S. Vishnu Sharma
SRM in AP was the centre of attraction recently when it commenced its first university distinguished lecture series on ‘Doing Science without borders.’
Professor Ajay K. Sood, fellow of the Royal Society and Honorary Professor at IISC Bengaluru enlightened the students of SRM in AP about various nuances of science and research.
SRM in AP
The distinguished professor began his talk on science at SRM in AP soon after a grand welcome address by Professor V.S. Rao and Professor D. Narayana Rao, vice chancellor and pro-vice chancellor of SRM in AP.
Even as Professor Ajay began his narration, students of SRM in AP listened with utmost attention.
He 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.’
‘A profound physicist Schrodinger introduced the concept of ‘aperiodic crystal’ in 1944 which led to the understanding of genetic molecules, enunciating the importance of inter-disciplinary applications of scientific works.’
The distinguished professor spoke about the flocking movement among birds, bacteria, locusts, and human beings as well in SRM in AP.
He brought the same experiment in his laboratory where he used two 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 or cells can be sorted and separated and also in autonomous cars, he said while delivering the lecture in SRM in AP.
Speaking about his second experiment at SRM in AP, Professor Ajay said 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.
Experiments concluded that 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, said Professor Ajay during the lecture in SRM in AP.
Professor Ajay 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.
Professor narrated his laboratory stories at SRM in AP to explicate the splendor of multidisciplinary research which can be used to solve basic problems.
The distinguished professor subsequently highlighted that 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, he said.
Students and researchers should be curious which will lead to research having various interdisciplinary applications that will make an impact across various domains, said Professor Ajay at SRM in AP.
Professors of SRM University get grants from DST
Another highlight point for SRM in AP was that three professors there got grant worth Rs 67.97 lakh from Department of Science and Technology (DST) of Government of India for their research work.
Dr. Imran Y Pancha, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology at SRM in AP, received a total outlay of Rs.27 lakhs for his research work on ‘Chemical modulator based microalgal biorefinery for the production of biofuels and bioproducts.’
Dr Writoban Basu Ball, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology at SRM in AP will be pursuing 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.’
With the sanctioned outlay of Rs.26.34 lakhs. In addition, Dr Tapan Kumar Hota, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics at SRM in AP will be working on ‘Mathematical analysis and Adjoint Based Stability for a Coupled Convection-Diffusion equation in Miscible Displacement’ using the total outlay of Rs.14.63 lakhs sanctioned by DST.
Dr. P. Sathyanarayanan, President, Professor V.S. Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Professor D. Narayana Rao, Pro Vice-Chancellor congratulated the perseverance of the professors in pursuing excellence in the field of science and continues to contribute to the improvement of the nation and society at large.