Science, technology and innovations in India

[sorcerer]

India first Asian country to join International Pulsar Timing Array with uGMRT

India has formally joined the elite league of international radio telescopes that are involved in tracking very low-frequency gravitational waves, especially those emerging from two orbiting very large supermassive blackholes.


Observations made by Pune-based upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT), operated by TIFR – National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), will be used along with the data gathered by some large radio telescopes located in Europe, America and Australia.

The uGMRT is one of the world’s largest and highly sensitive instruments offering a frequency range between 300 to 800 MHz. (National Centre for Radio Astrophysics)

Last week, the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA) approved India’s full membership as the Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA).


With uGMRT, India has become the first Asian country to be a full member of IPTA consortium comprising European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA), North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) and Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) from Australia.

India first Asian country to join International Pulsar Timing Array with uGMRT

Observations made by Pune-based upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) will be used along with the data gathered by some large radio telescopes located in Europe, America and Australia.

indianexpress.com

 

[sorcerer]

A women-led startup develops deep-tech for reliable low-cost internet services to rural areas


Posted On: 29 MAR 2021 12:33PM by PIB Delhi



Astrome, a women-led startup, has developed an innovative wireless product that gives fibre like bandwidth at fraction of cost of fibre to help telecom operators deliver reliable low-cost internet services to suburban and rural areas.





Reaching internet access to remote places in countries like India is difficult because laying fibre is too expensive. There is a need for wireless backhaul products that can deliver low cost, high data capacity, and wide reach. Currently available, wireless backhaul products either do not provide sufficient data speeds or the required range or are very expensive to deploy.





The wireless product called Giga Mesh could enable telecom operators deploy quality, high-speed rural telecom infrastructure at 5 times lower cost. Rural connectivity customers and defence customers who have already signed up for pilots will soon witness the demonstration of this product by Astrome.





The deep tech startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and supported by DST-ABI Woman Startup Program of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India proved their millimeter-wave multi-beam technology in the lab in 2018, for which the company has been granted a patent in India and US. Since then, the technology has been converted to a powerful and scalable product called Giga Mesh, which can solve much of the last mile connectivity telecom needs of our country. The product has been proven on the field and also integrated with partner products for its upcoming commercialization.





“Indian Institute of Science played a very critical role by helping us connect with investors, providing business mentorship, and giving us space to conduct our product field trials,” said Dr. Neha Satak, Co-founder & CEO at Astrome, while recalling a weeklong trip organized under the DST-ABI woman startup initiative which provided her with valuable inputs from the US VC ecosystem to prepare for the launch in the US market.





Astrome also received the ITU SME Award for the Most Promising Innovative Solution in Connectivity, a major recognition for this product from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). They also got selected by a prestigious 5G accelerator program called Evo Nexus (sponsored by Qualcomm) which will help them launch their product in the global market.





The Multi-beam E-band product, Giga Mesh, packs 6 Point-to-Point E-band radios in one, thereby distributing the cost of the device over multiple links and hence reduces capital expenditure. The radio provides long-range and multi-Gbps data throughput at each link. Features like automatic link alignment, dynamic power allocation between links, and remote link formation help operators achieve significant operating expenditure cost reduction.





Astrome is currently conducting a field trial at Indian Institute of Science (university campus). In this field trial, the company has already achieved data streaming at multi-Gbps speeds across the campus.





For more details, Dr. Neha Satak ([email protected]) can be contacted.

Astome’s CEO and Director of Engineering receiving IEEE Technology Startup Award 2020

Picture of Giga Mesh deployed at the Indian Institute of Science campus for connectivity trials.


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[sorcerer]

India gets 5 new chilli hybrids resistant to virus, will 'save Rs 170-200 crore' on seeds cost

New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) in Bengaluru has developed five new chilli hybrids, which it says are resistant to the devastating leaf curl virus (LCV) that afflicts the crop.


The hybrids will be made available to farmers for the kharif season later this year.


According to experts, who have developed these new varieties, the leaf curl virus, transmitted by the Whitefly, has emerged as a serious problem in the major chilli growing areas of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

 

[Gessler]

A great one-stop-shop site for getting info on major global science programs that Indian Govt. & Pvt Institutes are involved in, and what their roles are:

Mega Science Projects | Vigyan Samagam

Mega Science Projects | Vigyan Samagam

vigyansamagam.in

Including:

ITER
CERN
Square Kilometer Array (SKA)
Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT)
India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)
LIGO-India
Facility for Antiproton & Ion Research (FAIR)

 

[sorcerer]

Indian researchers develop nanozymes that can block HIV reactivation

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here have developed artificial enzymes that they said can successfully block reactivation and replication of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the host's immune cells.


Made from vanadium pentoxide nanosheets, these "nanozymes" work by mimicking a natural enzyme called glutathione peroxidase that helps reduce oxidative stress levels in the host's cells, which is required to keep the virus in check, an IISc statement said on Thursday.


The study, published in 'EMBO Molecular Medicine, was led by Amit Singh, Associate Professor and Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Senior Fellow at the Department of Microbiology & Cell Biology and Centre for Infectious Diseases Research (CIDR), and Govindasamy Mugesh, Professor at the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry.


"The advantage is that the nanozymes are stable inside biological systems and do not mediate any unwanted reactions inside the cells," Mugesh said. "They are also quite easy to prepare in the lab."

