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- DST, Government of India grants a total outlay of Rs.27 lakhs to Dr Imran Y Pancha October 28, 2020
Utilizing photosynthetic microalgae to produce renewable biofuel
Dr Imran Y Pancha, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh has received an outstanding total outlay of Rs.27 lakhs from the DST, Government of India, to work on “Chemical modulator based microalgal biorefinery for the production of biofuels and bioproducts”. Dr Imran was fascinated by the potential of microalgae to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) as well as its ability to accumulate a high amount of energy reserved molecules such as lipids/starch in the cells. Through his research, Dr Imran will be understanding the mechanism behind this and also, exploit microalgae for biofuel production.Due to the development of industrialization and modernization, global energy demand is continuously increasing. Given that the fossil fuel energy reserve is limited, and its utilization causes various serious environmental issues such as global warming and the accumulation of GHGs in the atmosphere, renewable energy obtained from various biomass is a potential alternative to reduce atmospheric GHGs and the dependency on fossil-based fuel. Microalgae is one of the promising resources among various biomass since it has a high growth rate and photosynthetic ability in comparison to other terrestrial crop plants. Microalgae also accumulate a high amount of lipids and carbohydrates in the cell. Moreover, these microalgae can be cultivated in wastewater or seawater, which avoids the food versus fuel debate.
Dr Imran explains, “Microalgae usually accumulate lipid under stress conditions such as nitrogen starvation, which results in lower biomass production, limiting the commercialization of algal biofuel. The present research’s primary objective is to uncouple growth and lipid production pathway in the microalgae using chemical modulators. Utilization of such chemicals is also effortless in large scale production compared to the standard starvation approach. The next aim is to develop a process to extract multiple products such as pigments, lipids, and carbohydrates from single microalgal biomass. The development of such a biorefinery approach will lower the overall cost of the process and make it more economical on a large scale. To conclude, the focus of the project will be on utilizing photosynthetic microalgae to produce renewable biofuel and other commercially important products in a biorefinery manner. Utilization of microalgae will not only help to produce green fuel but also help in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) which creates several environmental issues.”
Using the SERB-SRG grant, microalgal cultivation facility will be established at SRM university-AP. The long-term goal of Dr Imran’s research group is to understand the molecular mechanism behind the accumulation of energy reserved molecules in the microalgae. Understanding such mechanisms will help to develop sustainable technology for the production of renewable biofuels from microalgae.
Continue reading → - Prof Ajay K Sood, FRS delivered the University Distinguished Lecture 01 October 19, 2020
Prof A K Sood on “Doing Science Without Borders”: Collaboration and curiosity among researchers will lead to impactful multidisciplinary solutions of the 21st century
The first University Distinguished Lecture on “Doing Science Without Borders” commenced with an inaugural welcome speech by Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor, and Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh. Prof V S Rao expressed their gratitude to Prof Ajay K Sood for his gracious presence. Prof Narayana Rao emphasized that under the University Distinguished Lecture series, the talks will be delivered by eminent scientists from India and abroad that would be of immense benefit for students and the faculty and researchers. He further mentioned, “Doctors, researchers, engineers and scientists from several fields of knowledge around the world worked together to confront corona outbreak with an unprecedented spirit of collaboration. Also, NEP advocates and emphasizes that the societal need of the 21st century require broad-based multidisciplinary research and education”.Prof Ajay K Sood, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS and Honorary Professor, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, narrated three stories of his recent experiments and advanced research work, namely “Emergent flocking behaviour seen in nature: Laboratory experiments”, “Crystallization of Glass: Machine Learning in condensed matter Physics”, and “Bacterial Nano Heat Engine: Getting bacteria to work”. He begins by stating that back in 1944, a profound physicist Schrodinger introduced the concept of “aperiodic crystal” which led to the understanding of genetic molecules, enunciating the importance of inter-disciplinary applications of scientific works. In his first narrative, he speaks of the flocking movement among birds, bacteria, locusts, and human beings as well. He brought the same experiment in his laboratory where he used 2 particles, energized them, and identified their flocking pattern. He observed that the velocity of movement between the two particles differ, which can be applied to particle sorting. This experiment has applications in biology, where bacteria and/or cells can be sorted and separated and also in autonomous cars.
