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• Paradigm shift to sustainable systems April 20, 2020

  Dr. Lakhveer proposes to reduce the cost of bioreactors

  Reputed publishing house Elsevier has published the illuminating research work of Dr. Lakhveer Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science. The book named Bioreactors: Sustainable Design and Industrial Applications in Mitigation of GHG Emissions (1st Edition), is co-edited by Durga Mahapatra, Oregon State University, USA, Scientist and Dr Abu Yousuf, Assistant Professor, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh.

  Dawn of the 21st century has witnessed a solemn crisis in petroleum-derived fuels, consequently causing a major setback in chemicals/bio-products industries. Also, the researchers identify that the problem of climate change needs to be addressed by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Dr. Lakhveer states, “To cope up with soaring energy demands, the present generation requires a paradigm shift from fossil-based resources to renewables and sustainable systems which accentuates the necessity of bioreactors for employing bioenergy and bio-products recovery”.

  Presently, sophisticated bioreactor technologies have resulted in towering industrial production significantly contributing to the global economy and benefiting human life. Bioreactors have a substantial role in building a sustainable economy and providing food, feed, energy and other basic amenities for a quality life. Numerous bioreactors have evolved over time through sustainable research targeting commercialization.

  A bioreactor is a vessel-like device that provides a uniform background for microorganisms to grow. It maintains an uninterrupted balance in the biochemical reactions carried out by these microorganisms to produce the desired metabolites. The applications of bioreactors extend to biomass production such as microalgae, single-cell protein, and yeast. For metabolite formation like organic acids, ethanol, antibiotics, aromatic compounds, and pigments, bioreactors are absolute. It also contributes to transforming substrates like steroids along with supplementing to production of both the intra and extracellular enzymes.

  Recently, Dr Singh has developed an innovative cost-effective hybrid bioelectrochemical reactor (15.0 L) in collaboration with Oregon State University, USA, capable of generating efficient hydrogen at a cost less than $2/kg of H2 from lignocellulose hydrolysates or wastewater.

  “In our research we have developed numerous types of bioreactors ranging in size from 5.0 to 100 L. A few examples are immobilized up-flow bioreactor, two-stage thermophilic and mesophilic fermenter, sequential dark and photobioreactor as well as hybrid bioelectrochemical reactor for bioenergy production and valuable products recovery from various industrial and agriculture waste. “ informs Dr. Lakhveer.

  The book “Bioreactors” presents and compares the foundational concepts, state-of-the-art design and fabrication of bioreactors. Solidly based on theoretical fundamentals, it examines various aspects of the commercially available bioreactors, that includes construction, fabrication, design, modeling, simulation, development, operation, maintenance, management, and target applications for biofuels production as well as bio-waste management. Emerging issues in commercial feasibility are explored in the book along with covering the constraints and pathways for upscaling. It also carries out rigorous techno-economic assessment.

  “This book provides researchers and engineers in the biofuels and waste management sectors a clear understanding of the actual potential of various advanced bioreactors for their requirements. It allows them to embark on informed decisions while selecting the appropriate technology models for sustainable systems development and commercialization”, says Dr. Lakhveer.

  Advancing his work, Dr Singh is developing efficient and economical bioreactors for commercial applications in the energy and water sectors. In this regard, three international patents have been filed. In the next few months, two more of his books are to be published by American Chemical Society, ACS and Elsevier. The books will emphasize issues and frontiers of reactors technology such as operation, novel design, cost analysis, novel electrodes, nano catalytic materials and other extended applications of bioreactors.

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• Young minds excelled at national level Hackathon April 5, 2020

  Amidst the quarantine, students of SRM AP and members of NEXT TECH LAB, have exhibited their expertise in HACKNITR, a national level hackathon organized by NIT Rourkela on 21-22 March 2020. The outstanding merit of their project has enabled them to bag the Runner-Up and 2nd Runner-Up position at the hackathon.

  Team ASTUTE BOTS consulting

  Team ASTUTE BOTS, comprising of 1st-year students, Tankala Yuvaraj, Karthikay Gundepudi and Joseph K. Paul, was recognized as the Runner-Up. They used the AI-IoT platform to develop DRONEYES; a prototyped solution that can be used to reduce poaching. It is an aerial reconnoiter which flies in stealth mode and takes the video or photo of a suspected poacher. This is done by the highly trained object detection model called YOLOv3. These eyes not only detect objects on the terra firma but also sends the exact location via GPS. “With the help of cloud technology, we can share the data in real-time so that the user/organization can take the required initiative by locating the exact place of poaching”, explains Karthikay. We were inspired to attend hackathons by Anshuman Pandey, and Next Tech Lab supported this achievement.

