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New Delhi, Aug 25 (IANS) IIT Alumni Council has announced formal disbanding of the Covid vaccine initiative that was part of the six-month C19 Task Force. The vaccine team concluded that none of the available approaches and claims were adequately backed by disclosed scientific data, patient research and clinical studies. In addition to getting the vaccine paradigm right, factors like adjuvants could play a critical role. "Somewhere we have to consider the mathematics of an ambition statement. No more than 2 per cent of Covid patients need critical care. There is a fair surety that most of these can be cured by antibody based biologics. "On the other hand, for vaccination, we would probably need to vaccinate 98 per cent of our population. Chasing 2 per cent of the population with a 98 per cent sure cure has a far better probability of success than chasing 98 per cent of the population with a 2 per cent surety of safety and efficacy," said Daljit Singh, an IIT Alumnus and former President of Fortis Healthcare. Some of the vaccine approaches being attempted globally involve injecting a deactivated virus or simulated protein fragment into the body so as to induce the body to generate antibodies. The adverse reaction of the vaccine injection as well as the efficacy and lifespan of the antibodies is unknown. All of this is currently work in progress under initiatives like MegaTx. Even though India has more patient data than probably any other country in the world, it is not sufficient to deliver a vaccine as yet. "IIT Alumni Council team concluded that developing a vaccine based on conventional research and clinical trials takes several years. Even then there is no certainty. For example even after 28+ years and over $100 billion of funding, a HIV Aids vaccine is yet to succeed. "Commercialising a vaccine within a few weeks or months should not be done considering safety aspects. The first logical step to developing a universal vaccine is accelerating research using simulation in preference to actual patient trials. It may not be advisable to subsidise or mass deploy a vaccine whose safety and long term efficacy is unproven," said Ravi Sharma, President of the IIT Alumni Council. --IANS san/in

IIT Alumni Council disbands Covid vaccine plan

<ul><li>As coronavirus cases surge in the city, Mumbai gets its first <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid-19">Covid-19</keyword> Test Bus. </li><li>The <keyword id="55119" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Institute-of-Technology">Indian Institute of Technology</keyword> (IIT) Alumni Council launched a test bus that can reduce the cost of testing by over 80% without compromising on the testing capacity. </li><li>According to the alumni body, this will facilitate a “100x increase in testing capacity, hopefully within a hundred days.” </li></ul>Mumbai is one of the worst-hit cities in the coronavirus pandemic, and now to accelerate the rate of testing, the city is set to get a unique ‘Covid-19 Test Bus’. As the name suggests, this bus will move around the city collecting test samples for rapid testing. On Maharashtra Day on May 1, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Alumni Council launched a test bus that can reduce the cost of testing by over 80% without compromising on the testing capacity. <keyword id="9167115" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="iit-alumni-council">IIT Alumni Council</keyword> is a global alumni body for all the twenty three IITs. <div type="twitter" handle="iitdelhi" handlename="IIT Delhi" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1080057832307855360/dowIL-p1_normal.jpg" favoritecount="80" retweetcount="22" status="India’s first COVID-19 Test Bus launched in Mumbai- An IIT Alumni Council initiative The Test Bus is based on the… https://t.co/8gpCFDbNSE" createdat="1588597764000" id="1257296268004519937"></div> According to the alumni body, this will facilitate a “100x increase in testing capacity, hopefully within a hundred days.” “The <keyword id="619498" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-alumni">IIT Alumni</keyword> Council has taken a proactive approach to supporting the Government’s efforts in fighting the Covid-19 challenge. We have acted swiftly and set up the IIT C19 Task Force to channelise the energies of the global IIT Alumni for this fight,” said Ravi Sharma, President, IIT Alumni Council. The move is aimed at supporting the health department in tackling the pandemic that has caused 361 deaths and over 11,000 infections in Mumbai alone. India’s testing capacity stood at 177 tests per million, as on April 15. Up to five million tests per month The IIT C19 Test Bus is based on the Kodoy architecture model that can facilitate affordable and rapid testing. It involves e-vehicles for sample selection &amp; telemedicine, algorithm based pooled genetic testing and megalabs that are capable of conducting up to five million tests per month per lab. “The Covid-19 Test Bus is based on indigenous technology and to the best of our knowledge, is the first vehicle of its kind in the world with onboard genetic testing, AI-based teleradiology and contactless sample collection. We chose Mumbai as the launch location given the relatively high number of cases in the city,” Sharma said. How does it work? At first, a digital chest x-ray would be carried out and sent to the doctors online. The healthcare staff will then use artificial intelligence to see the probability of a person having Coronavirus. “Then we collect the swab from the mouth and throat which is done across a glass screen whilst fully protecting the technician from any kind of contact with the patient,” said Dr Muffazal Lakadawala, Chief Medical Officer at the NSCI hub. These samples are then sent to the diagnostic centers. The test bus has a capacity to collect 10-15 test samples per hour. To onboard the lab space on the test bus, the IIT Alumni Council has partnered with Krsnaa Diagnostics, a venture-capital funded laboratory in India. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/half-of-maharashtras-workforce-went-to-work-during-lockdown-as-per-googles-community-mobility-report/articleshow/75531171.cms">Google’s mobility report reveals that nearly half of Maharashtra’s workforce went to work despite Coronavirus lockdown</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/dutch-scientists-have-reportedly-developed-antibodies-that-can-block-coronavirus-as-well-as-sars-infection/articleshow/75546379.cms">Dutch scientists have reportedly developed antibodies that can block coronavirus as well as SARS infection⁠— but it’s too early to call it a cure</a>

