THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 8, 2015
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY
PUNE
AUGUST 8, 2015 PUNE
PICS BY ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
Mandar Wajage, 19
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andar Wajage, a 19-year-old from scenic Narayangaon village nestled in the Sahyadris, has built a robotic arm that works using pressure sensors and helps in mirroring the actions of the other,
natural arm. Mandar explains, “Th e arm is for doing simple work, where both hands work simultaneously. As the natural hand works, the artificial hand copies it and does the same. It will enable people with amputated limbs to perform basic
functions like holding, picking up and such tasks where both hands are required.” It’s a simpler and cheaper alternative to arms that must tap into nerve endings to get their signals. Mandar’s robotic arm won him ‘Aavishkar’, the Pune
University innovators’ competition. He developed the arm independently after his class 12 exams and refi ned it with what he learned at college. He says, “I had been reading about robotics developments around the world, and I longed to build something of my own. So I thought of the robotic arm. I had used wires to sense pressure, but after learning about pressure sensors, I changed to them in my prototype.” Mandar, who studied at his village school, has always loved to tinker about the house. “I used to make small cars and such, and fi x broken household articles. So my family were not greatly surprised when I developed a robotic arm. In fact, they expected me to do something like that,” he says with a smile. His parents earn Rs 60,000 a year from farming. His elder brother, an electrical engineering diploma holder, works in a Pune company. Mandar is doing a BSc course at Garware College, and lives in the college hostel. “I want to do research and will only know in what field, after higher education. But I know it will be related to physics and robotics,” he says. Not surprisingly, he is a favourite of his college faculty. “Pune has a lot of scope. Coming here has helped me grow,” he said.
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r Abhyankar and his students have secured as many as 20 patents in various fields of technology. Of these, 12 patents have been granted by the US patent office, while the remaining eight have Indian sanction. An additional 12 patents are under review with various agencies across the globe. Five patents of these 12, have been executed in collaboration with different companies. In the last two years, Dr Abhyankar (who has secured four individual patents) and his PhD students have worked ceaselessly in the fields of medico-engineering and technology to secure these patents. Last November, the University Department of Technology fi led 11 patents and all were sanctioned.
A patent describing a method for 1used.standardising fingerprint images in Biometric Authentication
Systems was developed by Abhyankar with Dr Shubhangi Kelkar. He also holds a further four individual patents relating to methods of detecting human fingerprints and irises. Abhyankar said that the security features of these systems can be inducted in UID cards (Aadhar cards) to make them safer. Some patents describe methods to ascertain perspiration from fingers or sweat from palms, fingers etc in the duration of less than a second. One of them describes a method to scan the iris of an eye through different infrared frequencies to ascertain the identities of humans, even during different weather conditions.
Hrishikesh Mungi, 25
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rishikesh Mungi has extraordinary endurance and stamina. At times, he has worked non-stop for 72 hours at a stretch, building what he calls a “revolutionary strain of probiotics”. He has founded ‘Abhiruchi’,
named after his grandfather’s fi rm, a company in which he plans to delve deep into probiotic drugs. “Our current focus, however, is to develop a drug, using this strain, that reduces cholesterol levels,” he says. The prototype that has
received a provisional patent, reduces cholesterol levels by 50-60 per cent. How the innovation came about is interesting. “It started with my being accepted at the National Chemical Laboratory for a fellowship. I was the only one to be selected from 63 candidates, though they didn’t need a biomedical engineer. While working on the fellowship, I was doing Bile Salt Hydrolysis when my guide and I chanced upon this strain of probiotics that has brilliant medicinal properties. After culturing and testing it, we decided to use it as an anti-cholesterol drug and quickly patented it, once we saw that it was working.” Hrishikesh was born and brought up in Belgaum, where his grandfather had a cashewnut business, and his father an electronics fi rm. Hrishikesh wanted to be an entrepreneur, but ultimately chose differently. “Our family tradition is to never inherit a business. My father didn’t do what my grandfather did, and I am not doing what my father does,” he laughs. He thinks it will take him seven years to get the product to market from his lab. “My grandfather was the fi rst to move out of his village and he was successful. I hope the same for my venture,” he said. However, the BTech graduate does not live on hope alone, backing
it up with hard work. “I wanted to do mechanical engineering, and I was sure of getting a seat in a local college. My father and I had even a friendly wager about it. On the day of counselling, I was the last in line. Nearing the admission counter, there was just one seat left, and I was about to win 100 bucks from my father, when the person in front of me took the last seat, and I had to settle for Biomedical engineering. The stream was not very popular, so I made it a point to do my best to outshine rivals from other streams in academics and extra-curricular activities,” he recounts. “Once I started understanding the subject, I realised it was a goldmine. I started taking fellowships every summer, helped out seniors with their projects, and discovered things I liked,” he said. The hard work paid off once he was selected at NCL. “Now it seems like that was just the start. After we discovered the strain, I practically lived in the lab, slept on tables, and worked for months without realising what was going outside the lab,” he said. He even turned down an MTech opportunity. “I have a long list of people to thank. I’d just like to tell future students to drop the idea of being born for something. With hard work and patience, everything can become your life’s goal,” he said.