While explaining his second experiment, Prof A K Sood mentioned that he studied the devitrification or the tendency of glass particles to crystallize over time to reach a state of stability from its metastable state. He used supervised Machine Learning to predict where crystallization will occur in glass. His team trained the system to identify the hard and soft particles of the glass. His experiments concluded that Machine Learning (ML) helps in identifying the soft particles, which possess the tendency to move and crystallize over a long period of time. Further, Prof A K Sood and his team of collaborators developed bacterial nano heat engines by mimicking the biological motors in our body which produces energy for living beings to function. Using bacterial activity, they made heat engines and are advancing their research work to recognize the practical applications of the nano heat engines in cars, batteries. The bacteria heat engines is a highly promising technology of the future.
Prof A K Sood narrated his laboratory stories to explicate the splendor of multidisciplinary research which can be used to solve basic problems. He said, “The key to successful scientific research is to collaborate with experts beyond their own domain. Communication and appreciation of views of an open mind enable the scientists to understand the various phenomena. Students and researchers should be curious which will lead to research having various interdisciplinary applications that will make an impact across various domains.”
About thousand participants from IISc,IITs, NITs,IIITs, IISERs, several Indian Universities including University of Hyderabad, Delhi University, NEHU, Pondicherry University, Punjab University; a few foreign Universities including KAUST, Saudi Arabia, Nagoya University, Japan, Zhejiang Ocean University, China, Teesside University, UK, several Engineering Colleges; National Laboratories of DST, DBT, CSIR, ISRO, DRDO, ICMR, BARC, JNCASR, ARIES, ARCI; industries including ARBL, Tata Steel have attended the distinguished lecture given by Prof Ajay Sood.
Continue reading → - DST, Government of India sanctions an outlay of Rs.14.63 lakhs to Dr Tapan Kumar Hota October 13, 2020
Connecting the dots between Mathematics and Physics of the hydrodynamic instability known as Viscous Fingering (VF)
DST, Government of India, sanctioned a total outlay of Rs.14.63 lakhs to Dr Tapan Kumar Hota, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, for pursuing research on “Mathematical analysis and Adjoint Based Stability for a Coupled Convection-Diffusion equation in Miscible Displacement”. Hydrodynamic Stability (Instability) is a study of an equilibrium point subject to small and/or medium disturbances. This assists in understanding several complicated natural phenomena such as fluid transition from laminar to turbulent, chemical mixing, formation of cloud, and others. The available stability analysis is unable to address the early-time evolution of the VF process. The early-time behaviour of the system helps us to choose the parameters that are responsible for the long-time behaviour of the coupled PDEs. To achieve the target, we need to address the linear stability of the system from the study of the singular-value-decomposition instead of traditional eigenvalue analysis. As the system is non-autonomous, the eigenvectors/eigenvalues may not be physically relevant. Further, it is required to confirm our linear stability analysis by mathematical analysis of the coupled non-linear PDEs.
‘The nonmonotonic viscosity profile when a high mobile fluid is displacing a less mobile fluid. There is a potentially unstable region, where the viscosity increases in the flow direction, followed in the downstream direction by a potentially stable region, where the viscosity decreases in the flow direction. The disturbance structure is computed using the singular-value decomposition of the propagator matrix. Reference: Hota & Mishra, Journal of Fluid Mech, Vol. 856, pp:552-579, 2018.’