IIT launches a Covid-19 Test Bus in Mumbai — capable of conducting 5 million tests per month

New Delhi, Jul 13 () Leading stock exchange BSE on Monday said it has signed a pact with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing of startups and develop a 'high investor depth' platform for such new generation companies. The newly-formed partnership will ensure a complete end-to-end ecosystem for the proposed social stock exchange, BSE said in a statement. In addition, it will revitalise the startup platform by attracting a wide range of venture capital and private equity funds to act as underwriters and market makers (backed by the BSE members in the front-end), it added. The exchange further said the alliance will ensure entity transparency, governance improvement, market discovery of share price, provide liquidity for private equity investors and enable retail participation. IIT Alumni Council is the body of alumni, students and faculty across all the 23 IITs with over 100 city chapters globally. Ravi Sharma, President and Chief Volunteer of the IIT Alumni Council, said to enhance the efficiency of listing process and also to increase access to pool of investors for startups, IIT Alumni Council proposes to use artificial intelligence and other automation tools to reduce time, cost and efforts involved in listing process. "Further we shall encourage our associated and volunteer managed funds to underwrite, act as anchor investors as well as market makers for these IPOs. "The entry of big ticket investors like Mega Fund into the startup listing space will lead to a paradigm change in the startup ecosystem and their ability to access capital," he said. Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD and CEO of BSE said the exchange looks forward to helping more firms get listed on the exchange as well as creating a sustainable startup ecosystem through this strategic alliance. The alliance will help reduce listing time, complexity and cost for small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) and startups by streamlining, automating and standardising the documentation processes. Besides, category-1 merchant banks will be empanelled to help automate the listing process so as to reduce time and cost of listing on the startup platform of the exchange, BSE said. SP ANS ANS

BSE inks pact with IIT Alumni Council to encourage startups listing

Mumbai, Jul 8 () The IIT Alumni Council, which is setting up the world's largest molecular diagnostic lab 'MegaLab Mumbai', on Wednesday signed an agreement with the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) to jointly conduct research on COVID-19 and patient data analysis. The council has also handed over the world's largest imaging data of 8,500 patients from the megapolis, collected from temporary pandemic facility set up at the National Sports Club of India Dome (NSCI Dome), to CSIR-IGIB, according to a joint statement. The CSIR-IGIB, formerly Centre for Biochemical Technology, is a constituent laboratory set up by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). This data will soon be available in de-identified form and on an open data platform that is being developed by the council, to help the CSIR-IGIB and the Indian Council of Medical Research contain the coronavirus pandemic. The joint research will create an ecosystem for the pandemic diagnostics, therapeutics and preparedness, besides bringing about an enabling value chain with expertise, spanning digital health, artificial intelligence, molecular diagnostics, next-generation sequencing, antibody harvesting, and production of monoclonal antibodies. CSIR-IGIB Director Anurag Agrawal said, "I look forward to seeing the world's largest and fastest molecular diagnostic line getting built with 100 per cent indigenous technology. Similar thinking would be needed to accelerate population-scale testing in rare genetic disorders, a problem that the IGIB has been addressing for over a decade,". IIT Alumni Council President Ravi Sharma said, "This partnership is an opportunity not only to create a world-leading testing and treatment ecosystem but also to establish global data leadership. This would enable open data access to every scientist and innovator to develop testing and treatment solutions." Late May, the Council had announced the launch of the world's largest virology lab testing centre with a capacity of conducting one crore tests. While the first phase with a capacity to carry out 10 lakh tests will be ready by the end of the month, the second and third phases spanning over the next 100 days will see the capacity being ramped up to one crore. The IIT Alumni Council is the largest body of alumni, students and faculty from all the 23 IITs and partnering Technical Institutes of Excellence and was formed last year to carry out projects of social importance. BEN HRS

