
Considering:
(1a) cancer is incurable at the advanced stages of the disease; (1b) the number of people who suffer from this (cancer) devastating disease is on the rise in India; and (1c) that we do not have a sufficient number of trained cancer biologists in India, it is time we consider starting a Pre-doctoral Cancer Biology program in India.
(2a) metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease etc, are on the rise in India; (2b) cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality not only in India, but also worldwide; and (2c) that physicians seldom find time to do basic research, it is essential to develop a pool of basic scientists with the capability to do research in Molecular Medicine.
(3a) that most of the human beings die because of their inability to regenerate damaged tissues–such as heart (myocardial infarction), brain (neurodegenerative diseases), pancreas (diabetes), liver (cirrhosis) etc–during ageing process; and (3b) understanding the way to regenerate the damaged tissue will not only improve healthy ageing, but also longevity in human beings, it is imperative that we consider starting a Post-graduate program in Stem cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine.
(4a) the enormous complexity of human genome sequence; (4b) that disease is the result of disruption of gene expression pattern; (4c) that simplistic Bio-chemistry, cell biology or Molecular biology techniques will not be sufficient to understand the complex gene networks that take place in human cells, it is imperative that we start training students in Genome Biology, so that they are better capable of discovering new drugs using the enormous amount of Genomic data available.
(5a) that bio-medical training needs to be harnessed with the recent trend in Pharmacological sciences; (5b) that post-graduate students of biological sciences–with the present training– are incapable of being hired in pharma sectors, it is imperative that we produce post-graduate students with necessary training in “Bio-Medical Sciences,” so that they have better employment prospects in pharma companies.
* Unfortunately, there are not any programs of this kind in India. Given this scenario, it is imperative that we start Pre-doctoral M.S programs in (1) Cancer Biology; (2) Molecular Medicine; (3) Stem cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine; (4) Bio-Medical Sciences; and (5) Genome Biology.