Professor Mohd Zahid Ashraf will receive this award under the Biological Sciences category. His work, as per a JMI statement, has contributed towards developing strategy for an early diagnosis and treatment of thrombosis at extremely challenging environmental conditions at high altitudes.
New Delhi:
Professor Mohd Zahid Ashraf (Source: JMI)
Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) Professor Mohd Zahid Ashraf, Head, Department of Biotechnology will be conferred with the Visitor’s Award 2020. The professor will be awarded for his research on resolving the mystery of blood clotting on exposure to hypoxia at high altitudes. Professor Ashraf will be awarded by President Ram Nath Kovind at a function to be organised at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Professor Ashraf will receive this award under the Biological Sciences category. His work, as per a JMI statement, has contributed towards developing strategy for an early diagnosis and treatment of thrombosis at extremely challenging environmental conditions at high altitudes.
“The outcome of his research has given insights to our understanding of blood clot formation on ascension to mountains, sports, pilgrimage and soldier’s working under hostile environments,” the JMI statement said.
Congratulating Professor Ashrah, the Vice Chancellor of JMI Najma Akhtar said that it is a recognition for the research accomplishments by the university and Professor Ashraf’s achievements will motivate other faculty members towards pursuit of excellence in research along with academics.
The Vice Chancellor said that the university is committed towards the government’s mission to increase science education, research and promote STEM.
JMI professor to be awarded Visitor’s Award
Professor Ashraf is an elected Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad and the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. He is a member of distinguished Guha Research Council.
Professor Ashraf, the JMI statement says, is also the recipient of ICMR’s Basanti Devi Amir Chand and DBT’s National Biosciences Award for his seminal work on high altitude related thrombosis in the Indian population.
This is the second time a JMI Professor has been selected for the Visitor’s Award. Earlier in 2015, the Cosmology and Astrophysics Research Group headed by Professor M Sami of Centre for Theoretical Physics, JMI had also received the Visitor’s Award for research carried out in the field of contemporary issues in Astrophysics and Cosmology.
source: http://www.ndtv.com / NDTV / Home> Education / by Mridusmita Deka / July 19th, 2021
Shaeema Zaman Ahmed, a youngster from Guwahati, brought laurels to Assam and India for her visionary work on quantum physics research, for which she was awarded the PhD from Aarhus University, in Denmark, on June 28.
After her earlier schooling at Maria’s Public School, Guwahati, and her Masters in Physics from Delhi University, Shaeema was at the forefront of science outreach and astronomy education with Zlife Education in New Delhi.
Thereafter, she was offered a Marie Sklodowska-Curie PhD fellowship at Aarhus University, Denmark, and was part of the Quantum-enhanced Sensing via Quantum Control (QusCo) EU programme.
Her work focussed on investigating the use and impact of quantum games and simulation tools in quantum physics education, science outreach, and quantum control research.
She was part of the design process in Quantum Moves 2 and Lab Manager and simulation tools like the Quantum Composer.
Her research studies on these tools explored how simulations can improve student learning of quantum mechanics.
Additionally, her work also addressed the potential of a citizen science game as a method to crowdsource solutions to solve quantum control problems, and the impact of the use of simulations in quantum physics outreach training.
The work was carried out under the supervision of Prof Jacob Friis Sherson, and the external examiners were Prof Sabrina Maniscalco from the University of Turku, Finland and Prof Stefan Heusler from the University of Münster, Germany.
Shaeema is the daughter of Guwahati-based paediatrician, Dr Shabina Ahmed and anesthesiologist, Dr Khafiluzzaman Ahmed.
The defence was viewed online, including her teachers at her alma mater, Maria’s Public School, Guwahati.
In a message to her alumnus, Nellie Ahmed Tanweer, Founder Director of the School, said “…the pride you bring to your school further inspires the next generation …
source: http://www.nenow.in / North East Now / Home> Northeast News> Assam / July 04th, 2021
When his friends were busy playing with toy guns, Mohammed Mubin Mallick was building robots like a pro. For Mubin, robotics was a passion that eventually became his profession.
From an amateur innovator to a global leader in robot solutions, 39-year-old Mubin has come a long way to earn a sobriquet of `Robotman’ of India and middle east. A native of Kolkata, he holds MBA degree from Cardiff University, United Kingdom.
Being the school captain, Mubin grew up as an achiever, bagging awards in various recreational activities like sports, dance, speech, etc. He continues to be an achiever even today. Recently, he received Agata Lo Tauro Special International Award 2020 and a certificate for being the Mentor for ROBOCON 2020.
Mubin ventured into digital solutions and robotics solutions with his IT service company `Kiran Smart’. Always on the lookout to cater to the market’s needs, he set out to innovate and take steps beyond what others already offered.
Since the time he realized that he had the power to think out-of-the-box and innovate, Mubin dreamt of building a company that he could run depending on his ideas. The cradle for his innovation comes from very munificent thoughts of wanting to create job opportunities and donating the profits. It is for this reason that Mubin doesn’t want to leave any stone unturned to make his firm a global leading light.
“Our company Kiran Smart is into IT Solutions and Services for the past 15 years. We have been looking for diversification in our business portfolio. We did diversification into Digital Transformation and then recently we launched and started Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Our market research on Humanoid Service Robots indicated a considerable demand for Robots. Therefore, our company decided to launch a brand Called Mi-Robots,” he said.
The pandemic, however, came as a blessing in disguise for Mubin and his company. “One of our delivery Robots serving food in China in 2019 December to COVID 19 quarantine centre became breaking news around the world. This news around the world helped us gained the trust of the people,” he said.
It was in 2017 that he came across a humanoid robot. He invested time in GITEX technology and ultimately made his passion and childhood dream come true. Understanding the working of robots and offering solutions related to them is Mubin’s only focus now.
“To be very honest, there were many challenges which cannot be listed here. Apparently, the major aspect was the financial crunch. Firstly, it is very crucial to survive in the local market. Secondly, we need smart and loyal team members who can run the company,” he said.
Over the years, Mubin learned both professional and personal lives play a considerable role in making an achiever or a failure. According to him, success in personal lives has a direct and positive impact on professional lives.
“To overcome these challenges, we adopted different strategies like inviting investors locally and globally. Apart from in-house human resources, we tied up with international firms to induct more innovative people to work with us remotely. Finally, our satisfied customers are our revenue. We do the regular follow-ups and technology updates with our customers so that we can fulfill their needs as per their growing needs,” he said.
Mubin is dealing with different kinds of Robots. These include Delivery Robots for restaurant and hotels, Educational Robots for Schools, hospitality Robots for hotels, UVC Disinfection Robots for all, Spray Dry Mist Disinfection Robot, Humidifier Robots for Home and Office, and Robots for children.
“Robots have played a major role during the pandemic as they helped people tremendously. For example, Disinfection robots are used to disinfect the places and those robots are UVC Lights Robots and Dry Mist Spray Robots. Many robots are used to check the temperature of people. Robots are used in hospitals to carry hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves in hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, and many places,” he said.
Even corporates are using to communicate with their remote employees so that managers and team leaders can stay focused on live meetings. “Many universities across the globe have launched courses for Robotics and Machine Learning. There is data supporting the popularity of Robot installation in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, warehouses, home delivery, and schools,” he said.
Headquartered in Kuwait, Mubin’s Robots are going places. From all GCC to Africa, UK, Canada, Mexico and few European countries, Mubin is trying to introduce technology for making the life of the common man easy.
“It is really difficult to define the demand or maximum interest was shown by any specific country in this future technology because most of the countries are working on all the innovative technologies to lead the world. So, according to me, I see South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, Canada, and UAE from the Middle East. The global market for robots is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 26 percent to reach just under 210 billion U.S. dollars by 2025,” he said.
His company, `Kiran Smart’, is a reflection of Mubin’s achievements. It has been recognized as the Top Most Robotics Company of 2020. The firm also received awards from the Ministry of Awqaf as the Most Innovative Company. KISR honored Kiran Smart for being their Most Innovative Supporter in Science and Technology for their Children’s Exhibition.
His message for the youth who aspire to reach as far as he has is boosting, “Don’t give up even if you fail. Failure teaches you a lesson and makes you stronger. Accept the reality, believe in yourself, and try again! Caring for humanity and seeing a smile on people’s faces keeps us motivated in life. People should be thankful to God, respectful to their parents, and be humble,” he said.
*The author is a Bengaluru-based freelance journalist.
source: http://www.indiatomorrow.net / India Tomorrow / Home> Education> Featured / by Rashida Bakait / February 10th, 2021
This is the third part of the series called “Scientist Says” where we bring for our readers the significant research works of young scientists.
Rashida Bakait from India Tomorrow interviews Dr. Mohammed Rameez who is presently working as Academia Sinica postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
Here are the excerpts of the interview with him.
Q. What is the topic of your research and please give a brief explanation?
Ans: With the increased manufacturing activities, large amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) is being released in the environment, causing Earth–Carbon disparity, leading to global warming issue. Further, there is an additional rising demand of fine chemicals such as p-benzoquinone, which are obtained from the processing of fossil fuels. However, these processes operate under high energy and high pressure conditions generating more CO2. Therefore, decreasing CO2 production and transforming CO2 into valuable solar fuels seem to be an essential issue to be considered for future sustainable development. So, this scenario has given the researchers a challenging topic of as to how to reduce the amount of CO2 and further convert it into useful low-carbon fuels. Hence, my research topic is based on reduction of carbon dioxide to other useful chemicals using electricity and catalysts. This process is known as electroreduction of CO2.
My research is developing an ideal resource-efficient solution based on catalysts i.e. artificial photosynthesis – mimicking how plants use sustainable sources of sunlight, CO2 and water to drive the production of energy-rich carbohydrates. As such, promising research efforts have been intensified in reducing CO2 to similar energy-rich fuels and chemical feedstocks through electro-catalytic routes. Recently, we report a novel g-C3N4/Cu2O-FeOheterogeneous nanocomposite catalyst for CO2 electrochemical reduction to CO, with a maximum Faradaic efficiency of 84.4% at a low onset overpotential. This research was published in topmost journal in the field of environmental engineering. This research was done in Academia Sinica, a premier research institute of Taiwan. A PhD student Girma from Ethiopia and I worked on it in Prof. Hung’s lab. I was also one of the corresponding authors.
Q. What is the motive/ aim of your research?
Ans: Different semiconducting materials and metals, such as Pt, Pd, TiO2, SrTiO3 CdS, g-C3N4, ZnO, Bi2WO6 and so on have been used as catalyst for CO2 reduction. However, the practical applications of these catalysts for CO2 reduction are still limited by the low CO2 conversion efficiency due to low light harvesting efficiency, high production cost, low catalytic activity, insufficient catalyst durability and a lack of mechanistic understanding.
Hence, our aim was integrating heterostructures containing oxides of non-noble metals, such as iron and copper with g-C3N4 that may result in stable materials that could function as active electrochemical catalysts for CO2 reduction.
