An Interview with Generation Google Scholar 2021

Shreyashi Kumari
Co-Chairperson of IEEE SB NITP 2021-22
ECE- 2k19 Batch, NIT PATNA
Recipient of Generation Google Scholarship APAC 2021

Team IEEE interviewed her about her journey of success and asked a few questions regarding the scholarship. Here are some of her answers. 

1. Well, competing in this scholarship is a big task to accomplish. Could you briefly tell us about its application process and the subsequent rounds?

Yes, sure! 

APAC Generation Google Scholarship is a program offered by Google every year for female undergraduate students of the Asia Pacific Region. It consisted of the following 3 rounds- The first one being the application shortlisting process consisting of the thorough review of the resume and the answers for the essay questions of the application. The second was the Google Online Challenge which was a timed test on the Google testing platform and at last an Interview Round with a Googler.

2.  What was your overall experience in the entire process right from the application round to having a conversation with a googler? What are the other perks associated with it?

Yes, it was like a dream come true. The overall experience was really very good and memorable. Being shortlisted from approx 40,000 students across the Asia Pacific region, I felt extremely proud and delighted to get this opportunity to have a conversation with a Googler. The 45-minute long conversation was a great enriching experience for me. 

The recipients of this scholarship are offered a sponsored foreign trip to Google's office for the Retreat Program along with an opportunity to connect with fellow scholars. This year due to the COVID pandemic, there will be a virtual Retreat.    

3. How being a part of IEEE helped not only with your technical skills but also in your overall development?

IEEE played an important part in my journey as I continued to learn and grow. It is a platform where one can learn the skills, get hands-on experience through collaborating in a team project and develop skills like time management and leadership qualities. Being a part of IEEE SB NITP I was able to hone my skills, worked collaborately in those unique events which it has conducted and gained the required experience and expertise both in technical and non technical domains. Being involved in technical clubs like IEEE help us grow and learn together.  

4. A message for your juniors including some tips along with some experiences of your journey.

I would like to advise all my juniors that keep applying for these scholarship opportunities and stay motivated. Keep participating in events conducted by clubs, hackathons, workshops, give your best in every action you take. I wish you all the best and sincerely hope that you all too will be grabbing this scholarship and will bring laurels to our college in the coming years.

Thank You.

Heartiest Congratulations and Good Wishes for all your future endeavours!

mRNA VACCINES

 In March of 1963, Dr. Maurice Hilleman was woken up one night by his 5-year-old daughter. She was complaining of a sore throat. So, Hilleman looked her over and determined she had the mumps. Unable to sleep, he was struck with an idea. He swabbed her throat for a sample, drove to the lab, and got to work. Four years later, his mumps vaccine was approved. It was the fastest vaccine that has ever been made, until now.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, researchers and public health experts warned us that the earliest possible window for a vaccine would be the end of 2020. They also cautioned us that vaccine development takes time and that it could be much longer than that.

But in 2020, vaccines for Covid-19 shattered previous records, going from development to approval in a matter of months. That speed was driven by billions of dollars, and a global effort. But in some cases, it was also because of a breakthrough in vaccine technology decades in the making, something that could shrink this timeline going ahead and change how we make vaccines altogether.

Vaccines teach your immune system how to respond to a threat. And traditionally, there have been four ways to do this.

Live-attenuated vaccines

These types of vaccines use a weakened form of the germ that causes the disease. Because these vaccines are so similar to the natural infection that they help prevent, they create a strong and long-lasting immune response. Live attenuated vaccines are used to protect against Measles, Rotavirus, Smallpox, Chickenpox, and Yellow Fever.

Inactivated Vaccines

These types of vaccines use the killed version of the germ that causes the disease. Inactivated vaccines usually don’t provide immunity that's as strong as live vaccines. These are used to protect against Hepatitis A, Polio, Flu, and Rabies.

Toxoid Vaccines

These types of vaccines use a toxin (harmful product) made by the germ that causes a disease. They create immunity to the parts of the germ that cause disease instead of the germ itself. These are used to protect against Diphtheria and Tetanus.

Recombinant Protein Vaccines

These types of vaccines use specific pieces of the germ—like its protein, sugar, or capsid (a casing around the germ). Because these vaccines use only specific pieces of the germ, they give a very strong immune response that’s targeted to key parts of the germ. These are used to protect against HPV and Hepatitis B.

All four of these types of vaccines have one thing in common, they all require growing and transporting large amounts of live pathogens in a lab. And that takes a lot of time. For example, to make the measles vaccine, scientists had to grow the virus for almost ten years. They needed to weaken the virus enough that it would trigger an immune response without making you sick.

