Free Thalassemia Carrier Screening Camp for Month of November at Jagannath University
20 November, 2018
For November 2018, ideSHi and Rotary Club Dhaka North collaborated to organize the free Thalassemia carrier screening camp at Jagannath University, Dhaka on November 20, 2018. The camp received overwhelming response from the students and faculties alike in collection of specimen for screening. Over 160 individuals volunteered to get themselves tested for carrier status.
ideSHi signs MOU with Rotary Club Dhaka North (RCDN) for Thalassemia Screening
11 November, 2018
A MOU was signed between ideSHi and RCDN to carry out free Thalassemia screening program for young people of marriageable age. RCDN and ideSHi will work together to regularly run free Thalassemia screening camps with ideSHi providing the necessary technical expertise, qualified personnel and laboratory facilities to conduct the screening. The President of RCDN RTN Syed Imtiaz Ahmed on behalf of RCDN and Dr. Md Kaiissar Mannoor on behalf of ideSHi signed the MOU. Among others IPP of RCDN Enamuzzaman Chowdhury, PE of RCDN Muhammad Hasanuz Zaman, and Secretary of RCDN Farah Shahrookh Raza were present in the MOU signing ceremony
Her Excellency, the Ambassador of France, Marie-Annick Bourdin and Alain Mérieux Inaugurate Extended Premises of ideSHi
06 November, 2018
ideSHi celebrates the official inauguration of its extended facilities on 6th November, 2018 as carried out jointly by her excellency, the Ambassador of France, Marie-Annick Bourdin and the magnanimous President of Fondation Merieux, Alain Merieux who was accompanied by Dr. Robert Sebbag, a Mérieux Foundation Board member, and Prof. Hubert Endtz, Director of Applied Research at the foundation.
This auspicious event was marked by the attendance of eminent leaders of health and sciences in Bangladesh, namely Prof. Dr. Abul Kalam Azad, Director General of Health Services of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh; Prof. Dr. Naiyyum Choudhury, Chairman of Bangladesh’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority; Dr. John D. Clemens, Executive Director of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh (icddr,b); and Mr. Abdul Muktadir, President and CEO of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Free Thalassemia Carrier Screening Camp for month of October at Tiger IT, Banani
31 October, 2018
For the month of October, ideSHi ran its monthly thalassemia carrier screening camp at Tiger IT Bangladesh. The program was organized jointly by Rotary Club of Dhaka North, and ideSHi. As before the program was focused upon creating awareness among the employees of the company followed by a Blood specimen collection drive for free carrier screening.
ideSHi at Science for Mankind Research Award 2018
09 September, 2018
The EMK Center, Department of Biomedical Physics & Technology of the University of Dhaka, Dhaka University Science Society, and Relevant Science and Technology Society, Bangladesh have joined efforts in introducing this award aiming to motivate the young generation. ideSHi participated in the program with its exhibition stall.
ideSHi Runs Free Thalassemia Carrier Screening Camp at Energy Point, Tejgaon
09 September, 2018
As part of ideSHi’s monthly Thalassemia carrier screening program a camp was run on 09 September, 2018 organized in partnership with Rotary Club of Dhaka North at Energy Point, Tejgaon, Dhaka. The program was focused upon creating awareness among the employees of the company followed by a Blood specimen collection drive for free carrier screening.
ideSHi at The Transformers Roadshow: Science, Technology and Innovation Competition
08-09 September, 2018
Dr. Md Sazzadul Islam, Adjunct Assistant Scientist at ideSHi presented his idea entitled “Screening for silver resistance genes and identification of plasmid or chromosome-mediated resistance genes of bacterial isolates from burn wounds” at the The Transformers Roadshow: Science, Technology and Innovation Competition
organized by the Islamic Development Bank. Held at the Raddison Blu Hotel It was an exciting day of talks and entrepreneurial pitch presentations about how STI can support the Sustainable Development Goals and attended by Arch. Yeafesh Osman, Minister of Science and Technology for the Government of Bangladesh
Dissemination of Final Report on “Determination of Prevalence of Thalassemia”
11 August, 2018
The findings obtained from the study “Determination of Prevalence of Thalassemia” was formally shared with the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) through a dissemination ceremony held on 11 August, 2018 at the IPH Building Conference Room, Mohakhali , Dhaka. The Director General of DGHS, Professor Dr. Abul Kalam Azad graced the program as the Chief Guest.
ideSHi at The National Biotechnology Fair, 2018
07-08 September, 2018
The National Institute of Biotechnology (NIB) organized the National Biotechnology Fair, 2018 at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novotheater on 7-8 September 2018 in order to create awareness and increase commercialization of Biotechnology in Bangladesh based on education and research. ideSHi participated in the fair and showcased its achievements in the field of biotechnology.