Dr Tapan is keen on studying other branches of science to provide the correct mathematical approach to address the issues. His project will address one of the hydrodynamic instabilities known as viscous fingering (VF). It forms when a high mobile fluid displaces a low mobile fluid. It has enormous implications in the field of Chemical Engineering Science, Petroleum Engineering, Chromatography, and Oil Extraction process. He explains, “I will study this instability from a mathematician’s point of view, more precisely, to address the mathematical analysis of coupled partial differential equations (PDEs). The system that governs the VF is non-autonomous and there is no readily available stability analysis that can represent Physics, based on robust mathematical analysis. My aim is to connect the dots between mathematics and physics of the VF.”
Infrastructure and laboratory facilities are crucial to conduct research. Upon receiving approval from a prestigious organization like SERB (Science and Engineering Research Board), Govt. of India, Dr. Tapan is entitled to this unique opportunity to serve the scientific community. He divulges, “The award is not only a recognition to me but also to the SRM University, AP. The University will be more visible in the world of research and can attract more eminent scientists and researchers to make the University their second home.” Quoting Master Oogway, ‘Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery… Today is a gift, that’s why it is called present.’, Dr Tapan is eager to commence working on his project at the earliest, and looks forward to enjoying the process of accomplishing the task.
Continue reading → - Dr Writoban Basu Ball receives an outlay of Rs. 26.34 lakhs from DST, Government of India October 13, 2020
Pursuit of discovering new drug molecules to combat diseases
Dr Writoban Basu Ball, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, received an outlay of Rs.26.34 lakhs from DBT, Government of India to pursue research on “Targeting Kennedy pathway of cellular phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthesis as a common therapeutic strategy against protozoan parasites like Leishmania donovani, Trypanosoma brucei and Entamoeba histolytica.” Disease-causing intracellular parasites present serious health challenges, which could be fatal if left untreated. For example, Leishmania donovani and Trypanosoma brucei are the causative agents of visceral leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness, respectively. Entamoeba histolytica causes amoebiasis and 100,000 people die each year world-wide from amoebiasis-related complications. The current treatment regimen against these diseases consists of drugs that possess severe toxicity and drug resistance. Toxicity is detrimental to health and drug-resistance causes unresponsiveness of the drug to the parasite, rendering the drug ineffective. Therefore, it has become imperative to discover new drug molecules to combat these diseases.
In his study, Dr Writoban proposes to repurpose an FDA-approved drug meclizine, which can be used as a potential drug against dreadful parasitic infections. He explains. “One rational way to discover new and effective drugs entails identifying pharmacological targets against unique yet essential parasite metabolic pathways which are either absent or redundant in hosts (in the present case humans). One such central metabolic pathway in L. donovani, T. brucei, and E. histolytica is the Kennedy pathway for the biosynthesis of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), a major lipid molecule of the cell. Without the presence of this lipid molecule, the cellular membranes (plasma membrane, organellar membranes) cannot form. Therefore, the Kennedy pathway is indispensable to parasite survival. On the contrary, in humans, although the Kennedy pathway is present, other pathway of PE biosynthesis is predominant. Hence, the Kennedy pathway offers a potential target to disrupt PE biosynthesis in these parasites without causing any side effects in the human host. In this context, meclizine, an over the counter anti-nausea drug, has been shown to disrupt the Kennedy pathway.”Dr Writoban’s research is oriented to find safe cures for dreadful parasitic diseases that mostly plagues the underprivileged section of the developing countries like India, and countries of the sub-Saharan Africa. He believes, “The successful implementation of the proposed research scheme would benefit a lot of underprivileged people belonging to the underdeveloped and developing countries, as well as reduce the disease burden of those countries.” Further, Dr Writoban emphasizes, “Getting the grant is only the job half done. I would like to guide this proposal to a fruitful completion so that it can benefit people who need it most. I really want to take this project beyond the bounds of a mere academic exercise.
