Dr Romesh C Batra and Dr Kodi S Ravichandran
NEW YORK: Two Indian American scientists are among Virginia’s Outstanding Scientists of 2011. Dr. Romesh C. Batra and Dr. Kodi S. Ravichandran were honored by Governor Bob McDonnell at the Science Museum of Virginia’s General Assembly reception recently.
Dr. Romesh C. Batra is the Clifton C. Garvin Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech. He’s a world recognized leader in the science of failure of materials exposed to extreme loads such as those produced by roadside bombs known as IEDs.
His expertise has been sought by the National Research Council which invited him to evaluate research from the Army’s Warhead Mechanics and Survivability and Lethality Directorates. His pioneering work has wide ranging applications in both defense and civilian industries including improved designs of bullet proof vests, lightweight composite helmets, tank walls, shields to protect vehicles against blast loads, goggles, windshields and boats exposed to underwater explosions.
The impact of his work is also seen in the development of computational tools and mathematical models for a company to analyze damage from bird strikes to aircraft engine blades and quantification of damage in NASA’s solar probe panels and cooling system caused by the impact of dust particles traveling at 300 miles per second.
Dr. Kodi S. Ravichandran is the Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of Microbiology, Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Director of the Center for Cell Clearance at the University of Virginia. His peers call him a ‘superstar.’
His research focuses on how our bodies remove approximately one million cells per second without harm. Failure to promptly remove dying cells is linked to chronic inflammation, developmental defects, autoimmune diseases including lupus and arthritis, and atherosclerosis. Ravichandran’s laboratory addresses all aspects of cell clearance, from how a dying cell ‘advertises’ its presence to phagocytes (other healthy cells that eat dying ones), how phagocytes specifically recognize dead cells and how a phagocyte digests the ingested cargo.
In the past year, Ravichandran’s laboratory has identified a new type of “find me” signal released by dying cells, identified the cell membrane gate through which the find-me signals are released, defined the importance for an engulfment protein called ELMO1 in cell clearance, and identified several new players within the phagocyte important for digesting the dying cells.
India Post News Service