On average, it takes 5 to 10 years for a vaccine to reach FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval in the United States. Most Covid-19 vaccines have gotten through this process a lot faster by overlapping the different phases of human trials, and by starting the manufacturing early. But some vaccines have also found a ground-breaking way to speed up this first section- by shifting some of the work out of the lab, and into your body.

In the closing weeks of the year, two vaccines, one from Pfizer and BioNTech (which is also the first vaccine in the world to get an emergency use approval from WHO) and one from Moderna, began rolling out in some parts of the world. They weren’t the first worldwide, but they were, in a sense, the first of their kind.

Nearly every function in the human body is carried out by proteins. So, our cells are constantly manufacturing them. To do that, they make a single-stranded copy of DNA. That copy is called messenger RNA, or mRNA. Each strand of mRNA holds the information on how to make one type of protein. The cell reads the mRNA, follows the instructions, and makes a protein.

Researchers who developed these two new vaccines, called mRNA Vaccines, started with the genetic sequence of the virus. They also decided to focus on the spike protein of the virus. The spike protein is what allows the coronavirus to enter your cells. When injected into your body on its own, it's harmless. But your body will still recognize it as a foreign threat, and launch an immune response to fight it off, which is enough to teach your body how to fight the whole virus.

But instead of assembling and purifying that protein in a lab, they identified the part of the genetic sequence that creates it -and then took a much faster route, by synthesizing mRNA, and using that as the vaccine, which saved months of time and money.

Once it's inside the body, the cell reads the mRNA and begins to make harmless spike proteins of its own. From there, your body’s immune system recognizes the foreign threat and sounds the alarm. Then our body starts to build an army of antibodies, those are immune proteins that bind to the real virus and clear it away if you get infected.

Then, after a while, your cells get rid of that mRNA but your body remembers how to defend itself. It’s like showing the picture of a bad guy around town so everyone knows who to look out for if they ever show up.

Now, we can’t just inject straight mRNA into someone’s body, because your body is really good at chewing up and getting rid of foreign genetic material that’s not supposed to be there. That’s where the other vaccine ingredients come in. Both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines contain a variety of lipids. The word ‘lipid’ is just the scientific name for fat or fat-like molecule.

All of these lipids together form tiny little protective bubbles around the mRNA. One of the lipids sticks to the mRNA, others form the structure of the bubble and help it cross your cell membrane into your cells where it can be used, and other lipids keep the bubbles from clumping together. In both of these vaccines, this whole complex is called an LNP (Lipid Nanoparticle).

The next category of ingredients is Salts. Salts help balance the pH of the whole mixture, making it the same pH as your body. Salts balance pH by redistributing charges. A basic salt like sodium acetate helps balance out any acidity. Last but not least is Sucrose, which is there to keep everything stable at really cold temperatures. You wonder, "Why were those RNA vaccines stored at the temperature of dry ice?"

It's because RNA has a problem with degradation. So, Sucrose (Sugar) essentially packs in around all the proteins and lipids in the other vaccine ingredients, keeping them from losing their shape and therefore, their properties.

Now Answer this : Who was the first person to get vaccinated against Smallpox by the Father of Immunology, Edward Jenner?

mRNA Vaccines have broken a lot of records in terms of efficacy, costs, and speed. And while they’ll have a big impact on how we fight Covid-19, their real impact is just beginning.

A vaccine that delivers specific instructions to your body opens up a whole new world of vaccine technologies and disease treatments, for things like cancer or HIV. Finding a vaccine was a turning point for the pandemic. But the pandemic might also be a turning point for vaccines.

RHAEGAL

“Awaiting is Exhausting”, at least for me but I am pretty sure a lot of you reading this will be agreeing with me strongly and it becomes super strenuous when you are expecting a dress or a book or even a new set of earpods and in that while, your package is delayed for one more day, feels like forever, isn’t it??

When it comes to freight i.e. the goods that are carried for shipping, bad weather is always a nightmare not only for the consumers but for the business as well causing delays, increased costs, etc. As you know that air freight transportation is one of the common and fastest methods of transportation but nature limits it as well. Intense fog, heavy rain, etc are the prominent causes. But have you heard already or let me rejuvenate your memory once again,

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”

Rhaegal drone of Sabrewing Aircraft Co. is the future of air freight transportation. This vision of urban air mobility, built on the promise of electric propulsion and autonomous flight, is no sci-fi dream but a practical project. Ed De Reyes, CEO of Sabrewing and also a retired Air Force pilot explains that the Rhaegal drone is never meant to carry people but cargo. As a result, it can get the job done without many of the required safety features that are normally present in manned aircraft. It can also fly in inclement weather and reach places that ‘no crewed rival can safely reach.’ 

