From August 22 to August 28, 2022, Amity University in Haryana hosted a one-week long "Hands-on Training on Materials Characterizations, Lipidomics, and Proteomics Techniques" programme that is funded by the Department of Science and Technology as part of the "Synergistic Training Program Utilizing the Scientific and Technological Infrastructure" (STUTI). The workshop featured guest speakers were; ; Dr Dipankar Malakar, Application Support Manager, Sciex; Dr Ashutosh Singh, Assistant Professor, University of Lucknow; Dr JyothilakshmiVadassery, Staff Scientist V, NIPGR; Dr Shantanu Sengupta, Principal Scientist, CSIR-IGIB; Mr. Saurabh Jain, Senior Product Specialist, PERKINELMER (INDIA) Private Limited; Mr. Amit Kumar, Aimil Ltd.; Mr. C K Patel, Research India & Dr. J. Kumar, Graphene Research Lab, Bangalore The event was closely managed by the convener, Dr. Ujjaini Dasgupta, Prof. Preeti Thakur, and advisors DST-STUTI, Prof. Rajendra Prasad and Prof. Atul Thakur, to achieve a significant goal.
Through open access S&T infrastructure across the nation, the "Synergistic Training Program Utilizing the Scientific and Technological Infrastructure" (STUTI) scheme aims to develop human resources and their knowledge capacity. On the basis of a hub-and-spoke model, the training is delivered. Amity University has been acknowledged as a premier institution and has made history by securing this project as a hub or Project Management Unit thanks to the vision and mission of the Hon. Founder President Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan sir and Hon. Chancellor Dr. Aseem Chauhan and dynamic leadership of Dr. Nitin Batra (PMU). By accepting this project as a hub or Project Management Unit, Amity University made history (PMU). 22 PAN India training programmes at various Science and Engineering Institutes and Departments will be conducted by Amity Universe under this programme. Amity has successfully run similar programmes in the past at institutions including BHU, Guru Nanak Dev University, IIT Delhi, IIT Roorkee, and IIT Patna.
Two FIST programmes are being offered by Amity University Haryana, an A-rated university with NAAC accreditation, one in biotechnology and the other in physical sciences. A Central Instrumentation Research Facility exists there. The 9th training session is being held this time just for scientists and researchers who are actively engaged in research. More than 600 applications were submitted for this 9th hands-on training programme, and after careful consideration, 34 students from the top-ranked colleges and universities across India were chosen.
The workshop's major objectives were to increase awareness of cutting-edge technology, ensure open access to S&T facilities, build capacity through training modules, provide hands-on training, and promote effective and efficient use of S&T facilities developed by DST.
Dr Dipankar Malakar, Application Support Manager from Sciex explains the basics of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry with special emphasis on QTRAP technology. Followed by a guest lecture by Dr Ashutosh Singh, Assistant Professor, University of Lucknow. He explained the difficulties encountered when using a mass spectrometer on a daily basis. Participants were encouraged to offer questions throughout the interactive event.
At 2:30 PM, the inaugural session began, with Dr. Deepa Suhag presiding over the proceedings. A well-known expert in nanoscience and nanotechnology is Prof. Atul Thakur. All of the distinguished guests and participants were warmly welcomed by him. Prof. Rajendra Prasad is a renowned scientist of repute and presently working at Amity University Haryana as Dean, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology. Pro. VC Dr. Vikas Madhukar gave his opening remarks and discussed the research ecosystem of the university.
Prof. P B Sharma is an Eminent Academician, Institution Builder and Vice Chancellor of Amity University Haryana. He encouraged young minds to utilize science for nation building. Prof. Sharma also discussed the significance of such hands-on training programs in maintaining the accuracy and validating the research outcomes. Vice Chancellor, AUH, Prof. P B Sharma. While our Most Honorable Founder President Dr. Ashok Chauhan, the day's keynote speaker Dr. Nitin Batra, and the Guest of Honor Prof. Arindam Bhattacharya attended the inaugural event online, Prof. P. B. Sharma and Prof. V. Madhukar addressed the audience.
