Man needs difficulties in life because they are necessary to enjoy his successes.

– Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam

On 19th July, 2020 we the Students of Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School had a wonderful opportunity to interact with eminent Scientist and renowned Biotechnologist of India, Dr.Vasudevan Seshadri.

Our Director, Mr. Vyankatesh Prabhudesai introduced Dr.Vasudevan, as an old friend, having known him for more than 25 years;both being Hostel and wing mates at IITBombay and IISc Bangalore.

Dr. Vasudevan’s academic and professional accomplishments are vast. He did his MSc in Biotechnology from IIT Bombay and PhD in 1998 from IISc Bangalore. He has seven years of Post-Doctoral experience from the University of Montreal, Canada. He has fifteen years of experience as an independent Researcher and has been a guide to ten PhD students for their successful doctoral research.

Dr. Vasudevan has been the recipient of many awards. He was one of the toppers  of CBSE during his time. In 1990 he received the Silver Medal from IIT Bombay for being the topper of his department. In 2013 he was honoured with the DBT Crest award. He has several publications in International Journals. 33 peer reviewed publications with over 2,000 citations.

Presently, Dr. Vasudevan is the Associate Dean and Senior Scientist at the National Centre for Cell Science(NCCS) in Pune. It is an autonomous Institute and the only one of its kind in the Country. Dr.Vasudevan works with a group of 40 Scientists in his Lab and 150-200 PhD Students. His research interests are understanding RNA protein interactions in the context of Diabetes and Malaria. His team is developing a new anti-malarial drug which will be out in the Market very soon.

Currently he is part of the team leading the Covid testing facility at NCCS that are involved in developing and making available Covid19 test kits at an affordable price. Dr. Vasudevan’s team has also been developing testing reagents for Covid -19, hence reducing the cost of testing significantly, thereby allowing more people to be tested. The NCCS research group is also collaborating and partnering with Bharat Biotech for the development of a vaccine for Covid-19.

Dr.Vasudevan shared with us how his fascination for Biotechnology startedas a child. He said he was very curious about how things worked in biological systems and the body response to various infectious diseases.He was interested in knowing how bacterial cells interacted with other different cells. He wanted to knowhow bodycells responded to glucose, a primary nutrient that is required for every cell in the system.

Dr.Vasudevan gave us an excellent insight into the Corona Pandemic. He said the Covid 19 virus, SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the family of coronaviruses. It is a single-stranded RNA Virus that keeps changing its sequence as it replicates. This makes it extremely difficult to develop a viable and successful vaccine against it. Immense research, and many more trials will be required to develop a suitable vaccine. This is unlike the present immunization and administration of other vaccines, like Small Pox, Polio, etc. for which the same vaccine is given year after year. Dr.Vasudevan cited another example of the H1N1 flu pandemic that had plagued the world in 1918 and in 2009.  The vaccine was developed for the different strains of this mutating flu Virus. However, unlike the covid-19, this flu Virus was not as lethal and most of the population was  able to develop immunity against it.

Dr.Vasudevan said, that in recent years Biotechnology has undergone a lot of development. He envisages that in the future, the role of a Physician will be more restricted to only surgical

interventions and in contraindications or in handling emergencies.The current corona crisis has enhanced this change. He said that whenever we visit a Hospital or a Clinic, we often find many patients having multiple infections. These infective patients can be the source of spread of the infections. Dr. Vasudevan feels that within the next five years, online consultations and tele-medicine will come into prominence and physical visits to a Doctor will become limited. Today even new medicinal drugs are being developed by machines by integrating and analysing data.

Dr.Vasudevan applied the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to the medicinal world. He said this principle states that if you change the position of observation, it changes the dynamics. However the new challenge in medicine is to change observations without changing the dimensions. For example; damage to cells and tissues can be avoided by   unnecessary recommendations of repeated X-Rays or MRIs for patients, since the radiation can damage healthy cells and tissues. These procedures should be advised only when it is absolutely necessary to ascertain diagnostic confirmation. Hence new innovations are required to find out what is going on in the body without doing unsafe and harmful radiological imaging.

