MoU with Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs for setting up an Accelerator Centre for R&D at IIT Kharagpur

Highlights:

The MoU will identify the proven, innovative, emerging set up of Accelerator Centre for Research & Development at IIT Kharagpur.

April 22, 2021, Kharagpur, India, IIT Kharagpur and the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) have signed an MoU to set up an Accelerator Centre for Research & Development at the Institute. Under this MoU will provide innovation & incubation assistance to carry out activities like technology & product development. The Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators-India (ASHA-India) initiatives under Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) is one of its kind innovations.

“This collaboration is aimed to support potential future technologies relevant for built-in environments developed in India through incubation and acceleration which will identify the proven, innovative, emerging, disaster-resilient, environment-friendly, cost-effective and speedy construction technologies for housing construction in India,” remarked Prof. Subrata Chattopadhyay. “We will be involved in education and research works, to produce global leaders in science, technology and management,” he added.

Through the ASHA-India initiative, the Centre shall receive support towards developing design guidelines, construction manuals and other necessary documents relevant for an effective transfer, use and implementation of new technology from the lab to land. On similar lines, IIT Kharagpur through its centres of excellence in education and research has been contributing to various facets of public welfare research & outreach.

Talking about this collaboration, Director, Professor Virendra Kumar Tewari remarked, “Our work in various frontier areas of research has led us to contribute to various domains not only through affordable technology development but providing holistic and smart solutions. This Centre at IIT Kharagpur will be one of the hubs of knowledge creation and technology development.

Media Contact: Professor Subrata Chattopadhyay, Professor & Former Dean (Alumni Affairs), Architectural & Regional Planning Department, schat@arp.iitkgp.ac.in

For more queries write to media@iitkgp.ac.in

About IIT Kharagpur: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is a higher educational institute known globally for its graduate output and affordable technology innovations. Set up in 1951 in a detention camp as an Institute of National Importance, the Institute is ranked among the top five in India and has been awarded Institute of Eminence by the Govt. of India in 2019. The key areas of research of IIT Kharagpur are Affordable Healthcare Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing, Advanced Transportation, Precision Agriculture and Food Technology, Cyber physical Systems, Ecology & Environment, Mining, Water Resources and Architecture. The Institute is engaged in several international and national mission projects and ranks significantly in research output including 50-100 IPR filed annually and about 2000 research publications in top journals and conferences. At present, the Institute has about 750 full-time equivalent faculty members, more than 14000 students and over 70,000 Alumni. For more information visit: www.iitkgp.ac.in

Virtual Student Mobility Programme with U of Edinburgh for Transdisciplinary Insights on R&D Topics

IIT Kharagpur and The University of Edinburgh, UK have launched a virtual student mobility programme to gain insights on water-energy-food-public health from diverse perspectives, and analysis of the same with a transdisciplinary approach. The programme would facilitate capacity building and gainful research toward inclusive and sustainable development.

The proposed virtual programme focuses on developing domain knowledge of the participants, particularly in the Indian context, integrating ideas and expertise through group activities on the thematic areas. Under this programme and identifying the issues, the participants will work under the mentorship of faculty members IIT Kharagpur and the University of Edinburgh, before opting for a possible physical mobility programme.

“We expect this virtual mobility programme to be helpful to the students from both UK and India toward their fruitful participation in a possible physical mobility programme. Further, experiences and feedback from this virtual programme will also benefit the organizers to revise the structure of this proposed physical mobility programme in the right direction and toward greater success,” said Prof. B C Meikap, organizing committee member at IIT Kharagpur.

Around 20 students from IIT Kharagpur and 20 students from The University of Edinburgh will participate in this programme over a period of five days during 24-28 May 2021.

Talking about how the programme will help students at IIT Kharagpur, Prof. Pulak Mishra said, “It will provide understanding of the critical issues from diverse perspectives, and seeing the socio-economic and behavioural aspects through the lenses of the Edinburgh students as well. Such interactions, exchange of ideas, co-working and cross-learning will grow the critical and transdisciplinary understanding of the IIT Kharagpur students on this complex domain of water-energy-food-public health relationships.”

The issues and underlying dynamics of water-energy-food-public health relationships are quite complex in different socio-economic, policy and institutional setups. In addition to innovation and development of appropriate technologies in these areas, their acceptance, adaptation and outcomes depend on various social, economic, behavioural, cultural, policy related and institutional factors. Further, often these social, economic, policy and institutional aspects also set the directions for further research and development in the related areas. Such both way implications require sharing and convergence of knowledge, expertise and emerging issues in the related fields through rigorous brainstorming and exchange of ideas and collaboration in teaching and research. The virtual mobility programme is expected to create the right platform in this regards.

“The programme will offer our students, opportunities to enrich their knowledge and research aptitude under the mentorship of the renowned faculty members of the University of Edinburgh. Experiences from such a joint programme will also benefit the participating faculty members of IIT Kharagpur in strengthening their joint research proposals with Edinburgh counterparts,” added Prof. Bhagirath Behera.

