The Society for Polymer Science, India (SPSI) has announced that the First "Dr K.H. Gharda Industrial Innovation Award in Polymer Science" has been awarded to the team from Serigen Mediproducts Pvt. Ltd., led by Dr Anuya Nisal.

The award is given “For having developed the only natural silk-based high strength porous material, that can be used for bone-repair, through a novel process of solution reprocessing of silk.”

Apart from Dr Nisal, the team consists of Dr. Premnath Venugopalan and Dr. Swati Shukla. The initial work was done at NCL Pune and the technology was transferred to Serigen for further development and commercialization. The Award consist of a cash prize of Rs. 150,000, a silver medallion and a citation.

This is a newly instituted biannual award named in honor of Dr Keki Hormusji Gharda, a pioneering entrepreneur who built the engineering polymers, pigments, and agrochemicals industry in India through outstanding research and innovation and finally brought products into the market.

The Award recognizes innovation in the area of polymer science and technology in industry. Only work done in India qualifies for the Award