KIMS Student Wins Top Prize at National Osteoarthritis Conference: Professor talks on Reversal of Aging

Dr. Avarna Agarwal, final year DM student of the department of Rheumatology, won first place for her work in showing how GLP-1 agonist Semaglutide directly has anti-inflammatory effects on fibroblasts cultured from patients with osteoarthritis.

Semaglutide is known to reduce pain in osteoarthritis, but this was attributed to its weight reducing effects. However, Dr. Avarna proved it has direct anti-inflammatory effects on the cells obtained from the knee joints in patients with osteoarthritis. She was guided in her work by Prof Sakir Ahmed, and the team included molecular biologist Dr. A Raj Kumar Patra and Dr. Parasar from Applied Physics, demonstrating cross-discipline collaborations.

Her mentor, Prof Sakir Ahmed was also invited to the conference where he talked about the reversal of aging within the joint to treat OA. Dr. Sakir and the entire team have expressed their thanks to the Founder of KIIT, KISS and KIMS Dr. Achyuta Samanta for his personal grant to Dr. Sakir for this research, and to the entire KIIT fraternity for enabling such cross-platform research.