nicholas Piramal and Wockhardt aren't far behind. And Indian Pharma is yet to leverage the natural advantages India possesses in in-silico (software-based) drug research.

IMMUNOLOGY
A Cocktail Of Vaccines, Anyone?
India is up to speed on edible, recombinant, or DNA vaccines.

A typical baby gets a few tens of shots in the first 18 months of its life. Wouldn't it be nice if all these could be combined into one safe, side-effect free cocktail? Delhi-based Panacea Biotec is working on it. Wouldn't it be even better if your food could be naturally laced with vaccines without any change in taste? Well, Indian researchers are working on cultivating tomatoes and muskmelons with in-built cholera and rabies vaccines. What about a magic vaccine for Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)? Well India could be the first country in the world to come out with one; Indian Council of Medical Research, National aids Control Organisation, and US-based Internal AIDS Vaccine Initiative are testing one. Can India be vaccine-producer to the world, an honour that comes with a $8 billion bounty? Maybe; it's definitely not a long shot.

PGI Professor S.K. Jindal: Tapping the network

TELEMEDICINE
Reaching Out And Beyond
Think tele-everything; it's happening here.

Remote robotic surgery may still be the stuff of which science fiction is made. And standards for storing and transmitting patient-data in digital form may still be evolving. However Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Chandigarh-based Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI), and Lucknow-based Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute have created a network that will enable doctors at the three to share information and expertise on radiology, cardiology, and pathology. Soon, the three pioneers hope to extend it to other institutes with time. Telemedicine is software intensive, but that is more an opportunity than a problem in coder-rich India. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, which has written the software for the telemedicine project, is now eyeing overseas markets. Bravo!

FUEL CELLS
Forget E, H Is For Energy
Pune's NCL may soon have an alternative to fossil fuels.

No one in India is developing an environment-friendly car like the Toyota Prius, but Pune-based National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) is working on something based on the same principle, fuel cells. The principle is quite easy to understand: Electrolysis is the process by which water is broken into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, using an electric charge; the use of hydrogen as a fuel is based on the premise that when it and oxygen combine to create water, they produce electricity. NCL began its research into fuel cells three years ago. Right now, it is addressing the crucial issue of feedstock: Will the hydrogen be produced at one location and piped (an expensive proposition), or will it be created on-site (a much more viable option)? P.S.: The water produced in this process is pure enough to drink. Surely, that should be a major plus in a pure-water-starved country like India?

-Priya Srinivasan

Himalaya's R. Prasad: Taking Ayurveda global

NATUROPATHY
The Natural Road To Wellness
Ayurveda makes a resounding comeback.

One of India's traditional systems of medicine, Ayurveda, goes back a few thousand years. If it is making a comeback, attribute it to the emergence of naturopathy on the therapeutic mainstream. And as researchers grapple with the challenges involved in creating herbal formulations, marrying Ayurveda with modern science to offer herbs-in-a-capsule is catching on in India. Ravi Prasad, the Chief Executive Officer of Himalaya Drug Company, calls this process "active Ayurveda" and believes this could be India's ticket to the big time. Ranbaxy Laboratories and Panacea Biotec are converging on the opportunity too. The latter has even filed patents for a herbal diabetes drug. The estimated opportunity: $5 trillion (Rs 23,000,000 crore) by 2050.

CSIO's L.M. Bharadwaj: Small is beautiful

NANOTECH
Rebuilding The World: Atom By Atom
Smallest is beautiful in India's research labs.

And to think that the biomolecular Electronics and Nanotechnology division of the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation that Dr. Lalit M. Bharadwaj heads was founded just over a year ago. Today, financial institutions, companies, Ph.D students, and MNCs are falling over themselves to buy into his vision. "My Ph.D students receive offers of scholarship from Berkeley (the University of California)," gloats Bharadwaj. Ones they refuse, naturally, for the division is one of the very few in the world working on DNA-processors and storage devices. "A single gram of DNA can store more information than a trillion CDs," says Bharadwaj whose team has filed a patent for a software that can convert any text or image into a DNA sequence.

CSIO's R.P. Bajpai: Architecting a micro-diagnostics first

MICRO ELECTRO MECHANICAL SYSTEMS
Waiter, There's A MEMS In My Soup...
... and it probably has a higher IQ than you, sir.

In the beginning was the mainframe and the mainframe was with God and the mainframe was God. Then came, in quick succession, the desktop, the laptop, the palmtop, and the personal digital assistant. Today's researchers are working at the level of a micron (one-millionth of a metre) to create micro electro mechanical systems (or MEMS). Think of these as fully-functional robots on a microchip with all the capabilities of sensors, actuators, and processors and which will, in all likelihood, be at the core of tomorrow's communication, entertainment, computing, even medical devices. For instance, an MEMS-on-a-pill could collect data, visual and pathological, as it passes through a patient's intestine. Within the next year, the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) will boast a prototype of an MEMS-based tuberculosis diagnostic kit that will reduce the time taken to diagnose the disease from a few weeks to a few hours. Next step: diagnostic kits for malaria, hepatitis, and aids. "We are racing the world to manage a first," says R.P. Bajpai, Director, CSIO. And India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Department of Science and Technology, Indian Space Research Organisation, and Department of Information Technology have put up Rs 75 crore to fund a National Programme on Smart Materials under which a clutch of institutions is working on MEMS applications. The size of the global MEMS market is estimated to touch $10 billion (Rs 46,000 crore) by 2006.

REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
To Make In One's Own Likeness
Stem-cell based therapy is actually happening in India.

Prasad's D. Balasubramanian: Stem cell pioneer

Stem cells, especially those derived from embryos have the ability to evolve into any kind of cell, a skin cell, a heart cell or a kidney cell. Research into stem cells could hold the key to regenerative medicine. Of the 10 organisations recognised as a source of stem cells by the US' National Institute of Health, two, Reliance Life Sciences (Mumbai), and National Centre for Biological Sciences (Bangalore) are in India. Even more significantly, India is among the pioneers in stem cell-based therapy. The Hyderabad-based L.V. Prasad Eye Institute uses stem cell technology to reconstruct corneas. "We have the first large scale successful trial of adult stem cell technology on humans," says Dr. D. Balasubramanian, the director of research at the hospital. There's more: at Delhi's Maulana Azad Medical College, Dr. B.G. Matapurkar has worked out a technique of regenerating organs and tissues from stem cells. And Mumbai's Asian Heart Institute and research Centre is developing therapies using stem cells. Sensing the opportunity that the emerging area presents for the country, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has favoured the launch of a national stem cell research programme even as the rest of the world debates the ethics of using embryonic stem cells. We were among the first to get into the game. We could finish first in the race.