Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has launched its new research center on diabetes through a funding source from distinguished alumnus Subramonian Shankar, 1971 BTech – Electrical Engineering. The Shankar Center of Excellence for Diabetic Research or SCoEDR would accelerate diabetes research by developing leading-edge technologies to address significant challenges plaguing the care and treatments for diabetes and associated complications.

Prominent, distinguished guests were invited for the centre’s inauguration ceremony held at the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology (DMST). The list of dignitaries includes: Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras; Chris Hodges, US Consul General in Chennai; Subramonian Shankar, CEO and Founder of AmZetta Technologies, LLC; and Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam, Dean-Designate for Alumni and Corporate Relations at IIT Madras, among other dignitaries.

SCoEDR will sponsor 15 PhD students, who will be called Shankar Fellows to carry out innovative research work in the next few years. On the product development side, the Centre will develop various products such as devices and tools which may inspire some start-ups and productively encourage commercially applicable research towards better management and treatment of diabetes.

According to Subramonian Shankar, he expanded on his motivation for starting up the centre by recalling his experiences with diabetes research at Emory University. “Our research facility produced adequate academic output,” he said, “but there was no practical application in industry that can help ensure that human health outcomes do not deviate negatively.”.

“Being an entrepreneur myself, I saw it as a great opportunity to bridge the gap between research and industry. I proposed Emory to collaborate with IIT Madras, which has strong emphasis on entrepreneurship and start-up development through its Research Park and Incubation Cell,” Shankar said.

Reflecting on the collaboration, he spoke about the optimism for the kind of output. “IIT Madras and the Emory research capabilities have so much to offer, says he optimistically. “With the kind of expertise that exists at IIT Madras and the capabilities for research at Emory, I am sure we would soon see some substantial results,” he said.

The Shankar Centre is thus an important step towards diabetes research at IIT Madras, providing promising contributions to the global efforts for the alleviation of challenges posed by such widespread health maladies. The innovation and collaborations initiated in the wake of this center are expected to form the paths for enduring positive impact diabetes care and treatment methodologies.