Bad Bugs for the Big Screen - Science Fiction and Fact in Hollywood

Speaker: Professor Ian Lipkin, Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and Director, Center for Infection and Immunity, Columbia University, New York, USA.
 
Chair: Prof. G.P. Talwar, former Director National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi
In 1944, Oswald Avery together with Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty made the landmark discovery that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and not proteins carry genetic information and are therefore the basis of inheritance.  In the 70 years since Avery’s discovery, DNA has come a long way. Besides being the basis for major discoveries in biomedicine, the genomes of humans and many other species have been fully sequenced providing many fascinating insights into evolution and behavior. DNA is now being developed as a medium for computing, nanorobotics and nanoelectronics. The technologies developed to sequence DNA have also provided a powerful platform to discover new life forms, especially new pathogens that mysteriously cause disease in human and other species
(Collaboration: The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance)