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Foundation stone for new Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research (ICER) Building at IISc
On 28 December 2023, Shri R K Singh, Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, laid the foundation stone for the new Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research (ICER) building at IISc. The centre is supported by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. This marks a crucial step towards shaping the future of energy research and sustainable technologies.
ICER’s research initiatives focus on a spectrum of renewable energy domains, including net zero technology development for green hydrogen, sCo2, power, turbine, and clean coal technology, as well as pioneering research and development activities on green energy technologies such as generation of hydrogen and other biofuels from biomass, advanced batteries and energy storage systems & sustainable technologies.
PFC has sanctioned Rs 60.74 crores for construction of the new building, which is scheduled to be completed by March 2026.
Speaking about the event, Shri R K Singh, Union Minister, said, “I am delighted to be at this esteemed institution with a rich history, contributing to its legacy. India has transformed into a global leader in renewable energy, achieving our 2030 target nine years ahead. With 43% of the total installed capacity being non-fossil, we’re leading in solar, wind, and hydro. Our growth surpasses developed nations, making us a major player. The power sector has revolutionised, ensuring universal access and a significant increase in rural and urban power availability. India is different, better, and a global leader in energy transition, setting the pace for a sustainable future.”
Prof Govindan Rangarajan, IISc Director, said, “The generous funding from PFC is a significant boost to our efforts to address critical energy-related challenges. The new building symbolises a shared vision for a sustainable future powered by clean energy sources. Research at this Centre will yield a number of novel solutions that can propel the country to the forefront of the global fight against climate change.”
Battling persistence in TB bacteria
26 December 2023
– Sindhu M
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in collaboration with NCBS and InStem, have uncovered an important mechanism that allows the tuberculosis (TB) bacterium to persist in the human host for decades. They found that a single gene involved in the production of iron-sulphur clusters could be crucial for the persistence of the TB bacterium. The study was published in Science Advances.
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which can be present in the human body for decades without any symptoms. “Mtb needs humans to survive. In many cases of Mtb infection, the immune system can detect the bug and clear it out,” explains Mayashree Das, first author and PhD student at the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology (MCB), IISc. However, in several asymptomatic individuals, Mtb hides within deep oxygen-limiting pockets of the lung and enters a state of dormancy in which it does not divide and is metabolically inactive. In doing so, it successfully hides from the immune system and TB drugs.
“Due to persistence, there is a bacterial reservoir in a subset of the human population at any point which can reactivate and cause infection. Unless we understand persistence, we will not be able to eradicate TB,” says Amit Singh, Associate Professor at MCB and corresponding author of the study.
Singh’s team grew Mtb in liquid cultures containing special supplements needed for its growth in a state-of-the-art Bio Safely Level-3 facility at the Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR), IISc. Several proteins in Mtb depend on iron-sulphur clusters for functioning. These clusters consist of iron and sulphur atoms organised in various configurations like chains or cuboids. The iron atoms in the cluster can pass on electrons from one site of a protein complex to another in cellular reactions such as respiration and carbon metabolism.
“The iron-sulphur cluster-containing proteins are important for essential processes such as energy production by respiration, enabling the bacteria to survive harsh conditions of the lungs and causing infection. So, we wanted to study the mechanisms that Mtb uses to build these iron-sulphur clusters,” explains Singh.
IscS and SUF-mediated Fe-S cluster biogenesis controls persistence of Mtb (Image: Mayashree Das, created using Biorender)
Iron-sulphur clusters are mainly produced by the SUF operon in Mtb, a set of genes that get switched on together. However, there is another single gene called IscS that can also produce the clusters. So why would the bacterium need both?
To solve this mystery, the researchers generated a mutant version of Mtb that lacked the IscS gene. They found that under normal and oxygen-limiting conditions, iron-sulphur clusters are produced mainly by the action of the IscS gene. However, when the bacterium faces a lot of oxidative stress, the iron atoms of the clusters become oxidised and released, damaging the clusters. Therefore, there is an increased demand for producing more clusters, which switches on the SUF operon.
The researchers then sought to find out how the IscS gene contributes to disease progression. They infected mice models with the mutant version of Mtb lacking the IscS gene. The absence of the IscS gene led to severe disease in the infected mice rather than a persistent, chronic infection typically seen in TB patients. This is because, in the absence of the IscS gene, the SUF operon is highly activated – albeit in an unregulated fashion – leading to hypervirulence. Depleting both IscS and the SUF system dramatically reduced the persistence of Mtb in mice. Therefore, the team found that the IscS gene keeps the activation of the SUF operon in check, causing persistence in TB.
