amrita school of biotechnology brochure

"... We all know that the real goal of education is not to create people who can understand only the language of technology. The main purpose of education should be to impart a culture of the heart, a culture based on spiritual values.

Education is not only to help us live a comfortable life of plenty. When our plans fall apart, when we face failure and loss, when we are knocked down, education should help us get back on our feet. Education should help us regain our mental equipoise, self-confidence and positive attitude, so that we can continue forward. In fact, studying is a form of austerity. It is a process, like the bud unfolding into a beautiful flower spreading it’s fragrance. Understanding this, we should approach our topic of study with love and patience. The world of knowledge is limitless;

Excerpts from the address of our Chancellor Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi upon receiving the Doctorate of Humane letters from State University of New York 25 May 2010

Amma, Our ChancellorInspiration for the World

Satguru Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

the possibilities are as vast as the universe. Therefore, before deciding whether a discovery is beneficial or detrimental, we need to contemplate with a meditative mind. Knowledge is like a river. Its nature is to constantly flow. Wherever it can flow, it does so, nourishing culture. On the other hand, the same knowledge, if devoid of values becomes a source of destruction for the world. When values and knowledge become one, there can be no more powerful instrument for the welfare of humankind. Today, physicists have even begun investigating the possibility that the essential substratum of the manifest universe and the individual are one and the same. We are standing on the threshold of a new era wherein material science and spirituality will move forward hand in hand…”

AumAmriteshwaryaiNamah

We, the Amrita family, welcome you with open arms and open hearts to this great institution of Amma’s infinite compassion and love. To become special or extraordinary is the dream of every ambitious student. But how does one become special? Is it only through academic excellence? Of course, that is part of it, but academic brilliance alone is not enough. The most important thing in building your life is your ability to focus on your Inner Self and to realize the inherent abilities within.

When you graduate and enter the practical world of opportunities and

We welcome every batch of students with renewed enthusiasm. We have come to be identified for our academic rigor and deep commitments to human values. We strive to guide our students into exemplary models in their chosen profession.

Our Alumni have more than proven what we mean and this has enhanced our confidence and improved our resolve to take up the mission, for which “Amma” has set up these temples of learning, to its logical conclusion.

Swami Amritaswarupananda PuriPresidentAmrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

Brahmachari Abhayamrita ChaitanyaPro Chancellor

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

challenges, you may find yourself among thousands of competent professionals. What will you have over them? It will be your ability to tap into your inner source and let flow the grace you find there into your work. The extent to which you will be able to do this will depend entirely on how open you are to the beautiful opportunities available at Amrita.

May you ever remain open to Amma’s Grace.

Ever in Amma,With Love & Prayers

Swami Amritaswarupananda Puri

Come into Amrita to lead an intense life of academics flavored with universal human values. We shall send you out into your field of specialization as our Ambassadors.

I am confident that you are going to enjoy every bit of your presence here fully.

Br. Abhayamrita Chaitanya

http://biotech.amrita.edu2

Amrita VishwaVidyapeetham is a rapidly developing world class University, offering Under-graduate, Post-graduate and advanced Doctoral research in wide ranging disciplines like Biotechnology, Management, Engineering, IT, Medicine and Journalism. It is both young and immensely dynamic, with a unique holistic approach to produce leaders in all of its disciplines.

At Amrita VishwaVidyapeetham, we have assembled some of the most well-known academicians, entrepreneurs, executives, inventors, philanthropists, researchers and scientists to guide us in this noble endeavour.

The Amrita School of Biotechnology which was founded in September 2004, has already established its presence as a preferred institution of higher learning in the field of Biotechnology and related Life Sciences, in the short time that it has been in existence. The School offers Undergraduate programmes in Biotechnology and Microbiology as well as Postgraduate programmes in Biotechnology, Microbiology and Bioinformatics. A Ph.D. programme has also been initiated. The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, under it’s “Mission Reach” programme selected The School ofBiotechnology to be a “Center of Relevance and Excellence”(CORE) in Biomedical Technology with a research program focused on the development of preventative and therapeutic innovations.

Dr. P. Venkat RanganVice ChancellorAmrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

Prof. Bipin Nair, Ph.D.Dean

Amrita School of Biotechnology

Additionally, a number of diverse research projects including Wound healing, Target discovery and validation, RNAi, Computational modeling and development of Anti-snake venom therapeutics are in progress with adequate research funding. The School also coordinates the MHRD effort to design and create virtual laboratories for Biotechnology in collaboration with IIT Mumbai and IIT Delhi at the national level. The cutting-edge curricula along with state-of–the-art facilities of the School will provide a solid foundation in the biological sciences. In addition, the dedicated, experienced faculty, offer students an opportunity to interact, learn, advance and succeed with their career in Biotechnology and related life sciences.With Amma’s Grace, there will be ample opportunities for everyone to be a part of the plan. Welcome to this Temple of Learning. I wish you the very best in all your efforts.

Prof. Bipin Nair, Ph.D.

A very hearty welcome to you to this sacred temple of learning. We hope you can become a part of this exciting venture. Invoking AMMA’s Grace on all of us.

Dr. VenkatRangan

http://biotech.amrita.edu 3

Presently, the University spans over 900 acres of land and has a student strength of over 16,000 and 2,000 faculty members with 300 doctoral degree holders amongst them. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council accredited our University with ‘A’ grade, the highest possible grade in India under the new system of evaluation and Amrita is the first multi-campus university to achieve this distinction. Amrita University has blossomed into a multi-disciplinary, multi-campus centre that offers over 150+ undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in Engineering, Business, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Health Sciences, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Nanosciences, Nursing, Journalism, Information Technology, Arts and Sciences, Education, Hospital Management,

Amrita UniversityUniversityis a world class, research

intensive university with national and

international repute as an educational

institution providing higher education in an

ambience rooted in rich Indian Culture and

heritage steeped in spiritual values. Sri Mata

Amritanandamayi Devi, one of the foremost

humanitarian leaders in the world today, is

the Chancellor of the University.


Visual Media Studies, Communication, Social Work, and Ayurveda providing our students with outstanding training and over all development. Needless to add, this multidisciplinary character of our University facilitates a laudable synergy within our midst, greatly enabling us all to derive maximum benefit from the expertise of each other. The faculty, a large number of whom are engaged in research, are committed, enthusiastic and proficient. They form an elite panel of expert practitioners and erudite professors in their respective fields. Guest lectures, seminars and symposiums add value to studies and offer students the chance to learn from industry experts.