Since 2010, the Mumbai office of the University of Edinburgh, led by Regional Director Amrita Sadarangani, has been instrumental in developing a network of impactful activities in India, ranging from research collaborations with leading universities through to student-centered activities such as the ‘Fashion Trek’. The Virtual Student Mobility programme will fit wonderfully within this ever-growing narrative. Further, it will take the academic collaboration between IIT Kharagpur and The University of Edinburgh forward.

“The 20 participating Edinburgh students will become knowledgeable ambassadors for Indian people and culture, with expertise and insights they can bring to their further studies. In summer 2019, the University of Edinburgh’s Study and Work Away Service commissioned a study ‘Barriers to International Experience’. Students identified short-term opportunities such as this an important mobility option and this programme can become an exemplar for similar future initiatives.” said Prof. Neil Robertson from of The University of Edinburgh

IIT Kharagpur Study Predicts River Basin-wise Agricultural Droughts-North India Shows High Vulnerability

With inputs from Rituparna Chakraborty

Highlights:

The study predicts future status climate change-induced agricultural droughts across India.
More intense droughts in North, North-East and Central India are expected as compared to South India.
About 20 and 50% of the area in India is expected to face extreme and moderate agricultural droughts, respectively, by the end of the 21st century.

Farmers in India’s north, north-east and central regions may have to be more cautious of agricultural droughts in the future – reveals IIT Kharagpur study. The data shows a geographically contrasting change in future drought patterns that indicates more intense agricultural drought in north, north-east, and central India as compared to south India due to changing climate.

The study conducted by research scholar Mayank Suman from the School of Water Resources and Dr. Rajib Maity, Associate Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Kharagpur has been published in the Journal of Water and Climate Change. The researchers have identified vulnerable basins, out of a total of 226 sub-basins across India, considering the future agricultural drought. The area under drought is also expected to increase which might lead to about 20 to 50% of mainland India suffering from extreme to moderate agricultural drought conditions respectively, by the end of this century.

Trend of SSMI series for different future periods. The maps show the basin-wise trend of agricultural droughts in entire ‘future’ period upto 2100 and three epochs: E1 (2006-2035), E2 (2036-2070), and E3 (2071-2100) for the worst climate change scenario.

“Sub-basins in Northern India are expected to have a longer time under drought conditions followed by sub-basins in central India. Sub-basins in the Gangetic plain were also observed to exhibit high vulnerability to extreme drought conditions in future,” said Mayank Suman.

The recent studies on meteorological drought suggest more intense and frequent drought events due to changing climate.

“With climate change, air temperature is expected to increase, resulting in a drying tendency in soil moisture and streamflow along with higher and intense precipitation. The prediction of an increase in the area under drought has been made due to these probable changes. Many studies suggest that drought is expected to become more severe and frequent, and the areas under drought are expected to increase with local variation in the future,” remarked Prof. Rajib Maity.

With India’s steep dependence on agriculture and allied economies [18% of GDP, Source: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Govt. of India, 2021], monitoring, assessment, and prediction of agricultural drought are of immense importance.

“With the extreme drought conditions having a possible adverse effect on food production in identified regions, policymakers would find our findings useful for future planning and preparedness in terms of agricultural productivity,” added Prof. Maity.

The researchers predicted the drought status using the wavelet-based drought temporal consequence modelling of meteorological drought with the best performing bias-corrected Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) simulations, selected by Multi-Criteria Decision- Making frameworks. They used the Standardized Soil Moisture Index as the drought characterizing index alongwith most of the existing studies on meteorological droughts are analyzed using the indices, such as Standardized Precipitation Index, Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, and the Palmer Drought Severity Index.

About IIT Kharagpur: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is a higher educational institute known globally for its graduate output and affordable technology innovations. Set up in 1951 in a detention camp as an Institute of National Importance, the Institute is ranked among the top five in India and has been awarded Institute of Eminence by the Govt. of India in 2019. The key areas of research of IIT Kharagpur are Affordable Healthcare Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing, Advanced Transportation, Precision Agriculture and Food Technology, Cyberphysical Systems, Ecology & Environment, Mining, Water Resources and Architecture. The Institute is engaged in several international and national mission projects and ranks significantly in research output including 50-100 IPR filed annually and about 2000 research publications in top journals and conferences. At present, the Institute has about 750 full-time equivalent faculty members, more than 14000 students and over 70000 Alumni. For more information visit: www.iitkgp.ac.in

Media Contact: Dr. Rajib Maity, Associate Professor, Email: rajib@civil.iitkgp.ac.in, Ph: +91-3222-283442

For more information write to media@iitkgp.ac.in

For latest news and information subscribe to https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/ and follow us on social media: Facebook/Twitter: @IITKgp; Instagram: @iit.kgp

Global Launch of COVIRAP – Nucleic acid-based Point-of-Care Diagnostic Device for COVID-19 and beyond