IIT Alumni Council ropes in CSIR-IGIB for COVID-19 patient data analysis

Mumbai, May 28 () As part of its effort to fight the COVID pandemic, the IIT Alumni Council on Thursday announced the setting up of a mega lab in the metropolis with a capacity of 10 million tests per month by July. The council also said it will soon start identifying partners for the same through a global competition. Having launched the first 'Covid Test Bus' in the city earlier in the month, the council also said trials have already begun on two of the supercomputer clusters in the megapolis, which alone has seen more than 35,000 cases out of the close to 1.58 lakh in the country and nearly 2,000 of the over 4,700 deaths in the country so far. While vaccine is still more than a year away in the best case scenario, the testing capacity has emerged as the biggest challenge. So the focus of the lab is to ensure timely testing, therefore their focus is on detecting, preventing and treating the disease with timely as well as affordable testing. It can be noted that the council has also set up COVID-19 Taskforce under the chairmanship of K Vijay Raghavan, an IIT Kanpur alumnus and the principal scientific officer to the Centre, with 20 IIT directors as members, along with many other distinguished alumni of the institutes. "The IIT Alumni Council has decided to set up the largest genetic testing laboratory for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases after consulting global experts in the areas of virology, RT-PCR machine manufactures, test kits, pooling algorithms, AI, machine learning, robotics and microfluidics. "A dedicated team has already started work on designing the MegaLab Mumbai with a capacity of 10 million RT-PCR tests per month," said Ravi Sharma, president of the IIT Alumni Council. "The MegaLab will be based on the end-to-end Kodoy indigenous technology stack and will have adequate capacity for testing the entire population of Mumbai for infectious diseases, once a month," he added. The COVID-19 Taskforce, announced on March 25 itself - the day the first phase of the now-nine-weeks long national lockdown was announced, has various working groups involving over 1,000 dedicated alumni spread all over the world to finding/creating appropriate solutions to fight the pandemic. Apart from these, the council also set up digital Xray systems at the Poddar Hospital that uses AI to detect coronavirus for the first time in the country on April 23; on May 1, it also launched the country's first COVID Test Bus in the city and from May 10, they started the work on indigenising the test kits. The MegaLab Mumbai is the latest initiative of the IIT Alumni Council with an aim to design and establish the largest genetic testing laboratory for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases like tuberculosis with an end-to-end capacity to carry out over 10 million tests a month. It will comprise three independent lines -– 1 million tests per month, 3 million and 6 million tests per month. The MegaLab will be based on the end-to-end Kodoy indigenous technology stack, and for implementation, the Kodoy stack is divided in 64 steps from (collection of) virus in the throat to the virus being ultimately zapped/disinfected by UV at the completion of testing in a RT-PCR. The testing infrastructure will comprise the vehicle mounted automated sample collection stations in cars or cabs and Covid test buses, while the MegaLab will comprise robotic contactless sample transport from the vehicles to the testing line with robotic pooling followed by high speed RNA extraction using magnetic bead technology. The IIT Alumni Council is the largest global body of alumni, students and faculty across all the 23 IITs with over 100 city chapters. BEN MKJ MKJ

IIT Alumni Council to set up mega lab in Mumbai to conduct 1-cr COVID-19 tests a month

