MMST (IIT Kharagpur)
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The School of Medical Science and Technology (SMST) is an educational and research institute affiliated to the
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur or IIT-KGP) is a Public university, public institute of technology, research university, and autonomous institute established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal. Foun ...
, India. Founded in 2001, the School of Medical Science and Technology brings together doctors, scientists and engineers to work collaboratively on projects for better healthcare. The school offers the following courses: Master of Medical Science & Technology (MMST), M.Tech. in Medical Imaging and Informatics, M.Tech. in Biomedical Engineering, M.Sc.in Medical Physics, M.Sc. in Nuclear Medicine, M.Sc. in Medical Molecular Microbiology and PhD Programs. Former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...
has described SMST as an innovative model which integrates the two diverse disciplines of engineering and medicine and signals new directions in medical education and
healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
delivery.


Location

The school resides in the third and fourth floors of the Life Science Building, IIT Kharagpur. The institute is about 5 km from the Kharagpur railway station.


History

The School of Medical Science and Technology (SMST), IIT Kharagpur, was started in 2001 to provide a platform of interdisciplinary teaching and research in the field of
medical science Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pra ...
and technology. The school began with a 3-year program to train doctors in the engineering aspects of medicine followed by a year of hands-on training. This was followed by a PhD program for research in
medical technology Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...
. Later addressing the needs of graduate students, the school introduced masters programs in
Medical Imaging Medical imaging is the technique and process of imaging the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention, as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues (physiology). Medical imaging seeks to revea ...
& Informatics and
Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...
. While addressing the 57th Annual Convocation and Launching of Diamond Jubilee of IIT, Kharagpur in August 2011, Prime Minister Singh said:


Academics

The courses offered by the institute are:


Masters in Medical Science and Technology (MMST)

The school runs a master's degree in Medical Science and Technology, a three-year postgraduate course specially designed for M.B.B.S. graduates to train them in
clinical research Clinical research is a branch of medical research that involves people and aims to determine the effectiveness (efficacy) and safety of medications, devices, diagnostic products, and treatment regimens intended for improving human health. The ...
and medicine. The aim is to provide a platform for interdisciplinary teaching and research in the field of medicine and clinical research which can lead to a better integrated healthcare delivery system. Students spend first two years in doing various course works in medicine and clinical research etc.). The last year of course is reserved for internal or external training either in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
or abroad on actual research projects. The students of MMST also serve as hospitalists at BC Roy Technology Hospital, a hospital with Intensive Care Unit and housing research labs for Medical Imaging, Instrumentation and Telemedicine, clinical exposure provides in the clinical acumen the student for interdisciplinary research. The students are exposed to all kinds of imaging modalities – microscopic and macroscopic – and will work on advanced image processing systems. This program imparts engineering
skill A skill is the learned or innate ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. Some examples of gen ...
s to medical professionals and train them for medical research in areas of Medical Imaging,
Molecular Imaging Molecular imaging is a field of medical imaging that focuses on imaging molecules of medical interest within living patients. This is in contrast to conventional methods for obtaining molecular information from preserved tissue samples, such as h ...
and
Image Analysis Image analysis or imagery analysis is the extraction of meaningful information from images; mainly from digital images by means of digital image processing techniques. Image analysis tasks can be as simple as reading barcode, bar coded tags or a ...
,
Biomaterial A biomaterial is a substance that has been Biological engineering, engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose – either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a Medical diag ...
s and Implants,
Biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...
,
Medical Statistics Medical statistics (also health statistics) deals with applications of statistics to medicine and the health sciences, including epidemiology, public health, forensic medicine, and clinical research. Medical statistics has been a recognized branc ...
, Telemedicine, Biomedical Instrumentation, Early Detection of
Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
, Immuno-technology, Recombinant
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
Technology, Biomedical Simulation, Wound research and so on.


