Jan 2015 brought us the good news that our grant proposal to DST-SERB got approved. 🙂

Jan 2015 also saw four of us (Manas, Ashish, Chinmayee & Dileep) in Hyderabad, doing x-ray data collection at IICT. The trip came fruitful as Manas got a 1.6 Angstrom structure. A big thanks to Dr. Anthony Addlagatta and his team at IICT for all their help. 🙂

27/February/2018 to 28/February/2015: Dileep’s PhD mentor, Dr. Swami from NUS (Singapore) was here in ILS on 27th Feb 2015. While at ILS, he gave a guest seminar with the title: May I help you? I am a structural biologist. We also had a special group meeting with him to discuss our projects. On 28th Feb, we had a group ‘picnic’ to Puri & Konark with Dr. Swami. It was so much fun! His presence was a real motivation to all of us. We all seem to have gotten a lot of positive energy! A group photo from our Puri-Konark trip is here.

 

09/March/2015: Happy Birthday Ajit! Ajit’s birthday was on 08th March (Sunday) and we had a little celebration with cake and snacks in lab on 09th March. In the late evening, we had the ‘usual’ birthday munch session in one of the eateries in Nalco Square. 🙂

20/April/2015: Happy Birthday Manas! Manas had his birthday on 19th April. Hmmm…. Why are all our group birthdays falling on Sundays lately? Well…. that didn’t reduce the fun anyway; it all started with Monday lunch from Idli Bhavan and cake session in the evening! The fun got spread over until Wednesday late evening munchies! There is no doubt that among our group members, Manas is the most popular in ILS. Cheers Manas! 🙂

06/May/2015: Our third extramural grant proposal has also gotten approved, all within a year! This one is from CSIR; the previous ones being from DBT and DST-SERB. We seem to be getting into better shape to do some real R&D work. 🙂

17/May/2015: Data collection at RRCAT, Indore – Manas, Rajiv & Ajit are just back from Indore after our first synchrotron data collection. The Indian synchrotron seems to be in great shape. For one of his proteins, Manas has gotten a 1.2 Angstrom dataset! He continues to break his own record. For another protein he has obtained a 1.5 Angstrom dataset. Thanks to the whole PX Beam line team – Dr. Ravindra Makde, Dr. Biplab Ghosh & Mr. Ashwani Kumar, for all their help and support! We owe them big time. Indus II’s BL-21 beam line rocks!!!!

18/May/2015: Birthday Greetings Ashish! We had yet another Sunday Birthday (17th May). Our group and Ashish’s ILS friends celebrated his birthday with cake and samosas in the lab on Monday. As for other Sunday birthdays, munchies session was on Wednesday and this time at Silver Spoon eatery in Nalco Square.

28/May/2015: Welcome Dr. Sushil Kumar! Sushil has joined as a postdoc in our group with funding from DBT. He completed his PhD (Structural Biology) from CCMB, Hyderabad in 2015.

07/July/2015: Our group’s first student, Ashish had his PhD protocol presentation at Manipal University where his PhD is getting registered.

15/July/2015: Happy Birthday Chinmayee! We wish her all the very best. Chinmayee treated us all with an awesome lunch at Aangan Premium restaurant in Gajapati Nagar.

11/August/2015: Celebration time in our lab!!! – In the poster presentation conducted in association with the recently concluded ILS Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting, all three posters from our group got selected for best poster award. Congratulations to Rajiv, Ajit & Ashish for all their effort with poster preparation and presentation! Way to go!! 🙂

24/August/2015: Data collection at RRCAT, Indore – Manas, Ajit & Dileep are just back from Indore after our 2nd synchrotron data collection. The trip should help us fill the gap for at least one of our projects. Indus II’s BL-21 beam line & the supporting scientists are really great!!!!

11/September/2015: Happy Birthday Dileep! – Dileep had his birthday on 09/11. The group and his colleagues celebrated in his office.

01/October/2015: Ashish had his JRF to SRF conversion upon completion of two years in PhD program. He has moved one step further in his PhD and will get higher fellowship amount. Congratulations!

09/December/2015: The whole group is just back from the 13th Conference of the Asian Crystallographic Association (AsCA) held in Science City, Kolkata from 05th to 8th December 2015. It was a great experience. 🙂 Two of our group photos taken during the breaks between scientific sessions can be seen below.