The researchers also noted that bacteria lacking the IscS gene were more likely to be killed by certain antibiotics. “It becomes sensitive to some antibiotics and resistant to some. We would also like to explore this further,” says Das. The team suggests that combining antibiotics with drugs targeting IscS and SUF might be more effective. Singh is hopeful that a better understanding of the IscS and SUF systems in Mtb can eventually pave the way for eradicating persistence of TB.
REFERENCE:
Das M, Sreedharan S, Shee S, Nandy N, Banerjee U, Kohli S, Rajmani SR, Chandra N, Seshasayee ASN, Laxman S, and Amit Singh, Cysteine desulphurase (IscS)–mediated fine-tuning of bioenergetics and SUF expression prevents Mycobacterium tuberculosis hypervirulence, Science Advances (2023).
CONTACT:
Amit Singh
Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Email: asingh@iisc.ac.in
Phone: +91-80-22933275
Website: https://cidr.iisc.ac.in/amit/
Mayashree Das
PhD student
Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Email: mayashreedas@iisc.ac.in
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS:
a) If any of the text in this release is reproduced verbatim, please credit the IISc press release.
b) For any queries about IISc press releases, please write to news@iisc.ac.in or pro@iisc.ac.in
AI tool aids in screening for nerve disorder
22 December 2023
– Ranjini Raghunath
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in collaboration with Aster-CMI Hospital, have developed an AI tool that can identify the median nerve in ultrasound videos and detect carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The study was published in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control.
CTS arises when the median nerve, which runs from the forearm into the hand, is compressed at the carpal tunnel part of the wrist, resulting in numbness, tingling or pain. It is one of the most common nerve-related disorders, specifically affecting individuals who perform repetitive hand movements, such as office staff who work with keyboards, assembly line workers, and sportspersons.
Doctors currently use ultrasound to visualise the median nerve, and assess its size, shape, and any potential abnormalities. “But unlike X-rays and MRI scans, it’s hard to detect what’s going on in ultrasound images and videos,” explains Karan R Gujarati, first author and former MTech student at the Department of Computational and Data Sciences (CDS), IISc. “At the wrist, the nerve is quite visible, its boundaries are clear, but if you go down to the elbow region, there are many other structures, and the boundaries of the nerve are not clear.” Tracking the median nerve is also important for treatments that require doctors to administer local anaesthesia to the forearm or block the median nerve to provide pain relief.
To develop their tool, the team turned to a machine learning model based on transformer architecture, similar to the one powering ChatGPT. The model was originally developed to detect dozens of objects simultaneously in YouTube videos. The team stripped the model’s computationally expensive elements to speed it up, and cut down the number of objects it could track to just one – the median nerve, in this case. They collaborated with Lokesh Bathala, Lead Consultant Neurologist at Aster-CMI Hospital, to collect and annotate ultrasound videos from both healthy participants and people with CTS, to train the model. Once trained, the model was able to segment the median nerve in individual frames of the ultrasound video.
“Imagine a video of an autonomous car. If the car is moving on the road, you want to track the car,” explains corresponding author Phaneendra K Yalavarthy, Professor at CDS. “In the same way, we are able to track the nerve throughout the video.”
Left: Ultrasound machine showing the median nerve. Right: Machine learning model running in laptop and segmenting the median nerve in real time (Photos courtesy: Aster-CMI Hospital)
The model was also able to automatically measure the cross-sectional area of the nerve, which is used to diagnose CTS. This measurement is performed manually by a sonographer. “The tool automates this process. It measures the cross-sectional area in real time,” explains Bathala. It was able to report the cross-sectional area of the median nerve with more than 95% accuracy at the wrist region, the researchers say.
Although many machine learning models have been developed to screen CT and MRI scans, very few have been developed for ultrasound videos, especially nerve ultrasound, explains Yalavarthy.
“Initially, we trained the model on one nerve. Now we are going to extend it to all nerves in the upper and lower limbs,” says Bathala. He adds that it has already been deployed as a pilot test in the hospital. “We have an ultrasound machine connected to an additional monitor where the model is running. I can look at the nerve, and at the same time, the software tool is also delineating the nerve. We can see its performance in real time.”
Bathala says that the next step would be to look for ultrasound machine manufacturers who can integrate this into their systems. “This kind of tool can assist any doctor. It can reduce the inference time,” he says. “But of course, the final diagnosis will need to be done by the physician.”
REFERENCE:
Gujarati KR, Bathala L, Venkatesh V, Mathew RS, Yalavarthy PK, Transformer-Based Automated Segmentation of the Median Nerve in Ultrasound Videos of Wrist-to-Elbow Region, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, And Frequency Control (2023).
CONTACT:
Phaneendra K Yalavarthy
Professor
Department of Computational and Data Sciences (CDS)
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Email: yalavarthy@iisc.ac.in
Phone: +91-80-2293 2496
Website: https://cds.iisc.ac.in/faculty/yalavarthy/
Lokesh Bathala
Lead Consultant Neurologist
Aster-CMI Hospital
Email: drlokesh.b@asterhospital.com
Karan R Gujarati
Former MTech student
Department of Computational and Data Sciences (CDS)
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Associate Data Scientist, Strand Life Sciences
Email: karang@iisc.ac.in
Phone: +91-8866586188
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS:
a) If any of the text in this release is reproduced verbatim, please credit the IISc press release.
b) For any queries about IISc press releases, please write to news@iisc.ac.in or pro@iisc.ac.in
Tunable shells to encapsulate tiny droplets
14 December 2023
– Vivek Kumar
Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a novel technique to encapsulate liquid droplets used for various applications, including single crystal growth and cell culture.
The technique exploits the capillary effect – the rise of a liquid through a narrow space – to coat droplets in a composite shell containing oil-loving and hydrophobic particles. It offers the ability to tune the shell thickness over a wide range, allowing the encapsulation of droplets of different sizes. The study was published in Nature Communications.
Droplets are important in a variety of fields. “In microreactors, droplets can be used to create different reaction environments or mix different chemicals. In drug delivery systems, droplets can be used to deliver drugs or other agents to specific tissues or organs. In crystallisation studies, droplets can be used to control the growth of crystals. And in cell culture platforms, droplets can be used to grow cells in a controlled environment, which can help to improve cell viability and proliferation,” explains lead researcher Rutvik Lathia, PhD student at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), IISc.
However, there are several challenges in using such droplets. They are vulnerable to contamination from the ambient environment, the ease and success of a particular process depends a lot on the surface they’re dropped on, and they can vanish into thin air pretty fast. While encapsulating droplets with liquids or solids that don’t mix with the droplets (like water droplets inside an oil shell) is a plausible solution to avoid these issues, making a shell that is hardy, continuous and has an adjustable thickness at a super tiny scale has proven elusive so far.
To address these challenges, Prosenjit Sen, Associate Professor at CeNSE, and his team have developed a new capillary force-assisted cloaking method to trap droplets within colloidal particles and liquid-infused surfaces.
First, they carefully coated droplets with small hydrophobic and oil-loving beads, turning them into what they call Liquid Marbles (LM). When these LM are kept on oil-infused surfaces, capillary forces kick in, allowing the oil to rise up into tiny pores created between individual beads. These beads play a crucial role in promoting and stabilising the formation of a liquid film around the droplet, effectively encapsulating it. The researchers were also able to use wax instead of oil to create a solid shell by adjusting the temperature.
Such encapsulation reduced the evaporation rate of droplets by up to 200 times, increasing the lifetime of these droplets, the team found. They were also able to adjust the shell thickness flexibly over a wide range – from 5 μm to 200 μm. This allowed them to accommodate droplets with volumes ranging from 14 nL to 200 μL.
“Our method of encapsulating droplets introduces a multitude of new opportunities in the realm of droplet-related applications. The tunable nature of the shells, both solid and liquid, allows for precise control over various parameters, making it versatile for applications in chemistry, biology, and materials science,” says Sen.
The researchers used these coated droplets to grow single crystals successfully. They could also use the coated droplets for biological applications such as 3D cell culture and growing yeast cells in the lab with improved success rates.
“So far, we are able to make wax-based solid capsules and oil-based liquid capsules,” Sen adds. “Now, we are looking into newer materials to form capsules with different properties that could enhance tunability further, such as polymer-based capsules.”
