IIT Roorkee Ph.D. Research Scholar Bags Biotechnology Ignition Grant from Govt. of India

Mr. Sidharth Arora, a Ph.D. research scholar at Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) has been awarded the Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistant Council (BIRAC) - Govt. of India for his project on Solid State Fermentation (SSF) bioreactor.

As a part of BIG, Sidharth was awarded a grant-in-aid of Rs. 50 lakh for a period of 18 months. The Foundation for Innovation Technology and Transfer (FITT) in IIT Delhi is one of the BIG partners and has been associated with Mr. Arora for providing mentoring support to the project.

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Mr. Sidharth Arora thanked his mentor Dr. Sanjay Gosh who plays a vital role in guiding and supporting him. He further mentioned that they have prepared a scale-up plan or revenue model for the next five years that shows the Phytase production capacity and improvement in revenue generation over a period using the SSF bioreactor technology. The basic idea is to provide a cost-effective method of producing Phytase, an essential component of the animal feed industry today.

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He explained that Phytase is an enzyme that is extensively utilised as an additive in cattle, poultry and fisheries feed. Over the years, India has been depending on China for thermostable Phytase which comes expensive when it reaches the Indian market. Therefore, he wanted to bring a unique bioreactor technology for Phytase production in a cost-effective manner. The bioreactor technology developed by him also plays a crucial role in regulating pollution and gives extraordinary scope for solid waste management, he added.

BIG scheme or grants enable entrepreneurs and technology innovators to take up a promising technology idea and establish a validate Proof of Concept (POC) for it.