August 4, 2020 | Adamas University

#PositveCorona: Positive Impact of COVID-19 on Pharmaceutical Sectors: Indian Scenario

COVID-19 Outbreak

Originating from China, the novel corona virus (COVID-19) drastically spread throughout the world in quick span of time and affected almost all countries across the globe. In the last 8 months, COVID-19 has been spread rapidly and infected about 17 million world populations out of which more than 6.5 lacs people died. In Indian scenario, the rate of infection increased abundantly in the last few days which make India the 3^rd most affected countries in World. Subjects suffering from infectious and non-infectious diseases of the lungs are found to be more risk from this viral infection due to the lower immune system. Hence, enhancing the immunity (natural body system) may possess the major contribution as a prophylactic measure against multiple pathogenic conditions as well as maintaining optimum health. In recent study in Spain, results showed that only a small population of people have secondary antibodies due to COVID-19 infection which indicates that the immunity developed after COVID-19 infection will not persist for a long time. Hence, there is a high need of development of pharmaceutical sectors including synthetic drug industries, herbal industries and pharmaceutical biotechnology in India.

Literature suggests that COVID-19 outbreak can worsen many business related to tourism and entertainment, however, there are many positive impact of COVID-19 in pharmaceutical industries in India.

Pharmaceutical Industries and Clinical Research

Till date, there are no specific antiviral drugs to cure COVID-19 infection. There are several ongoing clinical trials in many countries to develop a successful drug to combat COVID-19 infection. Indian pharma industry occupies 3rd position in the world and India is a chief provider of low-priced drugs all over the world and is truly recognized as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’. Fifty percent of the US generic drug needs are met by India. The Indian pharma industry aspires to become the world’s largest supplier of drugs by 2030. Zydus, a foremost manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has already augmented its capacity to produce both the API and the other formulation manifold. Honorable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi cleared HCQ supplies from India to countries like the US, Brazil and Israel. Current global relation among the developed countries suggests that many foreign countries including Europe, USA and Japan might shift their pharmaceutical companies to India. In this context, it may be predicted that there will be an enormous development in pharmaceutical industries in India in future.

Herbal Drug Industries

Ayurveda utilizes the concept of “Dinacharya” and “Ritucharya” to maintain healthy life that utilizes the gifts of nature (herbal medicines) as daily/seasonal regimes to maintain a healthy life. Ayurveda; a plant-based science suggests in simplifying the lifestyle, and also promotes the awareness in uplifting and maintaining owns immune system via the utilization of many plants/herbs which are easily available at the kitchen garden of a majority of the society. Recent studies showed the beneficial effect of many immunomodulator plants like Kalmegh and Ashwagandha and their constituents by inhibiting the interaction of the associated proteins involved in COVID-19 infection. Ministry of AYUSH in collaboration with Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) initiated many clinical trials of herbal preparation for the treatment of COVID-19. Recently, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. developed a formulation “Coronil” which might be helpful of combating COVID-19. In spite of the traditional effect of the Ayurvedic and herbal drugs, the acceptability in foreign markets depends on the scientific data of their safety/toxicity and pharmacology. So, the Ayurvedic companies started to develop the pharmacological/toxicological research in their companies or depend on the pharmaceutical research organizations. Hence, there may be a huge success in the field of Indian traditional system of medicine like Ayurveda as well as pharmaceutical companies after the development of herbal industries.

Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Industries

Pharmaceutical biotechnology companies around the globe are rising to the challenges offered by the COVID-19 from supporting the development of prophylactic vaccines to diagnostic assays. Currently almost 250 COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in Phase 1-3 trials, as well as major candidates in pre-clinical stages of development. Moderna’s mRNA-127, the University of Oxford and Astra Zeneca’s AZD1222, Pfizer and BioNTech’s BNT162 are in pipeline with promising results. Since India is one of the largest vaccine producers in the world, the research institute with industries collaborative work on its way to fast-track vaccine development process. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has permitted two vaccines, viz., COVAXIN; developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and another one ZyCoV-D by Zydas Cadila Healthcare Ltd to go in for the first and second phase of human clinical trials. In search of an effective treatment for COVID 19, biotech industries found an old method of fighting infectious disease resurfaced as Convalescent Plasma Therapy. On May 4, 2020, ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) has approved 21 institutions in the PLACID trial which was registered with CTRI (Clinical Trial Registry of India).Though ICMR does not recommend this as a treatment option outside of clinical trials, The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has incorporated ‘Convalescent plasma’ as an investigational therapy in patients with moderate disease who are not improving despite use of steroids. Meanwhile, there’s been other experimental fruitful data synergize the development of monoclonal antibody therapies for COVID-19 and provokes the urgent need for actual treatments for COVID-19 by the readjusting of approved immunomodulatory mAbs and other protein candidate through clinical trial projects to get a promising drug molecule

Conclusions

Hence, it is concluded that in spite of the deadly effect of COVID-19, there may a positive impact on pharmaceutical industries in India in future. However, Indian pharmaceutical companies depend on China for the raw materials like active pharmaceutical ingredients which require some amendment of the policy makers of Indian government to develop the active pharmaceutical ingredient sector.

#PositiveCovid: Five Things To Reckon As You Enter Communication Industry That Has Changed Forever

Incessant honking in a maddening crowd. Coffee machine gossip. Team meeting with fresh cookies. Running late and forgetting to punch the time register. Frustration due to a broken air conditioner. A smile from a colleague that made our day. A whiff of jasmine in the super-crowded lift. Office drama that beat KJo’s family horror movies. The television behind us showing horrifying pictures of human tragedy, bodies soaked in blood somewhere in the Middle East.

And then arrived an organism of around 125 nm (.125 μm) size. A soap-water fearing killer virus that hunted more than half a million people across the world while paralyzing economies. In 180-plus anxious days our lives changed forever. We now work from home vis-à-vis the earlier dictum “don’t bring work at home”. Jostling at grocery shops has become a prehistoric affair as we are pampered by delivery players like Big basket, or Grofers. Social media blared with the declaration of António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) “It’s time to put armed conflict on lockdown,”. ABC news brought happiness to the peace-loving populace as Saudis declared a ceasefire while fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen. Humanity survived another day.

Homo sapiens being the most adaptable and resilient species fought back. In this process, many things about us changed. We have become less wasteful and more productive than earlier. With vaccines around the corner, I welcome you to the era of post COVID-19.

