As Elon Musk-owned affordable satellite internet service Starlink gets prepared to finally launch its services in India, his other venture, electric car company Tesla, is also stepping closer to kick-off its operations in the country from this month.

Although not manufacturing in the country at the moment, the company is set to open its first showroom in Mumbai on July 15.

Called an “experience centre”, the Tesla showroom in the financial capital is situated in a 4,000 square feet retail space, which is closer to US tech giant Apple’s flagship store in the city.

This move comes as part of Tesla’s broader expansion strategy in India. In June, the company leased a commercial space in Mumbai’s Kurla West, which is expected to serve as a vehicle service facility.

Tesla now has four commercial properties in India, including an engineering hub in Pune, a registered office in Bengaluru, and a temporary office near BKC.

Tesla India Motor and Energy Private Ltd had leased a 24,500-square-foot space in Mumbai’s Kurla West to set up a service centre, located close to its upcoming showroom in BKC.

This move marks a significant step in Tesla’s plans to enter the Indian electric vehicle (EV) market, although the company does not currently intend to manufacture vehicles in the country.

According to real estate documents sourced by CRE Matrix, a property data analytics firm, Tesla signed a lease and license agreement with Bellissimo in City FC Mumbai I Private to rent the space in Lodha Logistics Park.

The agreement is for five years, with a starting monthly rent of Rs 37.53 lakh. Throughout the lease, Tesla will pay nearly Rs 25 crore in total, including a security deposit of Rs 2.25 crore, as per the documents.

Tesla has made it clear that its current interest lies only in selling its vehicles in India, not in manufacturing them at the moment.

“They are not interested in manufacturing in India,” Union Heavy Industries Minister HD Kumaraswamy said last month.

He added that Tesla is planning to open showrooms in India purely for sales.

The government has notified guidelines for its forward-looking EV scheme to enable fresh investments from global manufacturers in the electric cars segment and promote India as a global manufacturing hub for e-vehicles.

New Delhi, July 5: In just 10 years, the country have seen 88 new airports — nearly one new airport every 40 days — and added 60 additional flights every hour, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said.

According to the minister, flying in India today is more accessible, more available and more affordable.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian skies are more connected, competitive and collaborative, said Naidu, reiterating the ministry’s commitment to collaborative, state-specific strategies for achieving inclusive aviation growth.

He was speaking at the ‘Northern Region Ministers’ Conference on Civil Aviation 2025’ in Dehradun, organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation

“Through this strategic initiative we aim to identify the regional opportunities and unlock the vast potential of Tier 2 and 3 cities. If we look at the sector through numbers, then we can clearly see the scale of the opportunity that exists,” Naidu told the gathering.

At the event, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami underlined the pivotal role of aviation in enhancing regional connectivity, enabling tourism, and supporting socio-economic development in the state.

He appreciated the phenomenal growth in the aviation sector and highlighted the prime importance of ensuring safety in the aviation operations, including helicopter operations in the hilly terrain of the state for which “the state government and the Ministry are deeply committed”.

A series of presentations was made by the Ministry on opportunities for the states in the aviation sector.

The plenary session provided an overall outlook emerging from the day-long conference, where Naidu outlined the Ministry’s strategic priorities for the region, including the development of heliport infrastructure, expansion of UDAN routes, strengthening of Flying Training Organizations and MRO hubs, and creating synergies between the Centre, states and industry stakeholders.

The Minister also reflected on key outcomes from the one-on-one meetings held between the Ministry and state delegations, and parallel sessions between state governments and aviation industry leaders, and assured all support from the Central Government in taking the aviation sector forward.

New Delhi, July 4: A team of US researchers has identified a genetic mutation that increased the risk of humans getting cancer, paving the way for new treatments for the deadly disease.

Researchers from the University of California Davis, US, explain why certain immune cells in humans are less effective at fighting solid tumours compared to non-human primates.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed a tiny genetic difference in an immune protein called Fas Ligand (FasL) between humans and non-human primates.

This genetic mutation makes the FasL protein vulnerable to being disabled by plasmin — a tumour-associated enzyme. This vulnerability seems unique to humans and is not found in non-human primates, such as chimpanzees.

“The evolutionary mutation in FasL may have contributed to the larger brain size in humans,” said Jogender Tushir-Singh, Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology.

“But in the context of cancer, it was an unfavorable tradeoff because the mutation gives certain tumours a way to disarm parts of our immune system,” Tushir-Singh added.

FasL is an immune cell membrane protein that triggers a programmed cell death called apoptosis. Activated immune cells, including CAR-T cells made from a patient’s immune system, use apoptosis to kill cancer cells.

The UC Davis team discovered that in human genes, a single evolutionary amino acid change — serine instead of proline at position 153 — makes FasL more susceptible to being cut and inactivated by plasmin.

Plasmin is a protease enzyme that is often elevated in aggressive solid tumors like triple-negative breast cancer, colon cancer, and ovarian cancer.

This means that even when human immune cells are activated and ready to attack the tumor cells, one of their key death weapons — FasL — can be neutralised by the tumour environment, reducing the effectiveness of immunotherapies.

The findings may help explain why CAR-T and T-cell-based therapies can be effective in blood cancers but often fall short in solid tumours. Blood cancers often do not rely on plasmin to metastasize, whereas tumors like ovarian cancer rely heavily on plasmin to spread the cancer.

Significantly, the study also showed that blocking plasmin or shielding FasL from cleavage can restore its cancer-killing power. That finding may open new doors for improving cancer immunotherapy.

By combining current treatments with plasmin inhibitors or specially designed antibodies that protect FasL, scientists may be able to boost immune responses in patients with solid tumours.

“Humans have a significantly higher rate of cancer than chimpanzees and other primates. There is a lot that we do not know and can still learn from primates and apply to improve human cancer immunotherapies,” said Tushir-Singh.

“Regardless, this is a major step toward personalising and enhancing immunotherapy for the plasmin-positive cancers that have been difficult to treat,” he added.