REFERENCE:
Lathia R, Nagpal S, Modak CD, Mishra S, Sharma D, Reddy BS, Nukala P, Bhat R, Sen P, Tunable encapsulation of sessile droplets with solid and liquid shells, Nature Communications (2023).
https://www.nature.com/
CONTACT:
Prosenjit Sen
Associate Professor
Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE)
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Email: prosenjits@iisc.ac.in
Phone: +91-80-22933516
Lab website: Microfluidic Devices & Heterogeneous Systems Lab
Rutvik Lathia
PhD Scholar
Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE)
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Email: rutviklathia@iisc.ac.in
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS:
a) If any of the text in this release is reproduced verbatim, please credit the IISc press release.
b) For any queries about IISc press releases, please write to news@iisc.ac.in or pro@iisc.ac.in
Boosting immunotherapy in non-responsive cancer cells
11 December 2023
– Surabhi Chandra
Cancer immunotherapy primes a patient’s immune system to better find and destroy cancer cells, improving upon the body’s natural ability to fight tumours. Contemporary immunotherapy approaches aim to stimulate immune cells called T cells to target tumours. In this process, the production and functioning of a cytokine (a small signalling protein) known as Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) are essential for the immune system to eliminate tumours effectively. These approaches affect fewer normal cells when compared to chemotherapy or radiation. However, they are either very expensive or less efficient.
In a new study, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) tried to understand how different types of cancer cells respond to IFN-γ activation. They found that only some types of cancer cells respond well to IFN-γ activation, while others don’t. They also suggest some approaches that can be used to make these non-responsive cancer cells better respond to immunotherapy. The study was published in Frontiers in Immunology.
“IFN-γ is produced by immune cells such as T cells or natural killer cells. It binds to tumours, and induces apoptosis [cell death],” explains Avik Chattopadhyay, first author and PhD student at the Department of Biochemistry, IISc. “Reports in the literature have shown earlier that if there are lower amounts of IFN-γ or defects in its signalling, then the tumours don’t respond well to the immunotherapy processes.”
Avik Chattopadhyay working in the lab (Photo: Nikita Ramteke)
In the current study, when the team first treated cancer cells in the lab with IFN-γ, they found that the colour of the cell growth medium changed to yellow, indicating that the cells were releasing acidic byproducts such as lactic acid. This led the team to dig deeper into the role of these byproducts. They found that the higher amounts of lactic acid produced in the cell culture medium was due to increased glycolysis, a series of chemical reactions that extracts energy from glucose.
The team found that cancer cell lines derived from the liver and the kidney showed increased production of nitric oxide (NO) and lactic acid upon IFN-γ activation. This, in turn, increased the production of toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) leading to oxidative damage, which eventually kills the cancer cells.
However, cancer cell lines derived from the colon and skin did not produce NO or lactic acid even after being treated with IFN-γ, indicating that they might respond poorly to immunotherapy.
The researchers then tried to see how these non-responsive cancer cells can also be tweaked to produce lactic acid and NO, and therefore respond better to immunotherapy. They tested different ways, including treating the cells with salts like potassium lactate and other molecules. Such mechanisms – especially adding potassium lactate – reduced cancer cell growth drastically even in the initially non-responsive cancer cells. This observation – that lactic acid plays an important role in the cancer cells’ response to immunotherapy – was surprising to the researchers as lactic acid is often thought of as a dead-end metabolic product.
“The study is really a proof-of-concept at this point,” says Dipankar Nandi, Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, IISc, and corresponding author of the study. He adds that further experiments need to be carried out in animal models to see if certain compounds targeting metabolism can boost anti-tumour responses to hard-to-treat cancers, in synergy with IFN-γ activation during immunotherapy.
L to R: Dipankar Nandi, Avik Chattopadhyay, Nikita Ramteke, Sirisha Jagdish and Aagosh Karhale (Photo: Prem Singh Anant and Micky Anand)
REFERENCE:
Chattopadhyay A, Jagdish S, Karhale AK, Ramteke NS, Zaib A, Nandi D, IFN-γ lowers tumor growth by increasing glycolysis and lactate production in a nitric oxide-dependent manner: implications for cancer immunotherapy, Frontiers in Immunology (2023).