Highlights

A generic step-wise isothermal nucleic acid-based testing technology for the rapid diagnostics of pathogenic infections including but not limited to SARS-CoV-2 in individuals.
Nasal Swab/ Saliva to result from integration in about 45 minutes in a highly affordable pre-programmable portable device developed by the team, without requiring any separate facility for RNA extraction.
Kit supplemented with a free smartphone app to facilitate unambiguous results interpretation and automated dissemination to the patients. The test may be performed by unskilled personnel outside the controlled lab with no intermediate manual intervention between sample loading and result dissemination.
Patents filed in the India, USA, several other countries, and the foreign filing license has been granted recently.
The unique trade-off between the high scientific standards of advanced molecular diagnostics with the elegance of common rapid tests for underserved community care.

IIT Kharagpur has successfully commercialized its flagship healthcare product – COVIRAP – the novel diagnostic technology for infectious diseases including COVID-19 and beyond. The product developed by lead researchers Professor Suman Chakraborty, Dr. Arindam Mondal and their research group has been licensed for commercialization to the Rapid Diagnostic Group of Companies, India and Bramerton Holdings LLC, USA.

Bramerton Holdings has signed a record deal for securing global rights for commercially disseminating the COVIRAP technology developed at IIT Kharagpur in various geographical locations outside the territory of the Indian subcontinent. Rapid Diagnostic has also initiated adapting the COVIRAP technology platform for COVID-19 and tuberculosis, in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur.

The research team has now developed a more advanced version of COVIRAP using a step-wise isothermal nucleic acid testing technology for the rapid diagnostics of pathogenic infections including SARS-CoV-2 in individuals. The COVID-19 diagnostic test can be conducted directly from human swab samples in the portable device developed by the team, without requiring any separate facility for RNA extraction. The results can be made available within 45 minutes of obtaining the patient sample. The kit has also been also supplemented with a free smartphone app to facilitate unambiguous results interpretation and automated dissemination to the patients.

Recognizing the impact of the COVIRAP technology in meeting the long-standing demands of high-quality community-level testing, IIT Kharagpur has further initiated the procedure of deploying this product for on-campus use to detect possible novel coronavirus infection.

“The above move has taken place at a critical juncture when the recent spurt in COVID-19 infection, commonly known as the second wave, has been threatening to spread more rapidly than ever before. Moreover, the commercialization of COVIRAP will initiate complete indigenization and availability of a large range of affordable healthcare products in the Indian market as well as deep trenches of a large global market that is literally starving for the need of such technology. COVIRAP promises its reach to the grass-root level in catering to the needs of the last person of the society,” opined Director Prof. V K Tewari.

For use of the test, the nasal, as well as oral swab samples, are diluted in a solution and tested in the portable device by mixing with reagents that are supplied in a pre-mixed form. The test runs automatically in the device without intermediate manual intervention.

“We have conducted field trials for running the tests with the help of unskilled personnel outside controlled laboratory ambiance, with no compromise in quality of the test outcome. The entire sample-to-result procedure may be conducted in the portable device, virtually anywhere and with minimal training thus making the process of testing more effective for community-level screening and early detection of any emerging infection outbreak. This may act as a key to arrest community level spreading of the infection,” remarked Prof. Suman Chakraborty.

Nucleic acid-based point-of-care tests such as COVIRAP usher great promises as viable alternatives for rapid testing of pathogenic infections at low cost in resource-limited settings.

“The COVIRAP test overcomes several potential bottlenecks faced by similar other tests in the past, for instance, poor performance outside highly controlled laboratory and lack of simple, affordable, yet generic and universal instrument that may be used for home-based testing and community healthcare for a wide variety of infectious and non-infectious diseases,” he explained.

Patents centered around this innovation have been filed in the India, USA, several other countries, in the name of IIT Kharagpur. The foreign filing license has been granted recently. Commercialization and use in the USA and Europe under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) process are currently underway. Both the Rapid Diagnostic Group in India and Bramerton Holdings in the USA, in association with IIT Kharagpur, have already identified the key resources towards establishing the reagent supply chain, kit and device manufacturing in entirety under a ‘Make in India’ initiative with complete import substitution. In addition to licensing COVIRAP to these companies, the inventors at IIT Kharagpur will receive further support via industrial consultancy project mode for further advancement of the product.

The envisaged trade-off between the high scientific standards of advanced molecular diagnostics with the elegance of common rapid tests appears to be the future of infectious disease detection and management. A platform technology capable to be inclusive of all such disease detections where nucleic acid-based tests may be deployed, COVIRAP is not just a one-time solution targeted specifically to COVID-19 but will remain imperative in global disease management overall years to come.