India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan. He has been in Pune for ten years. “After a home sciences degree, I did post-graduation in Biotechnology from Pune University,” he said. While he was doing his PhD from National Centre for Cell Sciences (NCCS), he
decided to focus on cancer detection. “With the technology I am working on, detecting cancer becomes as easy as testing for diabetes. By using saliva and blood, certain types of cancers and their severity can be detected,” he said. The pioneering idea struck him at the regional centre for Cancer Detection in Bikaner where he had gone for a fellowship. He met people from far-flung places who had come there to test for cancer. Some had symptoms that indicated advanced stages of the disease. Th is made him think of devising means to reduce the hardships of the cancer-affl icted, by early detection and immediate treatment. With this in mind, he returned to NCCS, where he started experimenting to develop new detection and treatment methods. “At that time, a close friend’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and the side effects of chemotherapy made us to look for alternatives. We came up with targeted chemo, wherein, by using the blood culture of where the tumour is located, targeted chemo can be used, which would have no side-effects. The shorter duration of the course of administration, helped tremendously,” he said. Aman’s father is a doctor and his siblings work in fields other than the medical. “I wanted to work on tumours and my thesis was on brain tumours. I almost live in the lab,” he says with a smile.
Aman Sharma, 32
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an a casual conversations change your life? A conversation with a friend changed Aman Sharma’s, drawing him deep into an idea that could revolutionise the treatment of cancer. Exocan, Aman’s company, is on the
verge of developing novel methods of cancer detection and treatment. “It may be saying a lot, but once Exocan’s products come into the market, cancer will seem like just a fever, and not at all scary,” he said. Aman hails from a village at the
Dr Aditya Abhyankar, Dean, Faculty of Technology, Savitribai Phule Pune University
PUNE IS SCIENCE CENTRAL The Oxford of the East is now home to innovators easing human suffering due to diseases, and improving lives beyond measure
. A patent “Towards Scalable 2 Video Coding” describes a “wavelet-based error-resilient
probabilistic approach”. Simplified, it deals with encoding resolution for different screen sizes without distorting images. Video quality on screens ranging from small mobile interfaces to large TVs could potentially see big quality gains using this development.
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. Another patent: “Design of a spatio-temporal neural network
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up healing. Milind says, “Standard bandages are not effective as they offer no protection from the simplest bacteria. For more serious injuries, regular dressing is necessary, which is a chore and also there’s danger of a stronger germ build-up. If the bandage or dressing has a mixture of two or three drugs that fight
. The patent: “A system and 4 method for homography based hybrid mixture models for rehab
engineering” is a 3D visualisation system. It can be used for complex ortho-surgeries and for sports purposes – often seen to determine on screen whether a ball is in or out of bounds. For ortho-surgical applications, a hybrid voxel and homography system -- the kind used to aid referees in tennis and cricket matches -- is used. Th ree-dimensional (3D) images or fi lms are created with the help of the system which can be used by orthopaedic surgeons to measure the depth of bones and the screws/ bolts to implant in the bones during
an operation. In sports medicine, it gives more accurate results for referral purposes. The project has been taken up by a city-based hospital for implementation, to aid ortho-surgery for their patients. . The sound produced by Indian 5 musical instruments like flute, tabla, sitar and others is difficult to
reproduce accurately via synthesis. A project, “Towards characterization and synthesis of Indian Tonal Musical Sounds through framework of analytical modelling”, was undertaken by Abhaynkar and his student, and patented. Under the project, the sounds of tabla, sitar and flute were produced accurately through a synthesiser.
. Another patent that developed 6 out of one of Abhaynkar’s projects, deals with the identification
of individuals using biometric markers such as fingerprints, even reconstructing the face of an individual. The project, “Towards bringing out connectionism amongst biometric modalities through intelligent framework for extended biometric application” aims to reproduce the face of an individual. This has applications in forensic sciences, and will help to identify persons who were killed or murdered with an intention to destroy their identities. . The identity of an individual can 7 also be established with the help of the iris of the eye. The project, “Conjunctival Vasculature based liveness detection for robust iris recognition” aims to save the features of the iris, which can be later used to ascertain identity of a human. Th is patent was developed in association with Dr Y H Dandavate.
