|
| |||
|
|
By Ajit Patowary
GUWAHATI, Jan 15 An Asom chemist is leading path-breaking research activities on osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a bone disease and incidences of this illness-related fracture is greater in number nowadays compared to the combined incidences of heart attack and cancer. The disease becomes fatal within one to five years since its emergence.
It is now well recognized that a combination of low bone mass and the deterioration of the trabecular architecture trigger osteoporotic fractures. With the rising proportion of the elderly people in many countries, the disease has become a growing public health concern world over.
According to Dr Babul Borah, the Asom chemist, who is now leading research activities to know the factors responsible for the disease, a comprehensive understanding of the links between bone masses, the three-dimensional architecture of bone and bone function is fundamental to the study of new and existing therapies for osteoporosis. This insidious disease causes fracture of the bones in the spine and the hips, mostly in the post-menopausal women.
Dr Borah, who was talking to The Assam Tribune on Wednesday here said that in the USA alone, 1.2 million osteoporosis-related fractures occur annually and the healthcare cost for treating the patients of this ailment is over US $ 17 billion a year. Besides, the severity of the disease and the cost for its cure world over demands utmost priority from the entire humanity, he said.
Dr Borahs interest lies in applying three-dimensional imaging technology to gain insight as to why bones get fractured and how this tendency of brittleness could be reduced. He is conducting research in this area for the past about ten years and presently working on developing modern imaging technology in search of the medicine to fight the disease. His study has contributed immensely towards understanding the disease.
Perhaps, Dr Borah and Dr Sudhakar Rao are the two Indian scholars in the USA, who are engaged in the field of bone-related research. While Dr Borah is the principal scientist with the leading drug manufacturers Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Dr Rao is a physician working with the Henry Ford Hospital, Michigan.
Dr Borah had his primary and secondary education at Majuli Kamalabari. His father Late Keshab Ram Borah had set up the Kamalabari Hemchandra High School. Dr Borah did his matriculation from Gauhati University (GU) appearing from that school. He then joined the Cotton College. In 1967, he graduated with Chemistry as honours subject and was ranked first class second. Then, he moved to Delhi University and obtained his Master in Chemistry with first class in 1969.
Dr Borah got a national scholarship for further study in Chemistry and obtained his Ph D from the Imperial College of Science and Technology under London University in 1976. In the meantime, he served the Cotton College and Dibrugarh University as a teacher. After returning from the UK, he again joined Dibrugarh University as a teacher and in 1979, he went to the USA for doing research in medical science.
There, he conducted research in drug-DNA interaction using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). During his association with the NIH, he studied DNA conformation to understand how DNA deviates from its normal configuration resulting in diseases like cancer. This area is still haunted by the scientists. A conclusion on DNA detour has still remained elusive. In 1986, he joined the Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals as a scientist.
Dr Borah is of the opinion that although the West, particularly the USA, was leading in bio-medical research, India also had tremendous potential in the field.
Though he maintained that Indias infrastructure for drug development was not up to the mark, he demonstrated his keenness to collaborate with the Indian doctors and scientists in the field of medicine.
MSN Hotmail is evolving check out the new Windows Live Mail
_______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