Next key note address was delivered by the Guest of Honor, Prof. Arindam Bhattacharya. Dr. Arindam Bhattacharyya is Scientist 'E' in Research and Development Infrastructure Division of DST. He emphasised on the optimal utilization of funded equipment and suggested that these facilities should be provided at nominal cost. Also discussed how this STUTI program contributes in producing skilled manpower. Dr. Nitin Batra, CEO Amity Institute of Training and Development is the keynote speaker of the day. Dr. Batra has been leading from the front and in constant touch with DST team for organising this program. He thanked Prof. Arindam Bhattacharya for constant support and feedback.
Prof. A Chakraborty, the officiating Director General of Amity Foundation for Science, Technology & Innovation Alliances (AFSTIA) gave an introduction on Amity's contribution in shaping the research ecosystem of the country. He also discussed that DST invests so much in research and development. Its now time for investments to be given back to the nation. He discussed under the vision of esteemed Founder President, Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan, that Amity should lead not follow, AUH has been emerging as "Temple of Modern India".
With the mission of "Synergy of Brains", respected Founder President, Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan, explained how this STUTI program with 22 spokes, each having approx. 30 participants is going to create to a reservoir of 660 scientists. He also shared his vision that close association with Amity provides platform to become part of global research. Later on, Dr. Ujjaini Dasgupta introduced the participants and Founder President, Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan congratulated all the participants who have been selected out of total 600 applications from all over India and encouraged them to get best.
Practical sessions were held at the Amity Lipidomics Research Facility and the Central Instrumentation Research Facility (CIRF) Group A was shown auto sampler, column, ion source and other components of LCMS by Dr Dipankar and Kaushavi. In the meanwhile, group B was taken for AIB visit to various labs including Bionova lab, graduate and postgraduate laboratories.
Dr Shantanu Sengupta, Principal Scientist, CSIR-IGIB, gave a lecture on how mass spectrometry can be utilized for clinical applications. He elaborated on the change in proteome during the progression of various diseases such as Coronary Artery Disease, COVID-19 and Celiac Disease. The talk contained all the vital information from sample collection, processing, spectrometric analysis, and its advantage over other techniques. Group A was taken to the Amity Lipidomics Research Facility for a practical session. Method creation was practically shown by Dr Dipankar and Kaushavi. Various MRMs were set up for sphingolipids and batch creation was demonstrated. The participants were shown standard curve runs and how to find exact amount of lipid in the samples using the standard curve. IDA method creation was also demonstrated. Group B was taken to the Amity Lipidomics Research Facility for the practical session. Group A were provided with study material to read during this session. Beta-galactosidase was run overnight for data acquisition so that data interpretation can be explained to participants. For the hands-on portion of the lesson, Group B was transported to the Amity Lipidomics Research Facility. During this session, reading materials for study were given to Group A. In order to collect data so that participants could understand its interpretation on August 24, beta-galactosidase was run overnight.
The participants were divided into two groups for the practical sessions. The protocol of in gel and in solution digestion of proteins was discussed. Group A was taken to the Amity Lipidomics Research Facility for analyzing the beta galactosidase run on 23rd August. Dr Dipankar explained the basics of mass spectrometry based proteomics. In the meanwhile, group B was to the Bionova lab for demonstration on extraction of lipids from plasma sample. Group B was brought to the Amity Lipidomics Research Facility for the practical session from 10:30 am to 11:30 pm. Group A was brought to the Bionova lab to watch a lipid extraction demonstration.
Dr Dipankar demonstrated the peak view software for analysis of protein samples. Various protein databases such as uniprot, swissprot and NCBI were showed. He also demonstrated how the processing method is set up for proteomics analysis. A guest lecture by Dr Jyothilakshmi Vadassery, Staff Scientist V NIPGR. Her lecture included mass spectrometry based plant Metabolomics. She explained the primary and secondary metabolites involved in plant growth and resistance to various herbivores. One of her topics was metabolomics analysis in tomato upon P. Indica colonization. Untargeted lipidomics analysis for a set of samples was demonstrated using lipid view software. Processing method was set up for lipid analysis and method was created for total lipid analysis. Normalization using internal standard and statistical analysis was normalized. Lipid view software report was shown. Software developed by PhD students of Amity Institute of Biotechnology has shown that it can be used to target specific lipids for analysis. Absolute quantification of various lipids was shown by Dr Dipankar. Standard curve was plotted from raw data, by subtracting blanks and matrix and normalizing the data using internal standard.
