Category Archives: Science & Technology

Noted cancer specialist to enter into collaborative research with IIT-K

Education, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Kanpur :

Celebrated tumour biologist, Prof Rakesh Jain of Harvard Medicine School, USA, during his visit to IIT-Kanpur on Monday said that he had held deliberations with department of science and technology (DST) and department of biotechnology (DBT) in Delhi on Saturday last to initiate research work on cancer in India, especially with IIT-Kanpur, which is also his alma mater. Prof Jain during the convocation ceremony of the premier institute on Monday was awarded the honorary degree ‘honoris causa’. He had come with his spouse and two daughters to receive the degree.

Director of IIT-K Prof Indranil Manna said, “Prof Jain spoke to me on collaborative cancer research and if DST or DBT proposes some research work on cancer, then it could be taken up”. Prof Jain had told TOI that he would like to enter into collaborative research with IIT-Kanpur.

Meanwhile, Prof Jain delivered a talk on ‘Cancer and its new treatment methods’ on Monday evening. He spoke in detail about the causes of cancer, possible treatment and what’s new in cancer research. He said that smoking which is the major cause of cancer among the people has hit millions of people across the world. He also spoke about his research contribution and latest cancer treatment by immune therapy.

Under ‘Immune Therapy’ special drugs are injected into the body of the cancer patient. The weak immune system of a human body also makes it difficult for proper treatment of the cancer as otherwise the cancerous tumour spreads further.

Prof Jain said that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in US has approved the drugs to be administered to the cancer patients, and his cancer treatment has been put to use by the doctors in US. The new method is expected to reach India soon, enabling cancer patients to get well completely.

Talking to TOI, Prof Jain said, “Though, at present there are treatments available for treating tumours but still a better clinical technique is needed in some types of cancers to provide relief to the patients. To evolve a new technique, we researched on the mirco-environment of the tumour and observed that there was abnormality in the tumour’s environment. This caused resistance to the treatment administered to the patient. Therefore, we decided to convert the abnormality inside the tumour’s environment to a normal environment. This proved to be successful.”

He said that cancer turns very aggressive when the abnormality in the micro-environment of the tumour causes resistance to the drugs. Giving deep insight into his research, Prof Jain said, “Such drugs have been developed in the US, and also approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which can reprogramme the microenvironment of the tumour. The patients suffering from skin cancer are being treated with immune therapy at present.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kanpur / by Abhinav Malhotra, TNN / February 25th, 2015

Get a glimpse of ‘Robo Wars’, Grid Explorer at Technex-15

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Science & Technology

Varanasi :

Eye-catching model exhibitions by budding engineers, air shows, informative workshops and series of other events marked the formal start of the four-day annual techno-management festival ‘Technex-15’ at the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) on Friday.

The attractive start to a number of events including model exhibition (Modex) showcasing a number of technical innovations and models, RoboNex comprising ‘Robo wars’ (battle of robots), hurdlemania, hydrax, xestos, grid explorer, pixellate, air-shows and management events stole the show on the opening day of the fest.

When TOI contacted Pulkit, the senior advisor of the fest, he informed that while the manual and autonomous events of RoboNEX were held, the finals of the coding events, ‘Byte-The-Bits’ was also conduted on the first day. The manual events include hurdlemania, Robowars, and Hydrax, where as the autonomous ones comprise Xestos, grid explorer and pixellate.

Siddharth Dwivedi, a student of AITS, Nainital said, “Our team Formless has participated in Robowars and we have prepared a bot with three weapons to immobilize the opponent bot during the war.” Siddharth Chauhan, student of IIT-BHU said, “Our team has prepared a bot which works on rotor mechanism and will attack the opponent bots.”

The co-ordinator of the event, Gaurav Kumar informed that as many as 35 teams have participated in the Robowars event which remains the attraction every year. “It is the first time that we have also prepared a cage where the wars will be held so that the particles do not injure the spectators,” he said.

Lots of students could also be witnessed carrying out demo of their bots during ‘Xestos’ event. The co-ordinator, Utkarsh Kumar said, “The highlight of this event is that it works on wireless mechanism and hand-gestures. A wireless module, Accelerometer (nrf) is used for operating the bots.” As many as 55 teams of IIT-BHU and 15 teams from other colleges have participated in the event, he added.

