IIT Kharagpur Sets Up Research Fund To Fight COVID-19

IIT Kharagpur has set up research funding for R&D work related to COVID-19. The Institute submitted a list of projects to the IIT Council last week of which 8 projects have been selected. 

Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Minister of Human Resource Development, appreciated and acknowledged the initiative by the Institute on his social media handle congratulating the Director Prof Virendra Kumar Tewari and his team of researchers.

Talking about the initiative Prof Tewari said "It is our responsibility to improve the quality of life of the last person in the society. While we built some quick technologies to cater to the immediate needs of the essential service providers at the campus, we were simultaneously preparing project proposals and evaluating them keeping in mind the immediate need of the country, cost and product delivery period."

The researchers would be working on several technologies including design and development of rapid diagnostic kit, real-time PCR machine, body suit for COVID-19 patients, personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and portable shredder integrated with sterilizer, Hazmat Suit with forced purified and cooled air circulation for medical professionals, bootstrapping ambu-bag as automated ventilator, telemedicine for fighting viral pandemic, large scale production of recombinant proteins for vaccine and testing, a statement from the Institute said.

An amount of Rs. 50 Lakh has been allotted for phase I of 8 projects towards development of prototypes. 

For most of these projects, the prototypes are expected to be ready within a duration of 3 - 4 weeks, while a couple of them would take about 6 months to deliver the results. 

The phase I is expected to start immediately after the lockdown is relaxed and the research staff are able to attend the laboratories. Meanwhile software related work would progress as usual.

"IIT Kharagpur has a proven track record towards development of indigenous health and hygiene technologies which are affordable, high-quality at par with globally accepted standards, and commercially viable. Our researchers are committed to deliver the prototypes within a constrained timeline considering the healthcare needs in the current situation," added Prof Tewari.

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