Indian researchers develop nanozymes that can block HIV reactivation

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here have developed artificial enzymes that they said can successfully block reactivation and replication of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the host's immune cells.

www.tribuneindia.com

 

[FalconSlayers]

 

[Lonewolf]

I see a lot of invention by iit these days ,but still public perception is iit are busy in money making engineer only .

Most professor are helped by students .

Well do we use these tech or just for show off

 

[FalconSlayers]

I see a lot of invention by iit these days ,but still public perception is iit are busy in money making engineer only .

Most professor are helped by students .

Well do we use these tech or just for show off

We need to focus on our education sector with good Colleges and institutions, we should focus on innovation. The scientists involved in development of this tech can patent it and can start a startup with this tech.

 

[Tactical Doge]

I see a lot of invention by iit these days ,but still public perception is iit are busy in money making engineer only .

Most professor are helped by students .

Well do we use these tech or just for show off

IITs are not even in the top 100 universities of the world
We need to invest heavily in educational institutions in the country

 

[Lonewolf]

We need to focus on our education sector with good Colleges and institutions, we should focus on innovation. The scientists involved in development of this tech can patent it and can start a startup with this tech.

They are mostly old professor in late 60's or 50's ,they are doing it for their dedication or name .

We need more tech tranfers

 

[Lonewolf]

IITs are not even in the top 100 universities of the world
We need to invest heavily in educational institutions in the country

You should know that ranking criteria is quite flawed

 

[Tactical Doge]

You should know that ranking criteria is quite flawed

We still have lesser number of scientific papers per Annum than even some low tier Eurofags
We still need to up our game

 

[Tactical Doge]

If I'm not mistaken
@Lonewolf you're preparing for IIT right?

 

[Lonewolf]

You should know that ranking criteria is quite flawed

To elaborate a bit @Hariharan_kalarikkal , it involves large marking for foreign students , student vs teacher ratio , campus infra and facility ,even sports complex type thing .

We rank poor therr , other wise 2-3 iit csn be in top 50

 

[Lonewolf]

If I'm not mistaken
@Lonewolf you're preparing for IIT right?

Got 8000 rank but can't get my dream college so trying again

 

[Tactical Doge]

Got 8000 rank but can't get my dream college so trying again

Good luck bud

 

[FalconSlayers]

Got 8000 rank but can't get my dream college so trying again

You have 4 attempts, 2 left.

 

[Lonewolf]

We still have lesser number of scientific papers per Annum than even some low tier Eurofags
We still need to up our game

European have a developed system ,our people go there ,do research and come back sometime , they pay a lot , education is free if you are required there , and a lot of tactics

 

[Lonewolf]

You have 4 attempts, 2 left.

Good luck bud

Yeah , really boring to give it multiple times .

Thanks bro @Hariharan_kalarikkal

 

[sorcerer]

Indian scientists develop artificial enzyme to keep HIV virus in check--India Science Wire

People suffering from Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection can now hope to have a better quality of life with researchers at the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) developing a nano alternative to a natural enzyme that is used to block reactivation and replication of the virus in the host’s immune cells.


Made from vanadium pentoxide nanosheets, the new “nanozymes” work by mimicking the natural enzyme called glutathione peroxidase to help reduce oxidative stress levels in the host’s cells, which is required to keep the virus in check.


Presently, there is no method available to completely eliminate HIV from a patient’s body. Anti-HIV drugs only succeed in suppressing the virus. They cannot eradicate it from the infected cells. The virus, consequently, hides inside the host’s immune cells in a latent state. When the levels of toxic molecules such as hydrogen peroxide increase in the host’s cells, leading to a state of increased oxidative stress, the virus gets “reactivated” ‒ it emerges from hiding and begins replicating again.


One way to prevent reactivation is to keep the oxidative stress constantly low. Enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase help in doing this. They convert toxic hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. However, inducing the host cells to produce more quantities of these enzymes could disrupt the tightly regulated cellular machinery.

People suffering from Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection can now hope to have a better quality of life with researchers at the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) developing a nano alternative to a natural enzyme that is used to block reactivation and replication of the virus in the host’s immune cells.

A few years ago, a team of researchers led by Amit Singh, Associate Professor and Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance Senior Fellow at the Department of Microbiology & Cell Biology and Centre for Infectious Diseases Research (CIDR), developed a biosensor to measure oxidative stress levels in HIV-infected immune cells in real-time.


Around the same time, another team at the Institute led by Govindasamy Mugesh, Professor at the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, published a study showing that nanowires made of vanadium pentoxide can efficiently mimic the activity of glutathione peroxidase.


Finding the possibility for synergy in their work, the two teams then got together and decided to collaborate and see whether they could find a viable solution to help keep HIV virus under check on a permanent basis.


The researchers prepared ultrathin nanosheets of vanadium pentoxide in the lab and treated HIV-infected cells with them. The sheets were found to reduce hydrogen peroxide just as effectively as the natural enzyme and prevent the virus from reactivating. They then treated immune cells from HIV-infected patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART) with the nanozymes. They found that the latency was induced faster and subsequent reactivation was suppressed when therapy was stopped, indicating that combining the nanozymes and ART was more effective.


In a press release from IISc, the researchers said that the combination can have some other advantages too. For instance, some ART drugs can cause oxidative stress as a side effect, which can damage heart or kidney cells. Adding a nanozyme like the one developed could help in reducing the side effects caused by such ART drugs, they said.


The scientists noted that though the nanozymes have been found to be harmless to normal cells in lab tests, more studies were needed to understand if they can have other effects once they are introduced inside the body. They have published a report on their work in journal, `EMBO Molecular Medicine’.