Research plays a prominent role at Amrita University. Many centers of excellence have been started in cutting-edge areas like Biomedical Engineering, Nanosciences, Environmental Sciences, Molecular Medicine, Wireless Sensor Networks, Computational Engineering & Networking, Cyber Security, Biostatistics, Cancer etc. Amrita has attracted grants from various governmental and private funding agencies like TIFAC, DBT, DST, ICMR, ISRO, DRDO, DBT, DIT, DRDO, BARC, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Media Lab Asia, Infosys, MDS Pharma, Biocon, Agilent etc. Amrita is also a partner in the Ministry of Human Resource Developments National Mission for Education using ICT for various projects in Haptics, Virtual labs, Educational Resource

The Amrita School of Biotechnology, with qualified faculty including several Ph.D.’s recruited from academia and industry around the world, is perfectly poised to offer students an opportunity to develop expertise and succeed in building a career in the exciting areas of biotechnology and related fields. Our cutting-edge curricula with state-of-the-art facilities for teaching and research will provide a solid foundation in the biological sciences. With a vibrant academic environment and a unique approach to learning that involves thought-provoking discussions and constant interaction among students and faculty, the Amrita

School of Biotechnology provides an ideal setting for all-round development of students to achieve the goal of becoming well-trained in all aspects of Biotechnology and related fields. The excellent placement record of the School stands testimony to our laudable standards of excellence. The School offers undergraduate and post-graduate studies in Biotechnology. It is approved by TIFAC (Government of India) as a Centre of Relevance and Excellence (COR E) in Biomedical Technology. The School’s research programme concentrates on preventive and therapeutic innovations.

Planning and interactive e-learning systems.

Amrita has launched many new projects of national importance and scientific relevance and has fostered collaborations with leading International institutions like Harvard, Purdue, SUNY Buffalo, New York, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Berkeley, University of California, USA, University of Milan, Italy, Malardalen University, Sweden, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, TKK Helsinki University, Finland, University of York, UK, University of Bolgna, Italy, University of Paderborn, Germany, Scripps Research Institute, USA and University of Michigan, USA, to enhance science and technology education in India.

School of Biotechnology


Europe

Japan Australia

Inte

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iona

l Par

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USA

Industrial Collaborators

International Partners


Programmes Offered

Undergraduate ProgrammesDuration - Three years (six semesters)

B.Sc. Biotechnology

Mathematics * Physics * Chemistry * English * Introductory Microbiology * Biostatistics * English / Creative Writing & Soft Skills * Principles of Ecology And Evolution * Human Physiology * Molecular Biology * Biochemistry * Cell Biology * Genetics * Analytical Biochemistry * Virology * Immunology * Methods in Transcriptional and Translational Analysis * Mycology * Enzyme Technology * Plant Biotechnology * Bioenergetics and Metabolism * Introductory Biophysics * Genetic Engineering * Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology * Immunotechniques * Research Methodology * Biomaterials * Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics * Bionanotechnology * Bioethics and Intellectual Property Rights * Developmental Biology * Introductory Bioinformatics * Project

B.Sc. Microbiology

Mathematics * Physics * Chemistry * English * Introductory Microbiology * Biostatistics * English / Creative Writing & Soft Skills * Microbial Ecology, Diversity and Classification * Molecular Biology & Microbial Genetics * Chemistry of Biomolecules & Microbial Metabolism * Cell Biology * Microbial Physiology * Analytical Biochemistry * Virology * Immunology * Methods in Transcriptional and Translational Analysis * Mycology * Enzyme Technology * Food Microbiology * Environmental Microbiology * Genetic Engineering * Industrial Microbiology * Medical Bacteriology * Research Methodology * Parasitology *

The School follows a creditbased system which is a systematic way of

pursuing an educational programme by attaching credits to its components.

When enough credits are accrued or earned, the program is completed

successfully. The credit-based system makes educational programmes

easy-to-understand and comparable both nationally and internationally.

It facilitates mobility, academic flexibility and universality, and helps

universities to organize as well as recognize their study programmes

quickly.

Academics /Programmes Offered


*Biochemistry & Analytical Techniques * Structural Bioinformatics * Statistical Methods in Genetics & Bioinformatics * Pharmacoinformatics * Comparative Genomics * Mathematical Modeling of Biological systems * Advanced Programming for Bioinformatics * Project

Electives: Systems Biology * Computer-aided Drug Design * Computational Neuroscience * Neurobiology & Electrophysiology * Computational Immunology

Doctoral ProgrammeThe overall objective of this programme is to generate researchers who would be competent in carrying out cuttingedge

Fundamentals of Microbiology * Microbial Physiology * Molecular Biology * Food Microbiology * Molecular Genetics * Ethics in Research and Intellectual Property Rights * Research Methodology * Biochemistry and Enzymology * Biostatistics * Advanced Virology and Pathogenesis * Recombinant DNA Technology * Cell Biology and Stem Cell Biology * Mycology * Cultural Education * Parasitology * Molecular and CellularImmunology and Biology of Vaccines * Pharmaceutical Biotechnology * Advanced Bacteriology and Pathogenesis * Industrial Microbiology * Environmental and Agricultural Microbiology * Project

Electives: Advanced Human Biology and Translational Medicine * Neurobiology * Advanced Discovery Biology * Advanced Pharmacogenomics * Analytical Methods in Biology * Bionanotechnology*Recent Trends in RNA Biology* Bioinformatics and Systems Biology * Advanced Biochemistry*Matrix Biology * Human Physiology

M.Sc. Bioinformatics & Computational Biology

Mathematics for Biological Sciences * Cell Biology * Molecular Biology * Algorithms & Computer Programming * Computational Biology * Database Administration & Perl Programming * Machine Learning & Data Mining * Molecular & Cellular Biophysics

research projects having the highest societal impact.

Eligibility: Master’s Degree in Biotechnology, Biochemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Chemistry or any branch of Biological Sciences with at least 60% marks. Those candidates who qualified for CSIR/UGC JRF or GATE may directly appear for the interview, while others would need to appear for a written test which will be conducted in the last week of June every year. Such candidates will be invited for the interview based on their performance in the written test and their qualifying examination.

Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics Clinical and Diagnostic Microbiology * Bioethics and Intellectual Property Rights * Soil and Agricultural Microbiology * IntroductoryBioinformatics * Project

Postgraduate ProgrammesDuration - Two years (four semesters)

M.Sc. Biotechnology

Fundamentals of Microbiology * Cell Biology and Stem Cell Biology * Molecular Biology * Analytical Methods in Biology * Molecular Genetics * Ethics in Research And Intellectual Property Rights * Research Methodology * Biochemistry and Enzymology * Biostatistics * Recombinant DNA Technology * Advanced Human Biology and Translational Medicine * Advanced Discovery Biology * Experimental Cell Biology * Cultural Education * Molecular and Cellular Biophysics * Molecular and Cellular Immunology and Biology of Vaccines * Pharmaceutical Biotechnology * Advanced Pharmacogenomics * Plant Biotechnology * Industrial Biotechnology * Project

Electives: Advanced Virology and Pathogenesis * Developmental Biology * Neurobiology * Recent Trends in RNA Biology * Nanobiotechnology * Human Physiology * Bioinformatics and Systems Biology *Advanced Biochemistry*Matrix Biology

M.Sc. Microbiology


l Faculty with extensive industry and research experience from India and abroad.

l Potential for active collaboration with faculty of top US Universities.

l Excellent collaboration with various top Indian Research Institutes facilitates students in carrying out their research projects at internationally acknowledged organizations / establishments including Biocon - Bangalore, NCBS - Bangalore, IIT – Bombay, JNCSAR - Bangalore, INTAS - Ahmedabad, Lupin Research Labs - Pune etc.

l Excellent placement record - Our students have secured positions in premier pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as leading research institutions - both in India and abroad

l Well-equipped laboratories for Biochemistry, Microbiology, Molecular biology and Biotechnology with advanced instrumentation.

l All Amrita Campuses are connected by an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) satellite link to facilitate e-learning.

l An updated library with reading room providing access to international editions of books and journals. Access to

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

was conferred the “University”

status under “Section 3 of UGC

Act 1956” by the Government of

India in 2003.

Advantage Amritaleading online digital libraries and international journals is also available.

l Disciplined and serene campus environment, which provides an excellent ambience for learning and overall growth.

l Credit-based course curriculum.

l Air-conditioned seminar and conference halls including a spacious auditorium. Spacious classrooms equipped with computers, video and overhead projectors, and an audio system.

l Over 5000 computers connected with High-speed 150 Mbps internet connectivity in high availability mode in the campus.

l AUMS is an integrated system that enables easy access to student’s data, reports and statistical analysis of student progression.

l Wi-Fi mesh network for entire academic area in the campus.

l Email and file server facility for both students and faculty members

l Excellent sports facilities including gymnasium, swimming pool, and volleyball, basketball and badminton courts.


The research focus at the School

of Biotechnology spans a wide

spectrum of areas including Cell

Biology, Molecular Biology, Cancer

Biology, Cell-line Engineering,

Wound Healing, Computational

Neuroscience, Neurophysiology,

Phytochemistry, Proteomics, RNAi,

Analytical Chemistry & Venomics

DST/ TIFAC CENTRE OF RELEVANCE AND EXCELLENCE [CORE] IN BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGYThe Amrita School of Biotechnology in Amritapuri is also approved as a Centre of Relevance and Excellence [CORE} in Biomedical Technology under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, TIFAC Mission REACH programme. The Centre aims at excellence in multiple dimensions by pioneering interdisciplinary education, research and industrial collaboration in Biomedical Technology. In doing so, the Centre will strive to advance research, generate affordable preventive and therapeutic innovations to stimulate industrial growth and improve the human condition. The flagship project of the Centre is to develop low-cost, automated, insulin pump which was awarded an US Patent in October 2011. Further, attempts to develop an amperometric glucose sensor for coupling to the insulin pump are also in progress.

Research

biotech.amrita.edu/research


Biomedical Engineering and Cell Biology Labs

PIs : Dr. Bipin Nair, Dr. Geetha KumarThe focus of the laboratory involves in

1. Development of low cost Biomedical Devices and Diagnostics for the management of Diabetes.

i. Design and development of an automated insulin pump which has resulted in the award of a US patent ( USPTO No: 8,034,019 B2, Oct 11, 2011)

ii. Development of low cost non-enzymatic glucose and cholesterol sensors.

iii. Design and development of a Lab-on-a-chip device for simultaneous detection of glucose, HbA1C, cholesterol and creatinine.

2. Identification of Natural Product Lead molecules as Potential Modulators and Elucidation of Molecular Mechanisms Involved in Impaired Wound Healing in Diabetes.

a. Elucidating the role of Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMP2 and MMP9) in wound healing.

b. Identification of the molecular mechanisms involving Nitric Oxide and Epidermal Growth Factor in the wound healing process.

3. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of Matrix Metalloproteinases and oncogenic signalling systems by Natural Products and dissecting the regulatory crosstalk between MMP-2, MMP-14 and TIMP-2.

4. Understanding the role of anacardic acid and its derivatives in modulating angiogenesis and invasiveness in glioma cells as a consequence of its regulatory effects on MMP-2, Osteopontin and components of the EGF signaling pathway.

5. Studying the role of quorum sensing and biofilm formation in microbial pathogenesis and identify natural product inhibitors that block this process.

6. Development of Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) that captures the energy generated by phototrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms utilizing waste water for the dual purpose of power generation and water bioremediation.

Projects

Sl. No. Project Title Funding Agency

1Centre of Relevance and Excellence (CORE) in Biomedical Technology

DST

2Development of a Non-enzymatic Glucose Sensor and Glucometer

DBT

3Development of a Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) for detection of Glucose, Cholesterol and Kidney Function

DBT

4Identification of Natural Product Lead Molecules as Modulators of Wound Healing

BMS

5.Natural Product mediated regulation of MMPs and its implications in anti-cancer lead discovery

Amrita University

6. Development of a Microbial Fuel Cell Amrita University

7. Quorom Sensing and Microbial Pathogenesis Amrita University

biotech.amrita.edu/research/biomed


Molecular Biology & Cell-line Engineering Labs

PI :Dr.Ayyappan NairThe labs are well equipped to perform molecular cloning and recombinant studies, gene expression analysis, viral production, cell line engineering and flow cytometry.

l In collaboration with Dr. Asoke Banerji(Phyochemistry, Amrita School of Biotechnology) who is leading the efforts in the extraction and purification of natural products from various plant sources, we plan to test these compounds on the expression of gelatinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9); known to be up-regulated in majority of cancers including breast and colon cancers. We are engineering reporter based cancer cell lines, and designing in vitro assays specifically to test the effect of various natural products on the expression of these two genes.

l Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are short double stranded RNAs that are produced endogenously in mammalian cells, and control the regulation of many target genes at the post-transcriptional level. There are many reports of the misregulation of these miRNAs in cancer. We will be studying the regulation of gelatinases by miRNAs, and the effect of natural products on the modulation of these miRNAs.

l Lentiviral vectors for the creation of transgenic organisms (in collaboration with InStem/NCBS) Lentiviral vectors are powerful tools to deliver genetic material into almost any cell or tissue, and are useful even in the creation of transgenic animals. They have been shown to deliver foreign genes not only to mammalian cells, but also in cells derived from fish, birds and amphibians. We are collaborating with InStem/NCBS to generate transgenic primitive metazoans.