CONTACT:
Avik Chattopadhyay
PhD student
Department of Biochemistry
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Email: avikc@iisc.ac.in
Dipankar Nandi
Professor
Department of Biochemistry
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Email: nandi@iisc.ac.in
Phone: 080-22933051
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS:
a) If any of the text in this release is reproduced verbatim, please credit the IISc press release.
b) For any queries about IISc press releases, please write to news@iisc.ac.in or pro@iisc.ac.in
Water supply without electricity: IISc researcher’s solution for Chhattisgarh’s irrigation challenges
07 December 2023
– Ananthapathmanabhan MS
In India, access to irrigation is a major problem. Punit Singh, Associate Professor at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has been working on a solution to address this irrigation scarcity for the past 10 years in Chhattisgarh.
Chhattisgarh receives river water supply from the Ganga, Godavari, and Mahanadi basins. While canal networks have been developed to cover a substantial portion of the region north of Raipur, a large part of the tribal-majority areas in southern Chhattisgarh lack reservoir-based irrigation. Many farmers in the region primarily rely on Kharif-based (monsoon) crop yields. Alternative methods like pipe-based irrigation have been explored but have not gained popularity or acceptance.
Singh’s efforts started with a field survey to understand the soil and terrain of Taipadar village in Bastar district. Due to his efforts, Taipadar has now been equipped with a sustainable water pumping system that requires zero electricity. His project uses low-head check dams and cascades of such dams along rivers, with turbine pumps installed to pump water without any electricity.
The turbine uses about 90% of the river water flow at low head (which is then recycled back to the river) to generate power, specifically torque and speed, which is then used to drive standard submersible multi-stage pumps. The novelty lies in the precise design of the system. Depending on specific site conditions, where the water head ranges from 2-4 metres, the objective is to lift and transport water to different elevations, usually between 15 and 25 metres, or even up to 30 metres as required.
Singh started working on developing turbine pumps for electricity generation during his PhD at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. When he returned to India in 2009, he started exploring the deployment of ram pumps in Chhattisgarh, starting with Taipadar. “Two turbine pumps with power generation capabilities were generously sponsored by the KSB Pumps Trust in Germany. I invested about Rs 50 lakh in the ram pump sourced from Rife, USA, and in the construction work which spanned three years,” Singh says. Apart from Taipadar, similar systems were also set up in Girdalpara in the Sukma district and Karhani in the Gourella-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM) district, the impact of which is visible in the field, adds Singh.
In December 2022, the Foundation for Science Innovation and Development (FSID) at IISc joined hands with the Chhattisgarh Water Resources Department (WRD) to scale up the water resource management and irrigation infrastructure in Chhattisgarh. The areas covered under this collaboration include Karhani, Neelawaram (Sukma district), and Pongro (Jashpur district).
“This collaboration supports the project at large. For instance, the responsibility of site work, civil works, and delegating logistical implementation of the turbine will be handled by the state. So, IISc can focus on designing the turbine, and ensuring the proper working of the turbine at the site. The other support is that now we can procure funds and allocate that to vendors,” adds Singh.
Under the collaboration, IISc will test the quality of turbines manufactured by various vendors at a designated simulation facility. Vikram Jayaram, Professor at the Department of Materials Engineering, IISc, says, “This partnership [with the government officials] eases the administrative process behind irrigation projects. As we get the funds from the government, we can distribute the funds to our partners providing the services. Moreover, IISc’s role includes inviting the irrigation engineers to witness the tests and providing essential training. These engineers will further train a local resource person at the specific project site.”
The other people involved in this project include B Gurumoorthy (Chief Executive, FSID) as well as officials from Chhattisgarh, including Anbalagan P, Water Resources Secretary (IAS); Richa Prakash Choudhary, Collector (IAS); Ajay Somawar, Chief Engineer; and Madhuchandra, Executive Engineer.
Over the next few years, the collaboration will focus on installing one or two pumps on each dam, along with piping, storage, and canal networks. “Building 25 per year is the first target and then based on the success, it could be scaled up to all the 400 or more dams,” Singh says. Each project will irrigate about 100-150 acres for rabi and summer crops depending on the conditions and design of the turbine and pumps. “The greatest benefit is that this will free the farmers near the banks from using groundwater, allowing levels to rise,” adds Singh. “This technology is capable of being reproduced in large parts of India that offer perennial water flow.”
CONTACT:
Punit Singh
Associate Professor, Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST)
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Email: punitsingh@iisc.ac.in
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS:
a) If any of the text in this release is reproduced verbatim, please credit the IISc press release.
b) For any queries about IISc press releases, please write to news@iisc.ac.in or pro@iisc.ac.in.
