“Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR)” has been an initiative by Department of Science and Technology (DST) that aims to disseminate Indian research stories among the masses in an easy to understand and interesting format to a common man.
SSSIHL Research Fellow’s Popular Science Story Wins an AWSAR Award
In order to bridge the yawning communication gap that exists at the science-society interface, Ph.D. Scholars and Post-Doctoral Fellows (PDFs) in Science and Technology (S&T) streams are encouraged to write popular science articles and to participate in a national competition. DST had received overwhelming responses from various research labs in the country, capturing and revealing the message of science in an easy-to-understand but at the same time interesting format, to connect with the masses.
In this background, Sri Seemesh Bhaskar, DST-Inspire Research Fellow, STAR Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning has been selected to the award, winning a prize of ₹10,000/- along with a Certificate of Appreciation. A panel consisting of eminent science communicators and scientists, constituted by DST, has evaluated the entries. It is a proud moment that, in more than 5000+ participants, Sri Seemesh Bhaskar has secured a position within the top 100 for his popular science story entitled “Unity in Diversity- a Moonshot to Disruptive Innovations”, transliterated on the recently published* article: ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 12, 30, 34323–34336. The award ceremony was streamed live on YouTube, Facebook, and India Science websites on National Science Day, February 28th, 2021.
For more on the Award: https://www.awsar-dst.in/results-2020
*Read the Paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.0c07515
SSSIHL DFNS Team Bags I and II Prizes at the International Diabetes Summit 2021
The Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences (DFNS), SSSIHL, won the first and second prizes for Basic Research Category at the 5th International Diabetes Summit (Virtual) – 2021, organised by the Chellaram Diabetes Institute, Pune, from 12th to 14th March 2021. This event hosted the best-in-class experts in the field of diabetes from leading national and global diabetes institutions and had over 5000 participants.
The first prize was awarded to Prof. B. Andallu, an honorary faculty at DFNS, for her presentation on “Antihyperglycemic, antioxidant and cataract retardation effects of mulberry (Morus indica L.) leaves in STZ-diabetic rats“. Her research paper brought out the therapeutic benefits of mulberry in the amelioration of diabetic complications. The award included a certificate and prize money of Rupees One Lakh.
The second prize was awarded to Ms. Ashrita C. Haldipur, doctoral research scholar from DFNS, working under the supervision of Dr. N. Srividya, Head and Associate Professor, DFNS. Her research paper entitled “Glucose regulatory Indian red rice genotypes for diabetes management: Metabolomic, in vitro and in vivo validation”, addressed the dietary challenge faced by the rice-eating population world over suffering from diabetes using advanced and modern research methods.
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) congratulates Prof. B. Andallu and Ms. Ashrita C. Haldipur for their achievement and making the University proud with their wonderful work.
Research Scholar Honoured by ARCI, DST – Bags First Prize
Ms. Sai Kiran M, a doctoral research scholar with Department of Chemistry, SSSIHL, Anantapur won the first prize for her talk entitled “Self- assembled PVA -Based for Effective Defluoridation of Ground Water”* at the Science Technology Innovation Talks (STIN 2021) event, streamed on a virtual platform on 25-26 February 2021.
Organized by the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad to commemorate the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) on National Science Day, Young Research Fellows from across India were invited to present their research work in the form of a 3-minute presentation in the area of Material Science and Engineering at STIN 2021.
A total of 68 shortlisted participants from premier Institutes like IIScs, IITs, CSIR labs, and Central universities presented their work on 25 February, 2021 to a panel of eminent professors and senior scientists, who chose the winners based on the novelty, scientific and technical content and their relevance to societal needs.
Ms. Sai Kiran was awarded the first prize for her presentation which included prize money of 10,000 INR and a Certificate of Appreciation signed by the Chairman of the Organizing committee Dr. P.K Jain and the Director ARCI,
Dr. G. Padmanabham.
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) congratulates Ms. Sai Kiran for the above-mentioned recognition and for making the University proud.