World Thalassemia Day 2018: ideSHi determines the prevalence of Thalassemia carriers in Bangladesh
24 April-16 May, 2018
For decades fighting communicable diseases have been the principal focus in Bangladesh. So much so that little attention was put in studying and preventing non-communicable diseases. These non-communicable diseases include inherited genetic disorders that affect a significant portion of the population. Among the noncommunicable diseases, thalassemia is the most common congenital single gene disorder in Bangladesh. Bangladesh with a population of 170 million and a carrier status of 10%, about 8990 children are born with thalassemia each year. A recent data from 3 laboratories in Dhaka doing screening for thalassemia and other hemoglobinopathies has revealed that nearly 200 children are diagnosed with thalassemia every month. Being a homozygous recessive disorder the inheritance pattern is such that a married couple with both being carrier will have a 25% chance of producing offspring with the disease. However prevention of this disease is easy. Tremendous success have been attained by several countries in preventing incidence of thalassemia and HbE diseases by introduction of mandatory carrier screening. Cyprus started its screening program in 1970s and have been able to reduce the number of children born with this hereditary blood disease from one in every 158 births to nearly zero. Unfortunately, till date Bangladesh has not taken any effective measures in tackling such alarming issues of public health problems and nationwide carrier frequency is unknown. Information regarding beta-thalassemia and Hb E carriers in Bangladesh is important for prevention and control of thalassemia and Hb E disease.
Observing Thalassemia Day, 2018, ideSHi took an initiative in collaboration with Directorate General of Health services, MOHFW to determine the prevalence of ß-thalassemia and hemoglobin E (Hb E) carriers in Bangladesh using medical college/university-based field settings. Starting from 24 April, 2018 and throughout May, 2018 IdeSHi ran a Thalassemia awareness and screening program in 7 universities and Medical colleges inside Dhaka including Jagannath University, Mugda Medical College, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Dhaka Medical College, Jahangirnagar University, Salimullah Medical College, and University of Dhaka. A total of 1125 unmarried participants aged between 18-25 years were enrolled in the study with the intent to screen students who have come from across the country to study in Dhaka city. The consideration of participant recruitment sites were based on the fact that these public universities and medical colleges are attended by the students who come from all 8 divisions of Bangladesh.
Inauguration of Extended Premises of ideSHi
28 March, 2018
ideSHi extended its laboratory facilities to a new premise situated at Hosaf High Tower (8 th Floor), 09 Mohakhali Commercial Area, Dhaka 1212. The inauguration ceremony was held on 28 March 2018. Honorable Director General, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh, Professor A. K. Azad, graced the ceremony as the chief guest. The inauguration was followed by a lecture by Professor Song Xiaoyuan of the University of Science and Technology, Hefei, People’s Republic of China, entitled “Three-Dimensional Genome Structure in Cancers”
Joint Workshop on Applied Genetics and Genomics
26 November-30 November, 2017
A five day workshop from 26 November-30 November, 2017 was jointly organized by ideSHi-CMBT and icddr,b on applied genetics and genomics for biomedical researchers. Lectures and training exercises were dealt by visiting guests, Dr. Nick Thomson from the Sanger Institute, UK; Dr. Diane Genereux from the BROAD institute, USA; Prof. Ann Dalton from Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Dr. Sanjan Kumar Das of Barisal Biotech; Dr. Niaz Ahmed and Dr. Ramani from icddrb.
Day 1:
Dr. Firdausi Qadri
Acting Senior Director, Infectious Diseases Division, icddr,b
“High Throughput Technologies in Better Understanding Enteric Infections”- our experience so far.“
Doctor Qadri’s focus was upon epidemiology of cholera infection in Bangladesh based on her research work with national and international collaborations
Dr. Kaiissar Mannoor
Senior Scientist and Head, ideSHi
“Power of DNA Technologies in Screening & Diagnosis of Genetic Disorders”-
Dr. Mannoor discussed the use of molecular based technologies for diagnosis and detection of in-born errors of metabolism
Prof. Nicholas Robert Thomson
Sanger Institute, UK
Molecular Microbiologist and Genome Scientist
“Genomic Epidemiology of Cholera”
Dr. Thomson, in his first scientific session of the seminar examined the movement of Cholera pathogenic strains based on phylogenetic analysis of sequences, using geographical and historical context to demonstrate the possibility of unexpected origins and predictable patterns.