For more information contact:

Research & Product: Prof. Suman Chakraborty, suman@mech.iitkgp.ac.in; Media: media@iitkgp.ac.in; VeenaNxt: info@VeenaNxt.com

Follow IIT Kharagpur on Facebook/Twitter: @IITKgp Instagram: @iit.kgp

About IIT Kharagpur: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is a higher educational institute known globally for its graduate output and affordable technology innovations. Set up in 1951 in a detention camp as an Institute of National Importance, the Institute is ranked among the top five in India and has been awarded Institute of Eminence by the Govt. of India in 2019. The key areas of research of IIT Kharagpur are Affordable Healthcare Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing, Advanced Transportation, Precision Agriculture and Food Technology, Cyberphysical Systems, Ecology & Environment, Mining, Water Resources and Architecture. The Institute is engaged in several international and national mission projects and ranks significantly in research output including 50-100 IPR filed annually and about 2000 research publications in top journals and conferences. At present, the Institute has about 750 full-time equivalent faculty members, more than 14000 students and over 70000 Alumni. For more information visit: www.iitkgp.ac.in

About COVIRAP Commercial Partners:

Rapid Diagnostic Group of Companies: Founded by Dr. Bharat Jindal, a medical doctor by profession, the companies were established in 1995 with the sole aim of providing quality and leading-edge products and services to the Indian Healthcare ecosystem. By now, they have established an extensive national network of 22 offices and 4,000 distributors, enabling outreach to customers at under-resourced locations where the infrastructure of high-end diagnostic tests remains non-existent. In response to the pandemic situation, they came into the production of COVID IgG ELISA kits with a joint venture of ICMR/NIV, Rapid tests, PPE kits, Masks and few more products which can help the Nation. Boosted by their own manufacturing facility of diagnostic tests based in Delhi, they envision bringing the COVIRAP technology to the Indian Market at the earliest. As a pioneer in the industry, their mission is to provide timely, high-quality diagnostic kits, diagnostic instruments, point of care and critical care instruments at an affordable price. They have also initiated adapting the COVIRAP technology platform for TB diagnostics, in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur.

Bramerton Holdings: Bramerton Holdings is a subsidiary of Riverfort Global Capital (ww.riverfort.com). The Riverfort Group comprises a London-based investment advisor regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and a number of regulated investment funds and investment companies. In addition, the Riverfort group is an investor in the Sure Vally Ventures (SVV) venture capital fund which invests in early-stage technology companies and includes both private sector and governmental investors. The Riverfort Group and its founders have arranged and advised the funding of over 100 companies deploying over 500 million USD in capital. Bramerton Holdings is launching the special purpose vehicle for the global development and distribution of the COVIRAP technology via its subsidiary called VeenaNxt Limited. [Contact at info@VeenaNxt.com]

The Bramerton Holdings leadership team includes Chairman Brian Kinane, (MBA London & Columbia Business Schools) and BA (Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin) having more than 12 years investment fund management experience and 15 years entrepreneurial, corporate & operational experience across global technology giants; Gytis Martinkus, Managing Director & CFO, an experienced financial professional having qualified long-term association with the KPMG; Subhendu K Misra, Managing Director US Markets, MBA (Columbia Business School, USA) and BS and MS (in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA), having over 20 years of experience at the intersection of life sciences, technology, and innovation, involving the top global pharmaceutical and medical devices companies across the US, Europe, and Japan; and Mark Wheeler, Chief Legal Officer, a qualified practicing solicitor holding, by training LLB in law (University of Bristol) and LPC (University of Law, Guildford branch), having over 10 years of experience as a qualified solicitor, and named as a key individual in small cap capital markets and up to £ 50m mergers and acquisitions transactions in the Legal 500, 2020 edition.The VeenaNxt Limited board of directors includes Richard Morgan and Peter Bains as a strategic advisor. Richard Morgan is on the VeenaNxt board of directors. Richard co-founded Celgene in 1987 and was on the board for 20 years, serving as Chairman and CEO before recruiting a new CEO. He remained on the board for a further 10 years, serving on the Executive Committee and chairing the Compensation Committee until his retirement in 2008. He was the Chairman of Quidel Corp, a NASDAQ listed company, and Polarean. Richard was also a Managing Partner at Wolfensohn Partners LP which followed 15 years at Schroders plc, then a leading British merchant bank. In 1982 he completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. Peter Bains is a strategic advisor to VeenaNxt. Peter is currently CBO and Executive Director of Mina Therapeutics, a privately held UK biotech company as well as Non Executive Director of Mereo BioPharma Group plc, a NASDAQ listed company and Indivior, a FTSE listed company. Peter was the Chief Executive Officer of Syngene International, which he successfully took public on the Mumbai Exchanges in 2015. Peter has over three decades of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, which included a 23-year career at GlaxoSmithKline, among other roles he was also a member of various GSK teams with strategic, operations, marketing, and business development responsibilities and a Member of the Board of Directors of GSK India. He also served as the Representative Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Sosei Group Corporation, a Tokyo listed biotech company. Their team profile for the exclusive launch of COVIRAP in the global market is boosted further by executive scientist Dr. Gopal Pattanayak, Staff Scientist at the University of Chicago in the life sciences space, as well as Dr. Ajaya K. Mohanty, an internationally recognized technology professional having played a leading role in developing private and public sector partnerships in scientific research, education and IT, and having advised and consulted on the National Supercomputing Mission and (Digital) Infrastructure in India and recipient of an award bestowed by the President of India in 2017.

