COVID-19: 4 top universities receive funding to develop equipment to fight novel virus

Department of Science and Engineering Research has approved funding of up to Rs 1.25 crores to four institutes to develop a range of products to help combat COVID-19. 

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Products to fight coronavirus

Each University will be developing different products - IIT Delhi is working on formulations of decontamination of new surfaces, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bengaluru will be producing antiviral surface coatings and IIT Bombay will identify biomarkers for treatment among other innovations.

Earlier this week, JNCASR developed a one-step curable anti-microbial coating which, when coated on different surfaces such as textile, plastic and so on could kill a range of virus types including COVID 19. This covalent coating, the research paper about which has been accepted in the journal Applied Material and Interfaces, has been found to completely kill influenza virus as well as resistant pathogenic bacteria and fungi, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and fluconazole-resistant C Albicans spp.

READ: IIT Roorkee Develops Low-cost Face Shields For AIIMS To Battle Deadly Pandemic

IITs across the country have been working on a number of different topics to combat COVID-19, from developing face masks to developing fact-checking websites to nullify rumours regarding the virus. Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad has come up with a low-cost, portable, emergency-use ventilator. IIT Hyderabad’s Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship (CfHE) incubated startup Aerobiosys Innovations has developed the ventilator naming it ‘Jeevan Lite’.

Similarly, researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT-R) have developed low-cost face shields for the healthcare professionals of All India Institute of Medical Studies (AIIMS) Rishikesh. The face shield that has been developed using 3D printer costs as low as Rs 45, if manufacturing on a mass scale, the cost could be brought down to Rs 25. However, IIT Roorkee will first send a pilot batch of 100 face shields to AIIMS, Rishikesh.

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