Supported by a $500,000 grant from the Baker-Polito Administration and Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), MassBay is transforming the biotechnology laboratories on its Wellesley Hills campus into a state-of-the-art training facility.
The facility and equipment upgrades will enable the College to offer an array of new credit and non-credit courses in areas such as Molecular and Developmental Biology, Gene Therapy, Edible Vaccines, Genomics, Next Generation Sequencing Technologies, and Biomanufacturing. The Center will also offer new educational opportunities for high school students, as well as create additional opportunities for corporate partnerships focused on employee-training programs.
MassBay’s biotechnology department already has a well-earned reputation for preparing students to meet the growing demand for highly-skilled technician and research associate positions. The Center for Therapeutics and Genomics Training will introduce students to modern techniques, incorporating rigorous investigative practices into the College’s biotechnology curriculum.
“It is a fascinating time for the biotechnology community, and I am very excited and motivated to lead the development of the new Center and the various programs of our biotechnology department at MassBay. Currently, genomics and therapeutics are two of the most critical and fascinating fields of study in biotechnology. The new training Center will be pioneering at the community college level and will be well-positioned to be a national model for other two-year programs.”
This grant will fund state-of-the-art equipment such as a high-content imaging system for cell analyzing, as well as a high-grade and industry-aligned gene analyzer.
B.Sc., Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, TM Bhagalpur University.
M. Sc., Cytogenetics and Plant Breeding, TM Bhagalpur University,
Ph. D., Botany (Plant Tissue Culture/Biotechnology), University of Delhi.
Post-Doctoral Training, University of Delhi South Campus, Delhi, Univ. of Massachusetts Medical School, Texas A & M University, and Scott & White Hospital.
For the past two decades, Dr. Singh has been actively engaged in biomedical research, teach, and training. Dr. Singh received his Ph.D. from the University of Delhi, India. As a graduate student, he studied on two highly medicinally important plans, Momordica charantia (Bitter gourd) and Ocimum sanctum (Holy Basil). His research developed new protocols for in-vitro regeneration of these plants. After his Ph.D. dissertation work, he did postdoctoral research at the Department of Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Delhi, South campus, another premier institute in India. Here he quicly developed genecially modified tomato plants for the production of an edible vaccine for gastrointestinal disease.
Having gained significant experience in molecular biology, genetics, and genetic engineering in India, Dr. Singh began his next research endeavor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) in Worcester.
At UMMS, Dr. Singh made outstanding research contributions in the areas of neurobiology and RNA splicing. He has demonstrated enormous insight, ingenuity, and energy in pursuit of these critical studies. At UMMS his research focused on "regulation of RNA splicing and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)." SMA is an incurable wasting neurogenetic disorder that strikes about one in every 6,000 babies born in the United States and leads to death in some affected children before age two. The condition occurs when two mutant genes are inherited, one from each parent, impairing the production of an essential protein called SMN. The deficiency disables patients by killing critical cells in the spinal cord. Dr. Singh's groundbreaking research led to a new treatment for this incurable disease, SMA. His pioneering research has identified a therapeutic target for SMA, in a disease-modifying "backup" gene, SMN2, that has opened the door to promising new treatment pathways. He has discovered an novel intronic inhibitory sequence element, named ISSN1 (for "intronic splicing silencer"), in the SMN2 gene. Dr. Singh's groundbreaking work has resulted in a U.S. patent application (U.S. patent #20070292408) and has led to the treatment of hitherto incurable children's disease, SMA. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved Spinraza (synonyms: Nusinersen, IONIS-SMNRX, ISIS-SMNRX), an antisense drug that targets gene element ISS-N1. Most importantly, Spinraza has become the first-ever FDA approved treatment for this disease and the first antisense oligonucleotide-based drug for the treatment of the fetal human genetic disease, SMA.
Dr. Singh has taught several undergraduate courses, reviewed scientific journals, written and managed grants, managed laboratory personnel, published and presented research papers, patented research findings, authored book chapters, served as a scientific advisor, and most importantly developed novel and internationally acclaimed therapeutic candidates for the treatment of the neurological disease, SMA.
Singh N. K., et al., “Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Treatment via targeting of SMN2 Splice Site Inhibitory Sequences” (United States Patent Application 20070292408).
Nirmal K. Singh, Ph.D.
Professor & Chair Department of Biotechnology
MassBay Community College, Wellesley Hills
Room # 536
Email: nsingh@massbay.edu
Phone: 781-239-2271