Research by IIT Madras scientists revealed that energy deficiency in some brain cells is the major cause that leads to Parkinson’s Disease.

According to various sources, PD is the second most prominent neurodegenerative disease around the world after Alzheimer’s disease.

IIT Madras researchers find great reason behind Parkinson’s Disease

Currently, the medical community is mostly focused only on the management of the disease.

The innovative methodology and novel findings of this IIT Madras research will go a long way forward in understanding the pathophysiology of PD.

Although it is known that PD is caused by the loss of dopaminergic cells in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc), the decisive cause of this inexorable cell loss has not clearly been elucidated before.

IIT Madras researchers developed a computational model that showed that energy deficiency might be a major cause of SNc cell loss in Parkinson’s Disease.

This computational modelling was developed by Dr. Vignayanandam Ravindernath Muddapu, who completed his Ph.D. recently at IIT Madras.

He finished his doctorate under the guidance of Professor V. Srinivasa Chakravarthy, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras.

The findings of this research have been published recently in the prestigious peer-reviewed International Journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Speaking about the research, Professor Srinivasa Chakravarthy of IIT Madras said while existing treatments manage PD symptoms – sometimes with great effect – a cure demands an understanding of the root cause of SNc cell loss.

‘This is the main question addressed in our work: What is the major underlying cause of SNc cell loss in PD?’

It is quite remarkable that loss of neurons in a small nucleus like SNc can have wide-ranging, devastating effects in all the four major domains of brain function – sensory-motor, cognitive, affective, and autonomous, said Professor Chakravarthy from IIT Madras.

The sequence of the three computational studies suggests that metabolic deficiency within the basal ganglia circuit is the common underlying factor at the subcellular, cellular, and network level in PD.

‘Thus, we have a reasonably comprehensive theory of the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease.’

This research was undertaken at IIT Madras Computational Neuroscience Laboratory, which aims to build a simplified model of the whole brain and use it to develop applications in medicine and engineering.

Professor Srinivasa Chakravarthy is the head of Computational Neuroscience Laboratory.

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The computational model showed that: At the subcellular level, metabolic deficiency leads to changes like including alpha-synuclein aggregation, reactive oxygen species production, calcium elevation, and dopamine dysfunction, which are characteristic subcellular changes in Parkinson’s disease.

Building on the platform of this research, Professor Chakravarthy from IIT Madras and his team plan to develop a therapeutic computational testbench for PD, wherein the proposed model of SNc will be the center of a larger framework.

This will link cellular-level dysfunctions to behavioural-level abnormalities.

Moving forward in the next five years, this type of framework will help in providing personalized medicine for PD patients rather than the currently employed trial and error approach.

The institute has already made considerable progress on improving the number of women students, faculty, staff and creating opportunities for success.

This program will help to build on the progress achieved so far and accelerate further progress.

The program will make grants each year to accelerate women technologists’ careers as well as provide a supportive environment for women to thrive at IIT Madras.

IIT Madras is planning to raise $2 million endowment by the end of 2021, which will provide annual grants to support programmes taken by women to thrive at IIT Madras.

In the first year alone, the Endowment Fund aims to grant Rs. 70 lakhs for various initiatives.

This sum will be raised through Alumni and CSR grants.

Corporate and alumni looking to contribute to this initiative can do so through ‘https://joyofgiving.alumni.iitm.ac.in/endowments/other/women-leading-iitm-endowment’

Professor Ligy Philip, Dean (Planning) at IIT Madras said the ‘Women Leading IITM’ is a well-thought-out initiative by IIT Madras, with support from IITM Foundation, to nurture, develop and support women talent at IITM.

This program will definitely help the women talent of IIT Madras to excel in their fields and come out as S&T leaders, said Professor Ligy.