I. Massive adoption of virtual work: Organizations have gone virtual. We are meeting everyone and work goes on as usual – all from home. Think of clutter free roads, fresh oxygen to breathe instead of mindless travel every day due to status quo. TCS, Google, Facebook and many other top MNCs have already gone for WFH as the way of life, same as Adamas University. Companies are slated to save huge with WFH. An article in business.com notes savings of two big companies. Sun Microsystems identified savings of $68 million a year in its real estate costs, while Dow Chemical and Nortel saved over 30% on non-real estate costs.

Opportunities for future brand managers: As the world becomes virtual, outdoor physical media, like banners, posters, in-shop branding, cinema hall branding etc may be less helpful. How can one brand the virtual world? Possibilities are enormous and infinite. “Upload” a web series available on Amazon Prime recently offered me a few virtual branding inspirations. There are others too.

II. The empathetic chatbots:
Companies are facing communication disruptions. With the virus forcing the migratory population to return home, many now face patchy internet connections. Chatbots are now your new customer care executives addressing anxious minds answering regular questions, updates etc. Enhanced versions are on the way – highly indistinguishable while conversing with a human, raising a number of ethical issues.

Opportunities for future brand managers: Making chatbots empathetic. While technology will support in enhancing its cognitive capabilities, chatbots now need to make human connection to a lonely soul or a tense mind. Can it sell solutions as a friend with a genuine intent to help a buyer instead of being “salesy”?

III. Human connection for change:

We are now more connected like never before. People are rediscovering unity in humanity.

Police officers singing and dancing in Spain, Italians playing music with instruments at their balconies, Parisians clapping, Vietnamese health officials and lyricist Khac Hung producing an animated music video called “Jealous Coronavirus”, Bangkok SkyTrain staff dancing, cleaning and wiping down handrails – all these have resulted into a war cry that “humans will survive”.

Facebook group “The Kindness Pandemic”, are getting filled with hundreds of daily posts. NGOs are inundated with requests for formal and informal volunteering. Unlike big bang deafening campaigns full of razzmatazz, we might just transition into making an actual change.

Opportunities for future brand managers: Think differently. Focus on issues that need our support. Every campaign you design, weigh it in terms of how it can enhance the spirit of connectedness.

IV. Breaking of psychological silos impacting perception:

Liquor industry, frowned upon by many as “evil”, joined hands to make ethanol-based hand sanitizers that saved millions of lives. Can governments, regulatory bodies and society going further remain as unforgiving to this industry as they are in present times? As perception changes, the branding for this around two-billion-dollar industry will change permanently.

Opportunities for future brand managers: Think of connections where you can benefit the society. How distilleries can be rebranded? Instead of “spinning”, think of genuine contributions to life that the industry can make. Make your case for various industries where turnarounds in terms of branding are possible.

V. Creativity wins:

Show-off goes, so goes lookalike campaigns and mediocrity that thrives on imitation. The medium can be the same, e.g., YouTube, or doodle or animation – but the construct can be totally different. With people spending more time with themselves, cognitive scientist Margaret Boden notes that “psychological creativity” i.e, “capacity of an individual to create something that is valuable and surprising to themselves” is on rise. Hence, social media gets filled with creative memes, many have turned to dancing, singing, baking, painting, sculpting, physical exercises or learning to play musical instruments etc.

Opportunities for future brand managers: People get bored due to lack of distraction. Can you be creative to offer them a window to see the new world full of dreams, fellow-feeling and love? Your job is no longer a way of earning your survival or a daily drudgery that has to be done to earn money, but a way of self-fulfillment for yourself while catering to others in the tribe called the human. Are you ready?

Challenges, Opportunities, and Innovations for Effective Waste-Management during SARS-CoV—2 Pandemic

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV—2 has created an unprecedented impact in most countries of the world. Coronavirus pandemic, since the first report in December 2019, has spread to nearly every corner of the globe. Till date, more than 18 million people are infected and ~ 700 thousand human toll. In this unprecedented circumstances, the principal scheme of government policies are focused mainly on the safety of lives and livelihoods of the people. The health care sectors are facing massive challenges to handle patients in need of urgent care with the existing infrastructure and limited availability of safety equipment to face this pandemic. Preventive methods like upgrading medical norms, aggressive testing campaigns, regulation of public policies are implemented so far to combat this public health catastrophe.

Certainly the world has witnessed the positive environmental implications of nationwide lockdowns inflicted by Covid—19 such as cleaner rivers and clearer skies due to significant reduction of industrial pollution. However, Covid—19 pandemic has disrupted the global waste generation dynamics, creating woes among policymakers and sanitary workforces. World health orgaization (WHO) recommended several types of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as medical gloves, facemasks, faceshields, and aprons for essential service workers (e.g., doctors, nurses, caregivers, etc.) and people inviolved in handling the coronavirus infected patients. Most of the countries have recommended its people to wear facemasks when going to public places. This has created colossal demand for personal safety equipments. Millions of PPEs are manufactured and used daily during the pandemic. Consequently, medical and hazardous waste including contaminnated masks, gloves, surfacewipes, and other protective equipment, along with a large amount of non-contaminated waste of the same nature are produced during an contagious outbreak. Improper collection practices could lead to contamination of general municipal solid waste with the virus, which could create a seriuos risk of transmission. Therefore, the safe management and eventual disposal of this waste is very critical for an eﬀicient emergency measure. Appropriate identifcation, assortment, separation, storage, transportation, treatment, and disposal, as well as important associated aspects including proper sanitazation, training and protection of waste collecttion workforces, become part of eﬀective supervision of biomedical and health-care waste. With each day passing by, the quantities of bimedical waste from health care facilities is increasing rapidly (e.g. 11 tons/day in Delhi, 9 tons/day in Mumbai). To add to the distresses, with looming uncertainty, and restrictions on movement, the pandemic in many countries has also lead to stockpiling of supplies, hoarding, and in some instances, panic buying. These more extreme retorts have been accompanied by more subtle consumption changes. Suppliers and end users are switching to single-use products for hygiene and convenience, using disposable wipes for disinfecting surfaces, carrying small hand sanitizer bottles, and certainly the facemasks, which may well continue to wash up on shores, during and long after the pandemic recedes.

