Intercollegiate quiz competition - March 2013
The Intercollegiate quiz competition was held on the 2^nd March by the RSC Deccan Section, in association with the School of Pharmacy. The competition was well received and over 30 teams participated in a screening test, from which 6 teams were selected to go into the final rounds. The quiz competition had questions for the audience as well as 4 different rounds for the contestants: direct question, hit the target, rapid fire and buzzer.

The RSC’s West India Local Section held their first student chemistry outreach event on the 20^th October 2012 at KTHM College Nashik, entitled: ‘Opportunities and Advances in Chemical Sciences’. Nearly 200 post-graduate students and teachers, from Nashik and nearby PG Science Colleges, participated in the event – a clear success! 

Mrs Nirmala Pawar and Dr. Vidya Avasare introduced the audience to the Vision and Mission of RSC, which was followed by a key note address by Professor Goutam Lahiri, IITB, on ‘Opportunities and Advances in Chemical Sciences’.
 
The scientific sessions were contributed to by eminent professors and scientists from the diverse fields of organic, inorganic, physical and materials chemistry. Some inspiring talks were delivered:

• “Redox Non-Innocent Assembly: Leading to Alternate Electronic Structures”. Professor Goutam Lahiri,  IIT Bombay
• “Conducting Plastics: Fundamental and Applications”. Dr. M. Jayakannan, IISER-Pune
• “Organic Synthesis: Myths and Facts”. Dr. Rodney Fernandes, IIT Bombay
• “Tiny Twinkling Specks of Sand”.  Professor Anindya Datta, IIT Bombay
• “Stereoselective Synthesis and Applications of Donor Acceptor Cyclopropanes (DACs)”.  Dr. Santosh Gharpure, IIT Bombay
• “Implications of Macromers in Biology”. Dr. Jayant Khandare, Piramal Health Sciences Pvt. Ltd. Goregaon, Mumbai  

                   

Professor Vidya Avasare MRSC planned and coordinated the event diligently, taking the chemistry outreach of the RSC’s West India Local Section beyond major cities. Dr. Raghunath Toche, convener of the conference from KTHM College, Nashik, expressed gratitude towards the RSC’S West India Local Section for organising the event.
 
You can find out more about the West India Local Section here.
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The Royal Society of Chemistry Thames Valley section and the Society of Biology Thames Valley branch organised a joint event at Reading University on 31 October 2012.

“Blood Sugar Sensors Monitoring Diabetes: Electrochemistry and Enzymes Put to a Useful Purpose” was the story of how the glucose sensor was invented. As the instrument that gives diabetics control over their sugar levels and allows them to be in charge, its invention is one of the greatest stories in modern chemistry.

Speaker Allen Hill, Emeritus Professor of Bioinorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford and Honorary Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford, and Tony Cass, Professor of Chemical Biology in the Dept. of Chemistry and Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry told this very personal story.

Professor Hill developed the subject of Bioelectrochemistry in the 1970s and was concerned with the development of biosensors, particularly the glucose sensor for convenient use by diabetics, in the 1980s.


Professor Cass pioneered the use of synthetic electron transfer mediators for enzyme biosensors and his work in this area led to the development of the first electronic blood glucose measuring system. Currently he is working on minimally invasive devices for continuous glucose sensing.


“Following the RSC Landmark Award awarded earlier this year for the research into the Blood Sugar Sensor; Prof. Allen Hill and Prof. Tony Cass both provided excellent talks on the research, development and future of these sensors, which are now used by millions of diabetics every year. The lectures were preceded by a free buffet dinner and drinks, which provided members of both the SoB and RSC an opportunity to socialise together. Over 30 members attended this event.”

To find out more about the Thames Valley Section’s past and forthcoming events, including Top of the Bench, family lecture “As if by magic” and Functional foods: good science or marketing hype?, visit their webpage.  

"RSC Belgium took part in the third Greenlight for Girls day in Brussels on Saturday October 13. The venue was the International School of Brussels (ISB) in Watermael-Boitsfort. The RSC team had a great time running three workshops on the theme of culinary chemistry to groups of enthusiastic young scientists.


