Indian students present research work in Australia

Four Indian doctoral students studying in Australia today presented their research to key industry stakeholders in the fields of chemistry, physics, biotechnology and bioinformatics under a scholarship programme to attract India's best and brightest students.
The high quality of the research presented at the Knowledge Exchange event demonstrated the success of the Victoria India Doctoral Scholarships (VIDS) in attracting India's best and brightest students to Victorian universities, Innovation, Services and Small Business Minister Louise Asher said.
"This exciting scholarships programme is playing a key role in strengthening education links between India and Victoria," Asher said.
Indian doctoral students participating through the VIDS programme gain access to Victoria's world-class research facilities and make a significant contribution to the state's research and academic knowledge, she said.

Established in 2012, VIDS provides scholarships of Australian dollars 90,000 over three years to outstanding Indian doctoral students, and Victorian host universities waive their tuition fees.
Twenty scholarships have been awarded till now, with 10 students commencing studies in 2012 and another 10 commencing this year.

The programme is being delivered by the Australia India Institute on behalf of the Coalition Government, and in partnership with Victoria's nine universities.
Four Indian students, who were chosen for the scholarship last year, shared their research with key industry stakeholders as part of the 'VIDS Knowledge Exchange Series'.
Abishek Suresh of RMIT University presented his research on 'Computational Design of Neuroactive Peptides' while another presentation by Sayali Shah of The University of Melbourne was made about 'Dissecting the mechanism of N-glycan processing enzyme endomannosidase' which aims at developing new ways to synthesise immunogenic natural products that can be used to provide a detailed insight into how this organism causes disease, an official statement said.

Research by Debabrata Sikdar of Monash University was on 'Engineering the plasmonic response of nanoparticle systems' focusing on how tailoring the size, shape, and composition of a sub-wavelength noble metallic nanoparticle contributes to resonance states in a particle's optical response.
Jyotsna Nagpal of Latrobe University, whose study is on 'Molecular Dissection of Mycobacteria ClpP: Assembly, Activation, Cofactors and Physiological Targets' involved studying novel proteins believed to be involved in the recurrence of the disease tuberculosis.
Jyotsna plans to characterise these proteins and target them with a wide range of known drugs.