Ignite Life Science Foundation, with support from IndianOil Corporation and Teekays Foundation, funded the acquisition of a multi-mode plate reader to enable high throughput research at IISER Pune.
Multi-mode plate readers are used in various fields such as biochemistry, molecular biology, and pharmaceutical sciences. They enable researchers to conduct assays for enzyme activity, nucleic acid quantification, protein detection, and cell viability, among other applications, for up to 1500 molecules at a time, which accelerates the research being conducted by the scientists.
Ignite Life Science Foundation, a Bengaluru-based science philanthropy that leverages scientific discoveries for social good, received a generous grant from IndianOil Corporation and Teekays Foundation. This was a unique CSR project for the IndianOil Marketing Division Head Office and Mr Umar Bava Teekay of Teekays Foundation provided the follow-on funding. Ignite Life Science Foundation was the implementing agency for the project.
On July 9, 2024, Ms. Elizabeth Suhasini Potla, GM (MS&CSR), HO visited IISER Pune to inaugurate the multi-mode plate reader provided by IOCL to IISER Pune under CSR. The inauguration took place in the presence of the Director of IISER Pune Prof. Sunil S. Bhagwat, scientists from IISER Pune, members from the Ignite Life Science Foundation, and research scholars of IISER Pune. The event included a demonstration where a student of IISER Pune showcased a test conducted using the multi-mode plate reader. “This initiative reflects our commitment to supporting scientific research in the field of healthcare”, said Ms. Elizabeth.
The equipment has been provided to the laboratories of Dr. Siddhesh Kamat and Prof. Harinath Chakrapani at IISER Pune. Besides the use of this equipment for their labs, this multimode plate reader will be made accessible to all researchers at IISER Pune and from labs outside IISER Pune wishing to use them.
This advanced scientific instrument will be used to perform measurements involving fluorescence, chemiluminescence, fluorescence polarization, FRET and UV-visible spectrometry to study various biological systems ranging from purified proteins to lysates and live cells.
Representatives from the organisations involved shared their comments as follows:
“Contemporary life science research depends on sophisticated scientific instruments to generate quality data with high throughput. The multimode plate reader we are installing at IISER Pune as a shared resource using funds provided by IndianOil Corporation Limited will help accelerate biological experiments at IISER Pune. We hope regional institutions will also come forward to take advantage of this capability”.
- Dr. Swami Subramaniam, CEO of Ignite Life Science Foundation
“This equipment will greatly facilitate chemical biology and biomedical research efforts at IISER Pune. It will help us train the next-generation of researchers and enhance the ongoing research initiatives at the institute. We are grateful to Ignite Life Science Foundation for enabling this development in the department.”
- Prof. Richa Rikhy, Chair, Biology Department of IISER Pune
"We are delighted that Ignite Life Science, IndianOil and Teekays have chosen to support research at IISER Pune by making available a plate reader with high throughput capacity. Support of this kind accelerates research and nurtures discovery.”
- Prof. Sunil Bhagwat, Director of IISER Pune
“We wish and pray that this becomes an important addition to help scientists in their pursuit of scientific advancement for our country.”
- Mr. Umar Teekay of Teekays Foundation
The IISER Pune community is grateful for this support which will accelerate research and offer advanced training to scores of researchers.
