Biotech innovators

Nine Indians were among those named to the 2004 list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Technology Review.

Known as the TR100, the annual list of 100 individuals under age 35 is determined by the editors of Technology Review and an elite panel of judges. The young innovators were selected for their substantial contributions in developing new technologies that promise to have a profound worldwide impact on industries such as biotechnology and medicine, computing and nanotechnology and telecommunications. The TR 100 list reaffirms that human values and aspirations make ideal bedfellows when joined with a dedication to bleeding-edge scientific research. A closer look at three of these nine Indians who have done themselves and their organizations proud in the field of biotechnology:

Ravi Kane, Assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Ravi Kane's primary research focus is on investigating and solving problems in medicine and biology by the molecular engineering of materials and surfaces. He works in the areas of biotechnology, advanced materials, nanotechnology, and polymers. Earlier in 2004, Kane was awarded $2.1 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to develop an antidote to counteract the potentially deadly anthrax toxin in humans who have been exposed to the bacteria's spores. Kane is also working to design new molecules that may one day fend off an HIV infection. Bolstering the body's molecular defenses is a novel method that may lead to highly effective treatments for HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS.

In 2003 Kane received a two-year, $150,000 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to pursue research into this HIV treatment. Kane was also among a group of Rensselaer researchers who, in the March 23, 2004 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reported the discovery of a simple method for rapidly creating cellular carbon nanotube structures of different shapes. To produce macroscopic objects from nanoscale materials on a commercial scale, manufacturers are looking for such techniques that make it possible to work with materials several billionths of a meter in size.

Prof Kane modest reaction on being honoured by the MIT Technology Review was, "It's a great honour."

Ananth Natarajan, chief executive officer, Infinite Biomedical Technologies
Ananth Natarajan is the CEO and co-founder of Infinite Biomedical Technologies (with Prof. Nitish Thakor of Johns Hopkins). Infinite Biomedical Technologies (IBT) was founded in 1997 to see the fruits of research move down the commercial pathway. By focusing on innovative solutions to important clinical problems, the company has enjoyed success and the projects have thrived. Essentially, Natarajan wants to bridge the gap between research and patient care. Dr Natarajan was recognized for IBT's research into technologies in various stages of development. These technologies include:

• A minimally invasive screening tool for endometrial cancer.

• A non-surgical prosthesis to treat stress incontinence.

• A technology to equip pacemakers and implantable defibrillators with the ability to detect an impending heart attack and enable rapid therapy.

• A wireless monitor with advanced detection algorithms to evaluate neurological function following brain trauma.

• An automated intraoperative monitor to improve spine surgery.

These innovations hold the promise to solve pressing clinical problems in the fields of cardiac, gynecologic and neurocritical care.

"I am honored to be included on the TR100 list of young innovators in technology," said Dr Natarajan. "Such recognition affirms that IBT is bridging the chasm between engineering and medicine with technology that can help save and improve lives."

Dr Natarajan co-founded Infinite Biomedical Technologies in 1997. In 1990, at the age of 18, he graduated (with Distinction) from Duke University with a double major in biomedical engineering and electrical engineering. He then earned a master's degree in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a medical degree from the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine.

Dr Smruti Vidwans, Postdoctoral fellow, University of California, San Fransisco
Dr Smruti Vidwans is a molecular biologist by training, having trained at Massachusetts Institute of Techonology and Univeristy of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is currently doing an academic postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF to commercialize her findings towards discovering new drugs against tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) kills about 2-3 million people each year and about a third of mankind is estimated to be a carrier of this disease. The focus of Dr Vidwans research is to highlight the importance of a two-pronged attack on TB: vaccines to prevent transmission and drugs to eradicate TB from diseased and infected individuals. Dr Vidwans received the honor for her pursuit of a new approach to developing drugs against tuberculosis. No new drugs have been developed to treat TB for decades, and current treatments are harsh and slow to work. A recent breakthrough in the UCSF lab where she works identified a novel molecular pathway critical to the virulence of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. She is now developing assays to monitor activity of this pathway, which could eventually lead to new drugs.