l Other interests includes Viral like nano-bioparticle based platform for the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), in vitro 3-dimensional metastasis models using cancer cell lines &Transcriptome and Secretome analysis in cancer cells

biotech.amrita.edu/research/molbio

Projects


1Modulation of microRNA and transcriptional regulation of MMP-2 by natural products in human breast cancer cells

DBT

2

The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) that regulate the expression of gelatinase A (Matrix metalloproteinase-2/MMP-2) and B (Matrix metalloproteinase-9/MMP-9) in colon cancer cells

ICMR

3Identification of mechanisms of action of the cardioprotective compound arjunolic acid

DST

under the Women Scientist Scheme

4 Lentiviral vectors for the creation of transgenic organismsAmrita University/ inSTEM(NCBS)


Computational Neuroscience & Neurophysiology Labs

PI : Dr. Shyam DiwakarWe work to understand the neurophysiological function of the brain and its neural circuits through detailed and simple models of neuronal biophysics as the neurobiology research theme. The main focus is to understand the computations in neural circuits via large detailed models, use information theoretic approaches to model and understand neural function and dysfunction and to establish tools to disseminate and understand data from neurophysiology experiments. The lab works on computer simulation and modeling, neuromorphic hardware, bio-inspired robotics apart developing virtual laboratories for education. With CUDA and Beowulf supercomputing, ongoing projects on the cluster facility include multi-scale modeling of cerebellar microcircuits, reconstruction of field potentials, brain activity, database processing and analysis.Facilities include electrophysiology setup with a patch clamp rig, EEG analysis and extraction for neuro-robotics, Tesla and GT480 CUDA GPU processors, high-end workstations and IBM and HP blade servers, robotics workbench for design and testing, several home-madebeam bots and a LEGO NXT.

Projects


1 Sakshat Amrita Virtual Labs (VALUE project) MHRD

2Bio-inspired processor design based on cerebellar information processing

DST

3Remote triggered Virtual Labs in Biophysics and Bio-inspired Robotics

MHRD

4 Fast response timing in cerebellum DST

5Cerebellum inspired approach for pattern classification in robots

DST (India), MAE (Italy)

6

Computational Modelling and Prediction of Cerebellar Input Layer function, Timing and Plasticity for Understanding Neurophysiological Disorders

DBT

7 Cuda Teaching Center NVIDIA

biotech.amrita.edu/research/compneuro


Phytochemistry Labs

PI :Dr.AsokeBanejiOur lab interests includes bioprospection of indigenous flora- with special reference to Kerala (phytoecdysoids-nutraceutical,sericulture biotechnology, wound healing), value addition to untilized / underutilized plants: (bioactives from sea buckthorn- flavonoids, ursolic acid, carotenoids, kinase inhibitors, glut4 modulators, anacardic acids), synthesis of bioactive natural products (antioxidants, antitumour, kinase inhibitors, neuroprotectants), human resource development(advanced training in phytochemistry to students, research scholars, visiting fellows).

Product development-examples are carotenoids (lutein), flavonoids (isorhamnetin and related compounds), ecdysoids (wound healing, sericulture, nutraceutical), anacardic acids (wound healing), ursolic acid (heart, antitumour)

Projects


1

Value-addition to seabuckthorn through isolation and charecterization of pharmacologically active compounds.

DBT

biotech.amrita.edu/research/phyto


Venomics Labs

PI :Dr.MartinReickOur research focuses on understanding the action of venom components in the physiology, Small molecules that can activate or inhibit functional components of snake venom and finding peptides that can interact with and inhibit toxic venom components.

Cancer Biology Labs

PI :Dr.Nandita MishraOur focus is to screen molecules with anti-cancer properties and understand their mode of action with respect to cell death. Many cancer cells are apoptosis resistant; we are trying to target them by an alternative cell death pathway known as “paraptosis” or cytoplasmic vacuolation mediated cell death.

We are also interested in the studies of protein homeostasis and cell death in case of neuronal and pancreatic cells.

Projects


1 Paraptosis: a newer approach to target cancer DST

Projects


1Development of peptide inhibitors against functional components of snake venom, a new approach

DST

biotech.amrita.edu/research/venomics

biotech.amrita.edu/research/cancerbio


Amrita-Agilent Analytical Research CentreFunded by Agilent Technologies, Germany and Agilent Technologies, India

PI :Dr.WalterSchrenkIn a unique effort of its kind, School of Biotechnology in collaboration with Agilent Technologies has set up an analytical research lab with the vision to promote development of science education and a scientific mindset in the country. The center currently has the latest state-of-the-art uHPLC chromatographic separation system, which covers the range from analytical to semi-preparative scale. To identify a large variety of chemical and biological compounds, detection systems as UVVIS (Ultraviolet to visible spectroscopy), ELSD (Evaporation Light Scattering) and MS/MS capable MS (Mass spectrometry) (ESI Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry) instead of (Mass Spectrometry) are in use. Additionally an ultrafast online-UVVIS spectrometer is present.

The center provides its instrumentation capabilities and expertise to the in-house researchers to solve diverse research problems such as identification and characterization of natural products, metabolic intermediates and proteome analysis related to various disease indications. Additionally the HPLC, the LC/MS and the UVVIS systems are used for education and training.

PI :Dr.SudarslalPlant diseases caused by bacteria and fungi are the major reasons for significant loss in crop yields. To address this issue, many strategies have been developed and new bioanalytical tools have been utilized with an aim to control microbe derived diseases.

Particularly important is the use of mass spectrometry (MS) and MS based proteomics approach to identify and characterize plant peptides and proteins as anti-microbial agents for plant protection. Further, concerted effort to quantitate proteins associated with specific plantpathogen interactions would lead to identification of molecular players involved in plant defense mechanisms. India, being a hub of unique and diverse classes of flora and fauna, the primary focus will be on MS based screening, identification, and characterization of anti-microbial peptides and proteins from natural sources.


1Development of chromatographic separation and detection techniques for natural products, as plant extracts, peptides, proteins and carbohydrates

Agilent Technologies

2Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Bioactive Peptides and Proteins

Agilent Technologies

biotech.amrita.edu/research/aaarc

The molecules thus identified are expected to be used as potential leads to control plant diseases and cultivate plants with increased tolerance or resistance to various phytopathogens.


