India's first DIY bio lab Bio RiiDL collaborates with MIT

24 April 2019 | News

BioRiiDL received a grant from Department of Biotechnology-BIRAC, Government of India in December 2017.

image credit- shuttershock.com

image credit- shuttershock.com

The community bio initiative of MIT collaborates with RIIDL of Somaiya Vidyavihar (Research Innovation Incubation Design laboratory) for developing tools and technologies to enable the possible broadcast participation in biotechnology. Bio Riidl is India's first DIY bio lab and bio-incubator supported by BIRAC-DBT, the government of India that supports innovators and entrepreneurs. The main objective of this collaboration is organizing various research projects and activities. The initiative would focus on projects that include the creation of low-cost enabling hardware, infrastructure for sharing and new interfaces for artistic expression with biology.

Gaurang Shetty, Chief innovation Catalyst, RiiDL said " The reason that this was made possible was, that we share the same vision, we work for the community, our goal is to promote biotechnology and DIY bio culture which gives access to citizens to learn science without prior knowledge and its application in solving real-world problems without any barriers or apprehensions. This development encourages our team to work harder and achieve more milestones in the future. Today we are the only community lab (DIY bio lab) in India. Biotechnology is going to be the future and India should not be left behind'.

Somaiya BioRiiDL is an extension of RiiDL which encourages research and innovation in the biological sciences. It supports the growing Biotechnological, global socialmovement Do-It-Yourself Biology in which individuals, communities and small organizations study Biology and Life Sciences using the same methods as traditional research institutions.

Somaiya BioRiiDL has setup India’s first and only Do-It-Yourself Biolab, and a Bio-Incubator, an incubation cell for Biotechnology start-ups; a space where Biologists can come, execute their ideas and innovate. Even after completion of their studies, they can come and work on their own projects. Students and faculty of Somaiya Vidyavihar, Biotechnology studentsof Mumbai University who have to work in industrial or R&D labs for their final thesis,as well as students who are working on their project in the college, and require specific equipment and conditions can work in the BioLab.

Students have access to mentoring from scientists and investors as well as a chance to become a part of global discussion biologist group.

BioRiiDL has received a grant from Department of Biotechnology-BIRAC, Government of India in December 2017.

 Some of the projects being worked on in the 10,000 square feet BioRiidlcentre, include Modification and Performance Improvementof Sugarcane Harvester, Bio degumming of Silk, Touchscreen based medical vending machine, Text to speech conversion and Radiator grill for tractors.

Start-ups in the pipeline for Bio Incubator include those working on projects in various stages of incubation from development stage to testing. Some of them include Diagnostic kit for TB, Nutritional foods, Nano materials and plasma products, Automatic irrigation system etc.

Comments

× Your session has been expired. Please click here to Sign-in or Sign-up
   New User? Create Account