The RSC Belgium team for the day consisted of (from left to right) Amourie Prentice, Carolyn Ribes, Becki Scott, Albert Einstein and Rita Woodward with Tim Reynolds behind the camera. Our old friend Peter Casey of Blindseer Productions provided Einstein and the girls had great fun interacting with Albert throughout the day!

Each of the workshops brought together around a dozen young women aged 11 to 15. Most participants were Anglophone but the RSC Belgium team was ready and able to work with the girls in French and Dutch too. Each of the students got to do a range of experiments during the 45 minute sessions including some cheese-making.

Other chemical based workshops offered during the day included sessions on cosmetics and fragrances, plastics, and experiments from the hit TV series the ‘Big Bang Theory’. Other workshops focused on IT, physics, engineering and biotechnology.

All the 250 - 300 young ladies who attended the day had a great time and took back some fantastic memories, a goody bag and their own personalised lab coat, provided this year by IT giant Google.


About G4G
The Greenlight for Girls organisation is a Brussels-based, international non-profit organization that works to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to girls of all ages and backgrounds. The main aim is to stimulate greater participation of girls, young women and career-age women in STEM-related studies and careers. To achieve this mission, G4G carry out a range of activities around the world, with a special focus on reaching less-advantaged communities."

March – Invited lecture “Lipids as Potential Anti-Cancer Drugs”

Professor U.N. Das MD FAMS, Editor in chief of “Lipids in Health & Disease”, gave a lecture at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad on March 19 2012, under RSC-DS.
 
“Dr Das spoke about their research studies: he mentioned that incubation of cells with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) induced apoptosis of tumour cells, and augmented free radical generation and formation of lipid peroxidation products selectively in tumour cells compared to normal cells. This increase in free radical generation and lipid peroxidation occurred despite the fact that the uptake of PUFAs was at least 2 to 3 times higher in the normal cells, compared to tumour cells.  GLA induced apoptosis of tumour cells, caused DNA strand breaks, decreased the anti-oxidant content of tumour cells, and suppressed the expression of oncogenes ras and Bcl-2, whilst enhancing that of p53.
 
In a preliminary open label clinical study, it was noted that anti-tumour injections of GLA regressed glioma tumours and enhanced the survival of these patients for more than 2 years, which was considered significant without any significant side effects.
 
Around 150 delegates including NIPER students and staff, and those from other universities and nearby industry R&D scientists attended the lecture, which concluded with a question and answer session at the end of the lecture. 
 
March – Guest Lecture “Is Type II Diabetes Mellitus a Brain Dis-order”

Professor U.N. Das spoke at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Anurag Group of Institutions, Hyderabad, on the 22^nd March 2012 on the subject: “Is Type II Diabetes Mellitus a Brain Dis-order”.
 
“Dr Das Spoke about type II diabetes mellitus (DM): it is characterized by an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines, a decrease in the concentrations of endothelial nitric oxide (eNO) and adiponectin, and an alteration in hypothalamic peptides that control satiety and hunger regulated insulin secretion.  Polyunsaturated fatty acids, (PUFAs) that decrease HMG-CoA reductase and ACE, augment eNO synthesis, modulate vascular tone, and potentiate insulin action both in the peripheral tissues and brain, are known to be decreased in maternal and foetal plasma and tissues. PUFAs are also known to modulate the actions of hypothalamic peptides, leptin, and adiponectin and suppress pro-inflammatory cytokines.  
 
Thus, sub-optimal maternal and foetal plasma and tissue concentrations of PUFAs lead to low-grade systemic inflammation, seen in type II DM, which may be aggravated by consumption of a high energy diet, saturated and trans-fats.
 
Finally he says that type 2 DM is due to an imbalance among hypothalamic peptides, the gastrointestinal tract, cytokines, nutrition, and life style factors, and has its origins in the brain and so is a disorder of the brain.  
 