Fig. 1. The potential exposure and transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 [Resources, Conservation & Recycling 162 (2020) 105043]

There are other possible routes where improper management of used PPEs can pose a serious threat by creating a chain of transmission of SARS-CoV—2. Therefore, government policies to treat waste management of medical, household, and other hazardous waste are of paramount importance and waste management is appropriately declared as essential public service to minimize possible cascading impacts on health and environment. Alarmingly, almost 95% components of the materials used for PPEs are plastic and are neither biodegradable nor recyclable. Amid this ongoing health catastrophes, they are creating an unexpected impact on the environment instigating “a silent, invisible health hazard for a large number of people”. Therefore, any lack of alacrity or failure to address the biomedical waste concerns can lead to serious irreversible consequences in terms of mortality and morbidity.

The facility of safe water, sanitation and hygienic conditions is essential for protecting human health during all infectious disease eruptions, including Covid-19. Ensuring evidenced-based and consistently applied WASH and waste management practices in communities, homes, schools, marketplaces, and healthcare facilities help prevent human-to-human spread of Covid-19. However, potential transmission of viruses through wastewater is raising concerns amidst the science fraternity. Recent studies demonstrate that the SARS-CoV—2 virus is shed in feces from infected patients with severe symptoms, asymptomatic status, and treated patients with no further sign of the symptoms also reported the presence of the SARS-CoV—2 viral RNA in the urine samples of infected patients. Similarly, only the SARS-CoV—2 RNA was reported in the hospital sewage and community wastewater. Although the ability of the SARS-CoV—2 to persist in the water medium, including wastewater remains uncertain, the detection of the SARS-CoV—2 RNA in both untreated and treated wastewater and the isolation of the infectious SARS-CoV—2 from stool samples raise a concern of the risk of the potential spread through this medium. The SARS-CoV—2 RNA could enter the water systems through numerous pathways (Fig. 2), consequently causing the risk of potential transmission of Covid—19 in the water environment. These paths include wastewater discharged from hospitals and isolation and quarantine centers. The excreta-related contaminations are found to transmit through the contamination of water systems. Many water sources can, therefore, be potentially contaminated. The surface water (streams and lake) where wastewater is often discharged directly without proper treatment can also be a potential carrier for the SARS-CoV—2 through the water channels into various parts of the communities, where they rely on these water sources for their daily needs in low-income countries.

Fig. 2. Sources and pathways of SARS-CoV-2 in water systems. [Science of the Total Environment 742 (2020) 140680]

The transmission of SARS-Covid—19 through the virus contaminated water so far there is not reported. Nevertheless, other waterborne diseases contracted through the consumption of contaminated water such as diarrhea and gastroenteritis are far-reaching particularly in low-income countries. The majority of the population in low-income countries largely rely on the surface and groundwater resources to meet their daily water consumption. This might be a potential risk of spiraling of Covid—19 in the community. Therefore, a serious consideration for waste water treatment from the Covid-19 health care facilities is the need of the hour to prevent any possible snowballing transmission of Covid—19 through wastewater.

The Covid-19 crisis has shown us the essential nature of the waste management service. The daunting task for safe disposal and treatment of Covid—19 related biomedical waste and waste water treatment is soaring by the day. The Covid—19 outbreak has spawned an immediate requirement for innovation for disinfection technology. A Delhi-based market research company predicts that the Indian surface disinfectant market is expected to register high growth during 2020-2026 owing to the increased demand for the disinfection services amid the pandemic. At a time of unprecedented global health crisis, several entrepreneurs have been focusing on providing disinfection services, which have become the need of the hour, as the country opens up after observing an extended lockdown. Pune-based PadCare Labs is one such business which is helping people fight the infectious virus through its UV disinfection technology. Recently, the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India has, in partnership with Invest India under the ‘Waste to Wealth Mission’ recently announced the Covid—19 Biomedical Waste Treatment Innovation Challenge.

#PositiveCorona: The positive effect of COVID-19 on social media advertising

When Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook from the Harvard University campus back in 2004, the platform was merely used for inter-campus communication among the students, and their ware very few who guessed about the magnanimity of the platform to this scale. Similar to Facebook, other social media platforms started taking their first step from early 2000 as the internet became cheaper and widely available, and the cost of owning a smartphone also gone done and came within the reach of the common people, the usage of social media also rose to a significant level. There were rejections of the medium at some level but eventually, the popularity of social media beat all the odds and tightened its clutches among the different layers of the society. What made the social media even more useful is when the marketers started seeing a pool of opportunities to reach out to their target market easily through the social media and began using this medium as a centre of communication and promotion for their brands. Gradually, over the decade, the medium became one of the most potent ways of commercial communication for the advertisers which allowed them to reach out to their potential group of consumers with multiple hit points. The interactive nature of the medium allowed its users to be glued to this medium for a longer period, given the advantages to the advertisers to push their message in between the entrainment. The e-commerce sites have gone to a step ahead and link their sites and apps to the social media sites while flashing the recent search items, provoking and reminding consumers to take the final purchase decision. While most of the advertising platforms require monetary investment to slip the message into the platter, social media allows to advertise free of cost but obviously, the investment will take the message to a much wider range of audiences while aiming to a desired and a targeted pool of audiences.

According to the “Diffusion of Innovation” theory developed by E. M Rogers in 1962, an idea, behavior, or product while launched in a society, passes through different layers of acceptance before getting widely accepted among the people. The adapters are ranged from the ‘Innovators’ to ‘early adopters’ to ‘early majority’ to ‘late majority’ to ‘laggards’. As the product reaches the laggards at the end of the acceptance channel, the advertiser tries to encourage its enlisted and loyal consumers to purchase another product from its line of offerings. The theory is well accepted and applicable for a social structure while social media gives an ultimate social stratification to apply the theory while launching a product through social media. There is always a small group of ‘innovators’ who wish to try out newly launched products and also influence ‘early adopters’ by sharing their experiences. For advertisers, social media platforms can be an appealing option to lure the innovators out of their lair to experience the band while capturing the attention of a larger pool of prospective consumers by sharing their pictures, videos, comments, and experiences on social media. Because of the flexibility and broader reach of the medium, the advertisers are prone to use social mediums as an extensive part of their promotional strategies where they can also keep a tab on the progress ambiguously. The omnipotent nature of social media enables the marketers to approach the consumers located across the world while the platform algorithm allows them to set the advertisements in different time frames focused on a diverse pool of consumers.