The resource person for the day was Saurabh Jain, Senior Product Specialist (Mat-Char) of PERKINELMER (INDIA) Private Limited. The theoretical session on the UV-Vis Spectrophotometer and its applications started off the fourth day of the training at 10:00 AM in the A block conference room. After introducing the speaker to the audience, Prof. Preeti Thakur turned the microphone over to Mr. Saurabh Jain. It is possible to ascertain the sample's chemical or physical characteristics from the acquired spectrum. In general, molecules in a solid or liquid sample can be identified. Calculate the amount of a certain molecule in a solution, describe the absorbance or transmittance of a liquid or solid over a range of wavelengths, describe the reflectance characteristics of a surface, or gauge the colour of a substance, and examine biological or chemical processes.
In addition, Mr. Jain also discussed how to optimize parameters for UV-vis measurements, applications and how to apply them to your daily life. Practical session on UV-Vis Spectrophotometer started at 11:30 at Material Research Facility facility, 2nd floor, A block. Participants were divided into 3 groups for better learning experience. Mr. Saurabh Jain demonstrated the instrument to the participants as discussed in the theoretical session.
After Lunch, at 2 PM, a theoretical session on Thermogravimetry -Differential Scanning Calorimetry and its applications was conducted by Mr. Saurabh Jain. He explained the basic feature of Simultaneous Thermo-Analysis (STA) and the instrument facility we have in Material Research Lab. A pragmatic session on Thermogravimetry-Differential Scanning Calorimetry was held after the theoretical session. Every STA component, including its calibration, software, optimization, and other significant STA aspects, were displayed to each participant group by Mr. Jain. Following a successful instrument demonstration, participants received practical instruction on the UV-Visible spectrophotometer.
Beautiful start of the fifth day of training at AUH was with a visit to botanical garden of the AUH. Visit was coordinated by Dr. Vivek Balyan and assisted by Ms. Priya Bameta. Amit Kumar, Dr. Dipti Vaya explained the theory and principle of Particle Size & Zeta Potential Measurement (DLS/Zetasizer Nano ZS) in a very simple manner. Mr. Kumar discussed each component of the instrument focusing on advantages and drawbacks of various geometrical arrangements of the detector, followed by discussion on its applications in: estimating particle size distribution of the nanoparticles (crystalline and amorphous), calculating surface charge in terms of electric potential (V) of the nanoparticle system, determining the nature of drug-receptor interactions, understanding the aggregated state of various biomolecules like proteins, lipids etc.
After an insight theoretical session, Mr. Amit Kumar demonstrated all those aspects practically in a practical session held at 2 PM at the Material Research Facility facility, 2nd floor, A block. Participants were divided into 3 groups for a better learning experience. While the 1st group was given an illustrative demonstration on DLS, the other 2 groups were given hands-on training on the UV-Vis spectrophotometer and other research facilities available in ASAS. After the instruments were successfully shown, participants received hands-on instruction at Zetasizer Nano ZS (Malvern), where they got to use the equipment themselves while being watched over by professionals.
The other group members get hands-on instruction under Dr. Chander Shekar's supervision. These academic, practical, and hands-on training sessions were extremely insightful, educational, and engaging overall.
Sixth day of the workshop was planned for industrial visit in the late morning. Participants learnt the techniques of synthesis of nanoparticles by solid state reaction method. They also had first hand experience on running the UV- Visible spectroscopy, DLS zetasizer under expert supervision. The participants and faculty in-charges departed for the industrial tour to Sunrays Engineers Pvt. Ltd. unit 2 at IMT Manesar, Gurugram, following the hands-on training.