IISc’s FSID Launches Centre of Data for Public Good with a first-of-a-kind Symposium
In an initiative aimed at leveraging data for social good, the Foundation for Science Innovation and Development (FSID) within the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) announces the launch of the Centre of Data for Public Good (CDPG). The Centre is dedicated to advancing research, innovation, collaboration, and best practices in the realm of data science, analytics, and policy to address critical societal challenges.
CDPG will serve as a hub for multidisciplinary research, bringing together experts from academia, industry, and government to harness the power of data to benefit the public. With a focus on ethical data use, privacy, and responsible AI, the centre aims to develop solutions that positively impact areas such as smart cities, agriculture, logistics, geospatial, environmental sustainability, and so on.
Emphasising collaboration and innovation, the centre is set to bring under its umbrella learnings from pioneering projects such as the India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX) and the Agricultural Data Exchange (ADeX). These projects, with their focus on urban and agricultural sectors, align seamlessly with the centre’s mission. By incorporating these initiatives, the CDPG will leverage the expertise and resources of IUDX and ADeX, creating a collaborative environment that will accelerate the development and implementation of data-centric solutions. This amalgamation of efforts reflects the Centre’s commitment to harnessing the power of data in addressing real-world issues and advancing the field of data science for societal benefit.
Speaking about the launch, Prof Govindan Rangarajan, Director, IISc said, “The Centre of Data for Public Good within FSID represents a commitment to harnessing the transformative power of data for the betterment of society. At IISc, we are pleased to nurture such programmes that combine research and practice in service of the nation.”
To mark the launch of the centre, IISc hosted the Symposium on Data for Public Good, a flagship event that brought together thought leaders, researchers, and practitioners in the field. The symposium served as a platform for exchanging ideas, showcasing innovative projects, and fostering collaborations.
Distinguished speakers at the event included Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Axilor Ventures; Co-founder, Infosys, and President, Infosys Science Foundation; Mr J Satyanarayana, Chief Advisor, C4IR India, World Economic Forum; Mr Rajendra Kumar, Chief Postmaster General, Karnataka; Mr Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary and Mission Director, Smart Cities Mission, and Mr Pramod Varma, CTO of Ekstep Foundation. Their talks shed light on the significance of leveraging data for public good and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
This was followed by panel discussions on urban data, data governance, and agricultural and geospatial data. Many eminent speakers shared their views and several data-driven projects were showcased. Several start-ups displayed innovative solutions. A poster competition was also organised as part of the symposium.
The event culminated with the announcement of a Hackathon focused on a transportation demand prediction problem for specific bus routes in Surat and an air quality prediction problem for certain road segments of Bangalore.
About the CDPG
At CDPG, we are committed to democratising data and our mission is to help harness its power by creating data exchange platforms and integrating them seamlessly into the broader context of Data for Public Good. By ensuring that data exchange is conducted effectively, with a focus on privacy and security, we strive to make the benefits of data accessible to all, promoting inclusivity in decision-making processes.
For more information visit – https://dataforpublicgood.org.in/
For media inquiries, please contact:
Namrata Agrawal
namrata.agrawal@iudx.org.in
Ph: 7829121121
IISc and OPSA organise summit on expanding science and technology horizons
19 November 2023
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (OPSA) organised a day-long summit titled “Dialogue 2023: Expanding Science and Technology Horizons” on 18 November 2023 in Bengaluru.
Recognising the importance of science, technology and innovation in addressing socioeconomic challenges and existential threats like climate change, the summit focused on ethical challenges related to disruptive technologies, the role of international collaborations, and the need to recognise diverse knowledge systems.
The opening session on “Shaping Technological Futures” began with a welcome address by IISc’s Director, Prof G Rangarajan. He highlighted the importance of such summits in bringing together stakeholders from the larger S&T ecosystem to deliberate on contemporary policy matters. “As India’s pre-eminent science institute, IISc has played a notable role in knowledge support to the government, in national S&T missions, and in instituting policies and programmes,” he said. These programmes include the Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map (I-STEM), the Bengaluru S&T (BeST) cluster, the India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX) platform, AI and Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK), Policy Analytics & Insights Unit of the OPSA, and efforts to develop high-quality health datasets in collaboration with ICMR.