This lecture was well attended by around 200 attendees, mainly students and staff of Pharma colleges in and around Hyderabad, and was well received by students who expressed their thanks to RSC-DS.”
 
June – Pharma Talent Quiz

The Royal Society of Chemistry – Deccan Section ran a Pharmacy quiz competition for M.S (Pharm) students in association with the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad at NIPER-Hyderabad on the 18^th June 2012.



140 M.S (Pharm) students participated in the Pharma talent quiz, divided into four teams:
Team A - Pharmacology & Toxicology
Team B - Medicinal Chemistry
Team C - Pharmaceutics
Team D - Pharmaceutical Analysis

The aim of this program, organised by Prof. V. Peesapati and Dr. V. Jayathirtha Rao of the RSC-DS, was to give the students an opportunity to prepare for job interviews for their future career, so that they can face interviews with confidence.
 
After three rounds of questions on Pharma and Medicinal Chemistry related topics, 16 Students were selected for the final quiz on the basis of initial screening (Slip test).
Team B were declared the Winners with the highest overall score and Team D were the runners up. The winners and runners up received prizes and certificates were given to all participants. 
 
RSC–DS and the NIPER teaching staff commented on the team’s sporting spirit and good use of knowledge and logical deduction to work out their answers to quiz questions.
 

The events all concluded with tea and biscuits, and the RSC-DS honoured the guests.
 

January – Interactive chemistry lectures and chemistry demonstration

On January 21 2012, the RSC Deccan Section ran a collaborative event with St. Mary’s College, Hyderabad. Two popular lectures, given by Prof. V. Lakshmi Pathi and Prof. Ch. Krishna Kumar, were followed by a Chemistry demonstration given by Prof. V. Peesapati and Prof. V. Jayathirtha Rao.

Professor Lakshmi Pathi spoke about the transformation of cell to life and Professor Krishna Kumar spoke about the periodic table, involving A–Level students. The interactive demonstration was on natural products and their relevance in daily life, and students conducted some of the chemistry tests. Over 200 science students and staff from St Mary’s College attended the event and students had the opportunity to have their queries, questions and doubts answered and clarified by the speakers.
 
February - Professor T R Seshadri FRS Memorial Lecture

Dr. Ch. Mohan Rao, Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad, delivered the Professor T R Seshadri FRS Memorial Lecture on February 3 2012. The lecture on ‘Chemistry, Biology and Medicine’ covered Proteomics and Nucleomics, highlighting their relevance to medicine.
 
Over 250 delegates, comprising staff and students of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER), the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), CCMB, Academic Institutions, and Local R&Ds in Hyderabad, attended the lecture and took part in interactive discussions with the speaker.
 
February - Chemistry Competition: Essay Writing, Elocution and Quiz

RSC-DS ran a one day programme, “Chemistry Competition: Essay Writing, Elocution and Quiz”, on February 25, 2012. The event was put together by RSC-DS members Prof. V. Peesapati, Prof. Dr. V. Jayathirtha Rao and Dr YVD Nageswar in association with Chaitanya PG College, (Autonomous) Warangal, AP, India.
 
“The overall aim of this programme is to provide cutting edge scientific talks, debates, quizzes etc. across broad topic areas. The RSC will work in partnership with Universities, Colleges and Higher Education providers in these regions to promote RSC Educational activities and to develop
valuable contacts to build educational networks. In this direction RSC-DS is happy to associate with Chaitanya PG College, one of the leading colleges in Warangal City (AP).”
 
The morning session, Essay writing and Elocution, saw 15 PG students of Chemistry from several colleges in different Andhra Pradesh districts compete on the subject of “Industrial Catalysis”. Three students were chosen for prizes based on the overall performance. For the evening session, the Quiz Programme, 39 Students belonging to 13 different PG Colleges participated in the Chemistry Quiz Competition, culminating with a prize giving. All the participants got RSC-DS participation certificates.
 
The event generated extremely positive feedback from the students who thought it was an excellent programme, very useful, and giving confidence to students. They requested that RSC-DS run more of this type of event in order to help them achieve their academic goals.