VALUE @ Amrita - Virtual Amrita Laboratories Universalizing EducationAmrita Virtual Biotechnology laboratory is a new kind of experimental science that is being established as a virtual simulation based laboratory. In partnership with the Government of India’s Sakshat initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, these Amrita Virtual Labs, focus on helping students retain the real feel of a laboratory, while conducting the experiment from an internet-enabled computer terminal, much in the same way as is done, in a real lab. As a key part of the project, the School of Biotechnology will study and use mathematical techniques in biology to study, hypothesize anddemonstrate complex biological functions. Main labs in biotechnology include cell biology, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, population ecology and neurophysiology. Amrita Universityjointly participates with IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee, IIIT Hyderabad and Dayalbagh University. By augmenting the virtual labs with a plethora of web-based resources equipped with various learning tools such as videos, animations, demonstrations, quizzes and simulators, these labs have also begun to serve as an online community hub to share and enhance conceptual knowledge.

biotech.amrita.edu/research/virtuallabs


NVIDIA CUDA Teaching CentreSchool of Biotechnology is an NVIDIA partner as a “CUDA Teaching Center”. Amrita students now have the opportunity to use CUDA developed by the American company NVIDIA to develop their computational biology applications. CUDA™ is a parallel computing platform and programming model invented by NVIDIA. It enables dramatic increases in computing performance by harnessing the power of the graphics processing unit (GPU).

As part of the research facility M.Sc. Bioinformatics and

Computational Biology students and researchers are trained to work on building efficient parallel programs on GPUs with 400 or 512 processing cores. The Computational Neurosciences research team also makes use of this programming for building cerebellar models for sensory information processing.

Supercomputing and Advanced Computing LabFunded by Amrita University

The Supercomputing facility attached to the School of Biotechnology provides state of the art computing, storage, and visualization facilities supporting projects spanning the School’s various projects and as a backbone for large scale neural computation studies at the computational neuroscience laboratory. Supercomputing facilities currently support applications from such diverse fields as computational neuroscience, virtual laboratories, bioinformatics, molecular modeling and computer-aided drug design.

The current facility consists of multiple large-scale clusters of blade computing nodes, sometimes called a “Beowulf” system, that has supercomputer performance. A test cluster called “Soma” is used by students and a larger cluster “Atma” is used for research facility. The lab also houses the GPU personal supercomputing facility supported by NVIDIA Tesla C2075 and NVIDIA GTX 480 cards. The laboratory allows students and researchers to have hands-on experience in administration, modeling, parallelizing and simulating on cutting-edge resource-intensive projects. Ongoing projects on the cluster facility include multi-scale modeling of cerebellar microcircuits, reconstruction of field potentials, brain activity, database processing and analysis.


Publications Medini C, Nair B, D’Angelo E, Naldi G, Diwakar S, Modeling spike-train processing in the cerebellum granular layer and changes in plasticity reveals single neuron effects in neural ensembles, Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience, vol. 2012, Article ID 359529, 17 pages, 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/359529 [2012]

Bipin Nair, Remya Krishnan, NijinNizar, RakhiRadhamani, KarthikaRajan, AfilaYoosef, GopikaSujatha, VijilamoleRadhamony, KrishnashreeAchuthan, ShyamDiwakar, Role of ICT-enabled visualization-oriented virtual laboratories in Universities for enhancing biotechnology education – VALUE initiative: Case study and impacts, FormaMente, Vol. VII (2012), n. 1-2, ISSN 1970-7118. [2012]

Ray S, Koshy N, Diwakar S, Nair B, Srivastava S. Sakshat Labs: India’s Virtual Proteomics Initiative, PLoSBiol 10(7): e1001353. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001353 [2012]

Raman R, Nedungadi P, Achuthan K, Diwakar S., Integrating Collaboration and Accessibility for Deploying Virtual Labs using VLCAP, International Transaction Journal of Engineering, Management, & Applied Sciences & Technologies. Volume 2 No.5 (Special Issue), Dec 2011,

ISSN 2228-9860. eISSN 1906-9642. [2011]

Recent Publications / Recognition

AthiraOmanakuttan, JyotsnaNambiar, Rodney M. Harris, Chinchu Bose, NanjanPandurangan, Rebu K. Varghese, Geetha B. Kumar, John A. Tainer, Asoke Banerji, J. Jefferson P. Perry and Bipin G. Nair. Anacardic Acid Inhibits the Catalytic Activity of Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 and Matrix Metalloproteinase-9. MolPharmacol 82:614–622, 2012.

C.O.Sreekala, Saneesh P.F., Sreelatha K.S., Krishnashree A. and Roy M.S., Organic Bulk heterojunction Solar cell based on Rosebengal: ncTiO2 and Parameter Extraction by Simulation, Advanced Materials Research — Mems, Nano and Smart Systems, 2012 anddoi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR-403-408.4304

Sreekala C.O.,Jinchu.I, Sreelatha K.S., YojanaJanu, Narottam Prasad, Manish Kumar and Roy M. S., Influence of Solvents and Surface treatment on Photovoltaic response of DSSC based on natural curcumin dye, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 2012 and doi: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2012.2185782 .

Mannish Khandelwal, In-Chul Hwang, PrakashChandranR.Nair, DAB-Am-4 based colorimetric receptors for fluoride andpyrophosphate anions, Journal of Fluorine Chemistry, 135, 339.

Manish Khnadelwal, In-Chul Hwang, PrakashChandranR.

Nair, and Jung-Woo lee, Multi-Electron Donor Organic

Molecules Containing Hydroquinone Methyl-Ether as Redox

Active Units, Bull. Korean Chem. Soc, 33,4, 1190 .

Pawan H., Kashyap M.K., Sahasrabudde N.A, Renuse

S., Harsha H.C, Kumar P., Sharma J., Kandasamy K.,

Marimuthu A., Nair B.G., Rajagopalan S., Maharudraiah j.,

Premalatha C.S, Kumar K.V., Vijayakumar M., Chaerkady R.,

Prasad T.S., Kumar R.V., A.Quantitative Tissue Prometrics

Of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma For Novel

Biomaker Discovery, Cancer Biology And Therapy, (2011),

12(6), 510-522.

KrishnashreeAchuthan, K. S. Sreelatha, Shone

Surendran, ShyamDiwakar, PremaNedungadi, Steven

Humphreys, C.O.Sreekala, ZeenaPillai, Raghu Raman,

AniDeepthi, RathishGangadharan, SarithaAppukuttan,

JyothiRanganatha, Sreedha, The VALUE @ Amrita

Virtual Labs Project Using Web Technology to Provide

Virtual Laboratory Access to Students, 2011 IEEE

Global Humanitarian Technology Conference, 10.1109/

GHTC.2011.79.

BookInvited Chapter – ShyamDiwakar, KrishnashreeAchuthan, PremaNedungadi and Bipin Nair (2012). Biotechnology Virtual Labs: Facilitating Laboratory Access Anytime-Anywhere

for Classroom Education, Innovations in Biotechnology, Eddy C. Agbo (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-51-0096-6, InTech, Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/

biotechnology-virtual-labs-facilitating-laboratory-access-anytime-anywhere-for-classroom-education

In Book - ShyamDiwakar, Computational Neuroscience of Granule Neurons, LAP Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, 2011, ISBN: 978-3-8443-2488-4.