In the same session, the keynote address was delivered by Prof Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and National Science Chair Professor at the Department of Physics, IISc. He highlighted the immense potential of emerging technologies like quantum computing and communication. “India has advanced significantly on its developmental goals,” he said. “Shaping technology futures involves not only technology development but also their adoption in various sectors.” He also stressed on the need to take into consideration ethical values and sustainability while adopting these technologies. The session was chaired by Prof TA Abinandanan, Professor at the Department of Materials Engineering, and Coordinator of the DST-Centre for Policy Research at IISc.
The second session was a dialogue on the ethical challenges and principles related to disruptive technologies like AI. The conversation focused on the intersection of technology, ethics and society, and drew attention to the need for the regulation of emerging technologies. The third session started with a special address by Mr Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), who highlighted India’s digital growth and the impact of digital services like UPI. This was followed by a panel discussion on approaches to enhancing global technology competitiveness, and balancing international cooperation with national priorities when it comes to technology development.
The afternoon session centred on “Science, Technology and Society”. The first segment focused on “Diversity of Knowledge: Practices”. Spotlighting the handloom industry, speakers highlighted the need to move away from the classical view of hierarchy of science above other types of knowledge, and recognise the importance of indigenous knowledge systems. In the second segment, “Diversity of Knowledge: People”, speakers discussed policy gaps and potential pathways to make traditional knowledge more accessible. The historical lack of recognition of women as knowledge holders and creators was also highlighted.
The final session was a talk on “Public Perception of Science” by Prof Shubha Tole, Senior Professor & Dean, Graduate Studies, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. The session was chaired by Prof Navakanta Bhat, Dean, Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences, IISc. “It is critical that the public perceives science as an important and valuable enterprise,” Prof Tole said. She suggested ways to improve science outreach at institutions, and the stressed on the need for scientists to think “beyond outreach” and engage meaningfully with people about the journey and process of science.
CONTACT
Office of Communications | news@iisc.ac.in
Param Hansa Centre for Computational Oncology launched at IISc
3 November 2023
Param Hansa Philanthropies (PHP) has made a generous commitment to support the setting up of a Centre for Computational Oncology at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The Centre was officially launched at a ceremony held on 2 November 2023. It marks a major leap forward in the quest to integrate cutting-edge computational methodologies with ground breaking cancer research.
The Param Hansa Centre for Computational Oncology (PHCCO) will foster research in predictive and quantitative mathematical models of cancer progression, metastasis, and tumor relapse, to identify the underlying fundamental dynamics of these multi-scale processes and to eventually improve patient outcomes in the clinic. The Centre aims to nurture an active community of future leaders in computational oncology in India, through inter-institutional, cross-disciplinary collaborations among researchers in academia, medicine, and industry. The Center will be led by Mohit Kumar Jolly, Associate Professor at the Department of Bioengineering, who heads the Cancer Systems Biology research group at IISc.
The partnership was facilitated through the IISc Foundation, a non-profit entity set up in the USA, to support research and infrastructure development at IISc. Param Hansa Philanthropies will support the Centre with USD 1 million over the next seven years.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, Mr Dheeraj Pandey, Founding Director of PHP, said, “We, at Param Hansa Philanthropies, are delighted and proud today at the launch of this new initiative aimed at significant, long-term impact in the area of computational oncology, supporting IISc in its mission. We believe in utilising the power of science and data sciences to create deep, meaningful outcomes for cancer research in India and elsewhere. With this long-term collaboration with IISc, we look forward to contributing to the fight against cancer in India and elsewhere, and simultaneously building a cadre of young scientists who, over time, will make a significant contribution to research and training future researchers in this field.”
Prof Govindan Rangarajan, Director of IISc, said, “We are very grateful to Param Hansa Philanthropies for their generous contribution to support research in the emerging area of computational oncology. At IISc, we are constantly seeking to push frontiers in cutting-edge research and encourage cross-disciplinary partnerships that solve pressing clinical challenges. We look forward to the exciting projects and solutions that will emerge from this new Centre.”
About Param Hansa Philanthropies:
Param Hansa Philanthropies (PHP) is Dheeraj and Swapna Pandey’s private foundation in the USA. PHP aims to partner closely with universities and research organizations to foster efforts in the computing + life sciences space, support active development of scientific ideas that revolutionize new frontiers, and harness the power of tech to solve healthcare related problems and help create a better future for human society. PHP’s existing collaborations include partnerships with the University of Texas, Austin and Stanford University. PHP-India began operations recently with the launch of its office in Bengaluru, India, and the establishment of the Param Hansa Centre for Computational Oncology at IISc is its first India partnership. PHCCO, in partnership with IISc, is an outcome of PHP’s deep, long-term commitment to translational research at the intersection of healthcare and technology.
