Coronavirus: Education Minister praises IIT Delhi for R&D accomplishments

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) has been praised by the Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'. He has applauded the institute for its research accomplishments against the COVID-19 infection. In his tweet, he thanked the director of the institute Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao along with the students & faculty for their efforts during the outbreak. On a number of aspects, IIT Delhi has started key research and development projects. They consist of antimicrobial fabric development, SARS CoV2 detection assay, development of sanitizer, PPE's, designing of three-layered surgical masks and high-efficiency face masks (N95), designing affordable ventilators and screening inhibitors for nCoV-19 structural proteins vis-a-vis designing virus-like particles for trying vaccine development.

As of now, the institute has designed high-efficiency face masks (N95), antimicrobial fabric for protection against hospital-acquired infection, 3 ply mask, 3-layered good quality surgical masks for hospitals & health workers, laminated knitted textile-based coverall and hand sanitizers. These products have been designed by IIT Delhi researchers working as a part of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Textile Technology and School of Biological Sciences. Team working with Professor Vivekanandan Perumal in the School of Biological Sciences has also designed a detection assay for COVID-19.

On computational prediction of possible novel coronavirus structural proteins inhibitors from Azadirachta indica (Neem), Professor Manidipa Banerjee is leading the team. Also, they are designing virus-like particles as vaccine candidates against nCoV-19. Similarly, under the guidance of Professor PVM Rao, the Department of Design is working on developing a low-cost ventilator. There are a number of long-term and short-term projects going on in the institute against the COVID-19.

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