Thursday 28 Mar 2024

From malaria parasites to mysteries of universe, eminent BITS alumni share success stories

#TGLIFE | DECEMBER 01, 2022, 10:09 PM IST
From malaria parasites to mysteries of universe, eminent BITS alumni share success stories

Director of BITS Goa campus Professor Suman Kundu speaks at the programme.

The third edition of Alumni Research Talks featuring talk cum interactive sessions with four eminent alumni of BITS Pilani was organised by Alumni Relations Division of BITS Pilani Goa where stories of success were shared. 

The eminent alumni of BITS Pilani who delivered research talks include Prof Y N Mohapatra (professor of Physics and Materials Science, IIT Kanpur), Dr Shruthi Sridhar Vembar (assistant professor, Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Bengaluru), Prof Subrat Kar (professor & head, SeNSE, IIT Delhi) and Prof Patrick Das Gupta (professor of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi).

The alumni delved into their research interests which could affect the future. Director of Goa campus, Prof Suman Kundu welcomed the eminent speakers and appreciated their presence while expressing joy that students are taking a keen interest in attending such talks. The organiser of these talks, Prof Veeky Baths, associate dean, Alumni Relations Division stated that such activities of interacting with alumni have a long-lasting impact on student's lives.

Through his talk, Prof Mohapatra made the audience realise how electronics have been changing and will continue to change in the coming years. He discussed the products of the future and left the audience with ample knowledge about his field to pique their interest and motivate them to pursue research in it.

Dr Vembar elaborated on her research of elucidating novel modes of epigenetic and post-transcriptional gene regulation in malarial parasites. “Malaria, caused by intracellular protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, remains a major threat to global health, with half of the world’s population at risk,” she said and explained about her published work and projects of the lab which works on the discovery of new drugs and vaccines given the lack of an effective antimalarial vaccine, and the emergence of parasite drug resistance to first-line therapies.

Prof Kar spoke on academic life as a student in any field and instilled a small thought that the only thing worthy of learning is the ability to learn and continued to build upon the curious nature of students. He gave numerous analogies from practical life and technical fields.

Prof Das Gupta while speaking on understanding the cosmos, took the audience with him through his journey in his field giving inspiring insights into his world of the stars. He raised the existential question of whether we are the only planet with life in the Milky Way. Speaking about how gravitation is the main source of energy, he wrapped his galactic journey with the mysteries of the universe, leaving the audience with a hunger to learn more.

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