Professor W N Gade, Vice Chancellor, Savitribai Phule Pune University
P GARGI VERMA AND GITESH SHELKE @missgverma
Pune, known as the Oxford of the East, has become home to a gamut of innovators who are channeling their passion into the service of society, devising innovative treatments for diseases . Dedication, a capacity for untiring effort and a never-say-die attitude are driving these people to make unique contributions to healthcare. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com and gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com
Anupama Engineer, 33, and Milind Choudhary, 31
ilind and Anupama are to be married, but their late night conversations over the phone are not just sweet nothings. Instead, they talk about their work in the field of Biological Nanotechnology -- bandages that besides protecting a wound, fight bacteria and speed
for non-modular high content pathological screening” describes a method to detect cancer tissue and the type of cancer.
off infections, there is no need to change the dressing. With nanotechnology, we can actually do that,” Milind said. Milind from Nagpur and Anupama from Andheri, Mumbai were doing their PhDs at Agarkar Research Institute at the same time. “I was doing molecular biology, while he was
into medicinal nanotechnology. But when this idea came along, we started working together,” says Anupama, who is the Production and R&D Manager at Thomas Baker. Milind is devoting all his time to their project. “Two of my ventures have already been commercialised. One of them was a quick test for Urinary Tract Infections, which reduced the time of result from 48 hours to eight hours. The other is a one-step DNA test mechanism. I also worked for the company who bought these and provided them with technical support,” says Milind. Milind was not a standout student and his parents used to worry. However, the change came in standard 12, when a biology teacher took him under her wing. “She was kind to me, she became my favourite and biology became my favourite subject. I got into college because of her, and to make her proud, started working hard,” he said. The hard work paid off when he understood the subject. “Th is venture has given me something I had never felt before,” he said. Milind and Anupama are confident about their venture. “We have already fi led for a patent. Once the clinical trials start, we will start getting capital. Th is field is unexplored and thus economically viable. There’s a huge market and we believe that our technical acumen will be appreciated,” says Anupama. They are currently performing medical tests before applying for clinical trials.
rofessor Gade believes that SPPU is motivating students to think independently by supporting their ideas through resources and guidance. Students across streams: engineering, science, arts and commerce are encouraged to come up with ideas. Guidance will be provided and the university will even fund such projects and secure patents for the ideas. The ideas and projects will be assessed and evaluated by university authorities before sanctioning of fi nance. Such patents, when granted, will be in the name of the student, but their ownership will remain with the university, while the students reap the fi nancial benefits. Gade said that the university already runs an innovation cell where students submit their projects for assessment. A yearly competition is held at the university level. Many industries are located in and around Pune which sponsor projects, students or ideas. Government colleges, institutions, and research institutions are based in Pune, which need ideas and innovations. Private institutions also promote students to do research and generate ideas for their businesses. All these factors contribute to an excellent innovation environment for students, Gade believes. Professsor Gade has had four notable patents granted to him in the last fi ve years, with another in the pipeline.
Acid – It is not an 1eyes..acidHyaluronic but the fluid found in the It has high molecular weight
and it protects and lubricates eyes. During surgery, eye fluid is often lost and a supply of this fluid is required to protect the eye. Generally, doctors use methyl cellulose which is foreign to the human body. It has sharp and risky reactions. Often, vision is lost due to methyl cellulose. A safe fluid was developed and patented by Gade. An indigenous component was found and enzymes were developed naturally to mimic the fluids found in the human eyes. The component was found in the crest of the common Cock and was 100 percent purified. It was then tested on rabbits and then on monkeys. Human trials were then conducted at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which were successful. A pharmaceutical company has now taken up the project and has successfully developed medicines which can be injected during surgery. . LH (Lutanising Hormones) 2 and FSH (Folical Stimulating Hormones) – used for animal
breeding. Embryos are formed after injecting these hormones into animals. The components for these were found in the pituitary glands of buff aloes, which were purified for breeding purposes. The project has been now taken up for implementation by the NDRI (National Dairy Research Institute) for animal breeding.
enzymes. The enzymes are helpful in the diagnosis of different health issues. They have wide medical applications.
. Peroxide Enzymes – these have . Nano-particles – Professor 3 4 bio-chemical applications for W N Gade and Dr D P medical purposes. The components Amalnerkar of C-MET jointly for this research were found in the Radish, which were developed into
secured a patent for this project. The research facilitates drug delivery to
a specific organ in the human body. If oral medicines are required for treatment of an ill organ (like the lungs, liver, kidney or pancreas), medicines are directly supplied only to that specific organ. There is a slow discharge of medicines to a targeted organ. Th is has helped reduce doses of medicines required for treatment.
PUNE IS A HOTSPOT FOR INNOVATORS Nishant Kumar, the co-founder of Embryo Technologies, thinks that Pune is the best place for innovators. “Factors that helped us grow are Pune’s proximity to bigger cities, while the costs are far less than Bengaluru or Mumbai. There’s an endless brain
pool from all the colleges, an ease of acceptance and a strong buyer-seller relationship. These benefit every innovator and start-up,” he said. An innovator himself, his company has helped bring in engineered devices into the health sector, which he’s
been interested in since his time at IIT Powai. “My classmate and I decided to start our own project of implementing engineering in the health sector,” he says. “The city is amazing for anyone who wishes to go out of the box,” he said.