  Another team PUSH, where Karthik Epperla, 2nd year, and Ishita Agarwal, 1st year, participated, has received the 2nd Runner’s up award. The students worked on an AI-VR-Blockchain based application to help people with autism improve communication, social and other basic abilities required to live in a society. It gives a set of YES/NO questions that are to be answered by either the parent of the child or the adult suffering from Autism and then it matches those answers with the dataset which then returns the level of autism that the child/adult is suffering from. Depending on the level, the user can choose the extremity of VR therapy. When the child goes through the VR session, the parent can view what their child/ adult is doing in the virtual environment using the parent app from anywhere and advise their ward offering extra support to the patient. ” Our application has 3D simulations of real-life situations wherein autistic children/ adults (mostly children) can practice and understand how to behave/react in those situations and overcome their fear while facing a similar situation in real life. “, adds Karthik.

  Karthik acknowledges Adithya Ramakrishnan the founder of Next Tech Lab and his lab mate, Lakshmi Vallala for implanting the noble idea that AI can help in the rare medical condition, Autism. They have constantly been in touch with a few special schools and treatment centers to know about the behaviour and nature of autistic people so that they can keep on building different versions of applications.

  In the natal stage of their academic career, the students are guided and nurtured in an environment by the Next Tech Lab and the faculty members which inspires them to positively impact the society. The ample exposure offered to the students will not merely encourage them, but also enable them to improve their concepts.

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• SRM AP joins COVID-19 fight with a donation of 25 lakhs April 2, 2020

  The novel coronavirus has evolved as a pandemic which forced lockdown in many countries including India. The sudden surge in symptomatic cases requires funding for medicines, diagnostic kits, research to develop vaccines, development of medical infrastructure, as well as assisting daily wagers. The entire nation has risen to assist our Indian government to raise funds for the noble cause. In the premise of supporting the government to combat the outbreak, SRM University AP, Andhra Pradesh has offered its support to the government in every way possible.

  Pro VC and Director CLM in discussion with the Education Minister

  The contribution of 25 lakhs was handed over to the Hon’ble Education Minister Dr. Adimulam Suresh by Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof. D. Narayana Rao, Director of Campus Life and Maintenance Venkataachalam and Media PRO, Venugopal. In this distressing scenario, all the citizens of India are requested to combat against this pandemic by staying at home and taking adequate preventive measures. Dr. P Sathyanaranan, President of SRM university- AP said, “The COVID-19 Pandemic has created an unprecedented global catastrophe and a national public health emergency. In this crisis, the measures taken by the Government of Andhra Pradesh under the leadership of the Hon’ble Chief Minister to combat the COVID-19, leaving no stones unturned, is commendable.”

  Earlier this week on Monday, responding to this calamity, SRM Group donated 1.15 crore on behalf of the employees of the institutes under the umbrella of the group. Dr. TR Paarivendhar, Chancellor, and Member of Parliament transferred the fund to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund.

  SRM AP has commenced online classes to ensure that imparting of knowledge to the students is not hindered by the pandemic. View details here

  Awareness Campaign on COVID-19: Coronavirus

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• Novel Discoveries on CRISPR-Evading Bacteriophages April 1, 2020

  Dr Sutharsan Govindarajan’s research papers published in “Nature” and “Nature Microbiology”

  Dr Sutharsan Govindarajan, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at SRM University-AP has published two papers in highly reputed journals, “Nature” and “Nature Microbiology”. Both papers involve the discovery of novel strategies used by bacteriophages (viruses that kill bacteria) to overcome the bacterial CRISPR-Cas system, which are molecular scissors that are programmed to cut DNA. His findings have massive implications on the society as it has the ability to reshape the boundaries of the Phage-therapy in curing diseases.

  In the paper, “A bacteriophage nucleus-like compartment shields DNA from CRISPR nucleases”, published in ‘Nature’, researchers from the University of California San Francisco, including Dr Sutharsan of SRM University-AP, discovered that certain large bacteriophages called “Jumbophages” are capable of protecting their genetic material (DNA) from being cut by the bacterial CRISPR-Cas system. In nature, the primary function of the CRISPR-Cas system, which is famous for its genome editing applications, is to cut the DNA of bacteriophages. The researchers made a surprising finding that several CRISPR-Cas enzymes were utterly ineffective in cutting the DNA of jumbophages. Subsequent studies led to the finding that these bacteriophages protect their DNA within a protein compartment called as ‘shell’. The shell provides a ‘safe room’ for the phage DNA and keeps antiviral enzymes, including CRISPR-Cas enzymes at bay. It is the first-time researchers have found that bacteriophages, which are essentially viruses, can employ one strategy to protect its DNA from many different immune systems. Dr Sutharsan says, “usually, this kind of sophisticated DNA protection mechanism is employed by complex eukaryotic cells like humans. However, our findings show that viruses, which have evolved billions of years before eukaryotic cells, also seem to be using a similar strategy. This is mind-boggling”, says Dr Sutharsan, “because our finding is making us to rethink about the current understanding of the evolution of cells on Earth.”