Dr. Diane Genereux
Broad Institute of Harvard University, USA
“Host-side Genomics as a Portal into the Dynamics of Cholera Infection”
Dr. Genereux for her first scientific session went into the details of narrowing down from a multitude of levels the most relevant sequences from genome data for particular disorders or diseases using statistical tools such as Manhattan plots.
Day 2:
Dr. Niaz Ahmed
Senior Director, Laboratory Sciences & Services Division, icddr,b
“Comparative Genomics of Pathogenic Bacteria”
Dr. Niaz Ahmed’s lecture focused on the evolution of bacterial genomes using Mycobacterium leprae, Helicobacter pylori and Escherichia coli as the primary archetypes. He conceptually reasoned how some bacteria such as M. leprae have been shedding its core genome over the past 100 million years to settle into a parasitic niche, while others such as H. pylori and E. coli favor the uptake of accessory genes in favor of a more versatile, free-living lifestyle.
Day 3:
Prof. Nicholas Robert Thomson
Molecular Microbiologist and Genome Scientist, Sanger Institute, UK
“What Does a Bacterial Genome Look Like and How Does It Vary”
Dr. Thomson gave a comprehensive hands-on training to our researchers on the comparative genomics tool, Artemis Comparison Tool (ACT)
Dr. Ramani Baddam
Senior International Fellow, icddrb
“Introduction to Next Generation technologies & Data analysis
Dr. Ramani shared her expertise on the use of various sequencing platforms including Sanger, Ilumina and PacBio technologies.
Day 4:
Dr. Diane Genereux
Broad Institute of Harvard University, USA
Dr. Genereux focused on the applications of Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) for investigation of key locations of significance in sequence reads before finishing with an exercise on building Manhattan Plots from raw data.
Prof. Ann Dalton
Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, U.K.
“Variant nomenclature and its application in clinical practice”
Professor Dalton trained how researchers or clinicians must interpret the coding classification of various sequence mutations using authentic patient results.
Dr. Sanjan Kumar Das
Chief Scientific Officer, Barisal Biotechnology UK Ltd
Dr. Das emphasized the importance of advancing the field structural genomics versus traditional genomics. He used his time to inspire philosophy, sacrifice, integrity and benevolence to attendees as he concluded the session.
Day 5:
Dr. Tahmina gave an introduction on the current emerging pathogen outbreaks a world-wide and local perspective. She elucidated the processes of using molecular and serological methodologies to report pandemics outbreaks including Zika, Chikungunya and Dengue from clinical samples obtained from around the country
ideSHi organizes National Conference on Diagnosis of Genetic Disorders in Bangladesh
April 15, 2017
On April 15th 2017 ideSHi organized a National Conference on Diagnosis of Genetic Disorders in Bangladesh: Present Situation and Future Directions. Scientists and clinicians stressed the need for initiating mandatory nationwide screening of new-born children in order to identify those at risk of having genetic diseases. Several genetic diseases like thalassemia, congenital hypothyroidism, Down syndrome, and muscular dystrophy are common in Bangladesh and causes severe financial, physical and mental distress, not just to those children affected but also to the entire family. The distressed children can many a times be treated, and/or managed to reduce sufferings and the disease can even be prevented by parental counselling. Many of these diseases result from consanguineous marriages and proper awareness and counselling as necessary can help prevent proliferation of these diseases. Diagnoses for these genetic diseases are done on many occasions by sending samples abroad. However, facilities for routine diagnosis and screening are now being developed at local institutions like the institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives (ideSHi) located at Centre for Medical Biotechnology at the Institute of Public Health. The conference was attended by over 150 researchers and clinicians from BSMMU, BIRDEM, DMC, SSMC, DU, IPH, AFIP, NINS, BSMG, NIPSOM and ideSHi. Prof. Dr. A. K. Azad Khan, President BADAS attended the conference as the chief guest, while Dr. A. K. Azad, Director General, DGHS, MOHFW, and Dr. John D. Clemens, Executive Director ICDDR,B were special guests. Prof. Dr. Naiyyum Choudhury, Chairman, BAERA and Prof. Dr. Deen Mohammed, Director NINS presided over the conference.