RecognitionA new Ph.D Research Fellowship funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bangalore was instituted at Amrita School of Biotechnology. The fellowship will support onePh.D student for a period of 5 years .

Dr.Bipin Nair nominated to the Department of Biotechnology - Taskforce for the Bio-Care scheme.


Faculty

Dr. Bipin Nair

Professor and Dean

Ph.D. Microbiology, M.S.University of Baroda 1986

Formerly at MDS Pharma Services, USA, where he worked for over 12 years as the Research ManagJer in the Lead Discovery Group. Currently national co-ordinator for virtual Biotech labs in collaboration with IIT Mumbai and IIT Delhi

Areas of Interest: Pharmacology, Lead Discovery, Cell Signaling

Dr. Ashoke Banerji

Distinguished Professor

DIC Biochemistry, Imperial College, London, 1975

Ph.D. Chemistry, Delhi University, Delhi, 1964

Formerly at RRL, Trivandrum and is a DAE Raja Ramanna Fellowship awardee as well as the former Head of Bioorganic Division, at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay.

Areas of Interest: Natural product chemistry and Biotechnology

Dr. Martin Reick

Associate Professor

Ph.D. Molecular Biology, MIU, Fairfield, IA, USA 1996

Formerly at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA.

Areas of Interest: Metabolism, diabetes, biological rhythms, peptide-based anti-snake venom therapy

Dr. Geetha Kumar

Associate Professor

Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of Tenneessee, Memphis, USA 1992.

Formerly at Ceptyr Inc., USA.

Areas of Interest: Drug discovery, molecular mechanisms in diabetes and wound-healing, natural products for wound-healing

Dr. Ayyappan Ramesh Nair

Associate Professor

Ph.D. Molecular and Cellular Biology, Ohio University, USA 1997

Formerly at Anthem Biosciences, Bangalore, India

Areas of Interest: Target discovery and validation, RNAi, Cell cycle regulation, DNA damage repair mechanisms and Stem cell biology.

Dr. Walter Schrenk

Associate Professor

Ph.D. Organic Chemistry & Polymer

Science, Joh.Gutenberg University

Mainz, 1982

Formerly at the R&D Department

of Hewlett Packard/Agilent

Technologies,Waldbronn Germany.

Areas of Interest: Instrumental Analysis as HPLC/MS in Life

Science Applications, Microfluidics, Lab & Process Automation.

Natural Product Separation and Identification.


Dr. Sudarslal. S

Associate Professor

Ph.D. in Biophysics, School of

Biosciences, M.G.University, Kerala

Formerly Manager at Mass Spectrometry Core Facility, NCBS,

Bangalore, India

Areas of Interest: Mass spectrometric characterization of

medicinally important peptides and proteins

Dr. Sujit Nair

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA, 2008.

Formerly at the Center for Cancer Chemoprevention Research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA with which he was affiliated for over six years.

Areas of Interest: Cancer Biology, Pharmacogenomics, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Signal transduction in carcinogenesis.

Dr. Shyam Diwakar

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience, University of Milan, Italy 2008.

Formerly at Neurophysiology Labs, University of Pavia, Italy where he worked for the past 2 years as Post-Doctoral Fellow.

Areas of Interest: Computational Neuroscience, Biophysics, Mathematical Modeling, Machine learning

Dr. Sobha V. Nair

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. in Chemistry (Polymer Technology), MG University, 2006.

Formerly at PES-IT, Bangalore

Areas of Interest: Biodegradable Polymers.

Dr. Sanjay Pal

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. in Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur, 2004

Formerly at University of Texas Health Science Centre, San Antonio, USA.

Areas of Interest: Extracellular matrix (ECM) in health and

disease.

Dr. Nandita Mishra

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. in Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur, 2005

Formerly at University of Texas Health Science Centre, San

Antonio, USA.

Areas of Interest: Screening molecules with anti-cancer properties.


Dr. Sreekala C. O.

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. in Physics, Amrita University, 2011.

Areas of Interest: Electronics

Dr. Jayashree. G

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. in Biochemistry, M.G. University, 2001

Formerly at the Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore

Areas of interest: Mycobacterial proteins, identification and characterization of novel lectins, isothermal titration calorimetry

Ms. Margaret Reick

Assistant Professor

M.Sc. Molecular Biology, MIU, Fairfield, IA, USA 1993

Formerly at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA.

Areas of Interest: Type 2 diabetes

Mr. Nidheesh M.

Assistant Professor

M.Sc. Computer Science, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri

2005.

Areas of Interest: Neuroinformatics, Data Mining

Br. Kartik Iyer

Assistant Professor

M.S. Microbial Pathogenesis, Immunology and Inflammation, University of Tennessee Health Science

Center, Memphis, TN, USA 2008. Formerly at the Department of Molecular Sciences at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, USA.

Areas of Interest: Microbiology, Immunology, Molecular Biology.

Mr. Ajith M

Assistant Professor

M.Sc. Applied Microbiology, PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore

Formerly at Sri Krishna College, Coimbatore.

Areas of Interest: Enzymology


Ms. Shalini Dinesh

Assistant Professor

M.Phil. Aquatic Biology, Kerala University, 1995 M.Sc. Biology,

Kerala University, 1993.

Areas of Interest: Marine Microbiology

Bri.Niseema

Assistant Professor

M.Sc. Microbiology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 2003.

Areas of Interest: Medical and Environmental Microbiology

Ms. Asha R. Pai

Lecturer

M.Sc. Physics, Mahatma Gandhi

University, Kottayam, 2003.

Areas of Interest: Physics, Electronics, Computer Science

Ms. Jyothi R.

Lecturer

M.Sc. Chemistry, Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin, 2002, B. Ed. Physical Science, Mahatma Gandhi

University, Cochin, 2003.

Areas of Interest: Analytical /Organic /Biochemistry

Ms. Vidya Prakash

Lecturer

MSc Microbiology, Bharathiar

University, Coimbatore,2004.

Areas of Interest: Food Microbiology

Ms. Suja Subash

Lecturer

MSc Microbiology, Bharathiar

University, 2009.

Areas of Interest: Sustainable Biotechnology

Ms. Suma Mahesh

Lecturer

M.Sc. Analytical Chemistry, Christian College, Chengannur, Kerala

University, 2005.

Areas of Interest: Organic & Physical Chemistry

Ms. Asha Vijayan

Lecturer

MSc Bioinformatics, Amrita

University, 2009.

Areas of Interest: Computational Biology

Ms. Jayalekshmi H

Lecturer

M.Sc. Microbiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University,

Manipal, 1999.

