Molecular biology is one of the most happening fields in science today, globally. A leader in the field, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a conglomerate of over 1,700 researchers who have been selected for their outstanding work in the life sciences. Recently, the Indian government entered into an agreement with EMBO to strengthen scientific collaboration between India and Europe.
This year, fifty-eight new researchers have been elected as members of EMBO. Among these is Indian scientist M. Madan Babu who heads the regulatory genomics and systems biology group at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, U.K. Election to EMBO Membership is recognition of research excellence and the outstanding achievements made by a scientist working in the life sciences.
It is known now that proteins, nucleic acids and metabolites get together to form a large, inter-linked, complex system that is highly regulated at multiple levels of organisation. Disruption of this is a possible cause of many diseases, including cancer. Dr. Madan Babu’s research group works to understand how to regulate such disruptions. That is, to understand the molecular basis of diseases caused by regulatory dysfunction. Such an understanding can be exploited in biotechnology and medicine.