Hyderabad: Blue light innovation is not the end for Nobel Prize winner Professor Hiroshi Amano who is working on ultra violet lights and internet of energy to ensure that science benefits people.
The CSIR-IICT had the auditorium packed to hear Professor Hiroshi who talked about the journey of blue light and its wide acceptance in the market. The research on blue light was abandoned as the synthesis of the chemicals was difficult. Professor Amano explained, “I have tried 1,500 experiments and every time the result was the same. There was no improvement. But I didn’t abandon my project as I knew blue light was achievable and would bring down the energy consumption levels.”
Professor Amano is now working on the project of ultra violet lights and internet of energy, which is a project where wireless transfer of energy is carried out. Professor Amano added, “Currently, the drones can be used for 30 minutes but we are making a system whereby it can be used for 24 hours. The experiments carried out in localised settings have shown that they can take the drone from 40 to 60 meters. But we want it to go from 100 to 120 meters.”
The Lifi technology is an energy-saving technology and will help bring down the energy consumption.
Research projects require funds for equipment and materials. Professor Amano said, “I have faced the paucity of funds and this time too it’s the same problem.”
Prof. Erwin Neher talks on patch clamp
The patch clamp technique developed by Nobel laureate Prof. Erwin Neher and his colleagues revolutionised the study of ion channels. Professor Erwin Neher was in the city to deliver a lecture series on ‘ion channels: their discovery and their role in biomedicine and pharmacology’ at University of Hyderabad on Thursday.
The patch clamp technique is kind of pore-forming proteins located in cell membranes that facilitate the passage of ions into and out of the cells.
He said that the patch clamp technique allows the measurement of incredibly small electrical currents that pass through a single ion channel in the screening and safety evaluation of drugs that are targeted to ion channels in a range of disorders including pain, epilepsy, depression, stroke, bipolar disorder, hypertension, autoimmune disorders, cystic fibrosis and diabetes, etc.
He further elaborated on the ion channels and the concepts around them such as the involvement of ion channels in conducting tasks in different cells.
Erwin Neher is a German biophysicist, specialising in cell physiology. In 1991, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine along with Bert Sakmann.
