News from NUCSER | Awarded research grants from national agencies of UGC and DST-SERB

Congratulation to Dr. Akshath US:
Nitte University Center for Science Education and Research (NUCSER) of Nitte Deemed to be University is awarded research grants to conduct an in-depth study on nanoparticle assembly and their biological reactions.

Start-up-grants are provided by Indian funding agencies to early-career scientists working in various fields. These schemes are highly competitive and are awarded for promising candidates and projects that can have a potential impact on a particular research area. Dr. Akshath U. S, Marie-Curie Fellow & Scientist G-II at NUCSER, Nitte (DU) was awarded two start-up grants, University Grants Commission (UGC) and DST-Science and Engineering Research Board (DST-SERB).

Dr. Akshath’s group explores to design Nanoparticle assemblies that are induced from biological reactions. Nanoparticle assemblies have gained immense interest in past decade due to its unique multivalent and optical properties. To this end, the group works on design and development of nucleic acid induced nanoparticle assemblies that can be used for ultrasensitive detection of target nucleic acids from bacteria/virus. The ‘core’ magnetic nanoparticle (MNPs) and ‘shell’ gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) form assemblies driven by nucleic acids (Target DNA/RNA). The assemblies are further purified and colorimetric substrate is added to detect nucleic acids with very high sensitivity.