Usage of social media platforms comes to a pick during the global pandemic of COVID-19 when people around the world are stranded behind their doors and barred from physical interaction to stop spreading the deadly virus. The pandemic left no other ways of interactive interactions among the people leaving the social medium as the only way to keep the communication alive among the friends allowing them to share pictures, videos, adios, and even video calling facilities. This also showed the advertisers a way of survival when other modes of advertisements were not an option and allow them to promote their brands with minimal investments. This also provides the flexibility to approach a large group of audience who are primarily concentrating on social media with a relatively low investment. The pandemic also forced many bands to take the shelter of social media promotion who earlier used to believe in the traditional mode of promotions since the diversion and proliferation are lesser due to the global pandemic that barred people to go outside. The circumstances also worked in favor of social media where the production of the advertisements does not always need the involvement of the physical location while the placement of the advertisements is done virtually. The social media was among the few options that kept people connected during the severe situation and also helped the brand not to lose out the communication with their valuable consumers. Now, when the virus spreads are being controlled and life is getting back to its usual accord, social media still helping the society to get back on to its feet. Interestingly, both the government and private organizations have taken the help of this wonderful medium to propagate their message while some of them were meant human welfare and some were to achieve the commercial accomplishments while the medium remains stoic with unparalleled benefits.

Global Economic Crisis and Role of Chemical Sciences for Its Revival

Initial Set back: The chemical industry has had an enduring presence across the globe, providing inputs into manufacturing sectors that help uplifting the living standards worldwide, while also contributing to address a variety of global sustainability challenges. However, the outbreak of SARS Covid—19 pandemic has exposed oil, gas and chemical industries to two major challenges. One is oil price war and another one is contagious pandemic imposed lockdown in almost every country in the planet. The disagreement between Russia and OPEC+ to cut the oil production resulted in sharp decline in oil price during spring, 2020. The imbalance between demand and supply of crude oil on world economy is further aggravated due to travel restrictions and industrial slow down during lockdown. According to the order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, India on 24^th March, chemicals were not categorized as ‘essential commodities’; by road transportation of chemicals were prohibited across the country. Leading chemical manufacturers are still cutting both capital and operational expenditure. Manufacturing expenditure has been cut down to 40%—60 % capacity due to workforce shortages and disruptions in the supply of raw materials. During the month of February, 2020, Asia-pacific region has witnessed a declination of chemical production by 3.9%, while it was by 2.4%, in the world. It seems that opportunities in chemical and oil sectors are squeezed. However scenario is not that colourless; in fact some chemical sectors are brighter than pre-covid period. After initial set back, chemical sectors has begun to be reinforced. Chemists are directly or indirectly contributing for the recovery of whole world from pandemic crisis which in turn will leave further impact for prolonged future (https://www.rsc.org/news-events/articles/2020/apr/chemistry-against-covid-19/).

Scope for teachers in chemistry: With the boom of online teaching-leaning trend, chemists became learning support for both students and hiring institutions. Using latest technologies, faculty members are working hard to attract students towards chemistry, make them inspired and innovative. Job opportunities have been squeezed due to economic recession as a result of lockdown; passing out students are facing severe challenges due to unemployment. One already opened opportunity for them is to pursue higher education. Deep knowledge and skills will reinforce their resume to find better job and also will play crucial role to overcome prolonged impact of health and economic crisis.

Scope for the researcher and technicians: During past 5 months chemistry has been established as essential cutting edge tool to battle against covid-19 virus. Chemistry based research and development sectors of all sizes are refocusing their interests and funding for further exploration about the virus, diagnostic tools and finally creating vaccines. Death of 12 persons in gas leakage of LG polymer plant in Vishakhapatnam on May 07, 2020 has pointed out the need of maintenance of different units in chemical plants and proper precautions during restart. Technicians with in depth knowledge of chemistry can further have job openings to run tests, maintenance of equipments and manage laboratory safety and supplies.

Green signals for chemical sectors: We use chemicals at each minutes of the day life e.g.; toothpaste, food, oil, medicine, plastics, fabrics, cosmetics, paints, gases, fertilizers, pesticides, ceramics and the list is never ending. Chemicals and oil products are essential raw materials required to produce safety equipments or medicines to survive against corona virus. Due to disruptions in the supply of Chinese chemicals, Indian companies witnessed inflows of orders from global players, which is credit positive for our country. The prices of many petrochemicals were reduced for Indian manufacturer improving their profit level. Another sector is Indian agrochemical industry, which is largely dependent on China for raw materials. With the ease of lock down, Chinese government is offering export rebates to pesticide manufacturer. There will be no shortage of raw materials for the agrochemical players in current kharif seasons, which enhanced production level to reach 70% of normal. We can expect the revival of Indian chemical sectors to some extent with the relaxation of norms of lockdown across the country. This is one crucial moment when global players are scrambling for alternative of Chinese supply, which was disrupted for short time being. As a result Indian players have huge potential to grab the market of Chinese players.

Sharp increase of production and packaging of sanitizers: Covid-19 pandemic has increased public consciousness to maintain hygiene in private and public spaces in India. Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the demand for disinfectants, antiseptics, food packaging and medicines. Oil and chemical industries also need to produce large amount raw materials required to prevent contamination of food, personal care and medical products. Start-ups like Aqoza technologies and PerSapien have developed chemical formulations for disinfecting public spaces. Airlens minus Corona from PerSapien dispenses water droplets to oxidize the viral protein. (https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/beyond-indias-coronavirus-unlock-1-0-an-age-of-innovation/1982951/). The spread of COVID-2 has triggered a sharp rise in the demand of isopropyl alcohol, which is a key ingredient. Chemical sector has decided to produce isopropyl level to maximum plant capacity. Sugar mills in northern India have started supplying ethanol/ethyl alcohol/extra neutral alcohol (ENA) to the companies producing hand sanitiser across the country. Meanwhile, many sugar mills have applied for license from the Central Drug Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) to produce hand sanitizers, but not the license for packaging. Simultaneously, there has been opening for the plastic industries to provide raw materials to different players packaging sanitizers for the markets.