Areas of Interest: Medical Bacteriology


Dr. Jeff Perry(Senior Research Associate, The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego, USA)Ph.D. Natural Science, University of Cambridge, UK 2000Dr. Perry comes to us from Scripps Institute, San Diego, USA.Areas of Interest: Structural Biology

Dr. Sriram Devanathan(Professor, Amrita School of Engineering, Amrita VishwaVidyapeetham, Ettimadai, Coimbatore)Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Statistics, Iowa State University, USA, 1997.Areas of Interest : Sensors, Fault Diagnosis, Statistical Modeling and Analysis, Quality Management and Six Sigma

Dr. Robert Treder(Insightful Corp. Seattle, WA, USA.)Ph.D. Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, USA 1989.Areas of Interest: Biostatistics, Clinical graphics, Statistical Application Design

Dr. Prashanth Athri(Post Doctoral Fellow, Emory University, Human genetics Department. 615 Michael Street, Atlanata ,GA, USA.)Ph.D. in Computational Chemistry (major) and Bioinformatics (minor) from Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.Areas of Interest: Application of statistical pattern recognition /machine learning and genetic algorithms to the field of structure-based molecular design and bioinformatics.

Dr. Eileen Thatcher(Professor Emeritus, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, USA)Ph.D. in Immunology, University of California, Davis, USA 1988Areas of Interest: Wound healing, infectious disease

Dr. Lalitha Subramanian(President, Optra Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA)Ph.D. in Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.Areas of Interest: Multi-scale modeling and simulation as well as biology, chemistry and materials informatics applied to discover and design better drugs and better materials.

Dr. Krishnan Namboori(Associate Professor, Computational Chemistry Group, Centre for Excellence in Computational Engineering and Networking Amrita VishwaVidyapeetham)Ph.D. in Computational Drug Designing, Amrita VishwaVidyapeetham, 2010Areas of Interest: Computational Chemistry and Molecular Modeling, Biosynthesis, Computational Drug Designing and Delivery Systems, Pharmacoinformatics

Mr. Shabarinath Subramaniam(Research Associate, University of California, Berkeley) M.Sc. Computational Biology, University of Southern California, USA 2002. M.Sc. Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 2000.Areas of Interest: Comparative Genomics, Computational Modeling of Biological systems

Dr. Prakash Chandran(Assistant Professor, Mannam Memorial NSS College, Kottiyam, Kollam)Ph.D. in Chemistry (Organic Synthesis), MG University, 2004.Areas of Interest: New Chemical Entities, Biomaterials and their chemical modifications

Visiting/Adjunct Faculty


Placements“Well begun is half done”, observed the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In consonance with this calling, our graduating students who confidently step out through the portals of our School have consistently been hired into premier research institutions or pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry. Yet others have been successfully admitted into coveted doctoral programs in India or abroad. Just a few examples of our placement successes include positions bagged in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), University of California Network, Cellworks, Biocon, BioGenex, Astra Zeneca, Ranbaxy, Lupin, Agilent Technologies, Anthem Biosciences and Reliance Life Sciences, amongst many others. Our highlymotivated faculty members are dedicated to training our students to aim for the best in science and in life. Needless to add, this has translated into our School’s stellar placement track-record that we are proud of today.

Our students secured positions at ...


Hostel facilities: Our hostels, which are separate for boys and girls, are located within walking distance at a distance of a few hundred meters from the School. Students are provided with adequate facilities to make them feel at home. A modern central kitchen operates in the campus which provides pure vegetarian food prepared under hygienic conditions. Their stay in the hostel enables them to imbibe a healthy life-style and involve in activities including yoga, meditation, sports, music, etc., which are conducive for leading a balanced life of work and play. We attach great significance to the quality of life on our campus. Intake of tobacco in any form and any other intoxicants is strictly prohibited. Students learn to take care of their personal needs and grow in a nurturing environment. All courses offered by the School are residential. However, students staying with their parents within a 30-kilometer radius of the College may commute to their classes from their residences.

Laboratories: Well-equipped Microbiology, Biochemistry and Biotechnology laboratories have been set up along with Tissue culture facilities, Microscopy room, Radioactivity room and a state-of-the-art instrumentation room.

Medical Facility: Qualified medical and paramedical personnel including doctors, nurses and pharmacists are available in the campus medical clinic. Additionally, a fullfledgedAyurvedic hospital also functions in the campus

Transport: College buses pick-up and drop day-scholars from specified locations in Kollam city and en route, at a nominal fee.

Canteen: The School canteen is open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm every day. Day scholars, staff members

Campus Infrastructure & Amenities


and guests can avail themselves of this facility. Students living in the hostels may also make use of this canteen for additional refreshments.

Store: The General Store caters to requirements for stationary, toiletries, provisions, etc. The store also stocks publications, audio/ video cassettes, herbal/ayurvedic products, etc. produced by the Math.

Library: A large collection of over 8,000 international books and journals is available for reference in the library which is open to staff and students from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. for information retrieval and services. Students and staff can also access the online knowledge

exhibit their artistic talent. Cultural celebrations / festivals like Onam, Vishu, Christmas and Gokulashtami are also celebrated will great élan in the campus. Many of these festivals including New Year are celebrated in the presence of our beloved Amma, Her Holiness Mata Amritanandamayi Devi.

Amrita Sanjeevani: Amrita Sanjeevani, a student group on our campus, was formed to inculcate in the students a realistic knowledge and understanding of the society

that we are living in. It strongly encourages the students to harness their innate potential and to confidently assume personal responsibilities.

Amalabharatham: It is a campaign aimed at cleaning India’s public places and national highways. Through this cleanliness drive, students at Amrita along with MAM hope to raise social awareness of

humanity’s debt to our beautiful earth and nature. Amma launched this project on her 57th Birthday celebrations on 27th Sep 2010.

archival resource from any net-worked system on the campus.

Telephone STD/ISD: The students can also avail of local, STD/ISD facilities from the pay-to-use booths located at various places in the campus.

Banking: An extension counter of the Dhanalakshmi bank is conveniently located in the campus and functions on all working days. Students can make use of the personal banking facilities at the extension counter. The bank also provides a 24 hour ATM facility.

Photocopying Facilities: Students can make use of the photocopying facility available at the institute at a nominal rate.

ICTS: Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) provides computing and all related facilities available on the campus. There are approximately 2000 computers and nearly 20 high end servers, which are maintained by ICTS. Network implementations and Wi-Fi networks, E-Learning amenities, campus PABX functions and administrative supervision over UPS are also provided by ICTS.

Sports Facilities: Sports and games are given due importance in the curriculum. Playgrounds with volleyball, basketball and badminton courts are available. In addition, facilities for various indoor games like table tennis and chess are also provided.

