The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sensa Core Medical Instrumentation for mass manufacturing and sales of a novel point-of-care tech for rapid analysis of bilirubin in human blood/serum.
The inventive technology is developed at the National Centre for Flexible Electronics (NCFlexE), IIT Kanpur, by Prof Siddhartha Panda, Department of Chemical Engineering, and Dr Nishant Verma.
The tech discloses the fabrication of a non-enzymatic electrochemical sensing strip that can simultaneously detect the direct and total bilirubin in a single drop of blood, and provide the concentrations within a minute.
The licensing agreement was signed between IIT Kanpur and Sensa Core in the presence of Prof Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur; Prof Ankush Sharma, PIC, Innovation & Incubation; Prof Siddhartha Panda (Inventor), and Dr Ravi Kumar Meruva, Licensee & Founder/CEO of Sensa Core Medical Instrumentation.
The Hyderabad-based company is a leading manufacturer of Ion-selective Based Electrolyte Analyzers, Arterial Blood Gas Electrolyte Metabolite Analyzers, Glucose Test strips and Hemoglobin Test Strips.
Now, they plan to expand their portfolio by including Bilirubin Test strips as a part of point-of-care testing and screening.
Prof Karandikar said, “Developing effective point-of-care technologies for enriching the healthcare system has been a priority at IIT Kanpur. This novel sensor makes detection of bilirubin levels in blood easier, and it would revolutionise the processes leading to the detection of certain health conditions.”
Bilirubin is a pigment in our blood, detecting the level of which can help diagnose certain health conditions, such as Neonatal jaundice. It is a prevalent clinical condition, affecting roughly 60% of full-term and 80% of preterm new-born with a mortality rate of 7.3 per 1,000 live births in India.
The developed sensor is portable, affordable and can be directly applicable for blood sample analysis without the need for any preliminary processing steps. This sensor is expected to be used for bedside testing, in diagnostic laboratories, and even in health screening centers.
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IIT Kanpur was established on November 2, 1959 by an Act of Parliament. The Institute has a sprawling campus spread over 1,055 acres with large pool of academic and research resources spanning across 19 departments, 22 centres, and 3 Interdisciplinary programs in engineering, science, design, humanities, and management disciplines with more than 540 full-time faculty members and approximately 9,000 students.