The intentions of ‘Women Leading IITM programme are:

$ Increasing the percentage of women faculty in Assistant Professorships to 20% from the current 15%

$ Generating 30% of all faculty applications from Women candidates

$ Grantees expected to graduate to leadership roles within IITM

$ Next-generation ambassadors for enabling a gender-balanced IITM

$ Establish an award for Women Faculty in Leadership (Institute already has awards for staff in leadership and given the good presence of women in staff, many have been getting it over the years)

Speaking about the initiative, IIT Madras director Professor Bhaskar Ramamurthi said IIT Madras has made good progress in the last several years in increasing the percentage of women in the student population, from the UG level all the way up to the doctoral programme.

The participation of women in the non-teaching staff is also very good, and we are making every effort to close the gap in the case of faculty.

The WLI programme will be a powerful catalyst to enable us to reduce the hurdles faced by women students, faculty and staff at IIT Madras to achieve their full potential, said Professor Ramamurthi.

The endowment will provide opportunities for alumni to further gender diversity and support women role models at IIT Madras.

Various batches of the alumni have already started supporting with commitments including the Classes of ‘90 and ‘95 reunion gifts and leadership gift from a Distinguished Alumnus as well as Google Alumni.

Speaking about the programme, Mr G.D.S. Ramkumar, a BTech student of IIT Madras from class of 1990 and board member of IIT Madras Foundation said he and his wife are proud to support this visionary programme.

The programme aims to increase the representation of women as leaders at IIT Madras.

I owe a deep debt of gratitude to my B.Tech thesis advisor Professor Kamala Krithivasan who became the first woman Head of the Department at IIT Madras, leading the Department of Computer Science in 1993.
Thanks to what I learnt from her and my teachers at IIT Madras, I graduated with a sense that if I worked hard enough, I could succeed at anything.

Ms. Rohini Chakravarthy of BTech class of 1993 and also a board member of IIT Madras Foundation said
IIT Madras has had a progressive vision right from the start welcoming its first woman faculty member in 1962, and graduating its first women undergraduate and Ph.D students in the 1960s.

While women have been a minority at IITM, but there have been many exemplary leaders among them over the years.

The alumni of IITM felt that we could help our alma mater by putting in place a series of grants that honour promising leaders among students, staff, and faculty and catalyze programs that help women thrive at IITM.

What better time to do it than on International Women’s Day, she said.

NIRF 2024 rankings were released in August for 2024, various colleges have taken part in it and have won rankings.

This top 7 IITs For Management Courses in 2024 is about IITs that have been rated in ‘management’ category for providing courses in the stream of management.

However, many of the IITs also offer courses related to management, and this top 7 IITs for management courses in 2024 is about IITs that are providing courses related to management stream and have achieved popularity.

Details about top 7 IITs for management studies in 2024 are provided in tabular format.

Candidates wishing to know more about these top 7 IITs for management courses in 2024 can visit the respective official websites of the institutions.

Details about top 7 IITs for management courses in 2024 are available in the tabular format below:

More details about top 7 IITs for management courses in 2024 as per NIRF 2024 ranking are mentioned below for the sake of students:

1. IIT Delhi

The national capital of India has no dearth of high worth institutions for technical education. IIT Delhi is one of the organisations that needs no introduction owing to its high quality services.

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technology in India.

Established as College of Engineering in 1961, the Institute was later declared as an Institution of National Importance under the “Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 1963” and was renamed as “Indian Institute of Technology Delhi”.

It was then accorded the status of a Deemed University with powers to decide its own academic policy, to conduct its own examinations, and to award its own degrees.

The students of this great institute have proved their mettle across the globe. These alumni today work as scientists, technologists, business managers and entrepreneurs.

There are several alumni who have moved away from their original disciplines and have taken to administrative services, active politics or are with NGOs.

In doing so, they have contributed significantly to building of this nation, and to industrialization around the world. This is one among the top 7 IITs For Management courses in 2024 as per NIRF 2024 rankings.

2. IIT Bombay

Established in 1958, the second of its kind, IIT Bombay was the first to be set up with foreign assistance. The funds from UNESCO came as Roubles from the then Soviet Union.

In 1961 Parliament decreed the IITs as ‘Institutes of National Importance’. Since then, IIT Bombay has grown from strength to strength to emerge as one of the top technical universities in the world.