Consider how much easier it would be to use such methods to move cargo instead of people. If there are no passengers on board, you can lose the heavy, bulky gear that assures passenger safety. Replace pilots and you can also dispense with the instruments that help them see where they’re going, as well as the equipment that soundproofs the cabin and supports the windows, floor beams, bulkheads, and so forth. In some cases, an aircraft can weigh 25 percent more with human-factor equipment than without it.

Rhaegal can lift around 2500 kilograms of cargo straight up from the ground and if a short runway is available, it can take off in the standard way, then fly straight ahead carrying as much as 4,500 kg and it is outlined to load and unload goods without the help of forklifts, pallet jacks or any special type of equipment.

Either on tarmac or dunes, Rhaegal can sit low on the ground and tilt accordingly making it easier to quickly load and secure containerized or bulky cargo. Not only this but the aircraft’s high floatation “tundra tires” and four-post landing-gear arrangement create its possibility to land even on mud, snow, sand, deep puddles, and an integral loading ramp with rollers can be used to easily load freights.

Before takeoff, the operator loads into the computer an exact flight plan, provided by the air traffic control authorities, that includes procedures for departing in any weather and also establishes the frequencies, routes, and a clearance to the aircraft’s final destination. That way it can find its way home even if it loses communication with the operator or air traffic control.

And if you are thinking about the traffic on land, Rhaegal has got a solution for that as well. It uses an artificial-intelligence landing system to spot obstacles from above, including vehicles, people, rocks, and uneven surfaces. This landing system can recognize many types of obstacles and clearings, including landing pads aboard ships at sea. 

Whenever an obstacle is detected through the infused sensors, it is informed to the operator and then the operator takes the necessary decision to change the flight path. If the operator does not take any decision, the computer decides on its own. Wherever the aircraft goes, the computer can detect bad weather up ahead and provide the data to the operator, who together with air traffic controllers can make changes to avoid storms, in some cases by flying well above them.

Rhaegal’s all-composite airframe is built in sections that can be quickly and easily repaired or even replaced in the field, with a minimum of hand tools. This modular design means that inspections that used to ground aircraft for weeks or even months can now be accomplished in hours.

With such an amazing profile, Rhaegal can be best suited for military operations as it can fly fast enough to avoid low radar and ground fire enabling vital supplies. It’s even versatile enough to whisk four casualties and two medics to a mobile hospital within the hour after an injury occurs, greatly increasing the patient’s chances of survival. 

Besides, Rhaegal has a proprietary system that allows it to land safely if its propulsion system is damaged: It can either glide to a safe landing spot or, if the craft is hovering, it can land even if it loses the thrust of an entire duct unit. 

By February 2018, Sabrewing was to fly a 65%-scale vehicle in the fall. By February 2019, a one-eighth-scale model was going to be tested while the first full-size aircraft construction had begun, to fly by the end of 2019 and to enter service in 2023. 

At the January 2020 Vertical Flight Society symposium, Sabrewing announced a larger Rhaegal-B was being completed, to be revealed within weeks. Sabrewing has started building the first full-size Rhaegal prototypes in September 2020, and Part 23 certification is now expected to be delayed until the first quarter of 2022. The company intends to get EASA approval first, followed by an FAA signoff.

Now the question of the hour is:

What do you think was inside the first package shipped by the first cargo flight??

Think or probably read and answer in the comments below. Common guys, show some knowledge spirit, you never know what you stumble upon…

Also please like and share this article with your friends and stay tuned till next Thursday for such great blogs!!

AI Chips : A Step Forward to Transforming Computing World

"Artificial intelligence is not about building minds, it’s about the improvement of tools to solve them."

We can keep all the arguments and discussions aside and we can believe that today we are surrounded by devices. From smartphones to trimmer to door locks, we are surrounded and artificial intelligence is ingested in almost every device and it is remarkable, indeed. Our workload has been reduced in many aspects and we can thank the scientists and inventors. 

Yes! The guess is close to correct and the topic for today is Artificial Intelligence chips (AI chips). AI chips are specifically designed silicon chips to accelerate artificial intelligence applications like robotics, internet of things, data-intensive or sensor-driven tasks. Computer systems are often used with coprocessors, chips with specific-designated tasks like graphics card, sound card, graphics processing unit, and digital signal processors. As deep learning and artificial intelligence are rising, the concept of coprocessors is being implemented thus giving us AI chips.