New avenues in/for pharmaceutical chemistry: Immediately after the outbreak of covid-19, pharmaceuticals companies jumped in the race to invent vaccines and medicines. Country’s oldest pharmaceuticals company, Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd, was suddenly under spot light due to sudden worldwide demand for hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), which is the most sought-after drug in the treatment of Covid-19. Demands of different immunity boosting medicines shoot across the country. Indian pharmaceutical giant Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (Dr Reddy’s) in collaboration with global companies are going to manufacture flavivir, a potential drug against covid-19. Biotechnology major Biocon is going to launch biologic drug Itolizumab for the treatment of moderate to severe covid-19 patients. Hence, chemists are on high demand in pharmaceutical companies. Chemists play important role in pharmaceutical sectors; hike of medicinal demands creats jobs for chemists.

Raised demand of waste water treatment: As per recommendation of WHO, hygiene is extremely important issue to prevent the spread of virus. Frequent washing of hands with frothing soaps is most efficient and effective way to avoid the transmission of the virus. However, the access of large amount of fresh and safe water is one biggest challenge to India, especially rural India where facility of medical sanitizers may not be available. The threat of covid 19 virus has reinstated the demand of waste water management. One purifies water using chemicals. Widely used components include to purify water is chlorine, ultraviolet ray, ozonisation, ion exchangers, which can be employed by chemists. In this sectors chemists will be on high demand to test water, and to construct water purification systems.

In the period of turbulence, chemical society is ready to face the new structural transformations in micro economy, technology, regulations, and consumer preferences in both developed and emerging markets.

Porous Coordination Polymers: The Promising Candidates for Molecular Transformation

Introduction:

Many important chemical transformations would not seem to be encountered in our world without suitable catalysts. That at least, not in a way which has some practical application. Catalysts are indispensable in the living systems. For obvious reasons it has become essential in a wide range of industrial application too. However, the study of these systems can offer much more: it can change our understanding of fundamental chemical concepts and at times compelled us to rethink the rules of the chemical world. Research in this area moving very fast: many catalytic reactions now appeared to be easier to the chemists that were remained unachievable a decade ago. More over millions of organic molecules now have their real existences. Many new antibiotic and antiviral drugs have been possible to synthesize to save the world from many pandemic diseases. Metals, especially transition metals play important roles in catalysis. Metals can be found in enzyme as well as in the industrial catalysts. Studies on metal incorporated micro/meso-porous solids in order to use them as heterogeneous catalysts, have received immense attention in last few decades. Porous coordination polymers, i.e., metal organic/inorganic/hybrid framework solids (MOFs or MIFs or MOIFs) being porous have potential to be used in the same manner as in the case of zeolites or aluminosilicate-based catalysts. Heterogeneous catalysis is a major field of interest in material science [1].

Homogeneous to heterogeneous:

Traditionally there are several approaches to heterogenise a homogeneous system supporting over a solid support. In the literature numerous number of homogeneous complexes have been found that are efficiently bound with the support matrix through several pathway like, (i) covalent binding, (ii) electrostatic interaction, (iii) adsorption (iv) encapsulation, and (v) hydrogen bonding, based on the interaction between the catalyst and the solid support matrix. There may be several advantages and disadvantages regarding the stapling of the homogeneous complexes on any support. But the important question is still asked, is it true heterogeneous? That’s why the modern chemistry tries to construct such a system that can be directly used and the question of true heterogeneity will be solved. Using porous coordination polymer as the catalyst is a good option. Although the field is not so seasoned but several approaches have been established fruitfully and the outstanding properties of porous frameworks (PCPs) have studied recently [1]. The structural porosity of PCP materials places them at the frontier between zeolites and surface metal–organic/inorganic catalysts. PCPs, therefore, appear to be excellent entities for catalysis, with the understanding that their potential still largely in its infancy. Crystalline Porous Polymers (PCPs), especially those exhibiting zeolite-like properties such as high internal surface area and microporosity, comprise a promising emerging class of functional materials. The notion is that MOF-based catalysts may be able to replicate some of the key features of zeolitic catalysts (e.g. single-site reactivity, pore-defined substrate size and shape selectivity, easy catalyst separation and recovery, and catalyst recyclability) while incorporating reactivity and properties unique to molecular catalysts. One important property of many molecular catalysts that has yet to be demonstrated with purely zeolitic catalysts is enantioselectivity.

Synthetic Method of PCPs:

Diverse procedures are available for synthesis of PCPs which are extremely convenient to prepare. Mostly it is prepared through sol-gel process, where the metal salt and ligand solutions are prepared separately and mixed together. Solvent that is used depends on several factors like solubility, redox potential etc., but other methods like solid phase, CVDs, Electrochemical or diffusion methods are also well known. The simple way to design can be depicted as given in the figure 1 and 2.

Figure 1. Preparation of different kinds of PCPs.

Figure 2. Simple overview for the development of porous coordination polymers.

Transition metals are chosen to design redox catalyst. Mainly metals from first transition series, e.g. manganese, copper, iron, vanadium etc. are selected for preparing redox catalysts. Metal having Lewis acidic property are for preparing catalysts that are intended to be used in acid catalysis reactions. Linkers act as bridge between metal centers in PCPs. Heavy metals are introduced within the PCPs for different types of coupling and other tandem catalysis.

Importance:

Open-structure PCPs bear prospects for designing of new heterogeneous catalysts that are spatially accessible for directing the reactions to the site-isolated and structurally well-defined active centers like enzymatic catalysts. Heterogeneous catalysts have potential in commercial uses due to easy recovery and recycling of catalysts as well as minimizing the undesired and/or toxic side products. Catalysts can be designed through various approaches. One of the new approaches is to incorporate redox metal centers into the frameworks porous solid. The active center can be metal ions or metal containing entity such as complex with designed ligands. Site-isolation is of paramount importance in achieving maximum catalytic efficiency. Often such types of molecular assemblies with porous structure have potential in the application of various heterogeneous catalysis through the small molecule activation and conversion. A rapid growth in the study of these materials has arisen from the realization that these frameworks synthesis offers considerable flexibility and control over structure and properties, thereby offering wide pathways to rational materials design. By designing the MOFs or porous coordination polymer it has been possible to separate and isolate the closely similar small organic molecules and to convert them to the desired products [2]. It is now well established that large cavities are catalytically important for several reasons. Large cavities allowing for more complex functional groups are to be added to the pores, similar to catalytically active hybrid materials consisting of functional complexes tethered to metal oxide surfaces [3]. It is well reported that bifunctional dicarboxylates served to bridge various metal ions producing a lot of highly porous and catalytically active frameworks [4], Yaghi group has developed a family of compounds based on one structural arrangement in which the pore size may be tuned over a wide range. By using longer or shorter organic molecules of similar geometry, Yaghi et al. have now prepared 16 variations on the MOF-5 structure, with pores varying from 3.8 to 28.8 Å in diameter [5]. So, by tuning the porous channel one can rationalize the activation of organic molecules within the pore for catalysis. In this case the effective heterogeneous conversion of small molecules is the most extensively employed processes for prevailing desired organic materials in industry and the laboratory. PCPs which include metallosilicates or phosphates (ALPO, SAPO, VAPO etc.) are rather more well studied as regards the catalytic study [6], however, reports on heterogeneous catalytic reactions over PCPs are scanty in the literature. Fujita reported the shape selective cyanosilylation reaction over Cd-based MOF [7]. Horcajada et. al. employed hydrothermally synthesized iron(III) carboxylate zeotype metal-organic framework in Friedel-Crafts benzylation catalysis [8]. Metalloporphyrin encapsulated into zeolite-like three-dimensional metal-organic frameworks efficiently catalyze oxidation of cyclohexane with tert-BuOOH [9]. Cd containing MOF catalyzes the Knoevengel condensation in heterogeneous medium [10]. Notably this catalytic system shows size selectivity of the reactants. So, the flexibility of the frameworks originates the enormous structural and chemical diversities afforded by molecular systems, features that are less prevalent in many other branches of materials chemistry. The innovation of a new porous compound with desired properties based on pore and surface functionalities is extremely important in this advanced scientific era. Hence, in the present project, thrust will be given to study more on catalytic reactions besides the preparation and characterization of the catalysts. As environmental protection laws in all over the world are becoming more stringent the chemical companies are searching for processes that will be less hazardous than the processes being followed in the industry at present.

Future Scope:

These types of catalytic systems are promising in this count. These materials show promise for applications in heterogeneous catalysis. The area of advanced materials research has very broad scope and potential applications. Advanced materials outperform conventional materials with superior properties showing particular predetermined features. In this regard, the capability of incorporating a variety of organic single molecules into the nano cavity makes PCPs superior candidates as nanosized reactors, which strongly compete the traditional zeolites or other porous metal-oxide materials. And remarkably the simple modification over the interior cavities of the PCPs allows us the selective reactions in the channels. So, by systematic functionalization of the pore surface we can easily control the desired reactions this methodology can afford new vistas for the designing of new functional PCPs by which not only they can maintain the catalytic reactions but also, they can meet the preinstalled specific information. This field has a quite good future for industrial applications.

Reference:

Farrusseng, S. Aguado, C. Pinel, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 2.
Sato, R. Matsuda, K. Sugimoto, M. Takata, and S. Kitagawa, Nature Mater. 2010, 9, 661.
Maillet, P. Janvier, M.J. Bertrand, T. Praveen and B. Bujoli, Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2002, 1685.
Li, M. Eddaudi, M. Òkeeffe and O. M. Yaghi, Nature 1999, 402, 276.
Eddaudi, J. Kim, N. Rosi, D. Vodak, J. Wachter, M. ÒKeeffe and O. M. Yaghi, Science 2002, 295, 469.
-S. Chang, J.-S. Hwang, G. Férey, and A. K. Cheetham, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 2819 –2822
Fujita, Y. J. Kwon, S. Washizu and K. Ogura, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1994, 116, 1151.
Horcajada, S. Surblé, C. Serrea, Seo, J.-S. Chang, I. Margiolakid, G. Férey, Chem. Commun., 2007, 2820.
H. Alkordi, Y. Liu, R. W. Larsen, J. F. Eubank, M. Eddaoudi, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 12639.
Hasegawa, S. Horike, R. Matsuda, S. Furukawa, S. Kitagawa, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 2607.

#BrandCommPlus: Positive Brand Communication In The Present Scenario Of Covid-19

During this recent pandemic most organizations is dealing with an economic slowdown or trying to overcome the financial crisis happened during the shutdown. In regard to this, marketing strategy is need of the hour. A lot of creativity is also required for obligatory economic boost which should ensure the effective brand communication strategy that endures to the target audiences or consumers. This is probably the most testing time for most brands to connect with their audience. To cheer up the economic scenario, most brands have adapted the convergent media with effective communication which not only entails the business but to highlight the positive side of it. For this the strategy of brand communication has changed its phenomenon of ‘appeal’. The rational and emotional appeal has been blended together for effective communication.

Although COVID 19 has disrupted the way the world’s normalcy it has shown the power of communication especially in digital platform. One cannot go out but one can have all kind of services by sitting at home. The product list is endless and needless to mention here.

So the question comes how the different brands are building a connection with potential new customers and simultaneously maintaining its existing consumers.

Recent brands have adapted the following techniques:

By adapting sales model
Hash tag skills- engage in relevant hash tags
Supporting who are at major risk or are vulnerable
Digital communication to make your audience stick to
Entertainment quotient
Inform
Engagement
Compliments
Free trials
Communication Transparency
Coupons
Offers
Awareness

Attributes require for positive construction of messages-

Social Platform-

During this period, social media is the dominant channel of communication which is the main factor for people to engage in various things. They able to create distancing, their online activity has not only increased but has probably become the primary means of communication with others. With easy internet access especially Facebook, a number of different OTT platforms, and an estimated 380 million user in India are using social media. To increase the brand visibility through organic means and with each platform having a different style of content and catering to a different type of consumer, creativity will be required in creating content specific to the target platform.

Remote Customer Service-

Reaching to the potential customers with broader service facility should be adopted. The customer service at home is the new normal and need of the hour. Now a day various brands highlighting the aspect of home bound service with proper pre caution which eventually builds the trust among the audiences.

Redefine the as usual marketing approach-

The period of reassess the communication strategy is highly essential. The older method of connecting with the people through conventional marketing approach should be revamped and redesign the 360 degree convergent media techniques should be adopted to be at par with the digital communication integrated marketing phenomenon.

Empathetic approach-

In this uncertain time, the people are struggling with their own problem. In this time the best way to connect with the audience is to have empathetic approach. The brand could well connect with the people if the consumers feel that it cares for them. It could have rational approach by disseminating proper information which should be free of weasel claims or exaggerated content.

