BHU SCIENTIST AWARDED GRANT FOR HER START UP UNDER AMRIT GRAND CHALLENGE PROGRAM OF GOVT OF INDIA
VARANASI: Dr. Garima Jain working as scientist in the Centre for Genetic Disorders, Banaras Hindu University, has been awarded the Stage 1 grant for her start-up initiative under the prestigious “Amrit Grand Challenge Program” titled “JAN CARE” funded by the Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. Dr. Jain, founder of “mirNOW”, with her expertise in cancer genomics, aims to improve patient care and outcomes through innovative diagnostic solutions. mirNOW is working to create tests for early, actionable, and personalized diagnoses for cancer and cardiovascular diseases, with the goal of making these solutions accessible to all. This start-up seeks to identify new biomarkers and provide innovative healthcare solutions. It is one of the 75 Start-Up Innovations selected in this competition in the field of Telemedicine, Digital Health, BIG Data, AI, and Block Chain.
The Jan Care – Amrit Grand Innovation Challenge was launched by Government of India jointly with NASSCOM in collaboration with several partners from industry, investors, hospitals and incubator network among others. The program was aimed at identifying and supporting up to 75 Healthtech Innovations in various areas including Telemedicine and Digital health, from Startups and individuals for strengthening the Healthcare Delivery in India.
Dr. Jain said that MirNOW is dedicated to the discovery, development, and delivery of early diagnostic solutions that can improve and save lives. We are excited to be able to showcase our work in JAN CARE and receive financial support and valuable feedback as we continue to refine and develop our products, she added. She informed that the grant will be used for developing a diagnostic tool for predicting the malignancy of prostatitis that makes use of miRNA biomarkers and a machine learning-based algorithm.
Prof. Anil Kumar Tripathi, Director, Institute of Science, said, “for a country like India, we need many more scientists like Dr Garima who are enthusiastic about deploying advances in scientific knowledge for making healthcare affordable”.
Congratulating Dr. Jain, Prof. Parimal Das, Coordinator, CGD, said that with Dr Garima’s project, Centre for Genetic Disorders now also steps into entrepreneurship.