In the 1990s, parallel high throughput systems were tried to be created for neural network simulations. FPGA-based accelerators were also first explored in the 1990s for both inference and training. ANNA was a neural net CMOS accelerator developed by Yann LeCun. In the 2000s, CPUs also gained increasingly wide SIMD units, driven by video and gaming workloads; as well as support for packed low precision data types. 

Deep learning frameworks are still evolving, making it hard to design custom hardware. Reconfigurable devices such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) make it easier to evolve hardware, frameworks, and software alongside each other. While GPUs and FPGAs perform far better than CPUs for AI-related tasks, a factor of up to 10 inefficiencies may be gained with a more specific design, via an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). These accelerators employ strategies such as optimized memory use and the use of lower precision arithmetic to accelerate calculation and increase the throughput of computation.

 

In June 2017, IBM researchers announced an architecture intending to generalize the approach to heterogeneous computing and massively parallel systems. In October 2018, IBM researchers announced an architecture based on in-memory processing and modeled on the human brain's synaptic network to accelerate deep neural networks. The system is based on phase-change memory arrays. In February 2019, IBM Research launched an AI Hardware Center and claimed to have improved AI computing efficiency by 2.5 times every year intending to improve efficiency by 1000 times within a decade. 

 

IBM reported two key developments in their AI efficiency quest. First, IBM will now be collaborating with Red Hat to make IBM’s AI digital core compatible with the Red Hat OpenShift ecosystem. This collaboration will allow for IBM’s hardware to be developed in parallel with the software so that as soon as the hardware is ready, all of the software capability will already be in place. Second, IBM and the design automation firm Synopsys are open-sourcing an analog hardware acceleration kit — highlighting the capabilities analog AI hardware can provide.

 

The artificial intelligence chip market was valued at $6,638 million in 2018 and is projected to reach $91,185 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 45.2% from 2019 to 2025. AI helps to eliminate or minimize the risk to human life in many industry verticals. The need for more efficient systems to solve mathematical and computational problems is becoming crucial owing to the increase in the volume of the data. 

Thus, the majority of the key players in the IT industry have focused on developing AI chips and applications. Furthermore, the emergence of quantum computing and the increase in the implementation of AI chips in robotics drive the growth of the global artificial intelligence chip market. In addition, the emergence of autonomous robotics—robots that develop and control themselves autonomously—is anticipated to provide potential growth opportunities for the market.

 

In terms of the benefits of AI chips, security and privacy are least compromised. AI chips which are applicable for deep neural networks have the lowest latency. This means that the chances of them getting concealed are the lowest. The networks are hinted at in their application. Another advantage of AI Chips is the fact that it has a much lower power consumption. Normal general-purpose chips were really inefficient. But AI chips enhance the speed of the AI processor to a greater extent.

 

Significant Factors impacting AI Chip Industry

 

Increase in demand for smart homes and smart cities

 

AI has the ability to provide impetus to initiate smart city programs in developing countries, such as India. Tools and technologies that are artificially intelligent possess a massive potential to transform interconnected digital homes and smart cities. Furthermore, the creation of a chip that embeds an inbuilt AI network has emerged as an opportunity for the artificial intelligence chip market.

 

Rise in investments in AI startups

 

Multiple countries, especially the U.S., witness considerable growth in tech start-ups every year, which are backed by various venture capitalists and venture capitals, thus increasing the market scope. Various key players have been innovating to build a dedicated platform.

 

Emergence of quantum computing

 

Quantum computers take seconds to complete a calculation that would otherwise take thousands of years. Quantum computers are an innovative transformation of artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning. Thus, the emergence of quantum computing fuels the growth of the artificial intelligence chip market.

 

Apart from these, the dearth of skilled force and adoption of AI in developing regions play key roles in making the AI chip industry a boom. Furthermore, the development of smarter virtual assistants is opportunistic for the overall market. A notable illustration is Jarvis Corp, which is a start-up in the conceptual phases, to build a virtual assistant that answers questions by accessing the internet and acting as an internet server and as a control for connected devices.

 

AI and Machine Learning are developing fastly and getting adjusted to our daily life devices and AI chips are like the heart of these devices; faster, compatible, and efficient. With such a larger domain comes larger challenges and responsibilities and the brainy people are doing pretty well in maintaining them.

 

So, here is my question, easy and simple:

 

What might have been the motivation behind the first silicon chip? 

 

Answer it in the comment box and get a shoutout from the IEEE team. Do comment and share your views and suggestions.