MoU with NCDC to Promote Developments in Cooperatives, Agriculture and Allied Sectors

Highlights:

This MoU will promote greater collaboration towards sustainable development in cooperatives, agriculture and allied sectors

It will involve advancement of training, action research, studies, policy analysis, policy advice, consultancy, monitoring, evaluation, system development and technology development.

It will provide support towards Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisation

It shall have opportunities for trainee/student exchange program including providing internships

IIT Kharagpur and the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) have signed an MoU towards greater collaboration in issues and areas related to the development of cooperatives, agriculture and allied sectors and to the holistic approach towards sustainable development.

The scope of the MoU will involve the advancement of training, action research, studies, policy analysis, policy advice, consultancy, monitoring, evaluation, system development and technology development. Both organizations will collaborate and supplement the utilization of resources and facilities on matters pertaining to ‘Formation and Promotion of Farmer Producer Organisation‘, with a focus on sustainable business, capacity building, training and skill development of stakeholders.

Furthermore, skilling of youth through trainee/student exchange program including providing internship opportunities to students or alumni will be pursued under the SAHAKAR MITRA -NCDC Scheme on Internship Program (SIP).

A Joint Working Group will also be set up to monitor various activities under the MoU and suggest necessary measures for its development.

“IIT Kharagpur has been working in various skill development and sustainable development projects through various programs and outreach initiatives at the Dept. of Agricultural and Food Engineering and Center for Rural Development and Innovative Sustainable Technology. Strengthening the rural workforce and building sustainable solutions for them, would require more exposure of the students and researchers as well as the target groups and end-users. We believe this collaboration with NCDC will augment a holistic growth towards Atmanirbhar Bharat,” said Director Prof. V K Tewari.

Earlier in March this year, Mr. Sundeep Kumar Nayak, IAS – Managing Director of the NCDC, visited the Agricultural and Food Engineering (AgFE) Department and interacted with the faculty members. It was decided to take the discussion to next level of formal engagement between the Department and the NCDC. The Managing Director and Prof. R. Banerjee (Head of AgFE Department) agreed to join forces so that the relevant innovations could potentially be appropriated and eventually disseminated to empower rural India through cooperatives and FPOs.

Agricultural and Food Engineering Department of IIT Kharagpur, is the only department of its kind in the country’s IIT System. Since its inception in 1952, the AgFE Department has been serving the nation through high-standard research and development, teaching, and outreach. The Department is adequately experienced in the creation and dissemination of appropriate rural technologies through its recent flagship initiatives. Rural Technology Action Group, Design and Innovation Centre (DIC), NABARD-Agri Business Incubation Centre, and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-Agri Business Incubator are such existing platforms at the AgFE that have successfully translated research ideas into meaningful prototypes that address agricultural and rural issues. For more information visit http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/department/AG.

Media Contact: Professor R. Banerjee, Head, Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, rb@agfe.iitkgp.ernet.in

For more queries write to media@iitkgp.ac.in

About IIT Kharagpur: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is a higher educational institute known globally for its graduate output and affordable technology innovations. Set up in 1951 in a detention camp as an Institute of National Importance, the Institute is ranked among the top five in India and has been awarded Institute of Eminence by the Govt. of India in 2019. The key areas of research of IIT Kharagpur are Affordable Healthcare Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing, Advanced Transportation, Precision Agriculture and Food Technology, Cyberphysical Systems, Ecology & Environment, Mining, Water Resources and Architecture. The Institute is engaged in several international and national mission projects and ranks significantly in research output including 50-100 IPR filed annually and about 2000 research publications in top journals and conferences. At present, the Institute has about 750 full-time equivalent faculty members, more than 14000 students and over 70000 Alumni. For more information visit: www.iitkgp.ac.in

IIT Kharagpur Students Startup InfinityBox Awarded Hult Prize Seed Funding

InfinityBox, an IIT Kharagpur students startup, has received the seed capital award of $100K by the Hult Prize Foundation.

It is the only Indian company that is the recipient of the seed capital award of USD 100,000 by the Hult Prize Foundation and alumni of Nexus Incubator by the US Embassy and Singapore Government-funded Young Social Entrepreneurs 2020.

InfinityBox is working towards reducing the use of less single-use plastics in the food delivery industry. The startup has partnered with two of India’s most prominent food delivery companies, Swiggy in the B2C domain, and HungerBox in the B2B domain, to support them towards sustainable operations.

The startup was also adjudged the national winners at the Innovate4SDG contest by UNDP (United Nation Development Program) Accelerator Labs India that included $5000 as a cash prize.