<ul><li>India’s <keyword id="6386485" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ministry-of-human-resource-development">Ministry of Human Resource Development</keyword> (MHRD) has instituted a panel to assess the viability of reducing the government’s control over all 23 IITs.</li><li>The move is part of the government’s larger plan to reform the higher education sector and increase the global rankings of these institutions. </li><li>Earlier this year, 20 Indian Institutes of Management (<keyword id="19478" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIM">IIM</keyword>) were granted more independence in choosing board members and making decisions related to course selection and hiring. </li></ul>Last week, India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) formally instituted a panel to assess the viability of reducing the government’s control over all 23 <keyword id="6386086" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Institutes-of-Technology">Indian Institutes of Technology</keyword> (IIT), according to a <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/education/panel-to-study-feasibility-of-iit-autonomy-5415187/">report</a> in the Indian Express. The seven-man committee is led by M Anandkrishnan, the former chairman of IIT-Kanpur, and comprises the directors of 5 top IITs - Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kanpur and Kharagpur. The move is part of the government’s larger plan to reform the higher education sector and increase the global rankings of these institutions. It will have significant implications for the operation of IITs, which are currently regulated by the government’s IIT Council. The state-backed engineering institutes are globally renowned and routinely feature in lists of India’s best colleges. Earlier this month, QS released <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/rankings-by-location/india/2019">its rankings </a>for India’s top universities in 2019. IIT-Bombay came first in the nation, while five other IITs rounded up the top 10 spots. The panel will primarily focus on changes to the IIT Act. This will likely involve amendments to the selection process for the governing boards of IITs. Each IIT comprises a nine-member Board of Governors, all of whom are appointed by the central government. It could also involve the devolution of more powers to governing boards. For example, they could be allowed a greater say in amending the fundamental rules that relate to the day-to-day operations of IITs. The possibility of giving greater autonomy to state-backed institutes has precedence. In August 2018, the possibility of giving both IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi greater autonomy <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/education/hiring-courses-fees-delhi-mumbai-iits-set-to-get-freedom-to-decide-on-these-5309095/">was mooted</a> after the institutes were granted an “Institute of Eminence” designation. The designation grants institutes the power to decide on curriculum and fee structures. Furthermore, earlier this year, 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) — the graduate business equivalent of IITs - were granted <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/autonomy-on-the-way-as-iim-rules-finalised/articleshow/65380632.cms">more independence</a>. Under the amendments to the IIM Act, the 15-member governing board of these institutes will now comprise <a href="http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/IIMBill2017English.pdf">five alumni</a> and they will also be allowed to appoint their own chairmen. This will translate into the ability to select courses and hire faculty with greater ease. This could be the case for IITs as well. A reduction in the number of government appointees could bring about a diversity in opinion, not to mention less politically-motivated decision-making. Before submitting its report, the seven-member IIT panel will reportedly seek feedback from the heads of IIMs to assess the pros and cons of being given greater decision-making power. The panel is expected to submit its final recommendations to the MHRD by the end of the year.

India’s government is mulling a plan to give the country’s top engineering institutes more autonomy — here’s what that would entail

31 firms are off the campus placement lists of IITs across the country for revoking job offers, and it’s not a surprise most of them are startups after all hell broke loose over the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Flipkart-IIM-fallout-IITs-plan-safety-net-for-students-as-startups-go-back-on-their-promised-job-offers/articleshow/52478430.cms">Flipkart-IIM controversy</a> earlier this year. But, there is also an irony here - some of the blacklisted startups have been started by IIT alumni themselves. 
 The matter had been under review for a couple of months after these companies defaulted on their job offers and was discussed at a recent national-level conclave of all IITs in the country. Even as the All-IIT Placement Council, the centralized IIT recruitment body, had finalized the list on August 14, the complete list of those banned emerged only after <keyword id="61708" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-Bombay">IIT Bombay</keyword> revealed yesterday names of the 9 companies it had struck off its recruitment list. 25 of its students had been affected by these 9 firms in question. 
 Interestingly, <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, which had deferred joining dates last year, was not among the 9 blacklisted; the e-commerce giant will only be served a warning letter. 
 
This is the first instance of an IIT making public such a list — as mandated by the All-IIT Placement Council last week. Taking a cue from IIT-B, other IITs are expected to follow suit and announce their own lists of companies that have gone back on their placement commitments. 
 For now, all the 31 <keyword id="3392114" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Blacklisted-companies">blacklisted companies</keyword> announced by AIPC will have to go through intense scrutiny before they are allowed to recruit students after the one-year embargo on them gets over. In the last placement season, around 140 IIT students were affected by these firms going back on their promise. 
 The placement body said it will be issuing a letter to Flipkart for revoking offers and delaying joining dates. It has also banned <keyword id="830092" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zomato">Zomato</keyword> from recruiting for another year. 
 