Dr.Vasudevan said that a standard dosage of one drug or one drug fits all, is not going to work for all people. He said in human microbiology, the type of bacteria and fungi present in our body decides our physiology. A new way to cure diabetes would be to eat certain bacteria, that will change the bacterial ecosystem that resides in the body and may eventually control the diabetes inthat individual. Dr.Vasudevan also gave us an interesting insight of a new filed of research where our moods could be altered by changing the bacteria in our system. He said it would be like eating chocolates and the bacteria would secrete certain metabolites which would stimulate the pleasure centres in our brain.

Our Director, Sir Vyankatesh Prabhudesai asked about the duration of development of the Covid-19 Vaccine. Dr.Vasudevan, replied that the earliest the vaccine could be developed would be by the end of this year, probably by December. He said India is the World’s largest vaccine producer; producing 40% of the world’s vaccines. There may be problems in the pricing of Covid 19 Vaccine, because the Government may take time in negotiations for subsidizing the Vaccine.

VPD Sir, asked which is the more reliable test for diabetes, RBS (Random Blood sugar) or FBS (Fasting Blood Sugar). Dr. Vasudevan, replied that RBS is recommended for those who are already diagnosed with diabetes. For the diagnosis of new diabetic patients, the most reliable test is the glycosylated Hb1AC, which gives the last two to three months glycosylated Haemoglobin levels, that is more accurate.

VPD Sir, asked the question on the flattening of the Covidcurve. Dr.Vasudevan replied the Covid curve will be flattened only if there is an exponential increase incases.

Shravani Waigaonkar , student of Class XII had very interesting questions for Dr. Vasudevan about the Covid 19 virus. She asked if the infection could be transmitted via a blood transfusion ; to which Dr Vasudevan replied by stating that the corona virus was a respiratory virus not known to be transmitted through blood. Her second question was why Chloroquine which is known to suppress the immune system was being used for covidtreatment? Dr. Vasudevan saidthat the Chloroquine drug was mainly used in the treatment of malaria but it was employed in covid treatment as it suppressed autoimmune flare ups and organ damage.

Kunjal Calangutkar, Student of Class XII, asked a career related question as to which is a better mode of study – to do BSc, MSc followed by PhD or an MBBS degree and then proceed with research. Dr.Vasudevan replied, that a Doctor in India, is more dedicated towards treating patients, hence unable to give much time for further research. He also conveyed that there are not many good Biotech Colleges in India.

Our Biology teacher, Ma’am Venetia Fernandes, asked why there is so less scope for Biotechnology in India even though there is so much research being done. Students have to go abroad to enhance their qualifications. Dr.Vasudevan replied that Biotech in terms of research is limited in India and there is no long term investment cycle. Most of the investors are looking for short term investments.  Indian investors will not wait for long periods, such as ten years for the development of a Vaccine. The intellectual property rights in India is not well respected.  For safer preparation of a drug or a Vaccine, it takes about ten years of

research money to be invested. Furthermore there will be 10 to 15 failures prior to every   successful preparation of one Vaccine or drug. All this is not taken into account while pricing the vaccine or drug. He stressed that Patient’ s needs are to be protected as is done in the United States and Europe. It takes long term vision and the Government regulatory framework should be very effective.

The webinar ended with the assurance from our Director of another interaction with Dr. Vasudevan soon.

I am very grateful to VPD Sir, for giving us magnificent opportunities to interact with great personalities from all across India and the World and for arousing our interest in Medicine, Biotechnology, Aeronautics, Aerospace and other technological and scientific research fields.

Thank you Sir.

Written by

Adnan Syed. XIth Regular, MAHSS

and Mrs. Venetia Fernandes, Faculty of Biology