Q. What important findings/aspects are highlighted in your research?
Ans: We prepared a novel g-C3N4/Cu2O-FeO heterostructure nanocomposite catalyst by a simple hydrothermal synthetic route and tested it for electrochemical CO2 reduction in aqueous systems. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first experimental report on a hybrid g-C3N4/Cu2O-FeO nanocomposite for electrochemical CO2 reduction. We demonstrated that g-C3N4/Cu2O-FeO is a promising electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction in neutral medium. Incorporating mixed metal oxide into g-C3N4 layers could be a potential strategy to improve the electrocatalytic catalytic activity of the composite materials. With careful experimental design, this research may help us obtain a library of highly efficient water stable and less toxic catalysts optimal for various catalytic applications.
Q. What kind of challenges did you face?
Ans: Many semiconductors, doped and sensitized semiconductors have been used as photocatalysts for CO2 reduction for higher conversion efficiency. The selectivity of products not only depends on the catalysts’ compositions but also on the choice of reductant and the solvent. However, the practical applications of these catalyst for CO2 reduction are still limited by the low CO2 conversion efficiency. It is important to raise the photocatalytic conversion efficiency and long-term stability to make this process economically feasible. Here, our main challenge was to enhance the selectivity and efficiency of the process for the novel g-C3N4/Cu2O-FeO catalyst, which uses earth abundant materials.
Q. Any scholarships or awards for this research?
Ans: We got financial support from Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (109-2113-M-001-020) and Academia Sinica (AS-KPQ-106-DDPP) for this research on CO2 reduction.
I have received Taiwan government’s most prestigious scholarship for PhD ‘TIGP’ and was given an opportunity to study and carry out my research in the Academia Sinica and National Chiao Tung University, a renowned research institution of Taiwan and one of the top three Universities. It was a type of dual degree with my research focused on Sustainable Chemical Science and Technology. After obtaining PhD, I also got Song Pei Wu applied chemistry thesis award for my thesis on Perovskite solar cells. Moreover, two of my research papers also received the best paper award from my university ‘National Chiao Tung University’.
Currently, I have been awarded the most prestigious postdoctoral fellowship in Taiwan (Academia Sinica postdoctoral research fellow) offered by Academia Sinica and I am working as a Postdoctoral research scholar here.
Q. How do you think your research would be beneficial to the society or industry?
Ans. I hope that this research would help in solving the prevalent issue of global warming befalling due to the rapid industrial developments across the globe. Currently, the conversion efficiency is too low to be practically useful in industry, this research would definitely help solving the existing low conversion efficiency. We are also confident that the proposed hybrid low-dimensional functional materials would help in promoting the conversion of the product yields to some extents and to gain in-depth understanding of the basic principle of CO2 reduction using the advanced spectroscopy/dynamics techniques available in our laboratory. Based on our results we will be able to design better, cheaper and inexpensive catalysts. Finally, we hope these catalysts can be used for a large-scale industrial fixation of carbon dioxide to useful chemicals. This can help us achieve two goals – 1) CO2 amount reduction and 2) valuable chemical productions without using fossil fuel. Ultimately, we will be able to attain the goal of sustainable development.
Q. When did you begin and complete your research?
Ans: I joined the above mentioned project in the month of June 2020, after finishing my PhD, and the first draft of the manuscript was ready by the end of November 2020. The research was finally published in the reputed journal named Applied Catalysis B: Environmental inthe field of environmental engineering in the month of March 2021.
Q. Any new research you are working on now?
Ans: The recent research still requires solutions like finding a viable approach, providing better stability, reducing toxicity and superior catalytic performance. Currently we are working on introducing newer class of materials known as Perovskite. Our goal in this proposal is to develop novel photocatalysts that are inexpensive and efficient. Additionally, the photocatalytic materials should be able to generate large number of electron-hole pairs, while separating charges efficiently at the same time, and providing large amount of active catalytic sites at the interface between the surface of the photocatalyst and the CO2 carriers (either in liquid phase or in gas phase).
Q. What was the conclusion of your research?
Ans. We successfully demonstrated that cheaper catalyst can also work efficiently as expensive catalysts for CO2 reduction with better efficiency and selectivity. More details can be found in our research article.
Q. How do you think your research can be carried forward?
Ans. We expect to establish a standard protocol for employing catalysts for efficient Electro Chemical systems which may ultimately lead to development of the large-scale integrated reactor, including highly efficient buffered system, high conductivity membrane material, and large surface area electrode (e.g. gas diffusion electrode, single-atom membrane, and bio-conductive membrane electrodes). Further, we will be able to tune the selectivity of products by tuning the solvents. Ultimately, research groups around the world will be able to harness CO2 for various applications.
Q. Lastly, please give some tips to the budding scientists?
Ans. My advice to the budding scientists is that they should keep themselves updated with the recent literature and findings. Never lose hope as it takes time to obtain results. Always have plan B and C ready for the research and experiments.
source: http://www.indiatomorrow.net / India Tomorrow / Home> Education> Featured / by Rashida Bakait, India Tomorrow / March 30th, 2021
Left Dr Jasna Jamal with family. Right Dr Shyam Vishwanathan
Abu Dhabi:
Two Ayurveda doctors, who are originally from India’s Kerala state and now based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have received the Gulf nation’s coveted Golden Visa, according to a media report on Saturday.
A Golden Visa enables foreigners to live, work and study in the country without the need of a national sponsor and with 100 per cent ownership of their business on the UAE mainland.
They are issued for five or 10 years and are renewed automatically.
Both Shyam Vishwanathan Pillai and Jasna Jamal were granted the Golden Visas by the UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA).
Vishwanathan, CEO of Vaidyashala at the Burjeel Day Surgery Centre in Abu Dhabi, received it under the medical professionals and doctors category on June 17, the Khaleej Times report said.
“My sincere gratitude to the rulers and policymakers of UAE for the kind support to Ayurveda and Ayurveda practitioners,” Shyam, from Kollam, told the newspaper.