Wireless Electricity

Imagine a world without wires, for instance, your home may be equipped with a small receiver that intercepts wireless power and then further distributes that power wirelessly to every device. What if our cars are powered by energy transmitted merely through the air? 

"Power can be, and at no distant date will be, transmitted without wires, for all commercial uses, such as the lighting of homes and the driving of airplanes. I have discovered the essential principles, and it only remains to develop them commercially. When this is done, you will be able to go anywhere in the world — to the mountain top overlooking your farm, to the arctic, or the desert — and set up a little equipment that will give you heat to cook with, and light to read by. This equipment will be carried in a satchel not as big as the ordinary suitcase. In years to come wireless lights will be as common on the farms as ordinary electric lights are nowadays in our cities.” 

(The American Magazine, April 1921).

These are the words of a great inventor of the 18th century, and a futuristic man, Nikola Tesla. This man with such a great vision of a worldwide wireless transmission of electricity was much ahead of his time, thinking of a world with free energy. 

Since those times, inventors and engineers have been seeing the same dream, to make it possible that large amounts of electricity could be sent for long distances all without wires. 

Recently, a New Zealand-based startup Emrod has developed a method of safely and wirelessly transmitting electric power across long distances without the use of copper wire, and is working on implementing it with the country's second-largest power distributor. 

But the concept of wireless power transmission (WPT) is not new to us. It was introduced to the world much before, back in the days of Heinrich Hertz and Nikola Tesla, who discovered that energy could be transported by electromagnetic waves in free space.   

"...Electricity could move for hundreds of miles uninterrupted, and anyone with a receiver could access it..." Tesla theorized.

Tesla's early experiments could only send power within a short distance. So to overcome this he thought whether the connection could be stronger if he went through the ground instead of the air. The idea was to send electricity deep into the ground and use the Earth as a giant conductor; i.e. transmission supported by natural electromagnetic resonance of the earth.

He experimented with transmitting power by inductive and capacitive coupling using high AC voltages generated with his Tesla coil. He attempted to develop a wireless lighting system based on the same principle.

In 1899 Tesla presented a wireless transmission field powered fluorescent lamps miles twenty-five miles from the power supply without the use of wires. He successfully lighted a small incandescent lamp by the current induced in the coil, using a resonant circuit grounded on one end.

Tesla also attempted to construct a large high-voltage wireless power station, the WardenClyffe Power plant, that could broadcast both information and power worldwide. But the project was abandoned in 1906. The idea remained alive in the minds of researchers which inspired them to dwell upon new theories towards achieving this.

Wireless Power Transmission (WPT)

It refers to the transmission of electrical energy without wires.  A wireless power transmission system includes a transmitter device, driven by electric power from a power source, generates a time-varying electromagnetic field, which transmits power across space to a receiver device, which extracts power from the field and supplies it to an electrical load.

So far inductive coupling or simply inductive charging has been the most widely used wireless power transmission technology and has contributed to many commercial products like wireless charging pads to recharge mobile and handheld wireless devices such as laptop and tablet computers, cellphones, etc.

Inductive coupling falls under the near-field category of WPT where the power is being transferred over short distances by magnetic fields using inductive coupling between coils.

Two conductors are said to be Inductively Coupled or Magnetically Coupled when a change in current through one wire induces a voltage across the ends of the other wire through electromagnetic induction. 

“...Wireless charging, also known as inductive charging, is based on a few simple principles. The technology requires two coils: a transmitter and a receiver. An alternating current is passed through the transmitter coil, generating a magnetic field. This, in turn, induces a voltage in the receiver coil; this can be used to power a mobile device or charge a battery…."

It comes with a major drawback that it can only achieve higher efficiency when the coils are very close together, usually adjacent.

This efficiency could be increased by using resonant circuits to achieve high efficiencies at greater distances than the conventional commonly used inductive coupling. 

In resonant inductive coupling, power is transferred by magnetic fields between two resonant circuits (one in the transmitter and one in the receiver) tuned to resonate at the same frequency. This increases coupling and power transfer. 

Recent Advancements of this century in WPT

In 2007, MIT researchers showed it was possible to wirelessly power a light bulb more than 2 meters away, raising the possibility that coils buried in a road could help charge electric vehicles on the move above them.

With this researchers of Standard University are also looking forward to bring, use of wireless power for moving electric vehicles to reality in near future.

The interest for WPT has been inflating over the last five to ten years among the specialists, especially in the mobile phone sector – where wireless phone chargers are trending in the market. In 2018, companies like Apple, Samsung, and Huawei have started hitting the market with wireless chargers compatible with the latest models of their mobile phones. 