Kartik Gangwar, a first year student of MJP Rohilkhand, Bareilley informed, “It is the first time that I have participated in such an event. It feels great to participate and compete with such innovative engineers.” Arpit Mittal and Sandeep, students from Haryana and Delhi said, “We hope our hard work pays off as we have devoted all our time and energy into it.”

Though the techno-management shows remained the attraction of Technex’15 on the inaugural day, it was not only about technical shows as the ‘Air Show’ organized at the Gymkhana grounds of the institute left the spectators spellbound.

Rajat Sharma, one of the co-ordinators of the aero-modelling event said that the aero-modelling club of IIT-BHU came up with new models of byplanes, jets, water-rockets with parachute mechanism for the first time at this year’s fest. The main attractions of the show remained Rahul Sharma and Dhruv Gupta, from Faridabad and Bangalore respectively and the audience kept on cheering looking at the models flying in the air. Anil Sharma of a firm at Faridabad manufactured as many as 35 models at the air show.

The theme of this year’s techno-management fest is ‘Inspired by Excellence’ and participants of over 135 colleges from 15 States have registered for the event.

Earlier, a Talent Quest (Outreach program for School Students) effectively organized a general aptitude and basic sciences tests which was followed by workshops on Robotics and Aero Modelling held on February 22.

It may be noted that in order to rejuvenate the mind, body and soul, Pronites are also lined up including the rocking VH1 Supersonic101 DJ Night, magnificent acts by German Street Magicians, fun-filled comedy night by stand-up comedian Kanan Gill, Bike Stunts showcase by Babar Khan and crew (MTV Stuntmania Underground winners) accompanied a Fire show.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / by Punkhuri Kapoor, TNN / February 28th, 2015

IIT-BHU graduates develop tech for safer, faster tyres

Education, Science & Technology

Varanasi :

Three chemical engineering graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) have come up with a new eco-friendly innovation of extracting green silica from rice husk ash. With this, the carbon used in tyres can be replaced with silica which helps in reducing the rolling resistance and improve fuel economy.

Elaborating about their innovation Nikhar Jain said, “The rice husk ash contains heavy amount of silica which can be used for various purpose. To ensure effective rice husk utilization through efficient silica extraction, we developed a process to extract advance grade of green silica.”

Citing advantages, he said, “First and foremost, the cost will be cheaper as no import will be required. Secondly, silica helps in reducing the rolling resistance so if it is used instead of carbon black then the fuel economy too will improve.” It also results in 5% reduction in fuel consumption of vehicles and reduction in emission of green house gases, he added.

This technology for silica extraction has been successfully employed at pilot stage by Nikhar Jain, Tanmay Pandya and Abhishek Poddar, who are associated with ‘Bridgedots Techservices Private Limited’, established in 2011 by IIT-BHU alumni. It is a technology solution provider for Chemical & Allied Industries, across the globe, including India, Europe, Middle East, USA and Australia.

The students tested silica extracted from rice husk ash at Malaviya Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (MCIIE) and are in contact with several multinational companies (MNCs). “Presently, we have received approval from two MNCs and are in talk with a few federal companies for funds,” Nikhar Jain, one of the innovators.

It is currently incubated at the Technology Business Incubator, MCIIE of IIT-BHU, which provides direct access to leading authorities and experts in India and state-of-the-art research infrastructure of the campus. It also has a well-equipped research lab in Noida.

According to Jain, millions of tons of rice were harvested in India and disposal of rice husk ash was an environmental challenge. “If the rice husk wastes are used for landfills as well as in silica extraction, then waste disposal issues will be solved,” he said.

MCIIE coordinator and professor in department of chemical engineering PK Mishra said, “These young minds have come up with the first-of-its-kind idea by converting a waste product into a value added product. The rice husk served various purposes but disposal of ash was a challenge. Now, this husk ash would not only reduce energy but also help in minimal pollution.” He further said, “To extract silica from sand, you have to heat the sand up to 1,400 degrees Celsius while the temperature required for extracting silica from ash is only 100 degrees Celsius,” and added that plans were afoot to set up the plant at Punjab.