“I truly appreciate their vision in integrating the Ayurveda for the wellbeing of UAE residents and at the same time keeping in place strong measures to ensure the quality delivery of Ayurveda practice,” he added.
Shyam came to Dubai in 2002.
A resident of Al Mamzar in Dubai, Jamal, from Thrissur, was given the Golden Visa on June 24.
She moved to the UAE 12 years ago soon after getting married.
With over 16 years of experience in Ayurveda, Jamal established her own Ayurveda clinic in Al Mamzar.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News> Middle East / by IANS/ June 26th, 2021
This is the twelfth part of the series called “Scientist Says”, where we bring for our readers the significant research works of young scientists.
Dr. Mohammad Rehan completed his M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry (2010) from Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. Dr. Rehan started his doctoral studies at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal in 2011 with Prof. Prasanta Ghorai. During his doctoral studies, he worked on transition-metal catalyzed and transition metal-free synthesis of heterocycles & carbocyclic molecules. In 2017, he obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry from IISER, Bhopal, India. He joined as a postdoctoral research fellow in the group of Prof. H. Waldmann Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany, in May 2018 and worked till January 2021. He worked with the Group Leader Dr. Kamal Kumar, in the group of Prof. Waldmann, on asymmetric hetero-Diels–Alder reactions leading to biologically intriguing small molecules. He shares his research works with Rashida Bakait of India Tomorrow. Here are the excerpts of the interview.
Q. Please briefly explain your research.
Ans. My initial research was based on the development of synthetic methodology towards the synthesis of heterocyclic molecules and carbocyclic molecules. The purpose of developing a new synthetic methodology for the synthesis of heterocyclic molecules is that most marketed drugs contain heterocyclic fragments. Heteroatom’s (such as nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur) as well as heterocyclic scaffolds are often present as a key structural unit in several active pharmaceuticals natural products. Heterocyclic scaffolds are frequently present molecules in medicinal chemistry and among all such heteroclic molecules, nitrogen containing heterocyclic molecules are of great importance to medical science. Since nitrogen containing heterocyclic molecules are abundant in nature, existing as key units in several natural products, for examples, antibiotics, hormones and in vitamins. Nitrogen-containing natural products and some alkaloids compounds, showing various biological activities, several of them are even prescribed drugs such as serotonin, thiamine, which are called vitamin B1, papaverine, coniine, caffeine, nicotine, atropine, notorious morphine, and codeine. Statistically, more than 85% of all biologically active compounds contain heterocyclic moiety. These facts disclose and emphasize heterocyclic fragments play a central role in modern drug design and drug discovery.
At IISER-Bhopal, my doctoral research began with the development of a new synthetic method for the synthesis of heterocyclic molecules and their application towards the synthesis of biologically active compounds. It was divided into two section: 1st section (1) transition-metal catalyzed synthesis of heterocyclic compounds (such as synthesis of 2-benzyl indole and 2-benzyl benzofuran derivatives) here the developed method was used towards the synthesis of melatonin receptor, anti-tumor and hypocholesterolemic agent, cytotoxic and mTOR signaling agent. In the second section (2) (a) transition-metal free synthesis of heterocyclic (such as derivatives of quinoline derivatives) with this develop methodology I have successfully synthesized 2-styrylquinolines (which shows combined therapeutic and diagnostic activities against Alzheimer’s and prion diseases). The 2- styrylquinolines is a vital scaffold and having considerable biological significance.
Besides the above-mentioned research, my research focus as a postdoctoral research fellow at Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany, was based on (a) asymmetric hetero-Diels–Alder reactions leading to biologically intriguing small molecules (here I have developed a synthetic methodology that enabled us to identify a new biological annotation to piperidinoyl spirooxindoles, which were known to exhibit inhibition of p53-MDM2 interaction. This work also demonstrates how important it is to develop methods for various possible stereoisomers of a desired product with stereogenic centers), and (b) synthesis of bio-inspired Pseudo-natural products (PNPs).
Q. What was the objective of your research?
Ans. During my doctoral studies, I have gained immense experience in the development of new synthetic methodology. So I decided to extend my expertise towards drug discovery. It is only possible when there is a combination of chemistry and biology. I was looking for the research team where chemistry and biology work is going simultaneously, then only you can understand the real significance of the developed methodology for synthetic molecules. The scientific discipline of chemical biology is spanning the fields of chemistry and biology. It involves the application of chemical techniques, analysis, and often small molecules produced through synthetic chemistry to the study and manipulation of biological systems. When I joined the Prof. Waldmann research group (Prof. Waldmann is one of the renowned names in the field of chemical biology all over the world in academia and the pharmaceuticals industry) at MPI-Dortmund, my interest has developed to design and synthesize the Psuedo natural product based Molecular library towards the drug discovery. The synthesis of spiro-oxindole scaffold is present in various biologically intriguing natural products endowed with different biological activities. For example, Spirotryprostatin is isolated from the fermentation broth of A. fumigatus and shows antimitotic activity. Another natural product with spiro-oxindole core is Welwitindolinone which is isolated from H. welwitschii and reverses the effect of P-glycoprotein mediated multiple-drug-resistance. There are also various synthetic examples known where spiro-oxindoles show therapeutic effects, for instance, the antimalarial NITD609. An interesting subgroup of this class is the piperidinoyl-spirooxindole which consists of up to four consecutive chiral centers and up to three all-carbon-quaternary centers. Synthetic derivatives of this compound class appear to be promising anticancer agents. They inhibit the protein-protein interaction between the tumor suppressor p53 and MDM2. However, their potential in modulating other biological functions is not yet explored.