Sunrays Engineers Private Limited is ISO-2000:9001 Certified Manufacturers, Exporters and Suppliers of Aluminum Pressure Die Casting Automotive Components. Participants got exposure to applied aspects of material science. They also got to know about aluminum pressure die casting Electrical Components. Overall, this industrial trip gave the attendees a thorough insight of how material science is applied in manufacturing and marketing. Participants throughout the evening enjoyed dog training at AUH's dog academy.
Hands on training was provided to the participants on Raman spectroscopy and modular spectrometer. Participants were encouraged to get their samples characterised which they have brought with them using this technique.
Around 12 o'clock in the afternoon, Prof. Rajendra Prasad, Dean Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology; Director, Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity Institute of Integrative Sciences and Health, gave the opening remarks of the Valedictory Session. He emphasised the need for high-quality research by interaction among a broad spectrum of the scientific community.
Dipankar Malakar, Application Support Manager from Sciex, Dr Ashutosh Singh, Assistant Professor, University of Lucknow, Dr Shantanu Senupta, IGIB, Delhi, and Dr. Jyotilakshmi, NIPGR Delhi, attended the valedictory session. This was followed by the glimpses of first three days of learning through hands-on training and related lectures. Hands-on training and lectures on UV-Vis spectrophotometer for solid and liquid samples, TGA-DSC, DLS-Zetasizer, RIUS spectrophotsometer, Raman. thin film deposition by thermal evaporator, Spin coating and other instruments were highlighted. Visuals from the industrial visit to Sunrays Engineers Pvt. Ltd. were also presented.
Inspire faculty member Dr. Neha Gupta is presently employed with Jamia Milia Islamia. Her current work focuses on creating new thromboembolism medications. She would like to use mass spectrometry in the future for proteome profiling of her samples. Dr Santosh Kumar Srivastava is an associate professor at the University of Allahabad. Ms Jai Shree Chaudhary is a research scholar at Netaji Subhas University of Technology in the physics department. She would like to utilize mass spectrometry for characterizing her samples.
Deepak Kushwaha is a PhD scholar at Amity University Harayana. He thanked founder president Ashok Chauhan for successfully developing education and research at various Amity campuses. He appreciated how well planned the theory and practical sessions were for lipidomics and proteomics. Dr Pawan Kumar currently works as an Assistant professor at Shoolini University and is an alumni of Amity University Noida. He appreciated the organizers of the workshop and thanked Dr Atul Thakur and Dr Rajendra Prasad for giving him a platform to learn new techniques.
Anshul Sharma and Shweta Rai are M.Sc. students at MJP Rohilkhand University in Bareilly and Jamia Milia Islamia, respectively. Saumya Pandey, who recently earned her master's degree, intends to make a profession out of research. Ms. Debjani Dey works as a LCMS analyst at State Public Health Laboratory and was familiar with mass spectrometry, but she also gained knowledge on various other instruments. Ms Simran Motwani is a research scholar at National Institute of Immunology. Dr Vasudha Hasija works as a research associate at Shoolini University.
Dr Kanchan Upadhyay (DST Women scientist, WOS scheme, Bhilai Institute of Technology, Durg) wants help establishing some in vitro assays using cancer cell lines. Dr Pratap Kumar Chottaray (Assistant Professor at Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha) has developed some fluorescent anticancer compounds. Two students volunteered and expressed their interest.
Dr. Ujjaini Dasgupta is interested in collaborating with Dr. Renukaradhya Math, associate professor of biomedical sciences at Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara University in Karnataka. Dr. Neha Gupta studies hypoxia-induced thromboembolism at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi's INSPIRE Faculty. Three students stood up to the occasion and grabbed the opportunity to collaborate with them to enhance their learning abilities and exposure.
Participants showed an interest in working on future research projects with current AIB and ASAS facultymembers and making use of the instrumentation available at AUH. Results of Collaborations in research in the fields of environmental remediation and health sciences would benefit society.