Continue reading → - Energy-Aware Task Allocation for Multi-Cloud Networks October 2, 2020
Smart algorithm to optimize performance of the heterogeneous multi-cloud network
Dr Sambit Kumar MishraAs the world goes more digital in the future, the dependability on cloud computing is going to be more. The availability of high-capacity networks, low-cost computers and storage devices as well as the widespread adoption of hardware virtualization, service-oriented architecture and autonomic and utility computing has led to growth in cloud computing. But is it enough? How to improve its performance? How to make it more reliable with high-end technology and impeccable performance quality? Dr Sambit Kumar Mishra’s research has an answer to that.
System Model for Multi-cloud Networks Dr Sambit Kumar Mishra, Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering has published a paper “Energy-Aware Task Allocation for Multi-Cloud Networks” in renowned journal IEEE ACCESS with an Impact Factor: 3.745. The research was done in collaboration with Dr Sonali Mishra, SOA (Deemed to be) University Bhubaneswar, India; Dr Ahmed Alsayat, College of Computer and Information Sciences Jouf University, Al-Jouf, Saudi Arabia; Dr N Z Jhanjhi and Dr Mamoona Humayun, School of Computer Science and Engineering (SCE), Taylor’s University, Malaysia; Dr Ashish Kr. Luhach, The PNG University of Technology, Papua New Guinea Lae, Morobe; Dr Kshira Sagar Sahoo, VNRVJIET, Hyderabad, India. 
Example of Direct Acyclic Graph (DAG)with four TasksIn recent years, the growth rate of Cloud computing technology is exponentially, mainly for its extraordinary services with expanding computation power, the possibility of massive storage and all other services with the maintained quality of services (QoS). The task allocation is one of the best solutions to improve different performance parameters in the cloud, but when multiple heterogeneous clouds come into the picture, the allocation problem becomes more challenging. This research work proposed a resource-based task allocation algorithm. The same is implemented and analysed to understand the improved performance of the heterogeneous multi-cloud network. The proposed task allocation algorithm (Energy-aware Task Allocation in Multi-Cloud Networks (ETAMCN)) minimizes the overall energy consumption and also reduces the makespan. The results show that the makespan is approximately overlapped for different tasks and does not show a significant difference. However, the average energy consumption improved through ETAMCN is approximately 14%, 6.3%, and 2.8% in opposed to the random allocation algorithm, Cloud Z-Score Normalization (CZSN) algorithm, and multi-objective scheduling algorithm with Fuzzy resource utilization (FR-MOS), respectively. An observation of the average SLA-violation of ETAMCN for different scenarios is performed.
Energy Consumption Vs SLA Violation when
the number of VMs varies and the number of Task is 100.The multi-cloud strategy offers flexibility to service providers. It allows businesses to be productive while using the proper set of services to optimize their opportunities. Adopting a multi-cloud network enables an enterprise to implement a “best of breed” model for the services. Organizations’ ability to choose the vendor that offers the best price for their workload is added significant advantage of multi-cloud. Thus, the optimization of energy consumption in a multi-cloud environment is necessary for the current generation.However, this proposed work has not considered any priority-oriented users, such as task execution through reserve resource in the network, which will be considered as his future work. The future work also aims to propose a task cum resource-aware scheduling approach that will exploit the nature of the presented workload and efficiently map on the available Cloud resources so that energy consumption will optimize.
Link to the research paper: Please Click Here
Continue reading → - Dr Karthik Rajendran’s research highlights different mechanisms of using algae for wastewater treatment September 25, 2020
Dr Karthik Rajendran, Department of Environmental Science, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, has published a paper on “Mechanism and challenges behind algae as a wastewater treatment choice for bioenergy production and beyond” in the Fuel journal, which is published by Elsevier. His research work encompasses wastewater treatment using algae for bioenergy production. In his words, “Conventional wastewater treatment systems use activated sludge processes. This process not only uses energy, but also results in emissions. Wastewater contains valuable nutrients and energy recovery options, which are the least explored. Algae helps in reducing emissions by sequestering carbon which leads to negative emissions. The research highlights different mechanisms of using algae for wastewater treatment.”