MTech in Medical Imaging and Informatics

The school offers a master's degree in Medical Imaging and Informatics, a two-year postgraduate course specially designed for BTech/B.E (Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation). From 2022, the M.Tech. program in Medical Imaging and Informatics is offered jointly with the department of
Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
, IIT Kharagpur. The aim of the course is to provide knowledge to design CAD (computer aided diagnostics) system. During their first year students undergo course work, to name a few; PIMI (Physics and Instrumentation in Medical Imaging instruments like
ultra-sound Ultrasound is sound with frequencies greater than 20 kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply to any frequency range, includi ...
, C.T,
MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...
, etc.), Digital
Image processing An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be displayed through other media, including a pr ...
,
BioStatistics Biostatistics (also known as biometry) is a branch of statistics that applies statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experimen ...
,
MEMS MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) is the technology of microscopic devices incorporating both electronic and moving parts. MEMS are made up of components between 1 and 100 micrometres in size (i.e., 0.001 to 0.1 mm), and MEMS devices ...
,
Pattern Recognition Pattern recognition is the task of assigning a class to an observation based on patterns extracted from data. While similar, pattern recognition (PR) is not to be confused with pattern machines (PM) which may possess PR capabilities but their p ...
and
Machine Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
in Medicine,
Computer vision Computer vision tasks include methods for image sensor, acquiring, Image processing, processing, Image analysis, analyzing, and understanding digital images, and extraction of high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical ...
, Medical Image Analysis. The MTech students will be exposed to different aspects of translational health research which will include medical imaging and advanced image processing systems, biomedical signal processing BioMEMS and
sensor A sensor is often defined as a device that receives and responds to a signal or stimulus. The stimulus is the quantity, property, or condition that is sensed and converted into electrical signal. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a devi ...
s, Biomedical Instrumentation,
Embedded system An embedded system is a specialized computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is e ...
s,
Microfluidics Microfluidics refers to a system that manipulates a small amount of fluids (10−9 to 10−18 liters) using small channels with sizes of ten to hundreds of micrometres. It is a multidisciplinary field that involves molecular analysis, molecular bi ...
and point-of-care diagnostics, Biostatistics, Biomaterials, Regenerative Medicine, Cancer research,
Cardiovascular In vertebrates, the circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the body. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart a ...
research,
Immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...
and
Immunotherapeutics Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...
, Biomarker Discovery,
Herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also called herbalism, phytomedicine or phytotherapy) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of many herbal treatments ...
, Clinical and
Epidemiological Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...
research and Molecular virology research.


MTech in Biomedical Engineering

The school recently introduced master's degree programs in Biomedical Engineering.


PhD in Medical Science and Technology

The school offers PhD programs in the areas of core medical science, interdisciplinary medical science fusing engineering methodologies.


Admissions


Masters in Medical Science and Technology (MMST)

The eligibility criterion for admission to MMST course is the MBBS degree from a medical college recognized by
National Medical Commission The National Medical Commission (NMC) is a statutory body in India that regulates medical education, medical professionals, institutes, and research. Established on 25 September 2020, it replaced the Medical Council of India. The Commission gra ...
(NMC) with a minimum of 55% marks in aggregate and having studied mathematics at +2 level (even as additional subject) or from any recognized Open University. Seats are reserved for backward class candidates and persons with
disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, d ...
as per Govt. of India rules. Few seats are also reserved for Armed forces personnel. The final selection is strictly based on an objective type of entrance test conducted by the Gate, IIT. The test includes objective questions from medical domain as well as from +2 level
Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
,
Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
and
Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
. The entrance test is conducted annually, in the month of April at
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
(IIT Kharagpur extension campus). Candidates qualifying in the admission test are called for counselling at IIT Kharagpur before final selection.


MTech in Medical Imaging and Informatics

Admission for Medical Imaging and Informatics is through GATE (EE, EC, IN, BM, CS) score and happens in summer of every year.


MTech in Biomedical Engineering

Admission for Biomedical Engineering is through GATE (BM) score and happens in summer of every year.


Laboratories and facilities

The students at SMST have access to infrastructure for interdisciplinary research and development activities, some of which are: Names of the Laboratories: * Bio-MEMS Lab * Biomaterials and
Tissue Engineering Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of cells, engineering, materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintain, improve, or replace different types of biolo ...
Lab * Biostatistics and Medical
Informatics Informatics is the study of computational systems. According to the Association for Computing Machinery, ACM Europe Council and Informatics Europe, informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which the centra ...
Lab * Cancer
Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
Lab * Epidemiology and
Public Health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...
Lab * Herbal Medicine lab * Medical Instrumentation and Embedded Systems Lab * Multimodal Imaging and Computing for
Theranostics Theranostics, also known as theragnostics, is a technique commonly used in Personalized medicine, personalised medicine. For example in nuclear medicine, one Radiopharmacology, radioactive drug is used to identify (Diagnosis, diagnose) and a sec ...
*
Reproductive Health Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, health care, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's Human reproductive system, reproductive system and sexual well-being during all stages of their life. Se ...
Lab Apart from these facilities, students have access to research labs of other departments and shared facilities at Central Research Facility (CRF) center of IIT Kharagpur.