MCIIE technology manager Prashant Sinha said, “The best part of this innovation is its eco-friendly nature and advantages are not just limited to increasing fuel efficiency of tyres and reduction in pollution. But, even the left over ash can be of great use.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / by Punkhuri Kapoor, TNN / February 12th, 2015

This Folding Microscope Made From A Single Sheet Of Paper Can Save A Billion Lives

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Science & Technology

The Microscope is something we’ve mostly seen in our school labs and in a few health care centres. However, it is still largely an expensive instrument and requires elaborate amount of learning to use it regularly. It is also not easy to have them carried out into the field to do quick diagnosis of diseases.

This is where Manu Prakash and his team’s invention comes into the picture – they have invented a microscope (called Foldscope) that is made out of paper that is extremely easy to fold and use!

An entire working microscope is on this single A4 size sheet of paper!
An entire working microscope is on this single A4 size sheet of paper!

And this microscope costs approximately 50 cents (Rs. 30) only!

In this demo, Manu shows how his invention can really revolutionize healthcare. The best part is how versatile these paper microscopes are!

About Manu Prakash

Born in Meerut, India, Prakash earned a BTech in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur before moving to the United States. He did his master’s and PhD in applied physics at MIT before founding the Prakash Lab at Stanford.

Courtesy: Ted.com

source: http://www.thebetterindia.com / The Better India / Home> Innovation / by TBI Team / February 08th, 2015

Dreams take wings at IIT-Kanpur workshop

Education, Science & Technology

Kanpur :

The two-day free aero-modelling workshop, organised by international aerospace company Boeing, in association with Techkriti 2015 of IIT-Kanpur concluded at the airstrip of the institute on Sunday. The focus of the workshop was to introduce students to the exciting field of aero-modelling.

Senior executive of Techkriti, the annual technical festival of IIT-K and secretary of Aero-modelling Club of the institute, Shubham Mittal, said that the workshop was divided in two parts: Basic trainer aircraft and aerobatic aircraft (advanced). Teams with some experience in aero-modelling were allowed to participate in advanced workshop but no experience was required for the basic workshop, he said.

Boeing National Aero-modelling Competition comprises a workshop and a zonal competition followed by a national championship among winners from all four zones of India, he added.

Shubham said that this was a golden opportunity for students from all fields of engineering to work on real-life challenges, develop new ideas, manage a full scale engineering project and finally manufacture it as per personal design.

A total of 108 participants from 30 different colleges of the country participated in this workshop, forming 28 teams. The teams had come from institutions like Kanpur Institute of Technology, BBD Lucknow, United College of Allahabad, Amity University of Lucknow, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum, Maharaja College of Tamil Nadu, etc.

Shubham said that a lecture session was held to give some basic knowledge of aero-modelling by the IIT Kanpur professors Shantanu Bhattacharya and Sudhir Kamle. After the lecture, students were brought to OAT, New Sac to build their planes. The teams were provided mentors to help them in fabricating the planes. The mentors were the members of Aero-modelling Club, IIT-Kanpur. There were around 13 mentors including three coordinators of the club.

On Sunday after the completion of planes, they were brought to the airstrip of IIT-Kanpur where they were tested for flying. Every plane was successfully flown. The flyer was Chirag Jha, Coordinator Aero-modelling Club, IIT Kanpur.

Certificates were provided to all the teams after the workshop. The teams also utilised this opportunity by visiting advanced facilities of IIT-Kanpur like Flight Lab, Airstrip, etc. The workshop was a huge success, claimed the organizer.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kanpur / by Abhinav Malhotra, TNN / January 13th, 2015

Surgery for epilepsy now available in city

Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

A team of doctors at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences has undertaken surgery to help a patient get rid of epilepsy. So far, epileptic surgery has been limited to only a few centers in the country including Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvanthanapuram, and National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru.

Secretary of Indian Epilepsy Association’s UP chapter, Prof Atul Aggarwal said that surgical intervention for management of epilepsy in patients who have not responded to medication is an upcoming area of neurology in India. “Only a few centers in the country attempted this because it involves high-level of coordination between neurologist, neurosurgeon, radiologist, anesthetist and psychologist. A facility in Lucknow will surely help patients in the state,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the team, neurosurgeon Dr Arun Srivastava said, “The surgery was undertaken on a 25-year-old girl who came to us with complaints of partial seizures that could not be controlled by four epilepsy-control drugs.”