Deciphering Educational Content-

Now the brands are generally educating and informing the public. So by adapting new innovative approach with animation, humour it has become more focussing on educating the public.

Recent Example:

Brands	Newer Approach	Appeal
Lifebuoy	Spread Good Habits and Stay Protected	Rational
Dettol	Adapted Hash Tag (#covid19 wash your hand campaign)	Rational
Bajaj Anti Germ Fan	A fan which cleans germs!	Weasel Claim
Wipro	Hygienic Hand Sanitizer claims ‘our commitment to fight Covid-19’	Rational
‘Multani Kuka’- cough syrup	Get your immunity boosted with stay home stay safe campaign	Weasel Claim
Revital- Energy Tablet	Immunity booster that fights for Corona virus	Personal
Lizol- Disinfectent	Fights for viruses and makes healthy	Empathy
Dairy Milk from Cadbury	Empathy for ones service	Emotional
Zomato- home delivery	With all safety measures… that they work for you to be at home	Empathy
Urban Company	Safe Salon at home service	Personal

For any business in these times each and every action it will take could be have excellent or negative impact to the brand. However, by using empathy to dexterity an edifying social media campaign, it could reach its targeted audience eventually. The focus should not adapt the factual content rather it should entice the real pragmatic approach to deal with the audiences or consumers. There is an opportunity for reviving the image of the brand and to show that it genuinely cares about its potential consumers.

#TravelWritingNext: Evolution of Travel Writing and the Road Ahead

Like almost everything else, the genre of Travel Writing has also undergone significant changes over the time. In the past, travel to distant places was mostly a unique experience available to a select few. Gradually, travel has become relatively accessible and cheaper to a much wider section of the public. Earlier, travel writings were more about the writer/ traveller venturing into the “unknown” and “undiscovered” lands, encountering dangers and experiencing exotic places. From Herodotus’s Histories, to Zhang Qian and Ibn Battuta’s narratives, travel writing in the ancient eras has largely depended on reportage and on the ground enquiry to make sense of the places the writers visited. As the world continued to shrink, thanks to several scientific discoveries and revolutions in transportation, travel writing ceased to be primarily a source of information about faraway places. With almost no place waiting to be “explored”, readers no longer looked for ‘information’ in the travel books but rather sought to establish a sort of connection with the writer whereby both share the same journey and experience the same essence in the shared space of narratives. As a result, travel writings tended to become more and more personal in nature.

In the recent decades, media and technology have played a crucial role in shaping the nature of contemporary travel writings. In the era of social media where information is readily available, photos are shared instantly and videos are broadcasted and shared from all parts of the globe, travel writers are exploring ways to succeed and thrive in the changed environment. This has invariably resulted in the exploration of new media platforms. Travel writers can now publish their works online through websites, blogs or even social media accounts. Although the printed books still remain important medium, writers are no longer dependent on the print-publishers to reach out to their audiences. This has great implications; by dismantling the traditional writer-publisher-reader chain, the new process leads the writers to address those dimensions of the genre which were hitherto untouched or unexplored. Thus online platforms have brought in more variety, diversity and innovation in terms of both content and the technique of writing. With the advent and popularity of travel blogging, anyone can publish their travel experiences without the supervision or censorship of an editorial body. This has not only reduced the space between the writer and the reader but also led to the creation of a pool of online content of diverse themes, qualities and most significantly, divergent perspectives.

‘Amateur blogging’ has most certainly revolutionized the nature and market of travel writing thereby rendering the task of professional writers even more challenging. Several researches and surveys have shown that many professional writers now look for personal branding to solidify their credibility and to build a loyal ‘fan-base’ that help to sustain their appeal to the market. This ‘branding’ facilitates to develop a sort of power equation that distinguishes professional writers from the amateurs. However, this distinction also gets blurred quite often.

Travelling and travel industry is one of the worst affected areas by the onslaught of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19. With unprecedented restrictions imposed on travel, travelling itself has become an issue of concern. Nobody is quite sure as to when travelling will return or whether at all it will return to its pre-COVID-19 form. With most countries closing their doors to foreign visitors until the situation gets back to ‘normal’, many are of the opinion that travelling will have changed by the humanity recovers from the shock, panic and fear. Some predict a less mobile future of travel which might witness an increased focus on local destinations in the near future. On a grimmer tone, some conjecture that travel might never return to the normalcy as we know it. With questions of safety and security looming large in the minds of people, the pandemic has radically altered the perceptions associated with travelling.

However, one interesting observation is that the lock-down days have witnessed a significant spike in the sale of travel books. Although this could be a temporary surge, this does testify to the collective wanderlust that characterizes human beings in general and have made travel writing as one of the most popular genre of literary writings.

Despite the changes and evolution in the genre discussed above, the essence of travel writing has remained the same and will perhaps stay that way in future as well. Soaking in the ambience, listening to people, relishing local foods, probing cultural nuances of a particular place and so on will always remain the common features of these narratives. From the ancient era, travel writing has also relied upon the most ancient art of storytelling. Stories, in any forms, have always appealed to human psyche and just recounting honest experience embedded in a form of story will always remain at the heart of travel writings. Experimentation with the form, medium and technique notwithstanding, these core essences will continue to breathe life into the travel accounts thereby keeping people hooked to the narratives.

#PositiveCorona: Towards a New Alternative in Macroeconomics

Every crisis has a silver lining. It challenges people to think out of the boxes, it forges solidarity in thought and action in the most precarious of times. This pandemic is no different. A silver lining of the pandemic is that pitfalls of globalization is entering popular discourse. Popular consensus is emerging that allowing free market to wreak havoc for profit motive can never stabilize the economy. This has been debated in niche theoretical circles…however the pandemic is offering profuse empirical evidences which is challenging the mainstream discourse. State institutions should be held accountable. Markets collapse in times of crisis. Health and education cannot be left to rot. Intervention in the economy is dire necessity if we want a dignified employment, standard of living for all. Economics, macroeconomics enters precisely at this moment.

This pandemic again has brought macroeconomics to forefront. The task of comprehending and formulating policies, learning from empirical data and building theoretical frameworks is the need of the hour. Frameworks that can explain the current crisis. Frameworks that can envision a radical new.