Till date, there are some enantioselective HDA reactions reported with great control over their stereo chemical courses. They are applied for the total synthesis of natural products and used in the synthesis of small molecules. Our aim was to develop asymmetric access to 3,3’-piperidinoyl-spirooxindoles employing a catalytic HDA reaction with a 2-azabutadiene.
Q. Please mention some of the new findings of your research?
Ans.The aim of chemical biology research is to get deeper insights into various known as well as novel biological processes by using chemical tools and techniques. An approach that is often chosen to accomplish this is to perturb a biological process that can be achieved with genetic approaches like gene silencing. The application of small molecules and the term small molecule is widely used and usually defines a molecular entity with a molecular weight under 1000 g/mol. Some of the important features of small molecules are their physicochemical properties like their permeability and solubility to penetrate the cell membrane and diffuse to their biological target in cell-based screenings. These properties are mainly influenced by molecular weight, lipophilicity, and the number of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors. So the design and development of synthetically small molecular libraries are very important in modern drug discovery.
Q What kind of challenges did you face?
Ans. Research is a lengthy process, so one must be self- motivated and should have a deep interest in the respective research areas. It will never be a cakewalk, your success will come after failure. Honestly, failure takes you towards success as you come to know various techniques and methods that might lead to failure. When I started my research for the development of a new synthetic methodology in chemistry I have faced similar problems.
Q. When did you begin and complete your research?
Ans. I started working as a doctoral researcher in August 2011 and successfully completed my Ph.D. degree in 2017. Then, I worked as a postdoctoral research fellow from May 2018 to January 2021 at Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology Dortmund Germany in the field of chemical biology. After the completion of my first post-doc, I took some break from my research work writing some reviews and research projects, now I want to start my own research group or would like to join the pharmaceutical industry to learn more about drug discovery.
Q. Any scholarships or awards for research?
Ans. For my doctoral studies, I received a fellowship from MHRD-CSIR-UGC for 5 years. During my postdoctoral research, I received Max Planck Institute-Gesellschaft Germany Postdoctoral fellowship for the Postdoctoral research in Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology Dortmund Germany.
Q. How do you think your research would be beneficial to the industry or society?
Ans. Several decades of research in various fields by the scientific community have led us to where we human beings are today: a civilized society with the knowledge and instruments to move forward. I believe that the synthetic methodology which I have developed during my doctoral studies in the area of organic chemistry and the research work during my postdoc will be helpful for the pharmaceuticals industry. By using such synthetic methodology the pharmaceuticals industry can develop new drugs. In the modern drug discovery we need to make an economically, environmentally sustainable and easily accessible method to provide the drugs in the market for the benefit the society.
Q. Any new research you are planning to work on now?
Ans. Now , I would like to expand my research area on biocatalyst to develop new chemical transformation towards the drug discovery. Biocatalysis refers to the use of living systems or their parts to speed up (catalyze) chemical reactions. In biocatalytic processes, natural catalysts, such as enzymes, perform chemical transformations on organic compounds. In a class of catalysts of biocatalyst enzymes are accountable for the smooth transformation and enhancement of the rate of many crucial biochemical reactions in plants and animals. Nature is making biologically active compounds in plants via enzyme catalysis process from a longer time. The importance of enzyme catalyst is due to its efficiency, as a single molecule of the enzyme catalyst can convert up to a million of reactant molecules into the products in few seconds. Recent advances in the field of drug discovery helps the chemist to understand the structure and functional activities of enzymes, which have in turn led to an increase in their stability, activity, sustainability, and substrate specificity. At present, there are hundreds of different biocatalytic action that have been carried out in many pharmaceuticals, chemical, food, and agro-based industries (biocatalysis Tyler Johannes).
Q. Please give few tips and suggestions for the budding scientists.
Ans. Doctoral research sometimes can be highly frustrating. At that time researcher should try to develop his own self-confidence and self-belief. Seek positive feedback and acknowledge your achievements. If your lack of determination is actively affecting your strength to work then seek consultation and professional help. Time management is very crucial. If you are not executing your goals on time, then plan properly again. And in the end don’t fear failure you can learn more from your failures than achievements. Failure can bring a positive change in your personal and professional life. Never take it personally, remember that you are receiving training to be a scientist. Try to understand the expectations of your supervisor.
Finally, you may need to explain your busy schedule during your research work to your family and friends. They may not understand the magnitude of research studies. You shouldn’t be nervous and don’t try to reject any opportunity to get-together. Remember one thing that discussing your research work with a layman can help to brush up it and it will further boost your motivation.
source: http://www.indiatomorrow.net / India Tomorrow / Home> Education> Featured / by Rashida Bakait, India Tomorrow /June 15th, 2021
If it was not for BSNL fibernet at home at Khanabal in Anantnag district of Jammu & Kashmir, Kaisar Shabir would not have attended online interviews with companies scouting for talent under ‘campus selection’ in December 2020.
Kaisar, who graduated from Siddaganga Institute of Technology here, has been appointed as a software development engineer with cafter training, and his salary package is Rs 31.97 lakh per year. This is the highest among 700 Bachelor of Engineering students from SIT who got placed through campus recruitment.
“I was tense as the network dropped at times at our home. But thankfully it didn’t. I am sure interviewers would have rescheduled my interview if there were any internet issues,” said Kaisar. “It would have been even better if the mobile network was working at that time. But BSNL proved helpful,” he said.
After being selected, he worked from home, and now he is joining Amazon’s Bengaluru office to work offline. “I don’t have dreams of going abroad. I want to crack the UPSC in future and serve in India,” he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Devraj B Hirehalli, Express News Service / June 26th, 2021
Dr Mohammad Askandar Iqbal and his team at the Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI), discovered the antagonistic roles of CBX2 and CBX7 genes in regulating glucose utilization in breast cancer cells. The discovery has enabled them to identify drugs that could be more effective in treating breast cancer patients with higher CBX2 and lower CBX7 expression.
