The stay of the two visiting scientists is a result of the first India Day Thuringia at TU Ilmenau in November 2024. The aim of the event was to further expand economic and scientific cooperation between Germany and India. For example, on the initiative of Consul General B. S. Mubarak, relations with BITS Pilani, a private, research-intensive university in India with a focus on engineering, natural and computer sciences, were intensified. PD Dr. Sukhdeep Singh, head of the Bioorganic Chemistry of Bioactive Surfaces research group at TU Ilmenau:
BITS is known for its extremely selective admissions system and for landing many female graduates in top positions in tech companies, research and start-ups. It is considered one of the most prestigious technical universities in India and is often seen on a par with the IITs, the Indian Institutes of Technology.
For several weeks, the two BITS doctoral students Antara Shridhar Poi Raiturker and Shanaia Tabitha da Cruz Fernandes worked in the laboratories of Prof. Andreas Schober and PD Sukhdeep Singh and immersed themselves in interdisciplinary research projects. In addition to practical laboratory work, the focus was on professional exchange and learning about new scientific perspectives, according to bioscientist Antara Shridhar Poi Raiturker:
The basic concepts in India and Germany are the same. But we have learned new perspectives - especially technological ones - on our topics, which we can now incorporate into our research work.
At the Schober Lab, she received an intensive introduction to 3D cell culture techniques on thermoformed substrates under the supervision of Dr. Dana Brauer. This involves growing cells not on flat surfaces, as is usually the case, but in three-dimensionally shaped substrates that are given their structure by heat. This environment is much more similar to natural tissue in the body and allows cell behavior, growth and interactions between cells to be researched more realistically. Such models are particularly important for biomedical research.
She also learned about current research approaches for cultivating brain organoids from stem cells - i.e. three-dimensional cell cultures that replicate the architecture and function of real organs - in an exchange with doctoral candidate Merle Küstner. They will then be precisely described using AI-supported methods at the Department of Mathematics of Data Science in the KI-M-SO project, which is funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, in order to optimize biotechnological designs and achieve progress for personalized medicine.
Antara also exchanged ideas with Hannes Zorn, a bachelor’s student of biotechnical chemistry , on research into hydrogels, which mimic the properties of natural tissue in biotechnology. While Antara is researching skin tissue engineering, an area of regenerative medicine in which artificial or cultivated skin is produced in the laboratory to replace damaged or lost skin, Hannes Zorn is working on the extraction of the extracellular matrix from brain tissue in his final thesis:
We want to compare whether natural hydrogels extracted from pig brain behave similarly to commercial hydrogels when culturing organoids.
Such organoids are central to developing new therapies and understanding complex diseases such as multiple sclerosis or brain tumors.
For Shanaia Tabitha da Cruz Fernandes, the stay was also an important professional stimulus. At the Singh Lab, she worked under the guidance of Dr Changkai Shan on the surface functionalization of biocompatible 3D polymer structures. This involves adding specific molecules to three-dimensional scaffolds made of body-compatible plastics in order to change their properties - for example, so that cells adhere better or react specifically to light. Such materials play an important role in biomaterial and medical research, for example for tissue replacement or drug testing.
Even though her arrival in Ilmenau was initially a cultural shock for her - with snow on her first working day instead of 33 degrees in her home country of Goa - her time in Thuringia was also personally enriching for her:
Dr. Singh even took us sledging - that was great fun.
Dr. Singh sums up:
International research stays like this one are a central component of our strategy. They not only promote young scientists, but also bring new ideas, perspectives and long-term collaborations to Ilmenau.
Conversely, Bachelor student Hannes Zorn can also imagine a research stay in India to broaden his scientific perspective.
