As many as 55 teams from different institutes across India explored various unsolved problems of society at the Manipal Biotech Hackathon 2021 held recently in Manipal.
The hackathon was jointly conducted by Government of Karnataka Bioincubator supported by Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) and BIRAC, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Manipal School of Life Sciences, (MAHE), Manipal. A team of Anjali Warrier, Apoorva Jnana and Chandini Sachdeva from Manipal School of Life Sciences won the first prize for the concept of Bioluminescence-based non-invasive monitoring of diabetes. Veena Lohiya, Babhitha Balaji and Dickson Paschal from Jain Deemed University won the second prize for their concept of a rapid diagnostic kit for the detection of coffee diseases.
The third prize was won by two teams, one from MAHE, Manipal, and the other from Basaveshwar Engineering College (A), Bagalkot, working on the Aptamer-based Biosensor for the detection of food toxicant, for their innovative concept of environmental recycling.
Of the 55 teams, 48 presented their projects before the jury on July 23 through virtual mode.
MAHE Vice-Chancellor M.D. Venkaesh urged the young minds to identify social needs and give them biotechnology solutions. He announced the awards in the presence of Director, Manipal School of Life Sciences, K. Satyamoorthy and CEO, M-GoK Bioincubator, Manesh Thomas.
The hackathon was organised to promote student innovations, encouraging critical thinking essential to address the most critical needs of society and to promote novel technology development and start-up creation. It was open to students from any academic/research institutions doing undergraduate/post-graduate/doctoral studies.
The hosts, Manipal – Government of Karnataka Bioincubator, along with MAHE, Manipal, will provide further assistance and hand-holding to top 10 innovative teams of this biohackathon, said a release.
