A centre of excellence in nanotechnology will be set up at Mangalore University within eight months, said Vice-Chancellor T. C. Shivashankara Murthy.

Addressing teachers and students at the 33 Foundation Day lecture at Mangalagangotri on Thursday Prof. Murthy said that four Ph.D. theses relating to nanotechnology had been produced under the guidance of teachers of the Department of Material Science at the university within a decade. Teachers and research scholars at the university have published 40 research papers relating to nanoparticles.

The Vice-Chancellor said the university had set up a Centre of Excellence for bio-diversity and bio-prospecting. Its main objective was conservation of endemic, rare, threatened, and endangered species of the Western Ghats by setting up a four-acre garden and bio-prospecting of the plants under a project funded by the State government. The government has funded Rs. 60 lakh for this centre.

The university plans to strengthen this centre by setting up two laboratories at a cost of Rs. 2.50 crore.

Mr. Murthy said under the 12 Plan grant, the University Grants Commission (UGC) released Rs. 5.3 crore to the university a fortnight agoFormer Vice-Chancellor of Kuvempu University K. Chidananda Gowda delivered the foundation day lecture on education for the new millennium.

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MU to set up centre of excellence in nanotechnology