MAITREYI COLLEGE

UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

ASSIGNMENT
TITLE OF THE PAPER: PRINCIPLES OF
GENETICS

UPC: 32231502

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2023-24

SUBMITTED BY: SONIYA

COLLEGE ROLL NO. 0007

COURSE: B.Sc. HONORS ZOOLOGY

3RD YEAR

SUBMITTED TO: Dr. BROTOTI ROY AND Dr.

MEENA YADAV
 EQUINOX 2023
Organized by centre For Research

Maitreyi College

University of Delhi

Under the aegis of Vantage: journal of

Thematic analysis

Report
Speaker and affiliation: Dr. Subeer S.
Majumdar; DG, Gujarat Biotechnology
University

Title of the Talk: Innovative Biotechnology

in Pursuit of Mass Affordability
 About the Speaker

Dr. Subeeer S. Majumdar has done his post graduation from Nagpur
University and PhD. Work at National Institute of Health and family
welfare, New Delhi. He did his postdoctoral research at school of
medicine, Southern Illinois University, USA. He also worked at National
Institute of Immunology, New Delhi.

His contributions in the field of research:

1. Production of therapeutic proteins for animal and human in milk of

farmed animals
2. Attempts to generate bulls with X chromosome bearing sperm only
to increase production of female offspring (cow)
3. New method of transgenesis for biomedical research and to
increase production of transgenic cattle, goat and buffalo. To
increase quality of herd: disease resistance and more milk yielding
animals etc.
 ABSTRACT

Biotechnology holds important place in scientific innovation with its

potential to revolutionize various sectors. Biotechnology has touched
our lives in all aspects, such as, food, health, and animal life. We have
also noticed the importance and potential of biotechnology for the
improvement of our environment and for better living.

This report tells about the innovative biotechnology in achieving mass

affordability across different sectors which is discussed by Dr.
Majumdar. It highlights key advancement, their impact on accessibility
and potential future developments.

INTRODUCTION

Dr. Majumdar in valedictory session of Equinox talked about the

Generating Human Therapeutics in Mice to Reduce Cost and Increase
Affordability by Masses.

The term therapeutics protein was first used to describe medicines that
are genetically engineered versions of naturally occurring human
proteins. Different proteins are required to be supplemented as
therapeutics in certain patients who are unable to produce them
naturally or when excess is needed for treatment. Such proteins are
produced exclusively in bacterial or mammalian expression systems, In
vitro.

To tackle high production costs, various attempts have made to create

transgenic animal bioreactors for expressing various therapeutic
proteins in the milk.

Developing new therapeutics, particularly biopharmaceu-ticals is an

expensive and time consuming process. Reducing these costs and
increasing affordability are crucial goals in the healthcare industry.
Generating human therapeutics in mice is a novel approach that offers
promise in achieving these objectives.

NEED OF THERAPEUTIC PROTEINS

Therapeutic proteins play crucial role in modern medicine due to their

ability to treat a wide range of diseases and medical conditions.

 Need for treating Chronic Disease like diabetes, multiple sclerosis

and rheumatoid arthritis etc.
 Replacement Therapies
 Treatment of immune disorders
 For generating vaccines etc.

COST OF AVAILABLE BIOTHERAPEUTICS

Development of biotherapeutics is very costly and time consuming

that’s why their market value is also very high and not everyone can
afford it.
 ALTERNATIVE METHOD TO PRODUCE
BIOTHERAPEUTIC

 Production of biotherapeutics in Bioreactor

 it is cost effective method and require very less infrastructure
 while in conventional method huge culture medium, bacteria,
yeast, and cell fermenters are required
 in conventional method large infrastructure, requirement of
electricity, land, labour shifts, license, GMP facility etc.
 That’s why bioreactors is a better method

TRANSGENESIS
Transgenesis is the process of introducing a gene (referred to as a
transgene) from one organism into the genome of another organism. The
aim is that the resulting transgenic organism will express the gene and
exhibit some new property or characteristic.

 Eg. Humanized mouse model, Bt Cotton, Dolly( first transgenic

animal) etc.
 Transgenesis has revolutionized biological research and has
practical applications in creating genetically modified crops,
 studying gene function, and developing therapeutic treatments in
medicine.
 Genetically modified animal used as the model for humanized
diseases. Like buffalo, mice, goat, sheep etc.

STEPS OF TRANSGENSIS

 Select the gene of interest called transgene which is

associated with human disease or mutation.
 Choose a Host Organism : here he taken the mice and buffalo
 Inject the Transgene: Introduce the transgene into the host
organism’s genome. This can be done through various
techniques, such as microinjection of the DNA construct into
fertilized eggs or embryonic stem cells.
 • It can be done by injecting the gene of interest in the nucleus
of fertilized egg from a small glass tube (4 or 5 genetic
integrations occur out of 100).
 Breeding and Line Establishment: Breeding the transgenic
animals to establish a stable line of animals that carry the
transgene. This ensures that the transgene can be passed on to
subsequent generations.

Humanized (disease) mice model

In this screenshot he showing the cultured & transfected In this screenshot he is showing the gene of interest injecting in
electroporated buffalo oviductal Epithelial cells. the nucleus of fertilized egg from a small glass tube

 Insertion of gene of interest through micro pipetting during

embryogenesis is not a cumbersome process, it need costly equipments
and many female mice are required to be super ovulated to process 2-3
transgenic mice. In this process many mice have to kill and time
consuming.
 In males it can be successful because millions of sperm have been
produced at the time of spermatogenesis and it need single male and no
need to kill them.

For this they did Electroporation on the testis, to ensure that there is no
leakage. And gave electric current along with the DNA inserted. By current,
the stem cells will take up the solution having DNA.
Alternative ways:

 During the crossing over of the chromosome, the gene can be

inserted exogenously and it may be incorporated in the genome.

LARGE TRANSGENIC ANIMAL BIOREACTORS

(Cows and buffaloes)

We need a promoter of mammary gland origin. If a human gene is tagged
behind the promoter, the gland will drive that gene and make human
Therapeutic protein in the milk.

Steps

 First isolate the Buffalo β-Casein Promoter.

 Took the isolated Buffalo β-Casein Promoter tagged to EGFP and
cultured mammary epithelial cells and HEK (kidney) cells. Only
mammary epithelial cells will express EGFP (because the
promoter is mammary Gland specific).
GMO is hazardous to animals and can’t be used due to ethics and
environment. so another way of doing it to directly inject breast gland
with something to transfect the gene (which can’t be stealed). The
germline will not be affected.
 My views and conclusion on this talk

The cost of therapeutic proteins can be widely depending on the

specific proteins production method, and market factors. Generally ,
therapeutic proteins are expensive to develop and manufacture due to
the complexity of their production and regulatory requirements.

De. Majumdar and his team have worked on it to make it not only cost
efficient but also easy to produce. The methods and techniques like
transgensis of buffalo milk and humanized mice model will help to make
it cost efficient and easy to process such therapeutic proteins for
human need. This method will provide this proteins and drugs or
medicine to poor people at low cost. It helps to diagnose many diseases
at the time right time and therapy of diseases like Asthma,
Cardiovascular diseases, AIDS, Diabetes, Cancer, etc.
Screenshot taken during the live session