(ABT/DIC/01/2014 (No. AAU/ABT/DIT/Advt. 01/2015/111 Dtd. 19-05-2015)

Walk in interview for the following position will be held on 6th June, 2015 at 10.00AM in the Office Chamber of the undersigned. Candidates may appear for the interview with bio-data, reprints / publication / thesis etc and passport size photographs, original and attested copies of all testimonials etc, which must be presented at the time of interview. The applicants may submit their resume in advance tomkmodi@aau.ac.in.

Research Associate

Ph.D. in Biotechnology/ Bioinformatics. Or

Masters degree in Biotechnology/Bioinformatics with minimum 3(three) years research experience

Desirable : Experience in Bioinformatics as evidenced from published research

Rs 36,000+HRA for the 1st two years and 38,000+HRA for the 3rd year.

Senior Research Fellow

Master Degree in Biotechnology/ Bioinformatics. With 2 (two) years Experience in Bioinformatics as evidenced from Course work/ Diploma/Published research

Rs 28,000+HRA for NET qualified candidate/Professional degree holder

Rs 18,000+HRA for non-NET qualified general degree holder

Junior Research Fellow

Master Degree in Biotechnology/ Bioinformatics/Computer Science/Computer Application

Desirable: Experience in Bioinformatics as evident from Course work/ Diploma/Published research

Rs 25,000+HRA for NET qualified candidate/Professional degree holder

Rs 16,000+HRA for non-NET qualified general degree holder

Note: Term and conditions will be as per the DBT, Govt of India guidelines.

Advertisement: http://14.139.222.145/classified/biotech46.html

Before you go down that path, consider this critical biological question:
Are you sequencing human cells—or bacterial contamination?

The Silent Saboteur: Mycoplasma in Cell Cultures

Mycoplasma contamination remains one of the most widespread and underdiagnosed issues in tissue culture work. Studies suggest that 15–35% of cell lines in use may be contaminated, often without visible signs. Unlike other microbial infections, Mycoplasma does not produce cloudiness, odor, or a change in pH. Many researchers won’t detect it unless they specifically test for it.

The consequences, however, are profound. Mycoplasma can significantly alter:

• Host gene expression patterns

• Cell proliferation rates

• Epigenetic profiles and chromatin accessibility

• Cytokine signaling and immune responses

In short, it can skew your results, compromise your biological conclusions, and invalidate weeks or months of research.

A Simple Diagnostic Step: Map Against Mycoplasma Genomes

If you encounter poor alignment rates to the human genome, consider mapping your reads to a Mycoplasma reference genome—or better yet, use a combined human + Mycoplasma reference. There have been cases where over half of all reads, initially assumed to be from human cells, were in fact bacterial in origin. This check is fast, easy, and could save your project.

How Contamination Happens—and Persists

Mycoplasma is small (0.1–0.3 μm), lacks a cell wall, and can pass through standard filters undetected. Common sources include:

• Contaminated reagents (e.g., FBS)

• Infected cell lines obtained from other labs

• Poor aseptic technique or shared equipment

Once present, it spreads quickly between cultures and can persist for months, silently affecting results.

Why Treatment Is Difficult

While antibiotics such as Plasmocin or BM-Cyclin are sometimes used, they often offer only partial resolution and may themselves alter cell behavior. In many cases, the best course of action is to discard the contaminated culture and start with a fresh, verified stock.

Practical Recommendations for Researchers

• Routinely test for Mycoplasma using PCR, qPCR, or fluorescence-based assays

• Incorporate contamination screens into your sequencing QC pipeline

• Use combined reference genomes when mapping ambiguous reads

• Practice strict aseptic technique and monitor all incoming cell lines

• Don’t ignore unexplained data anomalies—they might point to contamination

Closing Thought: Contamination Is a Biological Variable

It’s easy to view poor mapping as a technical issue, but sometimes the problem lies deeper—in the biology itself. Mycoplasma contamination doesn’t just interfere with sequencing; it interferes with science. As a research community, we must treat contamination not as an afterthought, but as a key variable to control.

So next time your reads won’t align, don’t just tune the aligner. Ask if your cells are telling the truth—or if they're hiding something.

Applications are invited for the post of Senior Research Fellow- SRF (1) and Junior Research Fellow- JRF (1) to be appointed in a SERB-funded major research project entitled “Biochemical and functional properties of Synechocystis Glutathione S-transferase(s)” sanctioned to Dr. Timir Tripathi, Molecular and Structural Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, NEHU, Shillong.

Essential Qualifications: For both positions M.Sc. or equivalent with a good academic record is a prerequisite.

For Project-SRF, experience in bioinformatics/computational biology is required, which should be evident by atleast one good publication.

For JRF position, freshers can also apply.

Stipend: As per SERB norms.