Using a large amount of diverse molecular data from more than 3000 breast cancer patients along with gene silencing experiments, Dr Iqbal’s team identified the pro-cancer role of CBX2 and the anticancer role of CBX7, based on their effects on glucose metabolism in breast cancer.
Dr Iqbal and team also found that breast cancer patients with higher CBX2 and lower CBX7 expression in their tumors showed lesser survival probability compared to those having the reverse trends of expression of these two genes.
Highlighting the biological relevance of findings, CBX2 gene was found to be expressed at higher levels in breast cancer compared to normal breast tissue, whereas, the exact opposite trend was observed for CBX7. Further, the study reported that more deadly cancer tends to express higher levels of CBX2 and lower CBX7.
This research entitled “Multiomics integrative analysis reveals antagonistic roles of CBX2 and CBX7 in metabolic reprogramming of breast cancer” is published in Molecular Oncology, one of the most reputed journal worldwide in the field of oncology- a branch of medical science dealing with the study of cancer.
his is the first part of the series called-Scientist Says-where we would be presenting research works of young scientists in various fields.
Khadija Kanwal Khanum has done her PhD and Postdoctoral fellow from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, India (2010-2018). Presently, she is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada. She shares with Rashida Bakait of India Tomorrow, her significant studies and research on “Solar Cells’’.
Q. What was the topic of your research at IISc and a brief explanation about the same?
Ans. The broad topic of my doctoral and postdoctoral research at Indian Institute of science, Bengaluru, was fabrication, characterization and analyses of organic and hybrid photovoltaics (solar cells) to enhance the solar cell’s device performances. Specifically, the title of my doctoral thesis was “Morphological Architecturing of electroactive materials in organic electronics”. In this research, organic and organic-inorganic (hybrid) semiconductor/electroactive materials are used, instead of inorganic semiconductor materials/silicon to fabricate the solar cells. The organic and hybrid materials compare to the inorganic materials/ silicon counterparts are lab synthesized materials with ability to easily tailor the band gap (as semiconductors), and require less energy during their solar cell fabrication hence cost-effective. However, these organic and hybrid solar cells have till now reported, less power conversion efficiency, PCE (>25%) and are less stable in environment and therefore, require extensive research before their wide commercialization.
Q. What was the aim behind your research?
Ans. In this research, a different fabrication procedure was used called Electro-spinning, in order to enhance the light absorption as well as increase the charge (electron-hole) separation in the solar device, thereby increasing its PCE.
Q. What kind of new aspects were highlighted in your research?
Ans. The highlighting parts of the research were 1).The active layer of the solar cell which is generally in a thin film form was modified to fiber and various other forms such as network (Khanum and Ramamurthy, 2016), photonic (Khanum et al., 2017), two and three-dimensional triangles (Khanum and Ramamurthy, 2018) and spike-spheres (Khanum et al., 2015) structures using electrospinning/ electrospraying method. 2). The modified active layers assisted in improving the solar devices’ light absorption by 19 – 31% and PCE by 23 – 68%.
Q. When did you begin and complete your research?
Ans. I joined IISc as a doctoral student, in Aug 2010 and subsequently took few advance and elective courses in polymer science and technology, nanotechnology, vacuum systems, sensors and material characterization for one year, in order to gain knowledge and understanding of the above subjects, which helped me in my research. I started my research sometime around June 2011, submitted my doctoral thesis in July 2015, defended the thesis in July 2016, and continued the research as research associate and postdoctoral fellow till Mar 2018.
Q. What kind of challenges you faced?
Ans. Since organic electroactive materials used in this research are conjugated small molecules and polymers possessing, low molecular weight than conventional polymers hence, fiber formation using electrospinning was difficult. Therefore, lot of optimization of the electrospinning process parameters and modifications of the organic and hybrid materials used such as; preparation time, concentration and solvent used had to be meticulously carried out, during solar cells fabrication. Additionally, maintaining inert atmosphere both, during fabrication and characterization of solar cells required lot of patience and cautions, making this study iterative and time-consuming. For instance, it took almost two years in this study, to obtain first few successful solar cell devices.
Q. Any scholarships or awards for research?
Ans. For my PhD and postdoctoral research, major part of the funding was received as scholarship from Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and Institute (IISC) research associate fund while during last 15 months; I received scholarship from my Ph.D and Postdoctoral advisor from his project grant. I received few awards and grants to present the research work in various international conferences; Manish Narayan memorial award from Department of Materials Engineering, IISc in 2014, Indian Institute of Science support and grant in 2014 and 2015, Department of Science and Technology (DST) young scientist in 2016 and International Workshop on Advanced Materials (IWAM), Ras Al Khaimah, UAE travel grant in 2016 and 2018.
Q. How do you think your research would be beneficial to industry/ society?
Ans. Energy from sun that strikes the earth in a year is enormous, precisely equals to 3 x 1024 J, or about 10, 000 times more than current global energy consumption. Covering 0.1% of the earth’s surface with 10% efficiency solar cells would suffice the energy demand of the whole world (Siddiki et al., 2010). Therefore, my research of improving the light absorption and PCE of organic and hybrid solar cells through morphological architecturing would be one of the smart tools that can be used to trap and utilize the renewable and sustainable energy resource (solar energy).