Coming back to the New Zealand-based startup company, Emrod's idea of WPT. They are claiming to achieve, scaling up a wireless electric power transmission system on the idea which is quite similar to a radio system. 

Energy is converted into electromagnetic radiation by a transmitting antenna, picked up by a receiving antenna, and then distributed locally by conventional means..……. What's new here is how New Zealand startup Emrod has borrowed ideas from radar and optics and used metamaterials to focus the transmitted radiation even more tightly than previous microwave-based wireless power attempts.

The system consists of a transmitting antenna, a series of relays, and a receiving antenna which is a rectifying antenna that converts the microwave energy into electricity. Its beams use the non-ionizing industrial, scientific, and medical band of the radio spectrum, including frequencies commonly used in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The power here is beamed directly between specific points, with no radiation around the beam. Also a "low power laser safety curtain" immediately shuts down the power transmission before any object, like a bird, drone, power thief, or helicopter, can touch the main beam.

Researchers, companies, and specialists are working towards new theories and models to propose an efficient idea for implementing WPT. More R&D efforts are required to implement a wireless power system with safe, secure, high efficiency, and optimal capital cost, ruling out high power loss, non-directionality, and inefficiency for longer distances. 

Now Answer this: How Wireless Electricity can lead us to a more sustainable future? 

To further explore the topic please refer to these links :

1.  https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/the-smarter-grid/emrod-chases-the-dream-of-utilityscale-wireless-power-transmission

2.   https://news.mit.edu/2007/wireless-0607

3.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2019/07/10/how-nikola-tesla-planned-to-use-earth-for-wireless-power-transfer/?sh=70a6b3767490

CRISPR-Cas9

Human body has been under constant surveillance since the existence of humanity, and even now, after all this time, there are a lot of mysteries buried in it. For example, nobody knows what causes headaches.

Our bodies can safely be assumed to be the most sophisticated and complex bit of engineering. The DNA(Deoxyribonucleic acid) inside our cells, is a double-stranded helical structure that carries the genetic information for the development, functioning, growth, and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses. All this info is encoded in little things called genes.

Genes decide almost everything about a living being. One or more genes can affect a specific trait. Genes may interact with an individual’s environment too and change what the gene makes. Genes affect hundreds of internal and external factors, such as whether a person will get a particular color of eyes or what diseases they may develop. Some diseases, such as sickle-cell anemia and Huntington’s disease, are inherited, and these are also affected by genes.

If only we could alter our genes, right? As mentioned earlier certain DNA encodings(genes) are responsible for certain functions. Diseases like diabetes, cardiac-diseases, Alzheimer's, and many more are termed as genetic. So if the genes responsible for these diseases are modified using the CRISPR technique then it would be a cure for otherwise incurable diseases.

Imagine how good it would be, you could decide practically everything about your offspring while it's in the embryonic stage. But is it possible? If yes, then, to what extent? Let’s find it out.

The answer to the former half of the question is YES, it has been made possible by the combined efforts of Nobel Laureates Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna. Compared to previous techniques for modifying DNA, this new approach is much faster and easier. This technology is referred to as “CRISPR/Cas9” and it has changed not only the way basic research is conducted but also the way we can now think about treating diseases.

What is CRISPR?

CRISPR is an acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat. This name refers to the unique organization of short, partially palindromic repeated DNA sequences found in the genomes of bacteria and other microorganisms. While seemingly harmless, CRISPR sequences are a crucial component of the immune systems of these simple life forms. 

Just like us, bacterial cells can be invaded by viruses, which are small infectious agents. If a viral infection threatens a bacterial cell, the CRISPR immune system can thwart the attack by destroying the genome of the invading virus. The genome of the virus includes genetic material that is necessary for the virus to continue replicating. Thus, by destroying the viral genome, the CRISPR immune system protects bacteria from ongoing viral infection.

In short, Using CRISPR the bacteria snip out parts of the virus DNA and keep a bit of it behind to help them recognize and defend against the virus next time it attacks.

How does CRISPR-Cas9 work? Let’s find out.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system consists of two key molecules that introduce a change into the DNA. These are (a) a protein-based enzyme called cas9 and (b)a guide RNA.

Cas9 acts as a pair of ‘molecular scissors’ that can cut the two strands of DNA at a specific location in the genome so that bits of DNA can then be added or removed. While the guide RNA consists of a small piece of pre-designed RNA sequence (about 20 bases long) located within a longer RNA scaffold. The scaffold part binds to DNA and the pre-designed sequence ‘guides’ Cas9 to the right part of the genome. This makes sure that the Cas9 enzyme cuts at the right point in the genome.