About IISc Foundation:
IISc Foundation is a platform to support IISc’s drive towards global excellence in engineering education and research. It is an IRS-approved tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit entity established and managed by volunteer IISc alumni to raise endowment funds for IISc from alumni, corporations, and foundations in the USA.
CONTACT:
IISc Office of Communications | news@iisc.ac.in
Cracking an age-old thermodynamic puzzle
1 November 2023
– Ananthapathmanabhan MS
Designing a heat engine that can produce maximum power at maximum efficiency is a major challenge. Practical heat engines are limited to a theoretical efficiency called the Carnot limit, which sets a cap on how much heat can be converted to useful work. In a breakthrough, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) have devised a novel “micro heat engine” that has overcome this limitation at the lab scale. The study was published in Nature Communications.
“What was considered impossible until today, we have demonstrated that it is possible: achieving both high efficiency and high power simultaneously,” says corresponding author Ajay K Sood, National Science Chair Professor at the Department of Physics, IISc, and Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.
Heat engines convert heat into work – for example, moving a piston in a certain direction. For an engine to be 100% efficient, when the process is reversed – the piston returns to its original state – there should be no heat wasted, which is what was proposed by French physicist Sadi Carnot in 1824. This is only theoretically possible if the process happens extremely slowly, but that also means that the power output will be zero, making the engine practically useless. This is known as the power-efficiency tradeoff.
“Since the 1970s, people have been attempting to address the power-efficiency trade-off. In the early 2000s, researchers explored microscopic systems to overcome this challenge. Interestingly, in 2017, a paper claimed that it was impossible to solve this thermodynamic puzzle,” says Sudeesh Krishnamurthy, former PhD student at the Department of Physics, IISc, and first author of the study.
Optical tweezer apparatus in Ajay Sood’s lab at IISc. Inset (L-R): Sudeesh Krishnamurthy, Rajesh Ganapathy, and Ajay Sood (Photos: Sudeesh Krishnamurthy)
In the current study, the team mimicked the functioning of a conventional heat engine at the micron scale. Instead of using a mix of gas and fuel, they took a tiny gel-like colloidal bead and used a laser beam to direct its motion, similar to how the piston works in a macroscopic engine.
“Our unique micro-scale engine operates with just one particle,” says Rajesh Ganapathy, Professor at JNCASR and another author. The size of the engine is very small, about 1/100th the width of a single human hair, he adds.
The team also used a rapidly changing electric field to cycle the engine between two states. Under these conditions, they found that the waste heat dissipated drastically reduced, bringing the efficiency close to 95% of the limit specified by Carnot.
“What we have achieved is a reduction in heat distribution time through the introduction of the electric field. This reduction in heat distribution time allows the engine to operate at high efficiency and simultaneously yield a large power output even while operating at high speeds,” says Krishnamurthy.
Previously, the team designed a high-power engine that used a live bacterium to push the particle and power the system. This time, the researchers replaced the bacterium with an electric field to move the particle more efficiently in the colloidal medium and to increase the system’s durability.
The results from the experiments show that, under certain conditions, high power can be achieved with high efficiency. Such an advancement could pave the way for more energy efficient devices in the future.
“If one can draw a message from here and try to see how to make a practical interpretation of this micro engine, that is the next part of the story,” emphasises Sood. “We have opened doors that scientists almost gave up opening due to the thermodynamic constraints set by Carnot in previous studies.”
REFERENCE:
Krishnamurthy S, Ganapathy R, Sood AK, Overcoming power-efficiency tradeoff in a micro heat engine by engineered system-bath interactions, Nature Communications, 14, 6842 (2023).
CONTACT:
Ajay K Sood
National Science Chair Professor, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India
Email: asood@iisc.ac.in
Rajesh Ganapathy
Professor, International Centre for Materials Science & School of Advanced Materials
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR)
mail: rajeshg@jncasr.ac.in
Sudeesh Krishnamurthy
Former PhD student, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Postdoctoral scholar, University of California, Berkeley
Email: forsudee@gmail.com
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