WiB
Women in Biology co-chairs: Aparna Banerjee and Sakshi Singh
Vice President/Adviser: Urmila Kulkarni-Kale
Prologue: Ideated by MohanaLatha Chandrasekharan and Renuka Suravajhala in 2009, the Women in Biology (WiB) is a Journal Club to focus primarily at development of women biologists from developing countries. Since establishment, the forum has made efforts to bring forth the hidden scientific interest in women and bridge the gender gap to innovation though meetings and virtual discussions. Many women scientists from developing countries end their career after they graduate or remain busy during their post marital life. We asked why not women life scientists take up bioinformatics. After all, what all one needs is a computer with good internet and of course, a pinch of smartness. We believe, WiB would provide them a platform for interaction, sharing, learning, growing and evolving. WiB Journal Club (JoC) recognizes women scientists in the areas of Biology especially Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics and provide scientific views and suggestions besides helping them with their projects and problem formulation. To further motivate and inspire its members, WiB have had approached award winning women researchers from developing countries to share their experience and provide valuable suggestions on women entrepreneurship. The OWSD awardees when interacted had appreciated the forum for its good cause. The team currently led by MohanaLatha Chandrasekharan, Reeta Singhania and Renuka Suravajhala constitute ca. 30 women scientists who want to establish themselves using voluntary virtual projects in various aspects of Bioinformatics. WiB is a proud owner of several publications.
- Women biologists in India: challenges, Oct 2013
- Studies on 8-tertbutyl caffeine: an in silico approach to mechanistic studies, May 2013
- Toward understanding the role of p53 in cardiovascular diseases, Feb 2013.
Other upcoming publications include ‘a book chapter on in vitro and in silico studies of xanthine derivatives’ with Springer: Agricultural Bioinformatics 2013, ‘next generation sequencing analysis of lung cancer datasets’ with Indian Journal of Cancer, ‘protein interactors of the cellular tumor antigen p53 with response to ionizing radiation’ with Informe Científico Tecnológico 2012 del IPEN and ‘the making of WiB forum at Bioclues’ with PLOS Computational Biology. The members have posters and presentations at various conferences: a presentation on “Women in Biology Forum, Bioclues” at BIFX’13, May 2013, www.bioinformatics.org, a poster on “Women in Biology: Bridging the Gender Gap to Innovation” at a national level conference at IKP Knowledge Park, Hyderabad, October 2012, a poster on “p53 and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Putative Protein Interaction Analysis” at 10th Latin American Association of Immunology (ALAI 2012), LIMA- PERU, May 29-June 02, 2012, www.inmunoperu2012.org, and a poster presentation on “p53 and the Cardiovascular System” at BIFX’13 virtual conference. Couple of its members also has mentored the Government of India, initiative- biotechnology consortium of India limited trainees from November 2012 to May 2013; many have volunteered to organize and anchor the annual BIRD awards ceremony and actively participated in the essay writing competitions sponsored by Bioclues.