EMBO Lifesciences Mobility Portal

The European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) is a prominent body involved in molecular biology research. It funds research in molecular biology that involves chemistry, physics, bioinformatics that support molecular biology. One of the initiatives of EMBO is the "EMBO Lifesciences Mobility Portal". It can be accessed here
http://mobility.embo.org/

PhD fellowships from Wellcome trust

Visit the following website for the PhD student fellowships from Wellcome trust.
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Biomedical-science/Grants/PhD-programmes-and-studentships/WTD004384.htm

Support is provided for four years and includes:

• a stipend
• PhD registration fees at UK/EU student rate
• contribution towards laboratory rotation expenses in the first year
• research expenses for years two to four
• contribution towards travel
• contribution towards transferable-skills training.

Students are recruited annually by the individual Programmes for uptake in October each year. Recruitment begins in the preceding December. If you are interested in applying you should contact the relevant Programme. Currently 27 Programmes based in centres of excellence throughout the UK with specialised training provided in a range of important biomedical research areas are supported:

• developmental biology and cell biology
• genetics, statistics and epidemiology
• immunology and infectious disease
• molecular and cellular biology
• neuroscience
• physiological sciences
• structural biology and bioinformatics.

Call for PhD students in University of Groningen, Netherlands

The University of Groningen, Netherlands is inviting applications for PhD students in the following fields

• Biological Science
• Chemistry, Biochemistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Materials Science
• Physics & Astronomy
• Mathematics, Informatics & AI
• Education, Technology & Management

The applications can choose from the list of projects offered in their website http://www.rug.nl/gradschoolscience/scholarships/phdscholarships/ue2009/index

The applicants have to pass two rounds of selection procedure.In the first round, they must submit an application package detailing their academic background and prior achievements. In the second round, a selected group of the best students will be invited to submit a short project proposal (on an application form provided by the graduate school) and give an interview presentation.

The criteria for acceptance include:

• an internationally-recognised Master’s degree in the relevant scientific field
• marks that clearly identify the candidate as belonging to the top 10-15% of her/his cohort
• demonstrated oral and written communication skills
• good command of the English language
• outspoken motivation to pursue a scientific career
• excellent letters of recommendation

All students admitted to the Ubbo Emmius Programme are guaranteed a scholarship of approximately € 20,000 per year. This financial support, which is detailed below, provides a monthly income more than sufficient to cover housing and living expenses in Groningen .As of 2009, the support consists maximally of:

• a net income of ca. € 1,600 a month
• visa costs and related costs for obtaining the visa (e.g., translating documents)
• incoming flight to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
• costs of train trip from Schiphol to Groningen
• costs of residence permit

It should be noted that the Dutch authorities require non-EU students to have an income of at least € 800 a month at their disposal in order to qualify for a residence permit.

The following are the deadlines:

1 May 2009: Deadline for First round of Applications

Visit the website for more details

Interactive PLoS website for scientific community

I just came across PLoS (Public Library of Science) website http://www.plos.org/index.php
It's an amazing site whose objective is to make the scientific literature available for free to the scientific community. Of course, you will have to pay if your article is accepted in their journals. The following are the core principles of PLoS: (Modified from their website)

1. Open access.
2. Excellence.
   
3. Scientific integrity.
4. Breadth.
5. Cooperation.
   
6. Financial fairness.
7. Community engagement.
8. Internationalism.
   
9. Science as a public resource.
   

They have seven journals that have good citation index. They are
1. PLoS One
2. PLoS Biology
3. PLoS Medicine
4. PLoS Computational Biology
5. PLoS Genetics
6. PLoS Pathogens
7. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Their web site is user friendly and have various features such as news, journal information etc. Visit the website and browse through the different subject areas. The users can go to this webpage for more friendly version http://www.plosone.org/static/users.action
If you need more help in using the site follow this link
http://www.plosone.org/static/help.action

HI Everyone : Please introduce yourself

It's very nice to be participating on such a wonderful platform.I thought I should first introduce about my whereabouts.I will keep you posted very shortly about things we are collectively planning.Right now,I am at NCBS(May 2007-present)(National Centre for Biological Sciences) working in Dr.V.Sriram's Lab involved in Mitochondrial Remodelling.We also have Raghu(2006-2008,M.Sc batch) here.

Procurement of study material

As suggested by Pradeep, there is a need to give the outgoing students access to study material. I remember, that when we were passing out, there was Brilliant tutorials material in the department. It may be too outdated today. Regarding the previous year question papers, it is more convenient for our alumni who are studying in these institutions. I request Premananda and Arun to procure the previous year question papers of IISc, JNCASR and NCBS. Based on this, I have following proposals:
1. Procurement of GATE, CSIR material from Brilliant tutorials.
2. Procurement of GRE/ subject GRE material.
3. Procurement of previous year question papers of IISc, NCBS and JNCASR.
4. If possible compilation of questions from GATE and CSIR by the current students after writing the exams ( from their memory)
5. A data base of excellent review papers from top journals for the benefit of the members.

I shall discuss with the alumni in Europe (Kanth, Saiki, Bharath, Shibu, Bala Sai, Pradeep, Tarini, let me know if I have missed anyone) about the option of buying the GRE, CSIR and GATE material.

I request Malli, Sujith, Vennel Raj or Candy to inform us about the costs of the Brilliant tutorials and their procurement.

Objectives of the Team to help the department

As proposed by Saiki, we need to form a team of alumni that can co-ordinate the activities to help our alma mater. I reproduced the contents of the mail sent by Saiki about the objectives of the team.

1. Interested alumni will form a group (as everyone might not be interested, due to their work load or whatever might be the reason).I say so because this effort should not be a forceful one.

2. IT IS OK IF SOME ALUMNI ARE NOT A PART OF THIS. IT IS TOTALLY BY ONE'S OWN CHOICE.

3. During our PhD/Post-doc period there is always stress. But sometimes it is a lot. So when one or two of us are in that phase, where we cannot think of anything else, then there should be others who will be able to contribute.

4. So when one or two of us are busy, the whole effort goes on. That is the idea.

However, we need some more development on this concept.
1. Think of a name for our group or the team.
2. Need to make a proper aims and objectives or goals of the group.
3. Need to involve the alumni and present students on a large scale. (Like Sai students group)
4. Need for Division of Labour of our tasks.
5. Need to give a chance for other intrested alumni and students who want to contribute to this forum.

I shall start working on the aims and objectives of the forum. I would be more happy if others also start thinking about it. We should be as critical as possible of others comments so that we get good output.

Blog authors to take care of "OUR" blog

I have changed the settings of this blog. Previously, it can be modified only by me. I have included the names of Malli, Bharath, Kanth, Saiki and Pradeep. I need the gmail ids of Premananda, Kamesh, Candy, Vennel Raj too. These blog authors can post the entries.

The others can comment for specific topics. Some one should take the initiative to keep the blog active with posts that can be informative to our target audience: students , alumni and teachers of Department of Bioscience.

The topics can be diverse. It can be some advice to others regarding various topics, some intresting facts in science (you can post on immunology, microbiology, molecular biology etc), career advice and latest news. The blog authors can divide themselves to post on specific topics.

I am happy to see Bharath's comment to my post. This post is the result of his comments. Please register yourself as a "follower" so that you are updated with this blog regularly.

Nice website with useful tips

I came across this website of Alexander Fleming "Biomedical Sciences Research Center". They give useful tips for making an effective presentation, writing an article and preparing a poster.
Visit the site for more information.

http://www.fleming.gr/en/Education/tutorials.html