June 22, 2010
Amrita Center for Nanosciences, Kochi
 

A proposal submitted by Dr. R. Jayakumar, Associate Professor at the Amrita Centre for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine, was approved for funding under the Indo-Swiss “Joint Utilization of Advance Facility” Program.
 

The program is supported by DST (Department of Science and Technology), India and EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), Swizerland, one of Europe’s leading institutions of science and technology.
 

The funding, in the form of a fellowship, will enable Dr. Jayakumar to travel to the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Zurich, Switzerland where he will work with Prof. Greta R. Patzke for advanced characterization of polymeric nanomaterials.
 

“We are developing several biocompatible materials for a variety of biomedical applications at our Amrita research center,” shared Dr. Jayakumar. “These possess enhanced antibacterial and biological properties and are derived from organic and inorganic nanomaterials.”
 

Many of these new materials need to studied and characterized extensively so that their propertied are well understood, before their widespread use can be recommended.
 

Dr. Jayakumar’s research at Amrita has focused on the development of polymeric nanofibers, nanoparticles, nanocomposite scaffolds and membranes for bone, wound and dental tissue engineering and cancer therapy.
 

“I have worked with both synthetic and natural biodegradable and biocompatible materials such as chitin gel, chitin, chitosan and thermo-responsive nanoparticles, hydroxyapatite and bioglass nanoparticles,” he informed.
 

A Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from the Anna University, Chennai, Dr. Jayakumar has extensive post-doctoral experience from institutions such as the Chonbuk National University in South Korea; the University of Minho in Portugal and Kansai University, Japan.
 

This Indo-Swiss fellowship-funding is the latest in a long list of honors already received by Dr. Jayakumar. Previous honors include the Young Scientist Fellowship from the Department of Science and Technology, JSPS fellowship from JSPS, Japan and FCT Fellowship from Govt. Portugal.
 

We congratulate him on this achievement.