* Reference: Mani, Sai Kiran, Rajni Bhandari, and Anita Nehra. “Self-assembled cylindrical Zr (IV), Fe (III) and Cu (II) impregnated polyvinyl alcohol-based hydrogel beads for real-time application in fluoride removal.” Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 610 (2021): 125751. DOI:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2020.127571
Read the Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0927775720313443?via%3Dihub
Also view a news report published in 02, March 2021 Hyderabad edition of The Hindu: https://bit.ly/3soGPlj
Langmuir publication – Femtomolar Detection of Spermidine
Noble metals such as gold and silver behave contrastively at nano-dimensions. While silver intrinsically enhances the luminescence of a fluorophore (a fluorescent chemical compound that can re-emit light upon light excitation), gold quenches the same.
In an attempt to overcome this inevitable loss in plasmon-coupled emission platform, Dr. Sai Sathish Ramamurthy, Asst. Professor, STAR Labs and Dr. S Prathap Chandran, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, SSSIHL have come up with novel hybridized plasmon engineering methodology.
The research group have innovated a translation application using a cell phone camera to detect spermidine in aqueous samples. Further research could help realize the detection of spermidine in biological specimens as well.
Spermidine is an indispensable natural polyamine compound – found in ribosomes & living tissues, having various metabolic functions within organisms, required for maintaining cellular homeostasis in every living organism. Apart from exhibiting anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, this molecule significantly affects several biological processes including tissue regeneration, cardioprotective and neuroprotective effects, regulation of translation, cell growth and proliferation, DNA and RNA stabilization, and enzymatic modulation to name a few.
The group have published a paper entitled: Femtomolar Detection of Spermidine using Au Decorated SiO Nanohybrid on Plasmon-Coupled Extended Cavity Nanointerface: A Smartphone based Fluorescence Dequenching approach.
Read the paper in ACS Langmuir: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b03869
#SSSIHLChemistry #SSIHLCRIF #STARlabResearch #hybridized plasmons #femtomolarsensing
SAI-GC – for non-invasive cancer imaging
Researchers from the Dept. of Physics, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, in collaboration with Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, have created breakthrough technology to invent a portable, cost-effective and high-resolution Gamma Camera system – SAI-GC – for non-invasive cancer imaging. The research was led by Prof. S Siva Sankara Sai and Dr. Murali Ravi.
The gamma camera is an imaging technique used to carry out functional scans of the mammary, thyroid, kidneys and bone to identify any defects. Gamma scan is a diagnostic test in nuclear medicine, where radioisotopes are attached to drugs that travel to a specific organ or tissue are taken internally and the emitted gamma radiation is captured by gamma cameras to form images, a process similar to the capture of x-ray images – but with additional advantage of providing the functional information of the organ.
The project was funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. The prototype has passed the requirements with Clinical Validation on all the subjects that were part of the study. Based on the results of the study, an additional project of about ₹1.08 crores has been granted to the research group by the Dept. of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India, to make a fully handheld product for Sentinel Lymph Node Navigation surgery.
Clinical trials in thyroid scanning were conducted at Healthcare Global Enterprises (HCG) Ltd., a healthcare organization headquartered in Bangalore specializing in Cancer imaging, with positive results.
When it comes to market, this device (which offers superior imaging capabilities) will cost almost 8-10 times less than existing large field of view gamma cameras. It will help in identifying ailments related to thyroid, mammary glands, bone hotspots, sentinel lymph node navigation and excision for millions of people who currently cannot afford such medical care.
In India alone, it is estimated that 42 million people suffer from thyroid diseases. Early diagnosis and treatment remain the cornerstone of medical management.
The invention is covered by two patents.
#SSSIHLResearch #SSSIHLPhysics #SSSIHL
Non-toxic nanomaterials with magnetic properties
Dr. (Miss) Deepa Seetharaman, Associate Professor and Miss Lavanya Rathi P, Doctoral Research Scholar, as a part of their efforts to prepare non-toxic nanomaterials with magnetic properties for use in medical, data and energy storage, magnetic sensing, and contaminant removal applications, have published a paper on synthesized magnetic nanoparticles of iron oxide doped with tin by a simple and cost effective method.
Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2019.09.294
#SSSIHLResearch #SSSIHL #materialsscience #nanomaterials
Disruptive Innovations to Lower Healthcare Costs
Prof. Govind Rao, Director, Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST) and Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA delivered a guest lecture on Disruptive Innovations to Lower Healthcare Costs at SSSIHL on 30 Jan 2020. The lecture was attended by students and faculty of the University, as well as doctors from Sri Sathya Sai Higher Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram.
