Category: Science & Technology

** TN doctor conferred MBE by UK for fight against Covid

Dr S Balachandran, a native of Uthukuli, was conferred an MBE (Member of the British Empire) on Monday. Along with two other doctors, Balachandran was given the honour for services to the nation during the pandemic. 

peaking to TNIE, Balachandran’s brother-in-law M Ravi said, “Balachandran studied at the Uthukuli Government High Secondary, and joined Thanjavur Medical College. He completed MD and Diploma in Anaesthesia there in 1989. He served in Karur Government Hospital and Ramanathapuram Government Hospital for several years before moving to the UK.” Now, he leads the board for infection control at the same university.

** New Directors appointed at 4 IITs

They are professors with strong industry links and policy experience

Signalling a new era, professors with strong industry links and policy experience have been appointed the new Directors of four of the elite Indian Institutes of Technology.

At IIT Madras, the country’s top educational institution according to domestic rankings, the next Director will be V. Kamakoti, who designed the first indigenously-developed microprocessor for use in communications and defence sectors.

The Professor of Computer Science and Engineering is currently the associate dean for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research at IIT Madras.

“Our immediate priority would be augmenting the skill set for indigenous technology development,” he said, according to an official statement.

IIT Delhi’s next director will be Rangan Banerjee, currently the Forbes Marshall Chair Professor in IIT Bombay’s Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay, which he helped to start in 2007.

With academic interests in energy management, planning and policy, as well as hydrogen energy and fuel cells, Professor Banerjee was a member of the Working Group on New and Renewable Energy for the Eleventh and Twelfth Five-Year Plans and a member of the Planning Commission’s Integrated Energy Policy.

IIT Bombay is also the current home of IIT Indore’s next Director Suhas S. Joshi. With a background in production engineering, he started his career as an engine development manager at Tata Motors before shifting into academia.

He currently heads the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Bombay, holds the Rahul Bajaj Chair position and is also Dean of Alumni and Corporate Relations at a time when the institution has raked in record donations from its alumni.

According to his profile on the IIT Bombay website, Dr. Joshi has undertaken 38 projects sponsored by aerospace, nuclear, defence and private organisations in India and spearheaded the establishment of an aerospace research centre in partnership with Boeing and the Central government.

Laxmidhar Behera, a Robotics professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Kanpur, has been appointed the next Director of IIT Mandi.

He heads the Intelligent Systems and Control Laboratory at IIT Kanpur and focuses on developing automation solutions to industrial and domestic problems.

Recent projects include the development of a bio-signal enabled control of a robotic wheelchair sponsored by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council and a Central government sponsored project on robotics in agriculture.

** Less than 100 workers of Foxconn return to one of the dormitories, operations to resume in phased manner

Resuming operations with full workforce to take some more months

Less than 100 workers at Foxconn’s plant in Sriperumbudur have returned to one of the dormitories. The plant is likely to reopen on January 12, however resuming of operations with the full 15,000 workforce will take some more months, as corrective measures have to be implemented in full, according to sources, besides there is a change in local management.

The plant which makes Apple iPhones, was shut down last month after a food poisoning incident affected more than 100 women workers. Apple has placed the plant on probation and Foxconn has apologised for the incident, while assuring of corrective action.

** Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurates 144 PSA oxygen plants

“Besides establishing the oxygen plants, the government is providing a 30% subsidy to private hospitals with over 100-bed capacity for setting up oxygen plants,” the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh said.

Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, on January 10, virtually inaugurated 144 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants set up at various government hospitals in the State.

On the occasion, Mr. Reddy said the government has been taking all measures to contain coronavirus ahead of the third wave and as part of it, 144 oxygen plants have been installed in government hospitals at a cost of ₹426 crore.

** Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant heads out for next round of sea trials

Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant now sails to undertake complex manoeuvres to establish specific readings of how the ship performs in various conditions

The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) Vikrant has headed out for the next set of sea trials on January 9, shortly after two high-profile visits — that of the President and the Vice-President of India within a span of about two weeks.

** Some of the most complex cloud projects are coming out of India, Microsoft executive says

In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, Shivir Chordia, Azure Business Group Lead at Microsoft India, spoke about the growing cloud ecosystem, the pandemic’s role in driving cloud adoption across different sectors, and more.

** PM Modi lauds feat of 2 crore children getting vaccinated

Vaccination of children in the 15-18 age group began on January 3 in the country.

Lauding the feat of over two crore youngsters in the 15-18 age group getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for continuing the momentum.

He tweeted, “Excellent! Well done my young friends. Let us continue this momentum. Urging everyone to follow all COVID-19 related protocols and get vaccinated, if you haven’t already.” He was reacting to Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s tweet regarding the feat.

* Bengaluru virologist’s test kit ‘Omisure’ for Omicron variant cuts delays

“Globally, all other test kits for Omicron are either made for gene dropout or mutation specific detection. Omisure is the first test kit combining both.”

In a major and global breakthrough towards cutting down procedural delays in genome sequencing to ascertain the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2, Dr V Ravi, former head of the Department of Neurovirology at National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences and Head, Research & Development, Tata Medical & Diagnostic Centre, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, and his team have developed the world’s first test kit, Omisure, that can detect the Omicron variant by combining S-gene target failure (SGTF) and S-gene mutation amplification (SGMA).

** Dr. Reddy’s prices anti-COVID-19 molnupiravir capsules at ₹35 each

Molflu is expected to be available from early next week in pharmacies throughout the country, Dr. Reddy’s said

Pharma major Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories on Tuesday said it would launch molnupiravir capsules 200 mg, the anti-viral drug that India recently granted emergency use authorisation for COVID-19 treatment, at ₹35 each under the brand name Molflu.

Each strip would have 10 capsules. With the recommended dose 800 mg twice a day for five days, the total course of 40 capsules would cost ₹1,400, making it among the most affordable treatment options available to patients, Dr. Reddy’s said.

** ICMR approves India-made kit to detect Omicron

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved a testing kit for detecting the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The kit is manufactured by Tata Medical and Diagnostics and is named OmiSure.

The RT-PCR kit, Omisure, was earlier sent to the ICMR for approval after continued testing. The kit will be used to confirm the Omicron in patients with its S-Gene Target Failure (SGTF) strategy.