Denormalisation Group, a team of undergraduate students from IISc, secured the sixth place at PLANCKS 2025, a prestigious international theoretical physics competition held in Barcelona, Spain, from 1–5 May 2025. This marks the highest-ever ranking achieved by an Indian team at PLANCKS so far.

The team, consisting of Simar Narula, Ritabrata Ghosh, Susmit Roy (second year undergraduates) and Avik Das (first year undergraduate), got this opportunity to represent India on the global stage by standing first in the national prelims, the Indian Young Physicist’s League (IYPL).

PLANCKS (Physics League Across Numerous Countries for Kick-ass Students) 2025 was organised by the student group of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics (Grupo de Estudiantes de la Real Sociedad Española de Física) under the aegis of the International Association of Physics Students (IAPS).

The programme opened with a keynote lecture by Nobel Laureate Prof Anne L’Huillier (Lund University) and included a scientific talk on gravitational wave detection by Prof Alicia Sintes (Universitat de les Illes Balears). Entrepreneurial insights were presented by Dr Barbara Buades (CEO and Co-founder of Meetoptics, active in Women in Optics) and representatives from Photon Delta. Participants also visited two leading scientific facilities, the ALBA Synchrotron and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), where they engaged with cutting-edge research in accelerator and photonic technologies.

The IISc team’s participation was generously supported by the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs (ODAA). Their outstanding performance is a testament to the academic calibre and global outlook of IISc’s undergraduate community.

We are thrilled to share that iGEM IISc UG Team has won a Gold Medal and received a Nomination for Best Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Impact at the prestigious iGEM Grand Jamboree 2025!

The 15 student-team tackled the critical issue of nitrate leaching – the loss of nitrogen from soil due to rainfall or irrigation, leading to water contamination and ecosystem harm.

Their project, titled ARGUS-2440 (Ammonium Rhizospheric Generation Using Soil Bacteria), leveraged the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440. They engineered this bacterium to convert nitrate ions into ammonium ions, which are more stable and readily absorbed by plants and form biofilms around plant roots. This can improve resistance to disease and drought, and enhance fertiliser efficiency, leading to more sustainable agricultural outcomes.

In the next phase, the team plans to characterise the conversion pathway and study the efficiency of the engineered strain through wet-lab experiments and computational modeling.

The Best SDG Impact Award recognises teams whose work advances the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through thoughtful, responsible innovation.

This year, the IISc team engaged with farmers, academics, and policymakers to understand the real-world implications of their idea and ensure alignment with the SDG framework. Through this dialogue, they developed both scientific and logistical solutions aimed at maximising positive environmental and societal impact.

The IISc software team won a gold medal for their project on a protein modelling tool called Integrated Modelling of Protein Complexes Via Single-shot registration using DREAM (IMPROViSeD) that designs protein complexes using experimentally derived geometric constraints. This data-driven approach ensures that the models reflect the real-world dynamics of protein interactions, which is crucial for understanding biological mechanisms at a molecular level.

More details at: https://2024.igem.wiki/iisc-software/

A talk on cutting-edge renewable energy technologies and their impact on sustainability.

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Distinguished lecture exploring how computing can solve societal challenges. EE Main Auditorium.

Graduates secure positions in national labs, deep-tech startups, and global corporations.