India as a country is under water-stress and the need for recycling and reusing water is on the rise. The wastewater contains essential nutrients for agriculture and plant growth which are limited resources available to us. Such limitations have inspired efforts to provide solutions to work on algae as a wastewater treatment method. Processes for the same are studied in this paper to comprehend its efficiency and for developing a sustainable choice for the industry. This work will enable the scientists and industrialists to appreciate the usage of algae as an option for wastewater treatment.
Dr Karthik further provides insights on his current research proceedings by saying, “We are currently working on recovering nutrients including phosphorus and nitrogen from wastewater. We are currently performing the theoretical evaluation of the amount of nutrients that can be recovered from different nutrient recovery technologies including microalgae. Such systems not only reduce emissions, but also reduce the amount of virgin materials used.”Link to the research paper: Please Click Here
Continue reading → - Dr Karthik Rajendran proposes industrial solutions by exploring mechanisms to produce alternative fuel September 25, 2020
An intriguing paper on “Recent developments and strategies in genome engineering and integrated fermentation approaches for biobutanol production from microalgae” has been published in Fuel by Dr Karthik Rajendran, Department of Environmental Science, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh. Fossil fuels such as petrol, coal, and natural gas deplete natural resources and increase emissions leading to global warming and climate change. As the transportation sector is heavily dependent on liquid fuels and only a few alternatives are available including ethanol, there is an urgent need for higher energy-dense liquid fuel, which is researched across the world, and butanol is considered as an alternative.
There is a constant conflict between food and fuel where the debate lies on whether to swap agricultural lands to produce fuel. An alternative to tackle this problem is identified to be microalgae which is the third-generation feedstock. This feedstock does not conflict with the production of food, as agricultural land is not necessary for its creation. In his work, Dr. Karthik explored different mechanisms for producing butanol from microalgae.
Dr Karthik has been curious on developing industrially feasible solutions for bioenergy, waste management, and sustainability as these industrial solutions are least researched and transferred. This has motivated him to work on economically viable solutions for industries. Dr Karthik explains, “In this work, the mechanisms and fermentation strategies of butanol production from microalgae is explored. Advancing with the research, our team will work on identification of the bottlenecks pertaining to such pathways along with assessing the profitability of producing butanol from microalgae.”Link to the research paper: Please Click Here
Continue reading → - Students certified on successfully completing outreach programmes organized by IIRS-ISRO September 23, 2020
SRM University AP-Andhra Pradesh has collaborated with the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) -Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)’s outreach programme. As part of the association, the students of SRM AP have the excellent opportunity to register for annual courses as well as live and interactive programmes being organized by IIRS-ISRO.
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, SRM AP, have participated and successfully completed the programmes offered IIRS-ISRO. Lehitha Paturi, Bharadwaj Kadiyala, and Sai Yasaswini Metla have been awarded the certificate from the IIRS-ISRO on completing the online course on “Satellite Photogrammetry and its Application”. Also, Annapragada Sai Mounika has been certified for taking up the course on “Application of Geoinformatics in Ecological Studies”. Further, Tamatam Sravani Ratna has been accredited for undertaking both the aforementioned programmes organized by IIRS-ISRO. SRM AP encourages the students to proactively avail the interactive distance learning courses and webinars that will enable them to achieve their career goals in aerospace and geospatial technologies and make a mark globally.
Continue reading → - Dr Nimai Mishra’s research on popular fluorescent nanoparticles get published in reputed journal September 23, 2020
Amine-free air- stable perovskite nanocrystals for future optoelectronic devices
Dr. Nimai Mishra, Department of Chemistry, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, along with his research group comprising of his Ph.D. students – Mr. Syed Akhil and Ms. V.G.Vasavi Dutt, have published “Completely Amine-free Open Atmospheric Synthesis of High Quality Cesium Lead Bromide (CsPbBr3) Perovskite Nanocrystals” in the journal “Chemistry-A European Journal” (Wiley-VCH, Impact factor 4.86).