Yoga: For students so inclined, yoga and meditation classes are conducted under expert guidance. Apart from this, the students have the option of attending evening prayers in the Ashram, which is a means for mental relaxation and rejuvenation.

Cultural:Amritakalotsavam, our annual arts festival gives tremendous opportunities for students to be creative and


How to reach Amritapuri

The closest airport is in Thiruvananthapuram (110 km south of Amritapuri). At the airport you may go to the “Airport Taxi Service” counter and ask for a prepaid

taxi to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri. Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery is 140 km north from the School. Kayamkulam (12 km north

of Amritapuri) is the closest town situated north of the School of Biotechnology. Autorickshaws can bring you to the campus, which takes about 20 minutes

and costs about Rs. 200. Bus services are also available from Kayamkulam Bus Stand to Vallikavu, which is approximately a five-minute walk from the School.


Empowering Women

Embracing the World is empowering 100,000 women from impoverished communities throughout South India with the skills and means to help their families make ends meet. Participants receive vocational training, start-up capital, and assistance in marketing their products and receiving microcredit loans. Empowering women in this way has proven to be one of the most effective strategies for reducing poverty throughout entire communities

Education for Everyone

Embracing the World places a high priority on guaranteeing the opportunity of education for all ages. From its literacy and vocational training for India’s indigenous tribal population to its scholarship program supporting 100,000 of India’s poorest children – girls and boys – all the way toward obtaining a university degree, Embracing the World is working to ensure that knowledge remains the birthright of all humankind

Disaster Relief

Since 2001, Embracing the World has been quick to respond to natural disasters. Most well-known for its $46 million Tsunami-Relief Project, our

Embracing the world is a global network of charitable projects conceived by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math

(an NGO with Special Consultative Status to the United Nations)

volunteers have been at ground zero in several of the decade’s most devastating natural disasters, from the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake to Hurricane Katrina in the United States to the 2008 Bihar Floods, which displaced millions. With a dual focus on rapid response and extensive long-term rehabilitation, Embracing the World has developed a reputation for being first on the scene and the last to leave – long after the spotlight has faded away

Homes & Slum Renovations

Embrac ing the World believes that everyone in the world deserves to sleep without fear. It is this belief that has propelled ETW’s massive homes for the homeless program. Over the last 10 years, ETW has relocated over 1600 families from wretched slums into newly constructed apartment blocks and built more than 40,000 homes for the homeless – toward a target of building 125,000 homes across India

Foster Homes for Orphans

Ashram Activities / Embracing The World www.embracingtheworld.org


line; over one million patients have been treated free of charge. Our telemedicine-enabled medical outreach teams also conduct primary health care training and intervention programs for treatable illness, bringing the best of modern medicine into the most remote areas of rural India.

Community Outreach

Embracing the World wants to see a world where no one slips through the cracks into invisible poverty and despair, and where everyone has a chance to see their dreams come true. With that in mind, ETW runs multiple care homes for the elderly, provides monthly financial aid for 100,000 widows and victims of poverty and disability for throughout India, offers free meditation courses for soldiers, prisoners, and the general public, sponsors weddings for the poor, and has established service-oriented youth groups throughout the world.

Green Initiatives

A member of the United Nations Billion Tree C a m p a i g n , Embracing the World has planted over a million trees

and Disadvantaged Children

Embracing the World has run a care home for 500 orphans and disadvantaged children in Kerala for the last 20 years. The children study at one of the most competitive secondary schools in the state (run by Amma’s Ashram) and win awards in Sanskrit, music, sports and dance. In 2009, Amma inaugurated a second care home in Kenya – this one for more than 100 children from the slums of Nairobi.

Fighting Hunger

Embracing the World feeds more than 2 million people annually throughout India, and distributes uncooked

rice, milk and other staples to deeply impoverished communities. In 40 cities throughout North America, our volunteers prepare and 73,000 meals a year for the homeless and hungry.

Healthcare & Nutrition

Embracing the World’s 1,300-bed AIMS Hospital (Kochi, Kerala) is renowned as one of the premier health-care facilities in South Asia. Since its establishment in 1998, AIMS together with its smaller satellite hospitals and medical outreach teams have provided more than $50 million worth of free medical care to patients living

b e l o w the poverty

worldwide since 2001, including 100,000 trees along India’s shoreline to prevent erosion. GreenFriends, our grassroots environmental organization, promotes local participation in conservation efforts around the world.

Research

Through Amma’s Amrita University, Embracing the World volunteer researchers are breaking new ground in a broad range of highly specialized fields including nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics, and e-learning software. Projects include tissue engineering, stem cell research, water-purification systems, and low-cost biomedical devices. On the cutting edge of emerging technologies, Embracing the World is developing haptic, biofeedback and virtual reality systems to bring vocational training capabilities into remote areas.


Shanghai, 2012 : Amma addresses United Nations Alliance of

Civilizations’ (UNAOC) Regional Consultations for

Asia-South Pacific

New York, 2010 : Amma receives an honorary Doctorate in Humane

Letters from the State University of New York at

Buffalo.

New Delhi, 2009 : Amma inaugurates the Vivekananda International

Foundation.

Jaipur, 2008 : Amma is a keynote speaker at the Summit of the

Global Peace Initiative ofWomen.

Paris, 2007 : Amma is awarded the Prix CinémaVérité for her

humanitarian activities and work for peace at the

Cinema Verite Film Festival.

New York, 2006 : Amma receives the James Parks Morton Interfaith

Award in New York.

Pune, 2006 : Amma receives the Philosopher Saint Sri

Jnaneswara World Peace Prize.

London, 2005 : Amma receives the Mahavir Mahatma Award.

Kochi, 2005 : Amma receives Centenary Legendary Award of the

Rotary Club International.

Amma in Global Fora


Barcelona, 2004 : Amma delivers a keynote address at the 2004

Parliament of the World’sReligions.

Geneva, 2002 : The World Movement for Nonviolence confers

upon Amma the Gandhi-King Award for Non-

violence at the UN in Geneva.

Geneva, 2002 : Amma is the keynote speaker at the Global Peace

Initiative of Women Religious & Spiritual Leaders at

the UN, Geneva.

New York, 2000 : Amma is a keynote speaker at the Millennium

World Peace Summit, UNGeneral Assembly.

New York, 1995 : Amma addresses the Interfaith Celebrations at the 50th

anniversary of the UN.

Chicago, 1993 : Amma addresses the Parliament of the World’s Religions’

100th Anniversary, where is she named President of the

Hindu Faith.

USA, 1993 : Amma receives the Hindu Renaissance Award from Hinduism

Today.

Satguru Sri Mata

Amritanandamayi Devi

(Amma) has given darshan

to over 40 million people

across the world and has

been invited to address

global fora.