18-Mar-2021: Researcher working on low-cost smart nano devices for detection of disease receives SERB Women Excellence Award
Dr. Sonu Gandhi, a Scientist at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad, who has recently developed a smart nanodevice for the detection of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and Japanese encephalitis (JE), has been awarded the prestigious SERB Women Excellence Award.
The award instituted by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), recognises and rewards outstanding research achievements of young women scientists in frontier areas of Science and Engineering.
The smart nanodevice developed by her group helped in detection of the biomarkers of the diseases using graphene functionalised with amine and conjugated with specific antibodies.
The developed sensor offers several key advantages, such as ultra-high sensitivity, ease of operation, and a short response time, that can be easily integrated into a chip for point-of-care testing. The developed sensor exhibited a clear advantage over conventional techniques, and it is highly sensitive. They can improve early diagnosis of the diseases, ensuring prompt, more effective, and less expensive treatment.
Her work is based on understanding the mechanism of interaction between nanomaterials and biomolecules on the surface of devices called transducers that receive energy from one system and transmit it for the development of a new generation of biosensors for clinical diagnosis of bacterial and viral disease, veterinary and agricultural applications, food analysis and environmental monitoring.
Dr. Sonu’s lab has developed electrochemical as well as a microfluidic-based Nano-sensor for detection of pesticides used primarily to control foliage and soil-borne insect pests in Fruits and Vegetables. In a parallel study, her lab has developed ultrafast sensing of a biomarker of cancer. The developed cancer biosensor called urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) may be used as a quantitative tool, making it a tenable alternate for the detection of uPAR in cancer patients. This work has been published in the journal ‘Biosensor and Bioelectronics’.
Recently, her lab has fabricated quick, sensitive microfluidic devices for toxin (Aflatoxin M1) detection in milk and meat samples with specific molecules called aptamers. They have developed microfluidic paper device for rapid detection of aflatoxin B1 for on-site detection of food toxins for both qualitative and quantitative analysis in food safety. One of her present projects aims to detect multiple sarovars of Salmonella using CRISPR-Cas13 and Quantum dots based electrochemical biosensors for sensitive, cost-effective and rapid diagnosis for one health aspect.
They are focusing to develop new cost-effective and field-applicable analytical devices which offer Point of Care (POC) diagnostics for early detection of disease, facilitating timely management to resolve the healthcare problems.
17-Mar-2021: New wearable sensors capable of monitoring biomarkers from sweat can obviate necessity of invasive tests for monitoring health
Dr. Vinu Mohan A.M., scientist at CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, a recipient of the INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship instituted by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, has introduced a flexible low cost, wearable sensor that can track sweat for monitoring the health and physiological status of the human body. It can obviate the necessity of blood and other invasive tests.
The wearable microfluidic sensor, which does not need a clean room, can be used for in situ monitoring of biomarkers such as lactate, Sodium (Na+), Potassium (K+), and Alkaline/acidic nature (pH) simultaneously from sweat samples. Using the INSPIRE Faculty fellowship, Dr. Vinu is improving upon the sensor to make it stretchable as well so that it can monitor the sweat during exercising and biking.
The sensor can analyse biomarkers from human sweat during exercise activities without transfer of signals. The high-throughput sweat sampling ability of the sensor facilitates continuous capture and transport of sweat over the surface of the device resulting in real-time analysis. The flexible sensor can be attached on the irregular skin surface and monitors the dynamic biomarker levels, and are important for clinical diagnosis and personalized point-of-care analysis.
Developing microfluidic sensors with rapid sweat sampling and multiplexed electrochemical recognition abilities are extremely important for accurate sweat biomarker analyses and continuous real-time monitoring of health.
In the sensor set up by Dr. Vinu’s research group, a fluidic channel captures real-time sweat and directs it through the active sensing electrodes for subsequent interference-free analyses. A miniaturized printed circuit board collects cross-talk-free sensor responses without the need for wires. The fully-integrated pump-less microfluidic device is mounted on the skin, and the regional variations in sweat composition are analyzed at the underarm and upper back locations during stationary biking. The epidermal patch can monitor the hydration level and oxygenation of muscles which is essential for fitness monitoring application. This research has been published in the journal ‘ACS Sensor’.
Dr. Vinu Mohan and his team are also exploring other reliable biofluids such as saliva and fluid in tissues as they contain abundant chemical markers that could reflect the underlying physiology of the human body. They are also in-parallel focusing on developing wearable energy storage devices as they are essential for powering wearable electrochemical sensors. An all-printed solid-state flexible and stretchable supercapacitor having serpentine-shaped, interdigitated, freestanding interconnects was recently developed and used as energy buffering element for powering a wearable pulse rate sensor. The work was published in NanoEnergy journal. Besides, his group is developing omni-directionally stretchable high-performance supercapacitors for self-powered wearable sensors.
12-Feb-2021: PPE KITS
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) refers to protective gears used for personal protection of users working in different hazardous conditions, including for healthcare professionals. During the COVID-19 pandemic bio hazard Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) suitable for COVID-19 protection (ISO-16003 Class – 3) were developed and manufactured in the country. Development and production of two of its major components i.e. Body Coveralls and N-95 Masks were coordinated by the Ministry of Textiles. As per estimates based in inputs provided by the industry, the country has manufactured nearly 6 crore PPE Body Coveralls and 15 crore N-95 masks during April to December 2020 period.
Nearly 1100 manufacturers had registered for PPE Body Coveralls and more than 200 manufacturers for N-95 mask manufacturing. The production capacity in the country achieved is 4.5 Lakh per day for PPE Body Coveralls and 32 Lakh per day for N-95 production. As per Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India has procured 1.56 crore PPE Body Coveralls and 2.79 Crore N-95 masks. In addition, State Government agencies, private hospitals, individuals also have procured PPE Coveralls and N-95 masks extensively.
Technical requirements of PPE Coveralls and N-95 masks are governed by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), IS 17423:2020 for PPE Body Coveralls and IS 9473:2002 for N-95/ FFP-2 masks. The average market size of this newly created industry is around Rs.7000 crores.
(Countries which received official assistance from Government of India are China, Israel, Iran, Italy, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Jordan, Botswana, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Germany, Spain, USA, UAE, DR Congo, South Africa, Afghanistan, Australia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, Peru, Venezuela, Paraguay.