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Ultrasensitive Detection of sulphur dioxide to monitor air pollution
Quantum Dots Assembled on MXene Nanosheets for Ultrasensitive SO2 Detection
Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) pollution remains a significant environmental and public health concern, particularly in areas with high levels of industrial activity. As a result, accurate monitoring of SO₂ levels is essential for assessing air quality, regulating emissions, and preventing environmental degradation.
To address this challenge, Prof. Navakanta Bhat and his team have developed a chemiresistive sensor that uses the assembly of boron-doped molybdenum sulfide (B-MoS2) quantum dots on Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets. An enhancement mechanism, induced by the synergistic effect of heterostructures and doped boron heteroatoms is proposed for highly responsive detection of SO2 gas at room temperature. The scientific findings of this work may pave the way for future exploration of next-generation field-deployable sensors.
Advanced Training Program on Semiconductor Fabrication and Characterization
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs, in association with CeNSE at IISc, has launched a unique program to upskill students from the tribal community in semiconductor technology. https://cense.iisc.ac.in/mota_training/
The training program was conducted at CeNSE, IISc from 4th to 13th November 2024. During this “Advanced Training Program”, candidates had an opportunity to be in the clean room fabrication facility and work with various equipment and processes to make basic micro / nano scale devices.
Training Modules included: 1. MEMS Cantilever Fabrication 2. MOS Capacitor Fabrication 3. Solar Cell (Photovoltaics) Fabrication 4. Gas Sensors Fabrication
This training is a perfect hands-on experience opportunity for prospective students to IISc.
The advanced training program is a 90-hour course that is NSQF-certified, at level 6.5 (https://nqr.gov.in/qualifications/3808). Candidates will also be awarded 3 credits upon completion of this training program.
They can now seamlessly transfer the 3-credits that they get after attending the training. As per the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), there is now a seamless integration of skills and experiences which can be converted into a Credit-based system.
Microfluidic devices to understand how aging and diabetes hasten the spread of cancer
It is well known that disorders in our metabolism as is seen in conditions like diabetes and aging hasten the spread of cancer but which steps of the spread are specifically accelerated remain ill-understood. In this study, the groups of Prof Ramray Bhat and Prof Prosenjit Sen, with expertise in cancer cell biology and microfluidics respectively, asked whether chemical metabolites that accumulate in diabetes or aging, specifically one called methyglyoxal accelerate the process of intravasation, the entry of breast cancer cells from their site of origin to the blood vessel. To do so, they designed a novel dual organ-on-chip, a microfluidic culture platform that reconstructs the anatomy of a tumor sitting near a blood vessel, that is amenable to microscopic observation. Using the chip, they revealed that exposure to methyglyoxal accelerates cancer cell entry into the blood vessel environment by altering, through interesting and diverse ways, the extracellular matrix: the glue that holds together tissues and organs. The innovation of such a chip opens the door to exciting therapeutic and other translational endeavours in cancer research.
Read this research article published in Wiley Small, 2025, 2405998 at https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202405998
Avisekh Pal secures the Commonwealth split site PhD scholarship
CeNSE community congratulates Avisekh Pal from the Nanopore Research group (PI: Prof. Manoj Varma) on securing the Commonwealth split site PhD scholarship for research exchange at the University of Birmingham for one year.
Check out the research activities of Prof. Manoj Varma’s group at: https://www.cense.iisc.ac.in/manoj-varma/