IIT Gandhinagar professor bags Ramanujan fellowship

A professor of the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, has bagged the prestigious Ramanujan fellowship to work on programming stem cells to develop healing technologies for Alziehmers, Parkinson's.

After spending five years in Europe, professor Dhiraj Bhatia has come back to India to research further on DNA nanodevices to programme stem cells for regenerative medicine and biomedical applications.

An assistant professor in biological engineering at IITGn, Bhatia has been awarded the fellowship by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB). Instituted by the Government of India, the Ramanujan Fellowship is awarded to Indian scientists and engineers from all over the world who want to return to India from abroad to engage in scientific positions in India.

Bhatia's work in Europe focussed on cell biology and biomedical applications.

"My research lies at the interface of nanotechnology, cell biology and microscopy. I feel humbled to be selected for this prestigious fellowship. I will now further my research on DNA nanodevices to program stem cells for regenerative medicine and biomedical applications. I'll also focus on understanding membrane traffic in stem cells which will help to design strategies for programming stem cells for therapeutic applications like developing healing technologies for diseases such as Alziehmers, Parkinsons and Spinal-Cord Injury," Bhatia said.