The Central Drug Research Institute is a multidisciplinary research laboratory in Lucknow, India, employing scientific personnel from various areas of biomedical sciences. Prof. Tapas Kumar Kundu, a molecular biologist, academician and recipient of coveted Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology award, is the incumbent Director of the Central Drug Research Institute.
Several recent advancements have transformed solution NMR spectroscopy into a competitive, elegant, and eminently viable technique for determining the solution structures of membrane proteins at the level of atomic resolution. Once a good level of cell-based or cell-free expression and purification of a suitably sized membrane protein has been achieved, then NMR offers a combination of several versatile strategies, for example, choice of appropriate deuterated or non-deuterated detergents, temperature, and ionic strength; isotope labelling with (2)H, (13)C, (15)N, with or without protonation of Ile (δ1), Leu, and Val methyl protons; combinatorial labelling of specific amino acids; transverse relaxation-optimized NMR spectroscopy-based, Nonuniform sampling-based, and other NMR experiments; measurement of residual dipolar couplings using stretched polyacrylamide gels or DNA nanotubes; and spin-labelling and paramagnetic relaxation enhancements. Strategic combinations of these advancements together with availability of highly sensitive cryogenically cooled probes equipped high-field NMR spectrometers (up to 1 GHz (1)H frequency) have allowed the perseverant investigator to successfully overcome several of the conventional pitfalls associated with the NMR technique and membrane proteins, viz., low sensitivity, poor sample stability, spectral crowding, and a limited number of NOEs and other constraints for structure calculations. This has resulted in an unprecedented growth in the number of successfully determined NMR structures of large and complex membrane proteins, and this technique now holds great promise for the structure determination of an ever larger body of membrane proteins.
We devised a modular approach involving glycosyl thiosulfonate-enabled ortho -C–H thioglycosylation and ipso -functionalization of aryl iodides/aryl boronic acids via palladium/norbornene cooperative catalysis and various terminations.
Indolyl aliphatic N-heterocycles are widely present as key structural units in many natural products and unnatural bioactive molecules. The known synthetic methods for indolyl N-heterocycles rely on metallic reagents/catalysts, hazardous oxidants, and a multistep process, often generating toxic byproducts. Herein, an unprecedented example of a metal- and oxidant-free stereoselective C(sp(3))-H indolation of aliphatic N-heterocycles is reported. The C-H indolation reaction, which relies on a three-component condensation reaction, proceeds under operationally simple conditions and avoids the use of metallic reagents, oxidants, and pre-functionalization/functional group protection steps. The indolation was highly stereoselective, providing a single isomer of the six possible isomeric indolyl N-heterocycles with excellent enantiopurity (>99% ee). Interestingly, synthesized non-canonical tryptophan-proline hybrids constitute a new class of potent antibacterial agents that specifically target Gram-positive bacteria, including multidrug-resistant clinical isolates. These compounds are relatively non-toxic (SI > 20) to normal cells, have a low MIC (2 mu g mL(-1)), and exhibit a very low propensity to induce resistance.
Acute respiratory infections continue to be a major source of sickness and hospitalisation in all age groups, particularly in settings with limited access to molecular diagnostic data. To improve clinical management and public health initiatives, it is crucial to identify circulating respiratory viruses and their co-infection patterns. The State Virology Laboratory, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, India, conducted a short-term molecular study of ARIs from July to October 2025, and the results are reported in this article. A validated multiplex real-time PCR assay was used to examine swab samples from the nasopharynx and/or oropharynx of suspected cases. This assay can identify SARS-CoV-2, human adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza A subtypes, and influenza B. Descriptive analysis was performed on clinical and demographic data, classifying cases as severe ARIs or ILI, and evaluating mono- and mixed-viral detection patterns. Multiple respiratory viruses were detected across all age categories, with influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2 more common in adults and respiratory syncytial virus and adenovirus being the most prevalent, particularly in children. Mixed viral detections were observed across clinical categories and were more frequently recorded among SARI cases. To facilitate prompt clinical and public health interventions, these results highlight the utility of multiplex molecular diagnostics and the need for sustained respiratory virus surveillance.
IntroductionOxidative stress has been found to play a critical role in sperm quality and function. In this study, we asked if oligozoospermic samples with high ROS display a higher degree of methylation alterations in comparison to normozoospermic samples.MethodsWe investigated genome-wide DNA methylation in normozoospermic (presumptive fertile) and oligozoospermic infertile samples with high and low ROS levels. Fifty samples each for oligozoospermia and normozoospermia were analyzed for their ROS levels. Two samples each in the normozoospermic low ROS, normozoospermic high ROS, oligozoospermic low ROS and oligozoospermic high ROS categories were selected for genome-wide DNA methylation profiling.Results and discussionA comparison between oligozoospermic and normozoospermic samples showed a low number of differentially methylated genes (about 100). The normozoospermic high ROS group in comparison to the normozoospermic low ROS group showed a moderate number of differentially methylated genes (538). On the other hand, oligozoospermic high ROS versus oligozoospermic low ROS comparison showed the highest number of genes (1,755) to be differentially methylated, of which a majority displayed hypomethylation. These findings underscore the vulnerability of oligozoospermic sperm to epigenetic disruptions induced by oxidative stress. We conclude that oligozoospermic samples with high ROS carry a high degree of methylation alterations.