The guide RNA is designed to find and bind to a specific sequence in the DNA. The guide RNA has RNA bases that are complementary to those of the target DNA sequence in the genome. This means that, at least in theory, the guide RNA will only bind to the target sequence and no other regions of the genome.

The Cas9 follows the guide RNA to the same location in the DNA sequence and cuts across both strands of the DNA.

At this stage, the cell recognizes that the DNA is damaged and tries to repair it. Scientists can use the DNA repair machinery to introduce changes to one or more genes in the genome of a cell of interest.

What are some applications of the CRISPR system?

Beyond applications encompassing bacterial immune defenses, scientists have learned how to harness CRISPR technology in the lab to make precise changes in the genes of organisms as diverse as fruit flies, fish, mice, plants, and even human cells. Genes are defined by their specific sequences, which provide instructions on how to build and maintain an organism’s cells. 

A change in the sequence of even one gene can significantly affect the biology of the cell and in turn, may affect the health of an organism. CRISPR techniques allow scientists to modify specific genes while sparing all others, thus clarifying the association between a given gene and its consequence to the organism.

Rather than relying on bacteria to generate CRISPR RNAs, scientists first design and synthesize short RNA molecules that match a specific DNA sequence—for example, in a human cell. Then, as in the targeting step of the bacterial system, this ‘guide RNA’ shuttles molecular machinery to the intended DNA target. 

Once localized to the DNA region of interest, the molecular machinery can silence a gene or even change the sequence of a gene. This type of gene editing can be likened to editing a sentence with a word processor to delete words or correct spelling mistakes. One important application of such technology is to facilitate making animal models with precise genetic changes to study the progress and treatment of human diseases.

Future?

It is likely to be many years before CRISPR-Cas9 is used routinely in humans. Much research is still focusing on its use in animal models or isolated human cells, to eventually use the technology to routinely treat diseases in humans.

Certain issues must be resolved before its application to the human genome. In most cases, the guide RNA consists of a specific sequence of 20 bases. These are complementary to the target sequence in the gene to be edited. However, not all 20 bases need to match for the guide RNA to be able to bind. The problem with this is that a sequence with, for example, 19 of the 20 complimentary bases may exist somewhere completely different in the genome. 

This means there is potential for the guide RNA to bind there instead of or as well as at the target sequence. The Cas9 enzyme will then cut at the wrong site and end up introducing a mutation in the wrong location. While this mutation may not matter at all to the individual, it could affect a crucial gene or another important part of the genome.

If all these complications are resolved, which is just a matter of time, this technique may prove to be a boon for millions of people, suffering from genetic diseases, who have lost hopes of living a perfectly normal life.

All this said, I now leave you with high hopes and a burning question.

What would be the ethical implications of genome editing? Would deciding the physiological properties of a human being as per one’s will be immoral?

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Qubits : Heart of a Quantum Computer

Quantum Computing has been creating a lot of buzz for the past few years. Since it was first conceived it has captivated intelligent minds all over the world. Due to its ability to solve problems in minutes, which the current supercomputers will take millennia, these computers promise to solve problems that have haunted researchers and scientists for years.

The last decade has been exceptional for Quantum Computing. Years of research started showing its results and a big breakthrough came last October when Google claimed to achieve Quantum Supremacy.    

But what makes it stand apart from classical computers? It’s the Quantum Bits or Qubits that gives them this incredible processing power. Unlike a classical bit, which can be either 0 or 1 at a time, qubits can also be any combination of 1 and 0 simultaneously. These qubits exploit quantum phenomena like Superposition and Entanglement to provide you the results as fast as possible while you anxiously stare at the computer.       

Qubits are fascinating but their implementation is an arduous task. The information in the qubits is easily destroyed by thermal heats and other disturbances from the environment. This is known as Decoherence.

The colder and more isolated the qubit is, the less likely it is to flip to a different quantum state when it’s not supposed to. But it’s really difficult to keep the qubits cold and isolated.

So with all these challenges, how scientists and researchers are making these bizarre bits possible? Let’s find out.

Superconducting Circuits

This is the most widely used method for making qubits. Companies like IBM and Google rely on this method for their quantum computers. Superconductor materials that have zero resistance when cooled below a certain temperature, like Aluminium and Niobium, are used.

