UPSC Prelims Facts – 09 January 2024

UPSC Prelims Facts

Researchers at IIT Madras and Mandi have metabolically engineered Nothapodytes nimmoniana plant cells to increase production of anticancer drug CPT.

  • An important anti-cancer drug lead molecule for high-value drugs like irinotecan and topotecan.
  • Extracted majorly from –
    • Camptotheca acuminata (native to China)
    • Nothapodytes nimmoniana (native to western ghats in India)
  • High demand for CPT for pharmaceutical industries has made the plants endangered.

Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), has established a ‘BioImaging Bank’ for cancer.

  • Aims at creating a robust repository encompassing radiology and pathology images.
  • It will be linked with clinical information, treatment specifics.
  • Used for training, validation, and rigorous testing of AI algorithms for early detection of cancer.

ISRO will launch the European Space Agency’s (ESA) pioneering Proba-3 mission in 2024.

  • Objectives: It will create a 144-meter-long solar coronagraph, an instrument that will allow scientists to study the Sun’s corona.
  • World’s 1st precision formation flying mission.
  • Functions –
    • Pair of satellites will fly together maintaining a fixed configuration as a ‘large rigid structure’ in space to prove formation flying technologies.
    • Will mimic an artificial eclipse in space, providing a continuous view of the corona.

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