  In another finding, which is also co-authored by Dr Sutharsan, the researchers have found a different kind of bacteriophage that protects its DNA by ‘turning off’ the production of the CRISPR-Cas enzymes in bacteria. Thus, this bacteriophage employs an entirely different strategy for the same purpose, i.e., protection of its genetic material. The paper “Bacterial alginate regulators and phage homologs repress CRISPR–Cas immunity”, got published in the journal ‘Nature Microbiology’ very recently.

  Dr Sutharsan further explained how his research can play a pivotal role in the application of Phage-Therapy, which is a therapeutic strategy where bacteriophages are used to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria and cure patients suffering from difficult-to-treat bacterial infections. Currently, the success rate of phage therapy is low, and researchers are trying to find the reasons behind this. Dr Sutharsan thinks that CRISPR-resistant bacteriophages, which he studies in his lab, can be a game-changer in phage therapy. However, this idea needs to be tested. Towards this goal, he is currently seeking collaborations with clinicians interested in phage therapy.

  When asked about his future research plans, Dr Sutharsan says the “Laboratory of phage-bacteria interaction”, which I am going to establish soon at SRM University – AP, will involve in the discovery of new molecular mechanisms employed by phages and bacteria to defend against each other. Such studies have given us’ Restriction enzymes’, which started the ‘era of gene engineering’, and ‘CRISPR-Cas enzymes’, which started the ‘era of genome engineering’. We hope that our lab at the SRM University – AP will make discoveries that can take us beyond genome engineering.

  References:

  Nature-A bacteriophage nucleus-like compartment shields DNA from CRISPR

  Nature Microbiology- Bacterial alginate regulators and phage homologs repress CRISPR–Cas immunity

  Dr Sutharsan Govindarajan- https://srmap.edu.in/faculty/sutharsan-govindarajan/

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• Pathbreaking research in genetics potent to cure disorders April 1, 2020

  Dr. Sutharsan Govindarajan receives prestigious INSPIRE Faculty award

  Department of Science and Technology, Government of India has awarded Dr. Sutharsan Govindarajan, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, SRM University-AP, the prestigious fellowship “Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE)”. This initiative provides funds and a platform to potent young achievers for conducting independent research and strengthening the Science & Technology base. Dr. Sutharsan is to receive a total research grant of 35 lakhs for a period of 5 years as a DST-INSPIRE fellow.

  Dr. Sutharsan will establish an independent research lab at SRM University, AP, Andhra Pradesh to focus on CRISPR-Cas biology. “CRISPR technology is a powerful tool for editing genomes. It is capable of changing a single base of DNA out of billions of bases. This invention is potent to cure genetic disorders, enunciating its candidature to receive the Nobel Prize in the future.”, informs Dr. Sutharsan.

  Dr. Sutharsan’s research work has the potential to nullify the single limitation of the CRISPR technology- ‘off-target’ effects i.e., unintended base changes that affects the accuracy of DNA editing. Through his research titled “Discovery of novel CRISPR-Cas silencing proteins”, he and his team intend to prevent ‘off-targets’ by identifying and characterizing the novel anti-CRISPR proteins that can inhibit in CRISPR-Cas proteins. Dr, Sutharsan believes, “This will improve the efficiency of CRISPR technology which will be highly useful for gene editing technologies, alleviating a wide range of genetic disorders and diseases in the future”.

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• Students showed their mettle at Sports Meet, brought home trophies! March 23, 2020

  

  Football Team of SRM University-AP

  There is a famous saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Therefore, here at SRM University-AP, students are always encouraged to go beyond the limits of curricular activities. The Students of SRM-AP have proven to be all-rounders by winning several cups in various segments of different Inter-College Sports Meet. VIT-AP and MVR College of Engineering and Technology have recently organised the Inter College Sports in their respective campuses. Students of SRM-AP merrily participated and successfully bagged winner’s trophy in football and cricket and the runner-up trophy in lawn tennis in Vitopia, Sports Tournament of VIT-AP. They have also secured the winner’s trophy in cricket, and the runner-up trophy in badminton in the Inter-college Sports Championship organised by MVR College of Engineering and Technology.

  The football team of SRM-AP was invincible. Their incredible performance throughout the tournament took them straight to the finals where they thrashed VIT-AP, another finalist with a straight 3-0, a resounding victory without any doubt. SRM University-AP team’s captain Ishmael, a 3rd-year Mechanical Engineering student, was able to lead the team successfully. He also turned out to be an ideal strategist. Andrew, another 3rd-year Mechanical Engineering student, sent the ball into the net twice during the match, whereas Venky, 1st-year Computer science and engineering student, supported his team by scoring another goal.