Prof. Rao highlighted the growing cost of healthcare in the United States, costing close to $4 Trillion per annum while 71% of world population lives on a $10 per capita per day income. Under these circumstances, where medicare is beyond the reach of the masses, the Center for Advanced Center Technology (CAST) has developed next generation bio-manufacturing technology with the ability to manufacture protein-based therapeutics at the point-of-care. Under Prof. Rao’s able guidance, cell-free systems have been used to produce lifesaving biologics in under 8 hours. His talk centered around the application of non-invasive sensors, minimizing pain and removing infection risks especially for vulnerable infants in neonatal care.
He also spoke about the development of low-cost cardboard incubators for new born babies that is currently in clinical trials in India. Overall, he highlighted the application of sensor technology in reducing healthcare costs and reducing disparity by making disruptive and innovative low-cost devices for use in low resource settings.
They young students and researchers greatly benefitted from the talk and had a chance to interact with him after the lecture.
https://cast.umbc.edu/people/govind/
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03455-x
#SSSIHLResearch #SSSIHL
Amalgamation of plasmonic and photonic crystal-based sensing technologies
Dr. Sai Sathish Ramamurthy, Asst. Professor, STAR Lab, Dept. of Chemistry, SSSIHL in collaboration with Dr. Shivakiran Bhaktha B N, Photonics Lab, IIT Kharagpur and alumnus SSSIHL, have been working on amalgamation of plasmonic and photonic crystal-based sensing technologies.
The novelty of this work is the creation of a highly precise platform for the detection (1 femtomolar) of environmentally hazardous aluminium ions in drinking water. In common parlance, it is not just the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack, but even the eye of the needle. This is done using nanocavities; ‘hot-spots’ as they are called.
Under their supervision, Sri Seemesh Bhaskar, Dr. S Venkatesh (SSSIHL) and Mrs. Pratyusha Das (IIT Kharagpur), have theoretically and experimentally investigated electromagnetic modes supported by photonic crystals in different nano-architectures.
Read the paper published in ACS The Journal of Physical Chemistry C: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b11092
#SSSIHLResearch #SSSIHLChemistry #photoniccrystal#femtomolarsensing
Thought and Task – The Connect
Teachers at the Anantapur Campus, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning conducted a workshop for researchers and students, Vantage Point – Thought and Task: The Connect, that stressed on the importance of fostering good research approaches, the proper use of information and tools on how to effectively communicate in this increasingly digital world.
Dr. P L Rani, Associate Professor and Head, Dept. of English Language & Literature spoke on fostering intellectual discipline and focus in the current world of “infobesity” (Excessive availability of information), to achieve relevance and authentication.
Dr. (Miss) U Suma, Associate Professor, Dept. of Management & Commerce said that qualitative research such as positionality, epistemological, personal & critical reflexivity and reciprocity were linked to openness, introspection, empathy, objectivity, and deep enquiry. She also encouraged researchers to pursue research with an attitude of gratitude.
Miss Sai Archana M, Teaching Asst, Dept. of English Language & Literature, spoke on the importance of communication and stressed upon qualities like problem solving, critical thinking, decision making, self-management and continuous updation for better employment opportunities.
Advanced NMR applications in solving Biology problems
A workshop for postgraduate and Ph.D. students on the potential applications of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) in the fields of chemical, biological, pharmaceutical and medical sciences to help solve complex biology problems was conducted on 14 Sep 2019 by SSSIHL Central Research Instruments Facility (CRIF).
The workshop was led by Prof. Ramakrishna Vadrevu, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad. Dr Ashish Arora, CSIR-The Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow and Prof. Siddhartha P Sarma, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore were the invited speakers.
Students were introduced to various NMR techniques including Basics of Magnetic Resonance, principles of one-dimensional, two-dimensional and three-dimensional NMR spectroscopy, and the like.
Detailed discussions about the potential of NMR, including elucidating the structures of complex biological samples like peptides and proteins along with Protein-Ligand interactions in relation to interactions of drug candidates with the therapeutic targets ensued.
Issues relating to using NMR to solve complex structures of the therapeutic targets by using various 2D and 3D NMR techniques in detail with case studies from the experts’ labs, as well as isolating toxins from venoms of snakes and cone snails were deliberated on.
#SSSIHLResearch #SSSIHLCRIF #SSSIHL