BENGALURU: The department of science and technology (DST) and the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) have selected the first set of five projects which will be supported for further development into implementable technologies.The projects — two from IIT-Bombay, one each from IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur and the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bengaluru — were selected after peer-review and assessment by a Special Expert Committee for Covid-19 projects.In view of increasing the load of Covid-19 infections, DST-SERB had announced several special research project calls to urgently ramp up national R&D efforts against the epidemic, and these five projects are the first five to make the cut.Three of these projects concern the highly important issue of antiviral and virustatic surface coating of inanimate surfaces, such as personal protection equipment (PPE); while another one deals with the identification of metabolite biomarkers in Covid-19 infected patients enabling therapeutic target identification; and the last one concerns with the development of antibodies against the receptor-binding domain of the spike glycoprotein of coronavirus.As reported by TOI earlier, the project from JNCASR is from Jayanta Haldar. The project involves development of antiviral surface coatings to prevent the spread of infections caused by influenza virus.“As the attachment of viruses onto surfaces leads to the spread of deadly infections, the objective of the proposal is to develop small molecular and polymeric compounds which will be coated, both covalently as well as non-covalently, on various surfaces and kill respiratory viruses completely upon contact,” DST said.Of the two IIT-B projects, the first one is “Identification of global metabolite biomarkers in CoVID-19 infected patients for targeted therapy,” which will identify the global metabolite biomarkers in Covid-19 infected patients.“It will help in search of potential biomarker signatures for Covid infection and recognition of novel targets for therapy,” the DST said, adding that the project will be led by Sanjeeva Srivastava from the department of biosciences and bioengineering (DBB).The second one, led by Kiran Kondabagil from DBB at IIT-B is “Antibody-based capture of 2019-nCoV and its inactivation using lipid-based in situ gel,” which will help develop antibodies against the receptor-binding domain of the spike glycoprotein of CoV involved in recognizing a host cell-surface receptor. Another objective is to develop unsaturated free fatty acid-based emulsion loaded in-situ gels to inactivate the virus at the point of entry.The IIT-K project involves development of functionalized inanimate surfaces with repurposable multi-targeted virucidal agents/drugs for preventive and cost-effective antiviral applications.“It will help develop virucidal coatings for inanimate surfaces used in healthcare settings such as surgical masks for the prevention of infectious diseases caused by highly contagious pathogens such as severe acute respiratory syndrome-related novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2,” the DST said. This project is led by Nagma Parveen from the department of chemistry.And, the IIT-D project is for development of formulations for viral decontamination of inanimate surfaces, which will help develop material which may be used as a virus tactic and be applied to mops to disinfect the surfaces to remove any adhering viruses or bacteria. This will be led by BS Butola from the department of textile and fibre engineering.