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The Indian-American chemist won the 2021 European Inventor Award

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Texas, USA (CU)_ The European Inventor Award, one of the prestigious innovation prizes, was launched in 2006 by the EPO – European Patent Office. The prizes are given in five categories such as Industry, Research, SMEs, Non-EPO countries and Lifetime achievement. It recognizes individual inventors and teams of inventors whose groundbreaking inventions provide solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. On June 17, the winners of the EPO’s annual innovation prize for 2021 was announced, and this year it was held virtually for the audience worldwide.

The European Patent Office (EPO) honoured the Indian-American chemist Sumita Mitra with the European Inventor Award 2021 for her groundbreaking efforts in employing nanotechnology in dentistry. She won the award for the category of Non-EPO countries. Mitra was the first to use nanotechnology in the manufacture of dental materials, resulting in the creation of a new composite for tooth restoration that outperforms traditional materials.

Mitra and her team devised a method for generating nanoclusters, which are linked clusters of nanoparticles. These clusters integrate single nanoparticles of varied diameters to create a robust, long-lasting, and lustrous substance. The team was also able to develop varying shades that matched with individual teeth and overlaid to give a more natural finish by mixing small amounts of pigment and changing the chemical composition of the nanoparticles.

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Mitra invented a material that overcomes many of the drawbacks of former dental composites, which were either too fragile for use on biting surfaces or easily lost their shine and looked unsightly. Mitra worked for the US multinational 3M for over 30 years. The technology and products manufactured from the company are being used by dentists all over the world.

Sumita Mitra is a partner of Mitra Chemical Consulting, LLC. The company advises firms on new technologies, product design, commercialization, and mergers and acquisitions. For her work on nanotechnology use in dental materials, she was honored as American Chemical Society Hero of Chemistry in 2009, entered into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2018, and elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2021.

Other honors of Mitra are the Academy of Operative Dentistry’s Hollenback Memorial Prize in 2020, the International Association of Dental Research’s Peyton-Skinner Award for Innovation in Dental Materials in 2012, and the Top 25 Women in Dentistry Award in 2010. In 1998, Mitra was inducted into the 3M Carlton Society, the company’s highest honor for lifetime contributions to R&D.

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EPO President António Campinos said that Mitra’s invention has used the right emerging technology in a new sector that has huge benefits. He said, “Mitra’s invention takes what was an emerging technology at the time – nanotechnology – and applies it to a new sector to provide a solution for dentists and relief for patients”.

Mitra’s invention has been protected by patents, which will ensure that her invention gains commercial success viable for nearly two decades. Delighted with the news, Mitra said, “The use of nanotechnology gave me the opportunity of making a new material. It restores peoples’ smiles and improves the quality of their lives. The material’s strength is its versatility. You have all the desired properties of a tooth filling in one material. That is why this technology has been used to make so many different types of tooth restorations around the world. The patent was essential for safeguarding the invention so that others could not infringe on the technology”.

The Commonwealth nations ranking in the top twenty list that are leading in nanotechnology are the UK in 8th place, Canada in 9, Singapore in 14, Australia in 17, and India in 19. The top five ranks are occupied by the USA, South Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan.

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