The Biosensors and Bioinstrumentation (BSBI, pronounced busybee) lab works on the development of sensors and instrumentation systems for widescale deployment. The sensors are mostly optical fiber based, although electrochemical sensors also form a part of the lab activities. These sensors and sensing platforms can be adapted to detect a wide variety of chemicals, be they biological or non-biological in origin.

Modern lifestyle is associated with high risk towards several diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular heart disease, PCOS and liver / kidney malfunction which are associated with metabolic syndrome arising due to sedentary life style and rich diet. Early diagnosis and lifestyle management is essential in preventing metabolic syndrome in the population.

Disinfection of drinking water, swimming pool water, and water used in washing food processing equipment, surgical instrument, food packaging, etc., is an important step from the health consideration. Variety of disinfectants such as chlorine, sodium hypochlorite and bleaching powder are used for this purpose. These generate free chlorine, which is a very effective biocide even at very low concentrations. However, when concentration of chlorine in water is high, it reacts with humic acids present, producing polychloro-derivatives which are potent carcinogens.

Graphene is a very active adsorbent due its polycyclic aromatic structure and hence can be used for removal of harmful pollutants such as dyes, heavy metals, pesticides and antibiotics from water. It can be most conveniently used in the form of three dimensional graphene (3D graphene). For example, plugs of 3D-graphene (see figure) can be stacked into point-of-use water treatment devices. Key point of the technology is to produce 3D graphene with fully exfoliated single-sheets of graphene. Such a material has both very high surface area and activity.

■Membrane proteins comprise one third of the transcription products of human genome                                                                                                                                  ■Associated with diverse human diseases and key target for drug development                                                                                                                                            ■X-ray crystal structures of membrane proteins are scarce due to paucity of good quality crystals                                                                       

■ Pyranonaphthoquinones (PNQs) and imidazoles are highly bioactive compounds

■ PNQs have been synthesised through stereoselective organocatalytic reactions

■ Quinine-derived squaramide catalysed the asymmetric cascade reaction of hydroxynaphtho-quinone with α-acetoxymethylnitrostyrenes for the synthesis of PNQs

■ Functionalised imidazoles have been synthesised regioselectively from amidines and α-acetoxy/α-bromomethylnitrostyrenes

■ PNQs and imidazoles exhibited trypanocidal activity against Trypomastigote form of T. cruzi which causes Chagas disease

α -Functionalised nitroalkenes

■ Small multi-functional molecules with high potential in synthesis and biology

■ Synthesised through one-pot, multi-component reactions at room temperature

■ Inhibit HeLa cell proliferation by binding to tubulins and depolymerising microtubules at low micromolar concentrations

■ Bind to tubulin at a site distinct from the vinblastine and colchicine binding sites and induce conformational changes in the tubulin

■ Promising lead compounds for cancer therapy

(1) Chemically modified functional nucleic acids (siRNAs, DNA enzymes and aptamers)

Subscribing to the view of building ‘molecules with purpose’, we design and develop transition metal complexes for utility as initiators in homogeneous catalysis. We specialise in synthesising well-defined molecular catalysts for academically challenging and industrially relevant transformations through enhanced mechanistic understanding.

In a mammalian system, not all the cells are continuously growing and dividing but many of them remain in a quiescent state even though they reside in a rich growth factor medium. Similarly, in a malignant tumor the population of cell had been found to be extremely heterogeneous. Usually the tumor contains cells ranging from highly proliferative to quiescent category, and thus these cells respond quite differently under chemotherapy treatment. Most often the aggressive cells die, but the quiescent cells somehow survive the chemotherapy.

Cell cycle in eukaryotes is a sequence of molecular events that ultimately leads to precise duplication of cells. Most cells of a multi-cellular eukaryotic organism proliferate only when they sense that they are stimulated by specific growth factors above a certain threshold. In cancerous cells, this growth factor sensing mechanism gets perturbed for more than one reason and the cells start to proliferate even when the appropriate signal is absent.

The study of human cognition includes aspects of thinking, memory, decision-making, learning, problem-solving, as well as other basic and executive functions. Such research can include experiments with the general population, to understand how such cognitive functions operate, as well as with clinical samples, to understand how disruptions in normal cognition can facilitate our understanding of the same.

Children with developmental disabilities including Cerebral Palsy and Autism Spectrum Disorder frequently have speech impairments. Based on the 2011 census, there are around 1.9 million individuals with speech disability in India, of which around 80% completely lack speech or have unintelligible speech. Lack of a functional mode of communication can impede children’s overall social communication, emotional, and cognitive development.

Cortical visual impairment (CVI) is defined as visual impairment due to damage to either the visual pathways or the visual centers of the brain. CVI is commonly associated with prematurity as well as insult to the developing brain at the time of birth or even thereafter. It is in fact an emerging cause of visual impairment among children in developed and developing countries.

The Jaipur Foot, developed by R.C. Sharma and Dr. P.K. Sethiat Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Sahayata Samiti, Jaipur in 1968, has benefitted over half million lower-limb amputees around the world. The process relies on low-cost materials and manual skills, and has remained relatively unchanged over the last five decades.

Heart and lung diseases have become the top causes of death in India, and require effective auscultation (listening to chest sounds) for correct diagnosis. Conventional stethoscopes used by doctors require considerable training and concentration to identify the relevant sound patterns, especially in noisy environment.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) have developed a new life-saving device that can detect heart attacks early on using a smartphone. The innovative sensor, conceptualised by students Debasmita Mondal and Sourabh Agrawal, and guided by Prof. Soumyo Mukherji, won the recently presented 2018 Gandhian Young Technological Innovation award recently.

The fact that Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes the deadly tuberculosis, has developed resistance to most of the antibiotics we have today, is not news anymore. Many bacteria are developing resistance to common antibiotics faster than the number of effective drugs being discovered to fight them. The need of the hour is not just a “new” drug, but possibly a new method of treatment that can fight drug resistant bacteria. Now, a study by Prof.

IITB has developed a potentially minimally invasive cartilage regeneration technique which could be a painless, inexpensive, and non-toxic method to cure osteoarthritis.

“Can we get a 3D model from 2D X-ray images of a bone from a patient’s body?” asked a top surgeon from Hinduja hospital, who wanted an alternative to the current practice. The OrthoCAD lab’s software can do this within a minute, with atmost two X-ray images.