Cesium Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals (NCs) CsPbX3 (X=Cl, Br, and I) have gained popularity in the last few years due to their high Photoluminescence Quantum Yield (PLQY) owning for Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), and other significant applications in Photovoltaic and Optoelectronics. Dr Mishra says, “In this research work, we demonstrated a facile and efficient amine- free synthesis of Cesium Lead Bromide Perovskite Nanocrystals using Hydrobromic acid as halide source and n-trioctylphosphine (TOP) as ligand in open atmospheric conditions.” He further explains, “The hydrobromic acid (HBr) served as labile source of bromide ion, thus, this three-precursor (separate precursors for Cs-Pb-Br) approach gives more control over conventional single-source precursor for Pb and Br (PbBr2). The use of HBr paved the way to eliminate oleylamine, as a result, we can completely exclude the formation of labile oleylammonium ion halide.”
Dr Mishra and his research group extensively studied the various Cs-Pb-Br molar ratio and found an optimum condition that was able to stabilize with high PLQY CsPbBr3 NCs. These completely amine-free CsPbBr3 perovskite NCs synthesized using bromine-rich condition, exhibit good stability and durability for more than three months in the form of colloidal solutions and films respectively. Furthermore, they demonstrated stable tunable emission across a wide spectral range, via anion exchange process. More significantly, their work presents an open atmospheric stable CsPbBr3 NCs films demonstrating high photoluminescence (PL), which can be further used for optoelectronic device applications.These high-quality nanocrystals have the potential to be used as active material in LED devices. Advancing his research, Dr Mishra and his team are planning to make a prototype LED device using their nanocrystals.
Link to the research paper: Please Click Here
Continue reading → - SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh inaugurates Orientation Programme 2020 September 16, 2020
The inauguration of the Orientation Programme organized to welcome the fresh batch of students at SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh was preceded by an introduction of the various aspects of the university by the management. The dynamic leaders motivated the Freshmen by revealing the differentiating factor of SRM AP that endorses the excellence of the university. Upon invocating the blessings of the Almighty by a prayer, the occasion commenced with an address by Dr P Sathyanarayanan, President. He highlighted his vision of learning beyond the classroom, fostering wisdom and knowledge of the students through a holistic interdisciplinary approach. Further, Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor, acquainted students with the various processes of SRM AP. He informed students regarding his revolutionizing plans for the students of emphasizing on research from the first semester. He states, “Research should be seamlessly integrated with academic boundaries”. He also inspired students to realize the excitement of science, joy in engineering, and academic rigour. In line with his vision, Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro Vice-Chancellor, emphasized on the contribution of science and technology that led to the progress and superiority of India across nations. Further, he assures quality education to motivate students and urged them to contribute to the development of the nation.
To continue with the orientation programme, eminent personalities have been requested by SRM AP to initiate motivational discussions. Dr. Jaya Prakash Narayana, Former Secretary to Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Dr R A Mashelkar, FRS, Former Director General CSIR & Chancellor-JIO University, Padma Bhushan Dr. K. Varaprasad Reddy, Chairman Emeritus-Shantha Biotech, Mrs Saritha, IPS, Additional SP-CID, Dr MC Das, Management Consultant-Vijayawada, and Head of the Dept. of Commerce (Retd.)-Loyola College, Mr Vivek Bhide, Entrepreneur, Co-Founder, and Managing Director-TSL Consulting Pvt Ltd, VV Lakshminarayana, Former Joint Director- CBI, Ms Karuna Gopal, President-Foundation for futuristic cities, Mr Ramesh Loganathan, Professor Co-Innovation/Outreach at IIIT Hyderabad, and Ms Anitha Sakuru, Chief Marketing officer-Platifi Solutions, will be delivering lectures during various sessions sprawled across the 2 week programme organized to encourage Freshmen.
Continue reading →