Q. What was the conclusion of your research?
Ans. In conclusion, in this research `Electrospinning Processing Technique’ is evaluated as one of the novel processing techniques for morphology patterning, leading to improvements in structural, optical and opto-electrical properties of organic and hybrid electroactive materials. Further these electroactive materials based on morphological patterning were also evaluated as organic solar cells with 19 – 31% increment in light/ optical absorption and 23 – 68% enhancement in PCE (Khanum and Ramamurthy, 2016; Khanum et al., 2017; Khanum and Ramamurthy, 2018).
Q. How do you think your research can be carried forward?
Ans. The research could be extended in studying the life stability and field performance of these solar cells. The research could also be extended by using electrospinning processing technique to generate more morphological structures than studied in this research (mentioned in Q3’s reply) and evaluate their properties in the field of photovoltaics/solar devices. The already generated morphological structures such as network, photonic, two and three-dimensional triangles and spike-spheres structures are made up of organic electroactive materials and can be explored in the field of sensors and medical applications as in drug delivery and as tissue scaffolds, therefore the feasibility in these areas could also be one of the future direction.
Q. Can you brief us about your current research?
Ans. Yes, my research at University of Waterloo, Canada is on nanocomposites materials employed in power industry. As the World’s energy demand seems to be all time high and increasing, the focus of research is now more on renewable and sustainable energy. The power industry needless to mention, acts as a bridge between all types of energy generation and the consumers. In my present work, the importance of nanocomposites materials and its processing with respect to power industry are researched. Nanocomposites are remarkable class of materials, consisting of various types of nanofillers which act as reinforcement in the matrix and thus enhance the desired properties. These nanomaterials have to be dispersed homogeneously in the matrix to gain optimized effects and therefore require special processing tools. Therefore, in this research, processing of various polymer nanocomposites of silicone filled with Silica and Alumina fillers are studied.
Q. Apart from your main research topic, would you like to list any other work you collaborated and worked on?
Ans. Yes, besides fabrication, characterization and analyses of organic and hybrid solar cells, I collaborated and worked on few other interesting topics such as– Developed silk and melanin nanofibers mats for the bio-application such as scaffolds for tissue engineering, evaluated the effectiveness of non-water based cleaning mechanisms for photovoltaic (PV) systems. Studied the influence of dust density and composition on performance of PV systems using Infrared (IR) radiation and assessed magnetic materials and their integration in fibre reinforced polymer composites for structural applications.
source: http://www.indiatomorrow.net / India Tomorrow / Home> Education / by Rashida Bakhait, India Tomorrow / March 17th, 2021
This is the sixth part of the series – `Scientist Says’ – where we bring for our readers the significant and commendable research works of young scientists in various fields.
Dr. Imtiyaz Ahmad Bhat started working as a researcher in the year 2013 with Prof. P.S Mukherjee lab, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry department, IISc Bangalore. He completed his Ph.D in 2018 and worked as a Research Associate in the same department. Currently, Dr. Imtiyaz is working as a post-doctoral fellow in King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. He shares his significant research works withRashida Bakait of India Tomorrow. Here are the excerpts of the interview.
Q. To begin with, please explain in brief to our readers about `Supramolecular Chemistry’ and the research works associated with the subject.
Ans. Nature has inspired scientists to exploit the potency of weak non-covalent interactions to form complex functional Supramolecules, with wide range of applications, which led to the birth of a new field of chemistry called ‘Supramolecular chemistry’ i.e. chemistry ‘beyond molecule’. Supramolecules are large complex molecules formed upon aggregation of smaller constituent building blocks through non-covalent interactions by a process called ‘self-assembly’. ‘Self-assembly’ is a spontaneous process where components, either separated or linked, reversibly form complex ordered aggregates without any external direction. Supramolecular chemistry has emerged as a broad field and has given rise to vast number of diverse structures by using a variety of non-covalent intermolecular interactions.
Over the past two decades, various methodologies of co-ordination driven self-assembly for the rational design of polygons and 3D supramolecular including tetrahedra, cubes, octahedra, cuboctahedra, and others have been developed. Enzymes, which are nature’s molecular containers, possess molecular pockets capable of binding substrates through non-covalent interactions and catalyze many important enzymatic reactions. Over the last two decades, with the advent of co-ordination driven self-assembly, the focus has greatly shifted to exploiting weak metal–ligand coordination for the self-assembly of molecular containers from individual components. The simple yet dynamic nature of coordination driven self-assembly has led to the construction of various capsules and cages with nanometre-size cavities capable of various applications. The shape and size of inner cavity of the coordination cages, even those not possessing definite covalent interactions between the catalyst and substrate, play a paramount role in altering the reactivity and properties of the contained molecules.
The central theme of my doctoral research interest in IISc has been in the area of co-ordination driven supramolecular chemistry, arguably one of the hottest areas of chemical sciences. In my research work at IISc Bangalore, I was specifically engaged in developing novel coordination cages possessing confined cavity and demonstrate their applications in cavity directed catalysis and stimuli-responsive targeted drug delivery.
Besides this, my current research focus at King Abdullah University of Science and technology, Saudi Arabia as Post-doctoral fellow is to design and synthesize the Imine-based macrocycle which will act as Non Adaptive Crystal Systems (NACs) and will eventually be used for separation of hydrocarbon and their derivatives. These Imine based macrocycles offer plenty of merits, such as easy preparation, low cost, high recyclability, chemical resistance, and thermal stability and hence makes them ideal material for industrial application.