He added that the head of neurology Dr UK Mishra and his team examined the patient and referred her for surgery to Dr Sanjay Behari and team. They in turn roped in neuro-radiologist Dr Shashi Srivstava to study the patient’s brain and identify the epilepsy trigger point.

“The patient benefited significantly from the procedure called selective amygdalohippocampectomy which means removal of the problem-causing portions in areas of the inner brain. At the time of discharge, the number of epileptic episodes reduced to just one from 4-5 per day,” he said.

Doctors in SGPGI also believe that patients heading to their center will have to spend 25-30% less than what they would have to pay at the other centers. Head of neurosurgery department, King George’s Medical University, Prof BK Ojha said that their department too was in the process of developing surgical facilities for epilepsy at their center. “Our doctors are undergoing the required training for this,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Shailvee Sharda, TNN / January 05th, 2015

Institute of Science fetes botanist who found coal in Andhra

Education, Leaders, Science & Technology

Nagpur :

The finding of 3000 million tonnes of good quality coal reserve in Andhra Pradesh a few months back by Omprakash Sarate, a scientist from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow, continues to bring appreciation and laurels for this botanist who originally hails from Nagpur.

Since Sarate did his doctoral research in the Institute of Science in palaeopalynology and coal petrology, the Institute felicitated him on Monday for his finding that has brought not just the Chintalapudi district in Godavari valley on the coal map of the entire country. He was honoured by the Institute director R G Atram on behalf of Alumni Association of the Institute and the Botany Society. He had been working in all the lower Gondwana formations of Wardha Valley and Godavari valley coalfields.

Sarate later told TOI that the AP government picked up the finding of coal reserve from his publication in the Journal of Palaeontological Society of India in December 2013. The government noticed the finding in September this year after which it got an independent survey done and was delighted to realize the size and quality of the reserve. “For AP, it is a jackpot as most of the coal reserves of undivided Andhra Pradesh were in Telangana region that is now a separate state,” he said.

Sarate’s study found good quality coal within 500m depth from Somavaram in Krishna District to Rajamundry in east Godavari district. The quality of Chintalapudi coal as compared to the Ramagundam and Talcher was better, especially its calorific value was much higher. Most of the coal is located between Aswaraopet, Chinthalapudi and Jangareddy Gudem fall in West Godavari district. The reserves are good for thermal generation as well as for steel plants.

Explaining palaeopalynology, Sarate said 10m of grass trough in a region generally got converted into 1m of coal got converted into carbon only due to bacterial and fungal activity. This initially must have resulted in brown coal and on compaction got converted into lignite that metamorphosed to coal. All this coal is about 260-270 million years old and was formed due to cold and humid conditions prevailing in the area.

Since these are deep seated deposits there could be even coal belt methane at the bottom. It will be possible to extract them only through underground mining.

Dr Surekha Kalkar, head of botany department, gave introductory remarks and introduced the guest. Atram explained how a particular kind of pollen grain can form the basis of presence of coal. Former Institute director M T Bharambe, M R Thosar, president of Alumni Association and Prof P S Jakhi, Incharge and secretary of the association also spoke . Roshani Singh, secretary of Botanical Society, conducted the programme.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Nagpur / by Snehalata Shrivastav, TNN / December 30th, 2014

Varanasi weavers now come online

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Science & Technology, World Opinion

E-commerce portal Snapdeal.com has tied up with the India Post to launch a pilot project to set up facilitation desks at Varanasi post offices to enable weavers to sell on its platform, a company statement said here Thursday.

This is an endeavour by Snapdeal and India Post to empower local artisans, small and medium entrepreneurs to sustain their livelihood by providing a platform to popularise their indigenous products, the statement said.

“India has a number of unique and highly specialised art forms and weaves; however, with the fast changing fashion trends and readily available products we are losing out on this rich heritage…We believe it is our responsibility to save these dying art forms by providing a platform to artisans and traditional weavers,” Kunal Bahl, chief executive officer and co-founder, Snapdeal.com, said.

