uma katha

Mr. uma katha


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

7Years (2020-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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23 April 2020 in Micromachines
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Ajay Vikram SinghAjay Vikram Singh
Ajay Vikram Singh
Mohammad Hasan Dad AnsariMohammad Hasan Dad Ansari
Mohammad Hasan Dad Ansari
MMMihir Mahajan
Mihir Mahajan
SSShubhangi Srivastava
Shubhangi Srivastava
SKShubham Kashyap
Shubham Kashyap
UKuma katha
uma katha
With the advent of small-scale robotics, several exciting new applications like Targeted Drug Delivery, single cell manipulation and so forth, are being discussed. However, some challenges remain to be overcome before any such technology becomes medically usable; among which propulsion and biocompatibility are the main challenges. Propulsion at micro-scale where the Reynolds number is very low is difficult. To overcome this, nature has developed flagella which have evolved over millions of years to work as a micromotor. Among the microscopic cells that exhibit this mode of propulsion, sperm cells are considered to be fast paced. Here, we give a brief review of the state-of-the-art of Spermbots—a new class of microrobots created by coupling sperm cells to mechanical loads. Spermbots utilize the flagellar movement of the sperm cells for propulsion and as such do not require any toxic fuel in their environment. They are also naturally biocompatible and show considerable speed of motion thereby giving us an option to overcome the two challenges of propulsion and biocompatibility. The coupling mechanisms of physical load to the sperm cells are discussed along with the advantages and challenges associated with the spermbot. A few most promising applications of spermbots are also discussed in detail. A brief discussion of the future outlook of this extremely promising category of microrobots is given at the end.

20 October 2021 in Coatings
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Reham BarghashReham Barghash
Reham Barghash
IFIten M. Fawzy
Iten M. Fawzy
VCVaisali Chandrasekar
Vaisali Chandrasekar
Ajay Vikram SinghAjay Vikram Singh
Ajay Vikram Singh
UKuma katha
uma katha
AMAsmaa A. Mandour
Asmaa A. Mandour
The potential of computational models to identify new therapeutics and repurpose existing drugs has gained significance in recent times. The current ‘COVID-19’ pandemic caused by the new SARS CoV2 virus has affected over 200 million people and caused over 4 million deaths. The enormity and the consequences of this viral infection have fueled the research community to identify drugs or vaccines through a relatively expeditious process. The availability of high-throughput datasets has cultivated new strategies for drug development and can provide the foundation towards effective therapy options. Molecular modeling methods using structure-based or computer-aided virtual screening can potentially be employed as research guides to identify novel antiviral agents. This review focuses on in-silico modeling of the potential therapeutic candidates against SARS CoVs, in addition to strategies for vaccine design. Here, we particularly focus on the recently published SARS CoV main protease (Mpro) active site, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of SARS CoV2, and the spike S-protein as potential targets for vaccine development. This review can offer future perspectives for further research and the development of COVID-19 therapies via the design of new drug candidates and multi-epitopic vaccines and through the repurposing of either approved drugs or drugs under clinical trial.