When the temperature drops below a critical value, two electrons form a weak bond and become a Cooper pair that experiences no resistance when traveling through the metal. The pairing opens a gap in the energy state, which any excitation requires some minimum energy. This gap leads to superconductivity since not any random increase in energy is allowed.  

Each qubit is actually an LC circuit, an inductor, and a capacitor. We manipulate its energy state to represent a superposition of |0⟩ and|1⟩.

Now the challenge is to make the energy levels uneven such that the superposition is confined to |0⟩ and |1⟩. To overcome that, the superconducting circuit includes a Josephson Junction.

The junction behaves as a non-linear non-dissipating inductor. It contains two Aluminum superconducting electrodes that are weakly coupled and are separated by a thin insulator about a thousandth of a hair thick. It is non-linear such that the energy level is unevenly separated so we can use two lower states as the bases for our superpositions.

This inductor is combined with a linear capacitor using a Niobium superconductor to create an LC resonator. With correct tuning, the circuit behaves like an atom with two quantum energy levels, i.e. our qubit.

Quantum operations are performed by sending electromagnetic impulses at microwave frequencies (around 4–6 kHz) to the resonator coupled to the qubit. This frequency resonates with the energy separation between the energy levels for |0⟩ and |1⟩. And the duration of the pulse controls the angle of rotation of the qubit state around a particular axis of the Bloch sphere.

To make a measurement, it sends a microwave tone to the resonator and analyzes the signal it reflects back. The amplitude and phase of the reflected signal depend on the qubit state. Once it is amplified, we know the energy level and therefore we can determine the state of the qubit.

To isolate the qubits, the computer contains a dilution refrigerator to cool down the quantum processor to as near as 0 Kelvin.

Silicon Spin Qubits aka “Hot Qubits”

This is a method that many think is the future of quantum computing. Two separate teams of researchers from Australia and Netherlands published a paper in April this year stating that they had performed the 2-qubit operation at 1.5 Kelvin, which is 15 times hotter than rival technologies can withstand.

Each silicon spin qubit consists of a few electrons held within a quantum dot. These quantum dots are tiny wells or divots in silicon that lay just beneath the gate electrode of a conventional transistor. As charge flows through the transistor, electrons drop into the well, and electrostatic forces hold them in place.

To compute with them, the Australian team applied an AC electric field, while the Netherlands team used an AC magnetic field to manipulate the electron spins, causing the spins to point up (1), down (0), or in both directions at once.

With this technique, electrons can be forced to occupy the same quantum dot only if their spins are opposite. If their spins match, the electrons stay put in their respective wells.

After this successful demonstration, Intel has also shifted its focus to hot qubits as these qubits can be made using transistors and Intel ships 400 quadrillion transistors a year.

Trapped Ion Pair

 Another approach to make qubits is through trapping ions and then precisely controlling them using lasers. To trap ions, scientists start with a steel vacuum chamber, housing electrodes on a chip that is chilled to nearly 450 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. 

Ca and Sr atoms stream into the chamber. Multiple lasers knock electrons from the atoms, turning the Ca and Sr atoms into ions. The electrodes generate electric fields that catch the ions and hold them 50 micrometers above the surface of the chip. Other lasers cool the ions, maintaining them in the trap. 

Then, the ions are brought together to form a Ca+/Sr+ crystal. Each type of ion plays a unique role in this partnership. The Sr ion houses the qubit for computation. The Ca ion, which has a similar mass to the Sr ion, takes away extra energy from the Sr ion to keep it cool and help it maintain its quantum properties. Laser pulses then nudge the two ions into entanglement, forming a gate through which the Sr ion can transfer its quantum information to the Ca ion.

To read out this state, the scientists interrogate the Ca ion with a laser at a wavelength that only the Ca ion's electron will interact with, leaving the Sr ion unaffected. 

What's nice about using this helper ion for reading out is that we can use wavelengths that don't impact the computational ions around it; the quantum information stays healthy. So, the helper ion does dual-duty; it removes thermal energy from the Sr ion and has low crosstalk when we want to read out just that one qubit.

Now answer this: Can we manipulate the Nucleus of an atom as a Qubit?? If yes then how?

The race to make a commercial quantum computer continues as researchers and tech giants keep finding ideas to make qubits that can work at an optimal temperature. Until then we will keep tabs on all the quantum computing breakthroughs until one of them finally establishes the quantum age.

References-

1. https://www.qutisgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Amaia_TFG.pdf

2. https://analyticsindiamag.com/how-this-breakthrough-makes-silicon-based-qubit-chips-future-quantum-computing/

3. https://news.mit.edu/2020/trapped-ion-pair-may-help-scale-quantum-computers-0128