Founding Team:

Shashwat Gangwal (IIT KGP 2019)
Soham Chandorkar (IIT KGP 2020)
Keshav Godala (IIT KGP, 4th Year)
Shiv Kumar (BITS Pilani)

For more information visit https://www.infinityboxkgp.com/

Research scholar Jyotsana Priyadarshani talks about ‘organ-on-a-chip’ research

For over two decades, researchers at IIT Kharagpur have been working on the development of affordable, portable and remote technology in the healthcare domain. The School of Medical Science and Technology and the Microfluidics Lab at the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering have collaborated on several such projects.

In a similar work research scholar, Jyotsana Priyadarshani is pursuing her PhD in the area of “organ-on-a-chip” under the supervision of Prof. Soumen Das at the School of Medical Science & Technology and Prof. Suman Chakraborty at the Microfluidics Lab.

Her research focuses on utilizing the frugal fabrication technique and microfluidic applications to address the important features and geometrical complexities of microvasculature in vitro. Such bioengineered microfluidic platforms are potentially suitable for probing cellular dynamics as well as offering critical insights into cancer, cardiovascular diseases, offsetting the requirements of in vivo trials on animals and humans to a large extent.

Here is an interview on “Vigyan Patrika”, Jyotsana talks about her recently published paper titled “Transport of vascular endothelial growth factor dictates on-chip angiogenesis in tumor microenvironment” in Physics of Fluids journal.

Read Full interview: https://biopatrika.com/2021/04/16/interview-biomimetic-organ-chip-drug-screening/

Paper Abstract:
On-chip investigations on tumor angiogenesis, hallmarked by the growth of new blood vessels from preexisting ones, have attracted significant interest in recent times, due to their exclusive capabilities of probing the detailed mechanisms of chemokine transport and visualization of cell-cell interactions that are otherwise challenging to capture and resolve under in vivo conditions. Here, we present a simulation study mimicking tumor angiogenesis microenvironment on-chip, with a vision of establishing the favorable conditions for stable and uniform gradients of vascular endothelial growth factor that plays a pivotal role in tumor progression. The model platform addresses different responses of endothelial cells such as chemotaxis, haptotaxis, and mitosis, under combined convection-diffusion transport in a micro-confined fluidic environment constituting collagen-based extracellular matrix. The model predictions emerge to be consistent with reported in vitro angiogenesis experiments and hold potential significance for the design of organ-on-a-chip assays, disease modeling, and optimizing anti-angiogenic therapies.

Citation: Jyotsana Priyadarshani, Prasoon Awasthi, Pratyaksh Karan, Soumen Das, and Suman Chakraborty, “Transport of vascular endothelial growth factor dictates on-chip angiogenesis in tumor microenvironment” , Physics of Fluids 33, 031910 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0042487

Climate Change Signals from North-Eastern India, the Wettest Place on Earth

In a recent study, researchers from IIT Kharagpur have observed a significant change in the rainfall in the northeast in general and specifically at the wettest place on Earth, Cherrapunji-Mawsynram.

The researchers observed rainfall changes in the past century (1901–2019) over the wettest place on the Earth and unveiled the first evidence for the signals of climate change and anthropogenic influence on rainfall changes in the region.

Image: The figure shows the study region and rainfall received at Cherrapunji and Mawsynram in the past 50 years. The spatial change in rainfall shifted the wettest place on the Earth from Cherrapunji to Mawsynram in the early 1980s.

The analysis of 119 years of rainfall data at 17 stations in Northeast India revealed that most of the stations show negative trends in rainfall, the highest in the summer monsoon and the smallest in the winter. A clear shift in the rainfall pattern is observed in the mid-1970s. This abrupt shift in the rainfall can be attributed to the climate shift that occurred in the Pacific Ocean.

The large variability and rapid warming associated with climate change in the equatorial Indian Ocean and associated atmospheric circulation patterns, and the changes in land use/land cover are the main reasons for the inter-annual variability and negative trends in the rainfall in the northeast region, particularly at Cherrapunji and Shillong.

The seasonal rainfall cycles at these locations are also found to be changed one month ahead as compared to that before 1973. The spatial shift in the rainfall from Cherrapunji to Mawsynram in the early 1980s can also be viewed as a part of the above-mentioned temporal change and the westward movement of rainfall there.

The expansion of western subtropical Pacific high is another reason for this rainfall pattern change.

“The analyses uncover signals of regional climate change in India. Since the changes in the rainfall amount would affect drinking water, irrigation, agriculture, energy production and the economy of our country, this study cautions us about the impact of imminent climate change in our country,” says researcher Dr. J Kuttippurath, Assistant Professor, Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL).

Northeast India houses about 64% forest, 30% under the Brahmaputra valley and the rest has steep slopes, hills and mountains. The region has the highest vegetation cover in India and is one of the 18 biodiversity hotspots of the world; indicating the importance of the region in terms of its greenery and climate change sensitivity. Agriculture and allied activities form the backbone of the economy in the region, where more than 60% of the crop area is under rain-fed agriculture.

