(I) UTOPIA Young Researcher Grant (2023 -2024)
Title: Pattern-recognized drying droplets for infectious disease diagnosis
Sponsor: UTOPIA, The University of Tokyo
Sponsor Details: It is a prestigious research grant awarded at the University of Tokyo. This grant is designed to support and recognize the outstanding contributions of young researchers. It provides funding and resources to early-career scholars, enabling them to pursue innovative and impactful research projects.
Grant amount: A sum of 2.5M ¥ was received for one year.
Principal Investigator: Miho Yanagisawa
Project Leader: Anusuya Pal
My role: The proposal of the project was initially drafted by me. I am responsible for performing the experiments and drawing the conclusions.
(II) JSPS KAKENHI GRANT (2023 -2025)
Title: Pattern formation in rying bio-fluid droplets: From Fundamentals to Data-driven Disease Screening
Sponsor: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Sponsor Details: Receiving a JSPS KAKENHI Grant is a significant accomplishment and can greatly facilitate research activities, allowing researchers to advance their work, collaborate with other scholars, and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in their respective fields, each tailored to support researchers at various stages of their careers and research projects.
Grant amount: A sum of 2.4M ¥ was received for two years.
Principal Investigator: Miho Yanagisawa
Project Leader: Anusuya Pal
My role: The proposal of the project was initially drafted by me. I am responsible for performing the experiments and drawing the conclusions.
Title: A Pre-Diagnostic Marker for Future Clinicians?
Sponsor: Tinkerbox (I-IV), Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA
Sponsor Details: The WPI Tinkerbox is an initiative of the WPI fraternity that supports students’ projects and innovative ideas by providing seed funding to meet the costs associated with the project
Grant amount: A sum of 12000$ was received for 2 years (2018-20)
Principal Investigator: Anusuya Pal
Students Involved: Hadia Giwa and Hamida Giwa (High school students from Worcester Public school), Rumani Kafle, (High school student from Mass Academy, WPI), Ari Stone Athair, (Undergraduate, WPI), Emma Burleson, (Undergraduate, WPI)
My role: The proposal of the project was visualized, drafted, and edited by me. Post selection by the Tinkerbox program, I designed the experimental set-up and supervised the undergrad/school students to complete the experiments. I explained the rationale behind all the experiments, helped the students analyze the results, and drew the final conclusions. Finally, the outcomes were presented in front of the WPI community.
Outcome: Experiments were conducted to explore the properties of healthy blood and protein samples. The final research findings are shared in the form of research articles in RSC Advances (I.F.: 3.361) and Scientific Reports (1.F.: 4.379). The experimental findings received considerable recognition, and different awards were received both at national and international levels.