A scientist of Indian origin who was honoured with a Padma Shri by Indian government some years ago, along with his colleagues in the US have shown that a key metabolic activity in the human cell can be manipulated from outside, making it possible to have a therapy for many incurable diseases.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the scientists, led by Vamsi Mootha, a professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School, reported engineering of a protein that can reduce the build-up of electrons in the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cells.
Mootha, also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, was honoured with India’s fourth highest civilian award in 2014.