Let us understand with the help of an example, in Indian context. A guaranteed monthly income to all households called Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been championed by many economists earlier. This pandemic has thrown people out of their jobs, seeing mass exodus of migrant workers returning to their native places without a penny. So, in these moments of crisis people should be endowed with a basic sum to insure against these hard times. Inflation i.e. state of rising prices is not a concern now. People should have money so that they can afford to buy their necessities. So here again the accountability of the government, its institutions seep in. This has become a major mainstream debate now.

The 90’s were the time when globalization and liberalization were gradually becoming universal palliatives, prescribed by the leading think tanks across the globe. But history has it, we are witnessing a time when access to education, health is becoming a major concern, health or education cannot be for the few…rather they are the pillars on which the economy stands. The economics which is taught today stands on the hallmark of globalization and liberalization, society here is taught to be comprised of rational self- utility maximizing individuals. But if that was the case, we would have never seen so much social solidarity in this pandemic, so much relief work going on during Amphan or the teaching community coming forward to take into account the plight, distress of the under privileged children. All these purviews are entering economics, as it is so closely tied with society and politics. The niche school of thoughts are slowly gaining ground, the lines of Keynes, Kalecki are becoming all the more prominent.

A hopelessly hopeful like me can think of all these positivity in the times of Corona. What I have been trying to communicate through years of teaching to my students, has been rendered very commonsensical by the pandemic.

#BiochemistryPlus: Biochemistry and Medical Science-Two Mutually Linked Subjects

Contributors:

Subhendu Bandopadhayay (Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Science and Biotechnology).
Srijan Haldar (Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Science and Biotechnology).
Arnab K Ghosh (Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Science and Biotechnology).

A career in medicine is always like a dream for a student after HS (10+2) results as it provides the opportunity to serve the society and at the same time brings huge financial stability and honor. At the same time, we all know that cracking the medical entrance is not easy at all and sometimes students with very good preparations falter. But what we don’t know is that there are several other options which are also good or even better in scope and opportunities. One such option is graduation in Biochemistry followed by a research career that is closely related to medical sciences. Even a graduate in Biochemistry can serve the healthcare industry with other roles i.e increasing in demand day by day. Let’s find out what is common between Biochemistry and Medical Science and why it is worth studying as an alternative option.

The total health care system starting from diagnostics, drug development, and prescribing medicines by a doctor heavily depends on medical research data. It is a fact that a battery of biomedical scientists is always working on these aspects of medical sciences and coming out with valuable inputs which are implemented by front line medical practitioners. As an example, we can simply think about the development of Covid-19 test kits which have been developed by research scientists working in different laboratories. Likewise, the total effort going on for the development of a Covid-19 vaccine is also undergoing in a laboratory set up performed by biomedical scientists. Therefore, it can be rightly said that medical research is the backbone of medical science. Here comes the scope of studying biochemistry and ensuring a career in medical research.

Biochemistry is the study of chemical aspects of life. Life on earth is nothing but a bunch of biochemical reactions and pathways. The goal of medical science indeed is not only to expand our knowledge of the nature of life but also it exists in the practical application in the clinical field. Biochemical analysis is the key thing to facilitate and understand the molecular phenomena and the data collected from these researches provide strong support to the health workers to serve mankind in a better way. The advancement occurred in the field of genomics like the discovery of artificial gene silencing techniques through RNA interference, artificial induction of pluripotent embryonic stem cells for the creation of transgenic animals opened up the strategies to treat diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and many more. Shortly with the help of patient genetic data doctors will treat patients so that he or she can be supported with an individual specific medicine. The path of medicine in the upcoming years lies in the outcome provided by biochemists in the laboratory environment. The cumulative effect of scientific wisdom and practical application strategies help to increase the life span by understanding the molecular cause of different disease and potential treatment possibilities. Biochemistry students in their curriculum learn different papers like cell biology, immunology, microbiology, clinical biochemistry, cancer biology, etc. which give them wholesome knowledge to understand modern biological research. They perform hands-on practice using sophisticated instruments like microscopes, centrifuges, PCR machines, spectrophotometers, colorimeters, etc. which help them to grow the analytical mind. All these learning and training modules help them to become future medical scientists.

In developed countries, there is a greater focus on medical research which resulted in excellent medical expertise. Developing countries like India have now focused on this area and more funding is also available to develop our medical systems. The present pandemic situation has increased this aspect many folds and there is a greater need both in academic and professional terms of studying biochemistry as a stepping stone to become medical scientists. Apart from being a scientist, a biochemistry post-graduate and Ph.D. holder can also choose a career in academics where he/she can guide and encourage young minds.

Biochemistry postgraduates can also find a career in clinical diagnosis and pathology. In clinical diagnosis, they have to identify the disease based on the signs, symptoms, and medical history. A pathologist on the other hand works in hospital labs or pathology groups to analyze different samples and assist diagnosis and treatment for patients. A medical transcriptionist is another very upcoming career choice for biochemistry graduates nowadays. It is an allied health profession in which professionals transcribe voice messages dictated by health practitioners and make clinical reports. They not only write medical reports based on voice messages but also review and edit these messages to create new medical reports. Hence people with knowledge in biochemistry can opt for this profession which is related to medical science.

The clinical coordinator is another very promising career aspect for young biochemistry graduates where they have to oversee the daily operations of a healthcare program. Big healthcare groups are now hiring people from bioscience background for clinical coordinator post where they act as a liaison between patient families and healthcare professionals. These professionals also oversee budgets, hire people, and train staff to implement company policies.

Each year medical device manufacturing companies hire lots of people with bioscience background as marketing executives to market their products, they need people who understand the science behind instruments. All these marketing executives go to scientists or doctors to promote their products and maximize profit by developing sales strategies. In this way, they play an integral role in brand making and success.

A biochemistry graduate or postgraduate can also serve the healthcare system after getting into government health systems through different posts like pathologists, epidemiologists, medical officers, scientific officers, patent officers, etc. Post-COVID era will see an increase in all these jobs and a biochemistry degree will certainly help a student to acquire all these jobs easily as the knowledge of biochemistry will give them an extra edge over other bioscience people as it provides in-depth knowhow of all the life processes.

Adamas University, the best private university in eastern India, provides both graduation, post-graduation, and five-year Integrated (BSc. + MSc.) courses in Biochemistry. The department has an array of highly qualified faculties and state of the art lab infrastructure to guide young minds. Therefore, it is the right time to pursue Biochemistry for a better future in medical sciences.