Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will lay the foundation stone for the Advanced Science Research Centre (ASRC) being established by Mangalore University at a cost of Rs. 141.38 crore on 20 acres of land at Belapu in Udupi district on April 4.
A release by the university here said that the centre was expected to give a fillip to research activities not just in the districts under the jurisdiction of the university, but also in the surrounding regions. The State government has sanctioned Rs. 15 crore for this project.
The goal of the centre was not just to propel research in Basic Sciences but to also come up with new technical innovations and applications of basic science for the benefit of society.
The centre would focus on the analysis of species of plants in Western Ghats, which were under threat, and their conservation; research and development of plant extracts for identified diseases; developing medicine for communicable diseases and using nano-technology for developing devices. It would try to find out an effective medicine for checking the spread of malaria in tropical regions.
It would develop a viable technology for converting garbage as useful manure and recycling plastic waste for producing fuel. It would use depolymerisation technology to produce diesel from plastic.
The centre, with its high-end research, would not help in dissemination of information and would emerge as a key institute in the development of coastal Karnataka, the release added.