“The northeast region is well known as the wettest region of the world because it receives nearly 2000 mm of rainfall annually, which is about three times higher than the mean annual rainfall of India. Furthermore, the population of this region mainly depends on agriculture and horticulture, which is fed by the seasonal rainfall and therefore, any change in the rainfall would alter the economy and affect the well-being of the society,” remarked Prof. Madan Kumar Jha, Professor, Dept. of Agricultural and Food Engineering.

Citation J Kuttippurath et al 2021 Environ. Res. Lett. 16 024018, Journal: Environmental Research Letters [Impact Factor: 6.09], DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abcf78

For more information contact:

Media: media@iitkgp.ac.in; VeenaNxt: info@VeenaNxt.com

Follow IIT Kharagpur on Facebook/Twitter: @IITKgp Instagram: @iit.kgp

Who needs quantum gravity?

By Sandipan Sengupta, Dept of Physics, IIT Kharagpur

Nature is made up of elementary particles, the interactions among them being manifested as forces of various kinds. A modern language to describe these phenomena is provided by quantum field theory, which is based on a set of relativistic fields. Within this framework, particles typically emerge as excitations over a (quantum) ground state, and macroscopic forces arise due to the exchange of particles. For instance, for the all so well-known case of the electromagnetic force, the associated particle is the photon, whose exchange between a source and a sink leads to their apparent ‘feeling’ of mutual attraction or repulsion. The photon in turn could be described by some of the components of a four-vector field in spacetime. To emphasize, the properties of this quantum field and hence the dynamics of photon are studied on a fixed spacetime (flat or curved), which has no role other than providing the background stage for these fields to thrive. This is an acceptable description, since gravity is the weakest of all the fundamental interactions, and may be treated as a passive(non-quantum) spectator, unlike the other interactions which are the main actors and are to be perceived as genuinely quantum.

However, if we need to primarily deal with gravity, then it is reasonable to demand that the same framework based on quantum fields should account for gravitational interactions as well. The gravitational attraction or repulsion then must emerge as a result of the exchange of particles similar to the photon. Einstein’s theory tells us that classically, gravity is essentially the manifestation of a nontrivial curvature of spacetime geometry. This necessarily means that in a quantum field theory of gravity, spacetime itself cannot be treated as an inert object as in the earlier case. Rather, it must be composed of a fluctuating quantum field on the top of a fixed spacetime. This implies a quantum spacetime that is dynamical as a whole and is not the nonchalant backdrop anymore. The fluctuating field is the graviton, the precise analog of a photon. With this realization, quantum field theory could provide a universal framework applicable to all the fundamental interactions in nature.

However, as it turns out, there are conceptual as well as technical difficulties in doing this, and that is the reason why quantization of gravity continues to be an open yet captivating problem. This picture with a graviton leads to infinities in physical quantities in a way that is beyond any control. In technical parlance, this is known as the ‘non-renormalizability’ of quantum general relativity.

It is still possible though that invoking a graviton might not be the only way to think about quantum gravity. Are there a better set of fields for classical gravity whose quantization might give a better result? Or is it that the standard formulation of quantum fields is not suited for gravity, because spacetime itself fluctuates, unlike the standard case where matter fluctuates on a fixed spacetime? We do know that quantum mechanics is developed around calculable answers to questions such as what is the probalibility amplitude for a particle to go from one spatial point to another between some initial and final time. However, such a question could be meaningless in quantum gravity, where time itself must emerge as a part of the dynamical quantum spacetime and the initial or final instant might not have a unique meaning.

Questions such as above are what have essentially been driving some of the past and current research in quantum gravity. Moreover, the fact that classical general relativity predicts singular solutions such as black holes adds to this spirit that what we need is a more general edifice, very likely to be provided by a nice and healthy quantum theory of gravity. The rebel of course could take another extreme but somewhat philosophical viewpoint, and simply assert that one need not quantize gravity at all because it seems all too difficult an endeavour. However, one must then ask why gravity should be so special in defying an interpretation in terms of a mediator particle in the quantum theory, whereas all other fundamental interactions do seem to embrace such a description. A better question could be, how to provide a mathematical formulation of a ground state and the excitation quanta of spacetime geometry, other than the one based on a graviton. Intrigued explorers, hence, might not be enthused by any of the idler’s charms, and could just prefer to coast along and keep digging for fresh ideas and techniques which might hold the key to deeper insights.

Citations/References:
1. Claus Kiefer, ‘Quantum Gravity’, International Series of Monographs on Physics, Third Edition (2012), Oxford, UK: Clarendon.

2. Hermann Nicolai, Kasper Peeters and Marija Zamaklar, ‘Loop quantum gravity: An Outside view’, Class.Quant.Grav. 22 (2005) R193 [e-Print: hep-th/0501114].