ideSHi at ASM workshop on Introduction to the World of Microbiology
December 19, 2016
ideSHi along with American Society for Microbiology (ASM), BRAC University and International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research Bangladesh (icddr,b) held a workshop for students from Scholastica School, South Breeze School, Independent University Bangladesh, and Jahangirnagar University titled “Introduction to the World of Microbiology”. The workshop included debate sessions, and laboratory training sessions aimed at encouraging youngsters to pursue a future in the field of biological sciences.
ideSHi winter picnic
December 16, 2016
The folks of ideSHi family took a long needed break and went for picnic to Zirani Bazaar, Savar on 16 December.
ideSHi at BSBMB national conference on biochemistry and molecular biology for life sciences
December 10, 2016
The following talks and posters featured ideSHi presenters at the 2016 annual BSBMB national conference on biochemistry and molecular biology for life sciences that took place in Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, University of Dhaka, December 01.
- Dr. Md. Alauddin– “Effect of fermented rice bran on metabolic syndrome in stroke prone spontaneously hypersensitive rat” (poster)
- Dr. Rosy Sultana– “Molecular analyses of Hepatitis E virus infection in pregnant urban dwellers of Bangladesh” (Poster)
- Dr. Mohammad Sazzadul Islam-“E2F1 induces expression of BMCC1 and facilitates phosphorylation of ATM, is associated with favorable prognosis of Neuroblastoma” (oral)
- Golam Sarower Bhuyan– “Antimicrobial resistance patterns of respiratory pathogens in under-five children and detection of extended spectrum ß-lactamase class antimicrobial resistance genes in multi-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter agglomerans” (oral)
- Tarikul Islam– “High resolution melt curve analysis in heterozygous G6PD mutation detection in Bangladesh” (oral)
Annual General Meeting
December 03, 2016
The 1st Annual General Meeting of the ideSHi foundation was held at the Health System Strengthening and Global Health cell (HSS & GH)/CMBT conference room, Institute of Public Health Building, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Saturday, 03 December. The AGM was dedicated to the loving memory of our Board of Trustee member and National Professor Late Dr. M. R. Khan.
World Life Science Conference 2016
Nov-1st-3rd
Dr. Mohammad Sazzadul Islam presented his poster titled “Antimicrobial resistance pattern of acute respiratory infection (ARI) in under-five children in Bangladesh” at the World Life Science Conference (WLSC) 2016 organized by the China Association of Science and Technology (CAST) and the China Union of Life Science Societies which took place at China National Convention Center in Beijing, China, November 1-3. The conference covered the latest and most exciting discoveries in basic research, technology development, government policies
and science education in the areas of health, agriculture and environmental science. Many leaders of international academic organizations and hundreds of outstanding scientists in the field of life sciences around the world were invited to attend.
Inauguration of the Genetics & Genomics Laboratory at ideSHi
August-29, 2016
On August 29th, 2016, the Honorable minister of health and family welfare of the Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Mohammad Nasim M.P inaugurated the Genetics and Genomics Laboratory at the institute for developing Science and Health initiatives (ideSHi).
Dr. Mannoor at Broad Institute
July 18-August 12, 2016
Dr. Md Kaiissar Mannoor, Head and Scientist of ideSHi attended a foundational training workshop in genomics hosted by The Sabeti Lab at Harvard University and The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT during the 2016 ACEGID (African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases) Summer program between July 18 and August 12.
Dr. Mannoor with ACEGID team
ideSHi at 8th Gabriel network annual meeting
July 5-8, 2016
Asifuzzaman Rahat presented his work titled “surveillance of acute respiratory and enteric infections in two hospitals in Dhaka, Bangladesh” at the 8th Annual GABRIEL Research Network Meeting, an international conference held at Vientiane, Laos, between July 5-8 where scientists from 25 countries presented research results on infectious diseases threatening developing countries.
ideSHi at SABC
February 05-06, 2016
The following talks and posters featured ideSHi presenters at the 2nd International South Asian Biotechnology Conference (SABC) 2016 that took place in Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, University of Dhaka February 05-06.
- Asifuzzaman Rahat– “Multi-hospital surveillance of acute respiratory and enteric infection in under-five children in Dhaka, Bangladesh” (Talk)
- Mohammad Tarikul Islam– “Molecular analysis of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase enzyme deficiency in Bangladesh” (Talk)
- Mohammad Amir Hossain– “Study of the Antimicrobial Activities of the Bark extract of Cinnamomum verum on Multi-Drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter agglomerans” (Poster)