Dr Aravind Kumar Rengan, Assistant Professor, Plasmonic NAnoSpace (P-NAS) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, has been chosen for the NASI-Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Awards (2018) by the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) this year. He has been chosen in the Bio-medical, Molecular Biology and Bio-technology category.

Dr Rengan heads the Plasmonic NAnoSpace laboratory (P-NAS Lab) at IIT Hyderabad and is working in the area of cancer nanotechnology. The award was given in recognition of his work for developing affordable nanomedicines towards cancer theranostics (combining diagnostics with therapeutics). He plans to perform translational research involving novel nanomedicines synthesized in IIT Hyderabad laboratories and proceed towards human clinical trials in collaboration with Pharma Industry.

After his MBBS degree from Thanjavur Medical College, Tamil Nadu, Dr Rengan went on to do his Masters in Nanomedical Sciences from Amrita Centre for Nanosciences (DST centre of Excellence) followed by a PhD in the same field at IIT Bombay - Institute of Eminence.

His research is focused on developing affordable nanosystems to achieve better outcome in cancer treatment. Some of his earlier awards include DST INSPIRE, DBT Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award, INSA Young Scientist Medal, IIT Bombay - Excellence in PhD Thesis.