The institute is recognised worldwide as a leader in the field of engineering education and research. Reputed for the outstanding caliber of students graduating from its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, the institute attracts the best students from the country for its bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programmes.

Research and academic programmes at IIT Bombay are driven by an outstanding faculty, many of whom are reputed for their research contributions internationally. This is one among the top 7 IITs For Management courses in 2024 as per NIRF 2024 rankings.

3. IIT Madras

This institution has been ranking on the top for the sixth time. It strongly believes that talent and good ideas can come from anywhere and has a remarkably diverse community, drawing students from across all Indian states and from various countries.

Intensely curious and driven to explore, the student community of IIT Madras value rigorous analytical thinking, ingenuity, hands-on problem solving, and big new ideas.

The departments and centers of the Institute are responsible for the academic activities which include Teaching, Research and Industrial Consultancy.

The courses of study are organized as semester programs and each semester provides for a minimum of seventy instructional days. The medium of instruction is English.

Students are evaluated on a continuous basis throughout the semester. Evaluation is done by the faculty, a consequence of the autonomous status granted to the Institute.

This is one among the top 7 IITs For Management Courses in 2024 as per NIRF 2024 rankings.

4. IIT Roorkee

This is among those institutions that has reached great heights in the field of higher education. Excellence has become a norm here long ago.

The vision of this institution is to attain global level of excellence in education and to create a sustainable and equitable society through innovative research in science and technology.

It aspires to create an environment that shall foster the growth of intellectually capable, innovative and entrepreneurial professionals, who shall contribute to the growth of Science and Technology in partnership with industry and develop and harness it for the welfare of the nation and mankind.

This is one among the top 7 IITs For Management Courses in 2024 as per NIRF 2024 rankings.

The Institute aligns all its activities to serve national interest and seeks to provide broad-based education, helping students hone their professional skills and acquire the best-in-class capabilities in their respective disciplines.

Institution aspires to be a centre of excellence in education and research, producing global leaders in science, technology and management and to be a hub of knowledge creation that prioritises the frontier areas of national and global importance.

This is one among the top 7 IITs For Management Courses in 2024 as per NIRF 2024 rankings.

6. IIT Kanpur

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur was established in 1959 and is one of the premier institutions established by the Government of India. The aim of the institute is to provide meaningful education, to conduct original research of the highest standard and to provide leadership in technological innovation.

This organisation has a vision to create, disseminate and translate knowledge in science, engineering and allied disciplines that will best serve the society.

The institution is spread over an area of 1055 acres and has 108 buildings on its premises. This is one among the top 7 IITs For Management Courses in 2024 as per NIRF 2024 rankings.

7. IIT ISM Dhanbad

This institution is also known as IIT Indian School of Mines and is situated in Dhanbad. The other name for this institution is IIT Dhanbad.

This is also among the institutions that doesn’t require any introduction. The popularity of this organisation has spread to all corners of the country.

The achievements of IIT ISM have brought all the glory upon it. The institute is steadily sailing through the millennium change and has emerged into one of the most prominent institution- Indian Institute of Technology IIT(ISM) with full bloom functioning of 18 branches of Engineering, Applied Sciences, Management Studies and Humanities.

IIT (ISM) has had centenary long credentials of outperforming achievements in academia and the industry. The faculty here is highly experienced and the atmosphere is very ideal for studies.

This is one among the top 7 IITs For Management Courses in 2024 as per NIRF 2024 rankings.

They may require the applicants to undergo a tough entrance system, which comprises written test, group discussion and personal interviews.

Those willing to gain an entry into these top 7 IITs for management courses in 2024 have to be prepared for crack the tough entrance process.

While IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management or Indian Institute of Management) are usually known for management education, the academic courses in management offered by IITs are also no less popular.

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Working hard with determination to gain entry into these top 7 IITs for Management courses in 2024 is worth it, a study in these top 7 IITs for Management Studies in 2024 is known to open the gates for a bright future.