R.S. Kotesa Memorial Award for "Art of Science"

The aim of this competition is to capture the artistic aspects of science. This annual competition will cover visual art (images) produced during research. Submissions (original) may include photographs, SEM images, microscopy images, computer generated visual art, drawings, simulation results, etc. Importance should be given to artistic creativity and aesthetics. Selected images will be exhibited on the CeNSE website.

Individuals (students and staff) associated with an academic program in an Indian university are welcome to apply. A maximum of ONE submission per individual (maximum size 10MB) will be accepted. Images should have an appropriate caption. The caption should highlight the artistic aspect of the image and not the scientific detail. For more information, contact: microfluidicslabcense@gmail.com

Application Deadline: 25th May, 2021. 11:59 PM

Click here to apply!

Remembering Rahul Singh Kotesa (1989-2019)

- Prof. G.K. Ananthasuresh

Rahul was born on 17th November 1989 in Rajasthan and studied in DAV school from Class X to XII. He did his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani, Goa campus in 2011 and his M.E. Design in 2013 from BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus. He joined the Ph.D. program in CeNSE, IISc in 2014. His first passion of life was research. In his own words he was driven by thirst for knowledge and perseverant aim for perfection. He was a cheerful person who was eager to help everyone. He was an avid traveler and had a passion for photography. He has also played state level U-13 table tennis.

Air-squeeze cytometry, as Rahul had christened the “technique” he developed to characterize stiffness of cells as they flowed in micro channels, occupied much of Rahul’s time during the time he spent at IISc (2014-2019), until his untimely demise. Unlike many PhD students, Rahul Singh Kotesa owned his thesis topic.

Most people are familiar with micro channels today. One can chemically etch them using photolithography in any tortuous or straight patterns. It is common now to put a constriction in a channel by reducing the width. When biological cells flow through such a channel, they have to squeeze and move on, if at all they can. If they are flexible, they easily deform and quickly pass through the constriction. If they are less flexible, they take longer. One can use the extent of deformability, and the time of transit of cells through the constriction, for stiffness-based phenotyping. If cells are too stiff, they clog at the entrance of the constriction. This is a nagging problem.

Rahul’s work brought about a twist to this familiar story. He devised two air-channels that are transverse to the flow-channel. As the air pressure is adjusted, with two syringe pumps deftly handled by Rahul, an air-liquid interface would form on either side of the junction of the flow-channel and the air-channel as the flow presses on forward. The constriction is thus created with half-bubbles on either side of the flow. By adjusting the air pressure, Rahul showed that he could change the size of the constriction at his will. If cells clog, he can reduce the pressure and make the channel just wide enough for any cell to pass, stiff or flexible. Unlike solid walls of hard-wired constrictions, the shear stress on the cells is minimal in this method. This innovative idea of gently squeezing cells with an air-liquid interface took many forms in Rahul’s fertile imagination. He could slow down or stop a cell at the constriction to let it take up particles, which he called mechano-poration and brought in Prof. Siddharth Jhunjhunwala to collaborate. He observed that a cell at the constriction would slowly rotate because of differential flow of minute leaks around it. It led to another invention disclosure of being able to acquire 3D images of cells at low cost. Rahul was prompt in writing up his results for numerous international conferences. He attended about a dozen conferences abroad in his five years at IISc.

Air-squeeze—yes, that is what probably happened to him on the morning of August 17th, 2019, in New Delhi at his uncle’s home, where he had gone for a medical check-up having recovered from acute bronchitis. He collapsed, feeling breathless. He did not live to see his air-squeeze cytometry work published in a journal of repute. Years of hard work did not yet make it into a PhD thesis.


His work and work ethic, as well as his friendship are fondly remembered by all he had interacted with.


“I am curious philosopher with a motivated thirst for knowledge and perseverant aim for perfection. I strive towards learning and exploring, while pursuing an engaging career in the field of research. I am a mechanical engineer currently developing microfluidic platforms for Mechanodiagnostics. I am an Electronics hobbyist with inclined interests towards Robotics and Mechatronics.”

From Rahul’s webpage

Award Rules

Please read these rules before submitting for the award. By participating in the contests, you understand, acknowledge and unconditionally agree to abide by the following Rules:

Basic Submission Guidelines:

1. The award is open for online submissions only and submissions will only be accepted through the form, not by mail.
2. Submissions will not be accepted once the deadline lapses.
3. The file size of your submission should not exceed 10 MB.
4. Entries may be submitted as a team or individually, each team / individual is allowed to submit only 1 entry.
5. All members of the team should be an active member of an academic institution and the submission should include the applicants university e-mail ID.
6. Every image uploaded is subject to a moderation process before it is published on the CeNSE website. We reserve the right to assess and disregard any submission at our discretion.
7. Photos that portray or otherwise include inappropriate and/or offensive content, including provocative nudity, violence, human rights and/or environmental violation, and/or any other contents deemed to be contrary to the law, religious, cultural & moral traditions and practices of India, are strictly prohibited and will be immediately discarded.
8. A participant who submits any such photos may be permanently banned from participating in any future contests.

Judging:

1. An IISc appointed committee attached to the award will appoint judges for the contest.
2. The results and the winners will be announced on the website.
3. The decision of R.S. Kotesa Memorial Award’s judging panel will be final and binding on all participants in respect to all matters relating to the Award.
4. R.S. Kotesa reserves the right to call for original files with for the purpose of authentication. A submission maybe disregarded if this information cannot be provided.
5. Any state/ provincial/ territorial, and/or local taxes, fees and surcharges and taxes (including income tax) on any prize that may be awarded to You under the Award will be solely paid by the applicant.

Intellectual Property Rights:

1. Submitted photos must be original. It must not contain any materials owned or controlled by a third party for which you have not obtained a license, must not infringe the copyright, trademark, moral rights, rights of privacy/publicity or intellectual property rights of any person or entity.
2. We respect applicant copyrights and copyrights shall remain vested with the creator. Upon making the submission, you grant us online publishing rights for your submission.
3. The applicant(s) will be credited wherever the image is used.

Liability:

1. Under no circumstance will the R.S.K. Memorial Award team be liable for any:

a) lost, late, misdirected, stolen, illegible or incomplete Submissions
b) error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, submissions;
c)problems, failures or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers, providers, computer equipment, software, email, players or browsers, on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet, at any website, or on account of any combination of the foregoing;
d) incorrect or inaccurate information, caused by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Award or by any technical or human error which may occur in the processing of the Submissions; and/or
e) injury or damage to any Participant or to any computer related to, resulting from or in connection with the Award.

2. If, for any reason, the award is not capable of being conducted as anticipated, we reserve the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the contest as deemed appropriate, disqualify any Participant, and/or select winners from all eligible Photos submitted prior to the termination, cancellation, modification or suspension. We reserve the right to correct any typo-graphical, printing, computer programming or operating errors at any time.

Governing Law:

The Award, Your Submission(s) and the Rules shall be governed by and construed in accordance with Indian laws. Any aspects or disputes arising out of or in connection with the contest and/or your submission(s) will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Indian courts.