The World Institute of Kimchi (President: Hae Choon Chang), a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, has confirmed in a new study that bacteriophages, which were previously considered a ‘nuisance’ during the process of food fermentation, actually play the role of key helpers that facilitate the survival of lactic acid bacteria (LAB).

Operating a new device named the Fusion Z-pinch Experiment 3, or FuZE-3, Zap Energy has now achieved plasmas with electron pressures as high as 830 megapascals (MPa), or 1.6 gigapascals (GPa) total, comparable to the pressures found deep below Earth’s crust.

The Winners of the 2025 Tata Transformation Prize were announced today in Mumbai, India. Established to advance innovation and support visionary scientists in India who are developing breakthrough technologies to address the country’s most significant societal challenges in Food Security, Sustainability, and Healthcare, the Tata Transformation Prize aims to generate improved quality-of-life outcomes and scale up the implementation of high-reward research for India and beyond. Selected from a competitive pool of 212 nominations spanning 27 Indian states, the three Winners were chosen by an international jury of eminent scientists, clinicians, technologists, and engineers. Each Winner will receive INR 2 crores (approximately USD 228,000) to advance their research and scale its real-world impact.

2025 Tata Transformation Prize Winners

Food Security Winner: Padubidri V. Shivaprasad, PhD, National Centre for Biological Sciences  

Padubidri V. Shivaprasad, PhD, addresses one of India’s greatest challenges: feeding a population projected to reach 1.5 billion by 2050 amid shrinking farmland and worsening climate stress. His groundbreaking work uses epigenetic engineering and small RNA–based modifications in rice, India’s primary staple crop, to enhance stress tolerance and nutritional quality.  By precisely altering the expression of key genes, Prof. Shivaprasad’s approach surpasses the limits of conventional plant breeding, which can be slow and unpredictable. His engineered rice varieties promise to reduce fertilizer and pesticide dependence, lower production costs, and improve nutrition for millions. Beyond India, this innovation offers a sustainable blueprint for staple crops worldwide in the face of global climate change.

Sustainability Winner: Balasubramanian Gopal, PhD, Indian Institute of Science 

India’s growing biomanufacturing sector urgently needs cleaner, cost-effective alternatives to traditional energy-intensive chemical synthesis methods. Balasubramanian Gopal, PhD, has developed a green chemistry platform that harnesses bioengineered E. coli bacteria to produce key chemicals used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and agriculture. Integrating artificial intelligence with experimental biology, his lab rapidly designs efficient enzymes and optimizes microbial strains for high yields, without antibiotics or harmful additives. This sustainable technology can replace traditional chemical manufacturing, thus reducing pollution, enhancing domestic production, and positioning India as a global leader in environmentally responsible biomanufacturing.

Healthcare Winner: Ambarish Ghosh, PhD, Indian Institute of Science  Ambarish Ghosh, PhD, is pioneering a breakthrough in cancer treatment using magnetic nanorobots – tiny, helical devices that can be safely guided through the body using magnetic fields. These nanorobots are designed to navigate complex biological environments, deliver drugs directly to tumors, and distinguish cancerous tissue from healthy cells. His team is also creating real-time imaging tools to track and steer the nanorobots during treatment. This technology promises more precise, less invasive cancer therapies with fewer side effects, with the potential to revolutionize cancer care worldwide and make advanced treatments more accessible and affordable in India and other low- and middle-income countries.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine congratulates Bairitone Health and Noctrix Health, whose innovations were selected as the people’s choice winners of the first AASM Sleep Medicine Disruptors Innovation Award. The votes were cast by attendees of Sleep Medicine Disruptors 2025, which was held in person in Austin, Texas, and livestreamed Nov. 14 - 15.

Magnetic skyrmions are particle-like objects that can be used as information carriers in memory and computing devices. Researchers from Waseda University recently studied the flow behaviors of many skyrmions in structured magnets and found that skyrmions can behave like chiral fluids. They proposed that fully developed skyrmion flows can be used for fluidics, which significantly reduces complexity of skyrmion logic, as it eliminates the need for deterministic creation, precise control, and detection of individual skyrmions.

Abnormal rhythmic electrical signals in the retina are a hallmark of several vision disorders, but their origins have remained unclear. Researchers have discovered how the loss of the TRPM1 ion channel disrupts communication between retinal cells, triggering oscillations that distort visual signaling. Oscillations observed in Trpm1 knockout mice are strikingly similar to those found in retinitis pigmentosa–model mice, revealing a common generative mechanism for these abnormal rhythmic signals in retinal diseases.