“Through this partnership we will take the Banarasi weaves to customers in all corners of the country and extend this platform to include more weavers and artisans of our country,” he added.

India Post has 154,866 post offices across the country with 466,903 employees. The department with its huge network has taken up the role to serve as an agency for delivering products and also playing a vital role in the cash on delivery segment, the company stated.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News-IANS> Business-Economy / IANS / New Delhi – December 25th, 2014

NRI trio brings hope of good health to UP

Business & Economy, Nri's / Pio's, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Lucknow :

Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will sign an MoU with a US-based group to set up a healthcare infrastructure in the state under SVADESH (Silicon Valley and Avadh’s Development for Entrepreneurial Services for Humanity) an investment initiative by NRIs and also a way to bring East and West together.

SVADESH is the brainchild of three non-resident Indians, including sisters Dr Nandini and Priya Tandon from UP, and Dr B R Shetty, based in Abu Dhabi.

Investing in UP is like a “homecoming” for the sister duo. The hospital they own and run in Silicon Valley has made its standing among the best healthcare institutes. “Our mother wanted us to make a similar hospital in UP,” said Dr Nandini Tandon.

The Tandon sisters are set to invest more than a billion dollar in UP to develop a “teaching hospital”, an integrated healthcare system. “The eye hospital in Sitapur was set up by our great grandfather. My father is from Agra and we have relatives and friends across UP,” said Dr Nandini.

The Tandon family has been living in US since early 80s. “I did my schooling, my undergraduate and PhD from there,” said Dr Nandini. The two said they also wanted to invest in UP.

SVADESH aims at skill development and job creation, as also to bring Silicon Valley entrepreneurship to UP. “People would not need job when they set up their enterprise,” said Dr Nandini. The three NRIs wish to set up a multi-facility hospital and institute in UP patient care and research.

“We shared the aims of SVADESH with chief minister Akhilesh Yadav,” said Dr Nandini, adding that the group wants a big chunk of land at one place and expects UP government to help find it.

NRIs of UP origin can invest in their home state as the state government is eager to attract investment from them. NRI department created for the purpose has got its first investors in the Tandon sisters.

UP government will help the group obtain necessary permisisons/registrations/approvals/clearances as per existing facilities and rules and regulations of the Government of Uttar Pradesh (GoUP) and would also help them avail incentives under various schemes announced by state/Central government, wherever applicable.

GoUP has also thought of appointing a brand ambassador of UP to attract investment from US, especially from California, from US companies and NRI at large. The MoU is valid for 3 years.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Neha Shukla, TNN / December 21st, 2014

First transplant surgery on beating heart at LLR Hospital

Records, All, Science & Technology

Kanpur :

A team of doctors in cardiology department of Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital performed the heart valve transplant surgery on a pumping heart, that is without freezing the heart of the patient.

The experts have claimed it to be the first operation of its kind in Uttar Pradesh. The team of doctors comprised of Dr. Neeraj Kumar, Dr. Manish Das and Dr. Swati Pathak.

Explaining how the technique is new and different from the traditional method, Dr. Rakesh Verma, lead surgeon, said that generally the valve is transplanted on a frozen heart. “In normal bypass, the heart is connected to a heart-lung machine or bypass pump. The functioning of the heart is stopped while the machine is connected. This machine does the work of heart, provides oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. But, we did the operation on a pumping heart. It is challenging as you have to make surgical cut and perform the surgery while the heart is fluctuating,” he said. Valve transplant becomes important in people who have a swollen heart ( heart that is bigger in shape). The expert suggested that large heart ailment, if not treated properly, can lead to death of a person.

Talking about disadvantages of the traditional bypass surgery, Verma said that when the functioning of the heart is stopped, the heart muscles undergo some metabolic changes. This reduces the life of the heart and is detrimental to health of the patient. The three patients who were operated in a row by the team of doctors are: Ramdevi from Ghatampur, Nankhi from Bithoor and Muhammad Ateequllah from Fatehpur. They are doing well after going through the operation.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kanpur / by Kritika Agrawal, TNN / December 10th, 2014