Inspire Internship Programme

"Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE)" is an innovative programme sponsored and managed by the Department of Science & Technology for attracting young talent to Science. The basic objective of INSPIRE is to communicate to the youth of the country, the excitements of the creative pursuit of science. It aims to attract talent to the study of science at an early age and thus build the critical human resource pool for expanding the Science/Technology and R&D base. A striking feature of the programme is that it does not believe in conducting competitive exams for the identification of talent at any level. It believes in and relies on the efficacy of the existing educational structure for the identification of talent.

A selection of students was made from amongst the top 1% rankers in the class X Board Examination, pursuing science in class XI. From our School 8 students were selected ( those who scored 10 CGPA in class X).

The programme was inaugurated by Dr. Ajay Kumar Arora, Principal, Deshbandhu College and coordinator, Dr. Indrakant K. Singh. They explained the INSPIRE Internship in which, annually, about 50,000 students from amongst the top 1% performers in the Class X boards and those pursuing science at the higher secondary level are given exposure. They get to interact with leaders of science at summer/ w inter camps to experience the joy of innovations. These science camps invaluably nourish the curiosity for science amongst children.

This was followed by a lecture by Dr. Rajeev Gupta, Associate Professor on the' Contamination of river Yamuna due to the presence of heavy metals'. Prof. Rajeev Gupta spoke about his research on Yamuna river water which covers approximately 20 km from Alipur to Okhla. The presence of heavy metals in water causes many diseases such as Minimata disease (crippled hands), cancer and the reduction of growth and the development rate. After lunch students got a chance to present a Botany practical . It was coordinated by Dr. Bela Bhatia.

The aim of the experiment was to identify gram positive and negative bacteria using the gram stain from sour curd. The Gram Stain Procedure involves the application of a solution of iodine to cells previously stained with crystal violet. The procedure produces 'purple iodine-dye complexes' in cytoplasm bacteria. The cells that are previously stained with crystal violet and iodine are next treated with a decolourising agent such as 95% ethanol. This was an interesting activity that we all enjoyed.

On Day 2 , the first lecture was based on verifying the different laws of physics with simple experiments.

The next lecture was about two great scientists of India, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray and Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose. Prafulla Chandra Ray is known for his research in Chemistry. In 1902, his research on the history of Hindu Chemistry got published. Acharya Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was a Bengali polymath, physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist, as well as an early writer of science fiction! He pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics, made very significant contributions to plant science and laid the foundations of experimental science on the Indian subcontinent.

After the lectures we proceeded for a lab session. We were divided into groups of four and performed the experiment based on 'moment of inertia'. We were given to calculate the moment of inertia of a flywheel.

Day 3 commenced with a talk on biotechnology and its applications. Our mentor told us that we develop micro organisms for specific uses. In 1000 BC micro-organisms were used for domesticating crop and subsequently they are used for brewing beer, leavening bread and finally for vaccines. We were told about the impact of the modern biotech in todays world. She discussed the Ebola virus. She also told us about the importance of plant biotechnology used to improve plants and the products obtained from them. The talk was followed by an enlightening session on the importance of biology. After lunch, we were taken to the zoology lab to perform an experiment on DNA extraction. We got to know about the importance of DNA extraction, in terms of matching fingerprints etc.

We had a wonderful experience doing the practical, and attending the lectures given by highly qualified mentors.

Day 4-The first talk was based on the topic Sequences and Series. We learnt a lot about arithmetic and geometric progressions and solved many problems given by our mentor. The second talk was based on the topic Genes, Genomics and Cancer. The talk was by Mr. Bhudev C. Das who has worked for several years with p Nobel Laureate, Prof. Harald ZurHausen at the German Cancer Research Centre ( DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. During the last 35 years of his distinguished research career he has published more than one hundred and sixty research papers in reputed international journals, besides distinguishing himself as a renowned molecular oncologist in the country. In India, Dr. Das has pioneered work on the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) that causes cervical and other cancers and his laboratory is the HPV Referral Centre of WHO for the whole of South-East Asia. He talked about how the genetic codes work, what happens if a genetic code is changed, the benefits of genomics, causes of cancer, how cancer can be cured, etc.

The practical session that day was based on surfactants. A surfactant is the scientific name for any molecule that reduces surface tension. Our aim was to understand the mechanism of surfactants .

Day 5- On the last day, Prof. Mr. Ajay Kumar Arora addressed the students . He congratulated us on completing the INSPIRE Internship Programme and encouraged us to continue scoring well.

Then the event coordinator, Mr. Indrakant K. Singh thanked the students and the teachers who helped make the event successful. We were also informed about new scholarships.

After Mr Singhs talk, the students were awarded certificates of participation.

On the whole it was a great learning experience which not only enriched us but also boosted our confidence. It was interesting to know so much more about science-the world of logic which we are going to enter. We thank School for providing us the opportunity to attend this programme.

Anshu Sareen,Arshdeep Singh,Shreya Bannerjee,Shreya Rastogi and Shruti Bihani, class XI A