ITANAGAR, Apr 8: Arunachalee student Nima D Namsa, who has earned a PhD in molecular virology from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, has been awarded a biotechnology overseas associateship by the union science & technology ministry’s biotechnology department for a period of one year.
Namsa has joined the team of Dr Harry B Greenberg in the medicine department of Stanford University (SU) in California, USA.
A native of Boha village in West Kameng district, Namsa did his BSc in botany from JN College, Pasighat. After qualifying the biotechnology admission test conducted by JNU, New Delhi, in 2004, he got admission in the Tezpur Central University, Assam, for pursuing MSc in biotechnology.
Later, Namsa did his PhD training under the mentorship of Prof Durga Rao at the IISc, Bangalore, which motivated him to continue his research on the study of rotavirus, a medically important viral pathogen.
Thereafter, he served as an assistant professor of biotechnology at Tezpur University (TU), where he established a virology laboratory and “initiated molecular epidemiology of rotavirus infections in children,” in collaboration with the RIMS, Imphal.
Speaking of his current responsibility, Namsa said: “My research contributions as overseas associate in Dr Greenberg’s laboratory aims at understanding the mechanistic role of innate and acquired immune systems in regulating host-range restriction using rotavirus model system.”
He also said that Arunachal Pradesh, with around 82 percent forest cover, could become a hub for aromatic and medicinal plants “with strategic scientific interventions of the CSIR laboratories and TU under the mission mode project of the central and state governments.”
Namsa said his long-term goal is to turn fertile barren lands in the state into employment and economy generators through cultivation, processing, and marketing of aromatic essential oils with the support of CSIR laboratories and TU.