Q. What was the objective of your research?
Ans. The supramolecular coordination complexes are obtained by mixing soluble metals as acceptors and ligand precursors as donors which spontaneously form metal-ligand bonds to generate a single thermodynamically-favoured product. Over the past two decades, various methodologies of coordination driven self-assembly for the rational design of polygons and 3D supramolecules including tetrahedra, cubes, octahedra, cuboctahedra, and others have been developed. My aim was to examine the self-assembly of pyridine and pyrimidine based ligands with square planar Pd(II) and Pt(II) metal ions to get the water soluble supramolecular structures with intrinsic hydrophobic cavity. These supramolecules with intrinsic hydrophobic cavity have a potential to function like the naturally found catalysts i.e enzymes by mimicking the cavity driven enzymatic reactions.
Q. When did you begin and complete your research?
Ans. I started in 2013 as a PhD student in Prof. P. S. Mukherjee lab at IISc Bangalore. Currently. I am working as a post-doctoral fellow in King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia.
Q. What were the new findings of your research?
Ans. I could successfully synthesize and characterize various water soluble supramolecular structures with different shapes like sphere in sphere, tubes, tetrahedron, molecular barrels etc. and sizes. The tetrahedral cage with confined space was used as supramolecular catalyst to promote the Michael Addition Reaction of Indole and various nitro-styrene derivatives in water. The hydrophobic cavity of water soluble barrel like structures was successfully utilized to encapsulate curcumin and increased its solubility, enhanced its stability against UV light and thus acted as a safe aqueous carrier of curcumin to HeLa cancer cells. Also, an unusual supramolecule with triangular orthobicupola geometry was obtained, which is the first example of its type reported so far. The confined pocket of this cage with unique structural topology has been successfully used for the catalytic intramolecular cycloaddition reaction of substrates containing less reactive alkyne dienophile.
Q. What was the conclusion of your research?
Ans. In conclusion, we could successfully synthesize and characterize a giant double layered spherical structure with 24 Pd (Palladium) ions and 24 Pyrimidine based ligands. The strategy used here for the synthesis of double-shell superstructure establishes new guidelines for the creation of novel complex architectures. To further explore Pyrimidine as donors, various ligands with Pyrimidine as donors were synthesized and their self-assembly with cis-blocked Pt acceptor has led to formation of tube and tetrahedral cage structures. The tetrahedral cage with confined space was used as supramolecular catalyst to promote the Michael addition reaction of indole and various nitro-styrene derivatives. We were able to synthesize and characterize a water soluble barrel and cylindrical assemblies.The hydrophobic cavity of water soluble barrel was successfully utilized to encapsulate curcumin and increased its solubility, enhanced its stability against UV light and thus acted as a safe aqueous carrier of curcumin to HeLa cancer cells. The cylindrical assembly obtained was found to adopt an unusual triangular Orthobicupola geometry, which is the first example of its type reported so far. The confined pocket of this cage with unique structural topology has been successfully used for the catalytic intramolecular cycloaddition reaction of substrates containing less reactive alkyne dienophile.
Q. What kind of challenges did you face?
Ans. Challenges and difficulties are the inherent part of the research and researchers have to find ways to overcome them and materialize their tasks. It was really a herculean task in characterizing these supramolecular structures. However, patience and positive attitude helped me to keep trying and I could finally characterize them well and obtained their crystal structures. As a beginner, I struggled with writing my results and presenting them in scientific journals.
Q. Any scholarships or awards for research?
Ans. My Research Associateship was extended for one more year in IISc for completing research within five years. In 2019 I received Irish research post-doctoral fellowship in Trinity College, Dublin
Q. How do you think your research would be beneficial to the society or industry?
Ans. The 3D metallo-supramolecular architectures with confined cavity have been exploited for many applications such as- guest encapsulation, catalysis and drug delivery etc. we were able to show that organic chemical reactions can be performed in water using these water soluble supramolecular structures. Barrel shaped molecules are highly promising which possess large open windows along with large confined cavity. Our approach provides one of the elegant and efficient methods to design such barrel shaped architectures and their use to perform the catalytic organic transformation in aqueous medium. A lot of effort is going on in the scientific field to design new such systems and utilize them for various applications. The importance of this field could be easily reflected from the 2016 Nobel Prize which was awarded for novel findings in supramolecular chemistry.
Q. How do you think your research can be carried forward?
Ans. The features of coordination driven self-assembly like high directionality, intermediate bond enthalpy and vast diversity of organic ligands make it unique over the other non-covalent self-assembly approaches. The coordination-driven self-assembly was initiated by Lehn and Sauvage and pioneered the field with the introduction of various architectures ranging from ladders, helicases, rings, knots, rotaxanes, catenanes, and several other architectures. Later on, other scientists have taken the field to newer heights by developing novel methodologies and approaches to design and synthesize various discrete metal-organic architectures of distinct shapes, sizes and functionalities. The breadth of coordination driven self-assembly has continuously increased with the introduction of numerous functional supramolecules each year and it keeps on growing with every passing day.
Q. Any new research you are working on now?
Ans. My current research focus at King Abdullah university of Science and technology, Saudi Arabia as Post-doctoral fellow is to design and synthesize the Imine based macrocycle which will act as Non Adaptive Crystal Systems (NACs) and will eventually be used for separation of hydrocarbon and their derivatives. These Imine based macrocycles offer plenty of merits, such as easy preparation, low cost, high recyclability, chemical resistance, and thermal stability and hence makes them ideal material for industrial application.
Q. Give few suggestions to budding scientists.
Ans. For those who have decided to take research as their career, I would like to suggest them that patience is the key and keep learning from the mistakes as this is how it works in research. As a researcher, update yourself with the current literature related to your field that will help you to give new directions to your ongoing projects. Time management is crucial. Plan your experiments in advance so that you are confident about tasks you will be performing. Wishing goodluck to all budding scientists.
source: http://www.indiatomorrow.net / India Tomorrow / Home> Education> Featured / by Rashida Bakait, India Tomorrow / April 28th, 2021
