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!!