Graphic: Suman Sutradhar

Author Bio:
Sandipan Sengupta, is currently a faculty at the Dept of Physics, IIT Kharagpur. His broad area of research is classical and quantum gravity. In particular, some of his active interests include Extra dimensions, Cosmology, Hamiltonian quantization of gravity, Dark matter physics etc. He had obtained his Ph.D. at the IMSc, Chennai in 2012. Before joining his current position in 2016, he has served as an Assistant Professor of Physics at IIT Gandhinagar. He was awarded the `V.V. Narlikar Best Thesis Award’ in 2013 and the `N.R. Sen Young Researcher Award’ in 2015 by the IAGRG. He was also the recipient of the ECR award grant (2017-2020) funded by SERB, DST.

With You, We Are, As You Were: Year-long Relief Campaign by Alumni for Pandemic Affected Temporary Workers

Highlights:

IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA launched the fundraising campaign from alumni in USA, India and rest of the world in April 2020 and it is ongoing
IIT Kharagpur has been organizing regular camps for the distribution of relief materials funded by the alumni benefitting over a half a lakh people
Temporary workers (including laundry cleaners, domestic helps, temporary hostel workers, rickshaw pullers etc.) and other economically affected poor people who are dependent on the IIT Kharagpur campus for their livelihood were provided relief materials

IIT Kharagpur has reached the milestone of the first anniversary of the relief campaign which the Institute of Eminence has been running for people from the lowest rungs of the society who were economically affected due to COVID-19. Over this one year, the Institute and its alumni through the IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA have supported more than half a lakh people residing in villages around the campus and were dependent on the campus for their livelihood.

Considering the employment quandary faced by various temporary workers in April 2020, the Institute and the Foundation launched the first-of-its-kind public outreach campaign by a higher educational institution. The campaign was inspired by distinguished alumnus and philanthropist Dr. Vinod Gupta who made significant contributions towards the campaign along with Foundation President Ranbir (Ron) Gupta, Arjun Malhotra, R N Mukhija, Rakesh Gupta along with close to fifteen hundred alumni from across the globe playing the good samaritan for the affected people.

Talking about the campaign Ron Gupta said, “We felt particularly concerned about the non-salaried people living around the IIT Kharagpur campus. At the IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA, we raised about five hundred thousand dollars to help more than ten thousand workers with food supplies and even cash in some instances so that they could survive the pandemic. We truly appreciate the leadership at IIT Kharagpur. We Kgpians are what we are due to IIT Kharagpur and these workers like ward boys, rickshaw pullers played a very important role during our education.”

During the year-long course of this initiative, many alumni had shared heartwarming stories about the temporary workers; everyone seemed to have a memory of a time that they were helped out by the workers and these stories were never a struggle to remember. They could recall them like they happened yesterday.

A statement shared by the IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA mentions, “Even alumni who may not have been normally involved in the past were keen to help out how they could. A real sense of community could be observed. Everyone coming together to help the greater good, those that had helped them during their formative years and their time at IIT Kharagpur.”

While IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA managed the fundraising campaign to support about 10500 needy workers and their families, IIT Kharagpur led the humongous logistics to distribute relief materials. The relief recipients included daily wagers, ward boys in halls, dhobi, small tea shops, rickshaw pullers, domestic help, construction workers, etc. The Institute also supported the sellers of perishable items who suffered losses after a fire incident last summer.

“Our self-interests are best served when we serve them in the spirit of pluralism. As we talk of these people being dependent on the campus, the campus also depends on them, they are part of our fraternity. It is vital for us to support every member of our fraternity in whatsoever way we can. It only makes our lives better in the long run. I am thankful to my fellow Kgpians whose altruism has made this initiative possible along with the relentless service of every emergency worker at IIT Kharagpur,” said Director Prof. V K Tewari.

The next phase of distribution is scheduled in May. Considering the increasing spread of the pandemic, the affected community earnestly looks forward to the support provided under the IIT Kharagpur COVID-19 Alumni Relief Campaign while the Institute and the Foundation continue to reach out to the alumni worldwide.

About IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA:

The IITKGP Foundation, USA is tax-exempt [Under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) in the United State of America] non-governmental organization set up by the alumni of IIT Kharagpur in the USA in 2002 to oversee alumni related matters such as fundraising, networking, outreach etc. The Foundation raises funds for various activities at IIT Kharagpur each year as well as helps promote the news, achievements and activities of the Institute. The Foundation has a reach of close 25000 alumni and is instrumental in engaging these alumni through various campaigns and newsletter. IITKGP Foundation, USA is headed by Ranbir (Ron) Gupta at present. For more information please visit: https://www.iitkgpfoundation.org

For more information contact: Erin L. Moran, Executive Director, IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA, Email: emoran@iitkgpfoundation.org

Press Contact: media@iitkgp.ac.in

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Authored by: Erin Moran, IITKGP Foundation USA, Sanjeev Kumar, Office of Alumni Affairs, Shreyoshi Ghosh, Executive Officer, IIT Kharagpur

Photo courtesy: Arnab Moitra