IISER Pune Digital Repository

A repository of scholarly research output from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune.

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Recent Submissions

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    Item type:Item, Access status: Open Access ,
    New Additions of Books - September 2026
    (2026-09) Srinivasa Ramanujan Library
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    Item type:Item, Access status: Open Access ,
    Monthly Bulletin of New Publications - September 2026
    (2026-09) Srinivasa Ramanujan Library
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    Item type:Item, Access status: Open Access ,
    Teaching Language Models to Forecast Research Success Through Comparative Idea Evaluation
    (Association for Computational Linguistics, 2026-07) MULE, SRUJAN P.; Garikaparthi, Aniketh; Patwardhan, Manasi; Dept. of Data Science
    As language models accelerate scientific research by automating hypothesis generation and implementation, a new bottleneck emerges: evaluating and filtering hundreds of AI-generated ideas without exhaustive experimentation. We ask whether LMs can learn to forecast the empirical success of research ideas before any experiments are run. We study comparative empirical forecasting: given a benchmark-specific research goal and two candidate ideas, predict which will achieve better benchmark performance. We construct a dataset of 11,488 idea pairs grounded in objective outcomes from PapersWithCode. While off-the-shelf 8B-parameter models struggle (30% acc.), SFT dramatically boosts performance to 77.1%, outperforming GPT-5 (61.1%). By framing evaluation as a reasoning task via Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR), we train models to discover latent reasoning paths, achieving 71.35% acc. with interpretable justifications. Through additional ablations and out-of-distribution tests, we show robustness to surface-level heuristics and transfer to both a cross-domain time-split test set and an independently constructed test set. Our results demonstrate that compute-efficient small language models can serve as effective, objective verifiers, offering a scalable path for autonomous scientific discovery.
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    Wunen(s) help navigate Primordial Germ Cells by attenuating Hedgehog signaling
    (eLife Sciences Publications Ltd., 2026-07) ROY, AMRITA; ROY, ADHEENA ELSA; Ibragimov, Airat; DaSilva, Juliana; KUMAR, KUNDAN; Schedl, Paul; KAMAT, SIDDHESH S.; RATNAPARKHI, GIRISH S.; DESHPANDE, GIRISH; Dept. of Biology
    Directed cell migration is a vital process that depends on the combined activities of attractive and repulsive cues. As it is essential for normal development, the precise identity of guidance signals and the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms is being rigorously investigated. In a Drosophila embryo, PGC migration is orchestrated by non-cell autonomous repulsive and attractive cues, controlled by Wunen(s) - Wunen and Wunen2 and, HMGCoA-reductase (Hmgcr), respectively. Hedgehog (Hh), a PGC attractant, is potentiated by Hmgcr. We demonstrate that Wunen(s) employ both nonautonomous and autonomous modes to inhibit Hh signaling. Consistently, in embryos maternally compromised for wunen, mesodermal cells and PGCs accumulate excess Hh, leading to precocious clumping of the PGCs. This behaviour is reminiscent of PGC-specific loss of patched (ptc) – the Hh receptor and an antagonist of Smoothened (Smo), a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), involved in Hh signal transduction. Consistently, Wunen(s) inhibit membrane localization of Smo. Conversely, simultaneous overexpression of wunen mitigates PGC scattering induced by ectopic hmgcr expression. Finally, unbiased lipidomics of embryonic extracts after maternal knockdown of wunen confirms disruptions in lipid metabolism. We discuss the mechanistic underpinnings of Wunen(s) involvement in repressing Hh signalling to engineer PGC migration.
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    Emulsion-Derived Production of Drug-Loaded Microgranules as an Alternative to Spray Drying
    (American Chemical Society, 2026-06) Chatterjee, Soumyajyoti; Kabir, Anisha; GOANKAR, VEDANT; Sudhakar, Swathi; PATIL, SHIVPRASAD; Basavaraj, Madivala G.; Dept. of Physics
    Microgranules are a class of synthetic functional materials designed for the delivery of active compounds in diverse sectors, including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food, and cosmetics. In this work, we present a scalable emulsion-based method for fabricating microgranules with robust mechanical and structural properties. We successfully encapsulate an antidiabetic drug within these microgranules and analyze drug loading using microscopy, spectroscopy, and thermal techniques. In vitro drug release profiles are obtained and modeled to understand the underlying release mechanism. Biocompatibility assessments using the MTT assay confirm the excellent cytocompatibility of drug-loaded microgranules. Overall, the emulsion-based approach offers a versatile and scalable platform for the encapsulation and controlled release of therapeutic agents and other functional molecules.