Collaborations and associated laboratories

The School of Medical Science and Technology is an
interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...
research department. Hence it works in close association with other departments at IIT, Kharagpur such as the Department of BioTechnology, and the Departments of
Material Sciences Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials scien ...
, Physics and
Meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...
, Mathematics and
Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
,
Electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...
and
Communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...
,
Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
and
Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...
. SMST is also in close association with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of BioTechnology (DBT) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for research activities. The school has collaborations with many institutions and centres of excellence throughout the globe. Some of these international collaborations are: * Brain Science Institute, RIKEN,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
Corporate collaborations include
Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...
(USA),
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
(India) and Phillips Electronics India Ltd, Bosch India etc.


Products and patents

The research team in the SMST is working on development of a low cost total artificial heart (TAH) since last 4 years. The initial experiments on
goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...
s have shown promising results. The research team is waiting for the
Indian Council of Medical Research The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world. The ICMR is funded by the Gove ...
(ICMR) approval for human trials, which will be conducted at the
Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata Medical College, Kolkata, also known as Calcutta Medical College, is a Government medical college and hospital located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is one of the oldest existing hospitals in Asia. The institute was established on 28 Janua ...
. This artificial heart will have significant cost advantages over the USA-made artificial hearts. A notable example of a successful research project in collaboration with other universities is the
Reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance Reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance (RISUG), formerly referred to as the synthetic polymer styrene maleic anhydride (SMA), is the development name of a male contraceptive injection developed at IIT Kharagpur in India by the team of Dr ...
(RISUG) — a novel reversible
male contraceptive Male contraceptives, also known as male birth control, are methods of preventing pregnancy by interrupting the function of sperm. The main forms of male Birth control, contraception available today are condoms, vasectomy, and Coitus interruptus, w ...
developed at SMST.


Future plans

The institute is planning to set up a 400-bedded medical hospital and research center at the campus with a vision of becoming a center of excellence for interdisciplinary research in medical domain. A foundation stone for this medical research center was laid in 2007 by the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The institute signed a $50-million MoU with the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
in 2009 for this purpose. This project got delayed because of the provisions of IIT act 1961, which prohibits IITs from entering into fields like medicine and tussling between different government ministries. The institute was in constant touch with the
Ministry of Human Resource Development Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...
and
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) is an Government of India, Indian government Ministry (government department), ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family ...
to amend the IIT Act to give IITs autonomy to offer medical courses as well. Finally, the Parliament passed the Institute of Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2010, in April 2012. IIT is also in discussion with the
National Medical Commission The National Medical Commission (NMC) is a statutory body in India that regulates medical education, medical professionals, institutes, and research. Established on 25 September 2020, it replaced the Medical Council of India. The Commission gra ...
for this project. In June 2012, IIT received fund of Rs 230 crore through a central grant for establishing the
Medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...
. A 45-acre plot has been earmarked by IIT Kharagpur for what promises to be a modern green building with minimal
energy consumption Energy consumption is the amount of energy used. Biology In the body, energy consumption is part of energy homeostasis. It derived from food energy. Energy consumption in the body is a product of the basal metabolic rate and the physical acti ...
and advance facilities. Once this medical hospital and teaching institute starts functioning, the institute will offer NMC approved courses for MBBS, MD, MS and DM. The institute, in association with the University of California and
Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
, will develop a teaching module which will comprise elements of
model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...
ling, simulation and virtual reality in-addition to conventional medical wisdom to produce a new breed of tech-savvy doctors. In the first phase, the main focus will be on postgraduate courses. The number of beds would later be increased to 750.


See also

*
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur or IIT-KGP) is a Public university, public institute of technology, research university, and autonomous institute established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal. Foun ...
* Dr B C Roy Institute of Medical Science & Research


References


External links


SMST official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:School Of Medical Science And Technology Educational institutions established in 2001 Universities and colleges in Paschim Medinipur district IIT Kharagpur 2001 establishments in West Bengal