BU submits 15 research proposals on Covid-19

Coimbatore: Researchers and faculty members at the Bharathiar University have so far submitted 15 research proposals on Covid-19 to the Centre.
University vice-chancellor P Kaliraj said their team has sent proposals to the department of science and technology, department of biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and also to an Indo-US collaborative initiative under the Centre.
“We have submitted proposals on development of drugs, diagnostic techniques, and also masks and nasal sprays using medicinal plants,” Kaliraj said.
These proposals were developed during the two months of lockdown. As most faculty members were working from home, Kaliraj said the proposals were internally uploaded online and were approved by the university before being submitted to the government for funding.
In March, researchers at the university’s department of human genetics and molecular biology had embarked on a project to develop masks using medicinal plants with antiviral properties. The VC had then said they were looking for industrial collaboration for large-scale production of the nanofibre-based three-layered masks, which would help both healthcare workers and the common public alike.
Meanwhile, of the other research projects in the university departments, only around 10% are in progress, as most research scholars are at their homes. Only those projects whose research scholars and guides are present locally are being done now, said the VC. “Experiments for those projects which have to be necessarily carried out are progressing,” said Kaliraj.
University sources said researchers were regularly attending to projects in life science departments, which needed them to tend to cultures and feed animals used in experiments.