Interested students can email their detailed bio-data including mobile number and recent photograph to msb.biochem@gmail.com, latest by 20.06.15. The hard copy is not required. The date of interview will be informed after primary scrutiny of the applications. No TA/DA will be paid if called for interview. For details of the research work of the PI’s group kindly visit www.ttripathi.webs.com

Advertisement: http://www.nehu.ac.in/Advertisements/BiochemSERB_Advt_020615.pdf

#Find the reverse complement of a DNA string.
#Given: A DNA string Pattern.
#Return: Pattern, the reverse complement of Pattern.

use strict;
use warnings;

my $string="AAAACCCGGT";
my $finalString="";
my %hash = (
    "C" => "G",
    "A" => "T",
    "T" => "A",
    "G" => "C",
);

for (my $aa=0; $aa<=(length($string)-1); $aa++) {
    my $char=substr $string, $aa, 1;
    #print $hash{$char};
    $finalString="$hash{$char}"."$finalString";
}

print $finalString;
print "\n";

Monthly fellowship (in rupee): 5,000/-

Traineeship

First Class M.Sc Bioinformatics/ Biotechnology/ Botany

Studentship: 5,000/-

M.Phil/M.Tech Bioinformatics/ Biotechnology/ any branch of Life Science students for doing their thesis work in the area of Bioinformatics.

Age limit as on 1.1.2015, 28 years. Age relaxation will be provided for SC, ST, OBC candidates as per Govt. norms.

Interested candidates may appear for walk-in-interview on 16th June 2015 at 10.30 am at JNTBGRI, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram. The candidate should report to the Office at Palode before 10.00 am

More at http://www.jntbgri.in/jntbgri/news/File0001.pdf

Sr Research Fellow & Technical Asst Posts: Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR), New Delhi has advertised a notification for the recruitment of Senior Research Fellow & Technical Assistant vacancies for the project titled “Genetic modifications to improve biological nitrogen fixation for augmenting nitrogen needs of cereals” on contractual basis. Eligible candidates may apply in prescribed application format on or before 25-06-2015. Other details like age, educational qualification, selection process, how to apply are given below…

Indian Institute of Maize Research Vacancy Details:
Total No. of Posts: 03
Name of the Posts :
1. Senior Research Fellow: 02 Posts
2. Technical Assistant: 01 Post

Age Limit: Candidates age should be 35 years for Senior Research Fellow, Minimum 21 years and maximum 45 years for Technical Assistant as on the closing date of the application. Age relaxation is 5 years to SC/ST and women candidates and 3 years to OBC candidates as per ICAR rules.

Educational Qualification: Candidates should possess Post graduate degree in Biotechnology/ Molecular Biology/ Bioinformatics/ Plant physiology for Senior Research fellow, Graduate degree in Agriculture/ Biotechnology/ any discipline of life sciences for Technical Assistant with relevant experience.

Selection Process: Candidates will be selected based on their performance in interview.

How to Apply: Eligible candidates can send their application in prescribed format along with bio-data to Dr. Pranjal Yadava, Principal Investigator, ICAR Indian Institute of Maize Research, Pusa Campus, New Delhi-110012 or mail to pranjal.yadava@gmail.com on or before 25-06-2015 & attend the interview along with application in the attached format at the time of interview, one passport size photograph, self attested copies of certificates for age, and qualifications, reprints of publications and ‘No Objection Certificate’, original documents on 01-07-2015. Venue details are mentioned below.

Important Dates:
Last Date for Receipt of Application: 25-06-2015
Date & Time of Interview : 01-07-2015.
Venue: IIMR, Pusa Campus, New Delhi

Eligibility : BE/B.Tech(CSE, ECE, IT)

Location : Pondicherry

Last Date : 26 Jun 2015

Hiring Process : Face to Face Interview
Pondicherry University - Job DetailsDate of posting:19 May 15

Senior Technical Assistant Job position in Pondicherry University on temporary basis

Project Title : "Bioinformatics National Certification (BINC) for certifying quality human resource in Bioinformatics"

Qualification : i) B.E/ B.Tech Computer Science/ Electronics & Communication Engineering/ Information Technology with 55% or equivalent marks. ii) One year Experience in relevant field in Government/ Public Sector or reputed Private Organizations. Desirable : Working experience in JSP and ASP/PHP

No. of Post : 01

Department : Biotechnology

Pay : Rs. 27,800/-

Age Limit : 30 Yrs
How to apply

Both above-mentioned posts are purely on temporary basis, extended by one year based on performance and will be terminated with the completion of BINC Program at Pondicherry University. Interested Candidates may send their application in the prescribed format with self-attested copies of all mark sheets and certificates to Dr. Basant K. Tiwary, Coordinator (BINC), Centre for Bioinformatics, Pondicherry University, Puducherry-605 014 before June 26, 2015.

Click Here http://www.pondiuni.edu.in/news/requirement-post-one-senior-technical-assistant-one-computer-assistant-–-dept-biotechnologygove

Starting 15th July 2015, the position relates to a project specifically for in silico drug docking, screening, design, optimisation and linkage with active chemists.

Experience in many docking softwares and operating systems is essential.

Additional experience in bioinformatics and computational biology tools will be useful.

Submit curriculum vitae to: sb.icgeb@gmail.com

Closing date: 5 July 2015

The OpenCPU JavaScript client library provides the most seamless integration of R and JavaScript available today.

OpenCPU uses standard R packaging to develop, ship and deploy web applications. Several open source example apps are available from Github.

Installing your own OpenCPU server is super easy and only takes a few minutes.

More at https://www.opencpu.org/