Today’s Scientist: Dr Prasoon Kumar
Today's Featured Scientist
Dr Prasoon Kumar
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (India)
I am an engineer by profession and an entrepreneur at heart. Being in the profession of a biomedical engineering, I work at a crossroad of engineering and medical sciences to create affordable solutions for different medical problems.
Currently, I am an Assistant Professor in the department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela. I have served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Devices at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research-Ahmadabad for the period of 1.5 years before joining NIT Rourkela.
My research area includes design, fabrication and applications of materials and microdevices in healthcare and energy sector. I strongly believe that cutting-edge technologies developed at a lab-scale should transcend beyond journal publications/vanity patents and reach to their real users (society) for their greater good.
In brief, I have done my Bachelor of Engineering (BE) from Birla Institute of Technology, MESRA, Ranchi in Biotechnology. Thereafter, I pursued Master of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in an area of Bioengineering. I worked there in the labs of tissue engineering, biomechanics, and drug delivery. My Master’s thesis gave me an opportunity to research on the mechanics of electrospun nanofibrous matrices that mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) of cartilage tissue. After my masters, I joined Computational Instrumentation division of Central Scientific Instruments Organization (A CSIR lab), Chandigarh. There, I got an opportunity to work on image processing and software development for orthodontic application in collaboration with Centre for Dental Education and Research, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Although I liked the field I discovered that my greater interest lied in materials and devices for biomedical applications. Therefore, I joined joint Ph.D. program at IIT Bombay and Monash University in the field of Mechanical Engineering and worked in the design and development of biomimetic micro-devices for gas/solute exchange applications demanded in artificial lungs and kidney dialyzers. Then, I joined IISc Bangalore to pursue my post-doctoral training on Organ-on-chip, a multi-disciplinary project involving principles of materials, mechanical, biology and data science, in the Biomaterial and tissue engineering lab at Materials Engineering Division.
Apart from research, my interest lies in entrepreneurship. Currently, I am also a part of few start-ups in different capacity, actively/passively involved in development of products/services having implications in cancer therapy, diagnostics, tissue engineering and ophthalmology. I am working on scaling up and improvement of few projects that have demonstrated a positive result at a lab-scale. So, that they can see the light of commercialization and positively affect the biomedical industries.
I am also interested in reading books on every topic except fiction, like science, philosophy, religion, economics, culture, and others. I also keep engaged myself with cooking, fine arts (sketching), listening songs and nature gazing. These are my humble attempt to just feel the vastness and potential of research and development in transforming human life in a positive way. Although the ocean of knowledge is vast beyond my comprehension, I would feel lucky, if I would collect few drops and serve the society during my lifetime.
“You are just as insignificant as a drop in a vast ocean but remember, your importance lies in the fact that without you, the very ocean is incomplete” …..This means you are special
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