  

  Aiming to Score

  

  Cricket Team with the Trophy

  Our cricket team has proven their talent by winning two consecutive champion’s trophy both in VITOPIA and MVR Sports Meet. Jaswanth, a 3rd-year Electronics and Communication Engineering student and the captain of the cricket team, says, “our team has some up-and-coming players. However, at the end of the day, it is the team effort that leads us to success.”

  

  GKV Manikantha hitting the ball

  Lawn tennis is another game of hardcore physical strength mixed with ingenious strategies. GKV Manikantha, 1st-year Mechanical Engineering student and a passionate player, won the runner-up trophy at VITOPIA, yet it could not make him happy. He said, “Due to my injury, I could not put up a fight in the finals. I was hurt and therefore had to retire from the game. I am trying to have a speedy recovery and will be back very soon.”

  Twelve teams from different colleges participated in the badminton tournament. RK College OF Engineering, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College, DVR & Dr HS MIC College of Technology, GDMM College of Engineering & Technology were a few among them. Though our team could not secure the first prize, Rathan, a 2nd year CSE student, put up a marvellous fight which brought the university the runner-up trophy.

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• Smart Coating Materials to Reduce Thermal Heat Wave March 11, 2020

  Cost-effective solution to Global Warming

  Renowned publishing house Elsevier is publishing Energy Saving Coating Materials-Design, Process, Implementation and Recent Developments (1st Edition), a book edited by Dr Goutam Kumar Dalapati, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, SRM University- AP and Dr Mohit Sharma, Scientist, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), Singapore. The book is about their collaborative research on Thermal Management with the application of coating materials.

  

  Dr Dalapati, Editor of the book

  Countries in tropical and temperate belts such as India, Australia, Middle Eastern and African countries receive most of the sunlight. The heat generation is naturally high in these countries. Studies show that the usage of air-conditioner is also very high in these countries to maintain the desired comfort in both home and office spaces. “Air-conditioners need a huge amount of electricity to be operational. Statistics says, globally, out of hundred units of electricity, almost 35-40 units are used for air-conditioning for either heating or cooling purposes. It also has other drawbacks as it generates air-pollutants which aid in global warming. Our Study in the lab of A*STAR shows that even a one-degree change in the air-conditioner’s temperature settings can save a significant amount of electricity. In our study, we have focused on ways of passive cooling, i.e. how the indoor comfort can be maintained without electricity.” Dr Dalapati said.

  Dr Dalapati’s book is about developing new materials and process which can effectively reduce temperature inside the buildings. With a vision of having zero-emission buildings in the future, this book focuses on materials, interactions of these materials with sunlight, and then how these materials can be used productively to reduce the temperature in a building, minimising the thermal budget. His team has proposed different type of materials along with different type of techniques. One of those innovative techniques is, Solar Smart Film, which he has a patent for. When applied on the glass, Solar Smart Film is an effective coating material to block the infra-red radiation, which causes the heat, and it allows the visible light only. When applied on concrete, the coating (cool paint) reduces the heat there too. This smart film can reduce the increment of temperature from 2 to 10 degrees centigrade. The usual product available in the market is silver based, hence highly priced. Dr Dalapati’s team has replaced silver-based products with alternative materials like copper or copper-like materials which are cheap in cost, environmentally stable, non-toxic and can be found easily. The process to develop low cost solar films is also explained in his book.

  When asked how the idea of publishing a book came to his mind, Dr Dalapati replied, “At first, we published a 100-page article on a similar topic in Progress in Materials Science, a reputed International Review Journal with an Impact Factor of 23.72. Later we thought of publishing a book because whereas an article’s reach is limited within the researchers only, through a book many more people will come to know about our research and its impact on the well-being of the society. It will help in creating a general awareness among common people as well as young minds like high school and college students will be provided with opportunities for brain-storming.”

  Dr Dalapati is currently busy in making his product commercially available. He is also developing apparatus for human applications, which will protect the body from thermal heat waves in summer. A patent application has been filed to the Government of India in this regard. In the Future, he also plans to publish further editions of this book where more complex problems will be discussed.

  

  Cover Page of the Book

  DETAILS OF THE BOOK:

  Book Title: Energy Saving Coating Materials-Design, Process,
  Implementation and Recent Developments (1st Edition)

  Editors: Goutam Kumar Dalapati and Mohit Sharma

  Paperback ISBN: 9780128221037

  Publishing House: Elsevier

  Published Date: 1st June 2020

  Page Count: 368

  Language: English

  Copyright: © Elsevier 2020

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