Take a look at the 31 companies and the reasons which landed them in the IIT net this year:

IITs bar 31 companies from recruiting their students, most of these firms are Startups

<keyword id="1156313" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="The-Film-and-Television-Institute-of-India">The Film and Television Institute of India</keyword> (<keyword id="55490" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="FTII">FTII</keyword>) controversy took an ugly turn today. Its students and alumni, who arrived in Delhi to meet officials of the Information and Broadcasting (I&amp;B) Ministry, were taken into custody for protesting outside it. After more than 20 days of agitation against the appointment of <keyword id="54" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="TV-actor">TV actor</keyword> <keyword id="258297" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gajendra-Chauhan">Gajendra Chauhan</keyword> as the new chairman of the institute, the students came here. The <keyword id="6359715" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="protest">protest</keyword> was supported by students of <keyword id="6360099" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Delhi-University">Delhi University</keyword>, <keyword id="58265" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Jawaharlal-Nehru-University">Jawaharlal Nehru University</keyword> (JNU) and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI). 

	The FTII students have been boycotting classes, abandoning academic work in protest against Chauhan, who according to them does not have “vision and knowledge” to lead the premiere institution of film-making. 
 

	Nakul Singh Sahani, an independent film-maker and FTII alumnus, said: “The students were holding a peaceful protest outside the ministry at Shastri Bhawan when they were dragged by police and arrested. We came here to arrive at a conclusion and want a fresh selection of a chairman and some governing council members of the institute. We also want a transparent system where we could know how these appointments were done.”
 <keyword id="2933028" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Cinematographer-Saurabh-Vishwakarma">Cinematographer Saurabh Vishwakarma</keyword>, who passed out from FTII in 2004, said: “It is a prestigious institution and the post of the chairman is not one that can be offered to anyone. If a person has achieved eminence in his field and his work has been recognized, then it adds to his credentials. Such person can be appointed as is its head.” 

	Sahani passed out from the Pune-based institute in 2006. He said: “Chauhan has zero credential to be the chairman. The TV actor was appointed as he is associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and not because of his depth of knowledge.”
 

	Moreover, there are some members in the FTII governing council who have been selected due to their closeness to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he said, asking “do they have any idea about film-making, script writing or can they teach students or plan their syllabus and conduct workshops”.
 “Chauhan doesn’t have the required experience to run the top most institute of film-making, which enjoys certain credibility in India and abroad. How will he lead the institution,” asked Aditi Sharma, film-maker and owner of <keyword id="2933027" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Apple-Box-Films">Apple Box Films</keyword>. 

	She said: "There were eminent people in the field of cinema before Chauhan who occupied this prestigious post. The legacy has to be maintained and respected.”
 The post has been previously held by National award-winning film-maker <keyword id="29916" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Shyam-Benegal">Shyam Benegal</keyword>, veteran actor Vinod Khanna, Kannada writer U R Ananthamurthy, film director <keyword id="222175" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Saeed-Akhtar-Mirza">Saeed Akhtar Mirza</keyword>, among others. 

	This type of political interference is not new to institutions of higher learning in India, Sharma said, adding IITs and IIMs are also its victims. 
 

	Thousands of students sit for the test and compete to get an entry in FTII, said Himanshu Prajapati, second year student of film direction. “People like Chauhan will destroy the credibility of the institute,” he said. 
	 
	(Image: Saurabh Vishwakarma official FB page)

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IIT Alumni Council disbands Covid vaccine plan

IANS

IIT launches a Covid-19 Test Bus in Mumbai — capable of conducting 5 million tests per month

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BSE inks pact with IIT Alumni Council to encourage startups listing

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IIT Alumni Council ropes in CSIR-IGIB for COVID-19 patient data analysis

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IIT Alumni Council to set up mega lab in Mumbai to conduct 1-cr COVID-19 tests a month

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India’s government is mulling a plan to give the country’s top engineering institutes more autonomy — here’s what that would entail

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IITs bar 31 companies from recruiting their students, most of these firms are Startups

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