This week we feature the Centre for Research in Nanotechnology & Science (CRNTS) at the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay)

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is one of the leading institutions in India for research in the area of Nanotechnology. IIT Bombay has recently consolidated its Nanotechnology research activities through the formation of a Centre for Research in Nanotechnology & Science (CRNTS).

At IIT Bombay, over 45 faculty members from 9 different departments/schools are working together in the broad areas of Nanotechnology, with support from various government agencies and private industries. This research has resulted in over 400 high quality publications in the last 5 years in international journals and conference proceedings and a large number of patents. Some of the research activities at IIT Bombay in the Nanotechnology area are on collaboration with some of the best institutions in the world.

One of the main R&D lines at the Centre is the Nanoelectronics for Healthcare Monitoring and Diagnosis.  As part of this R&D, there is a specific line on Nanosystems for Healthcare and Environmental Monitoring.  For example, the Centre has a complete point-of-care system for myocardial infarction in the advanced stages of development.

This system monitors molecular markers to detect cardiac attacks, especially incipient cardiac attacks that go undetected before major/fatal attacks occur. The system is comprised of “infarcSens” or “iSens“, which is a cantilever & molecular FET based affinity biosensor array for sensing myocardial infarction & subsequent cardiac status prognosis. The electronic sensors are also being developed in conjunction with data management software, which is designed to track the markers within a timeframe necessary to create an epidemiological database.

In addition to this activity, a Silicon-Locket is being developed for continuous monitoring of various heart parameters. The group has made three versions of the locket (this is single lead with onboard storage for a day), with appropriate hardware and software interfaces for downloading to a PC. TCS has demostrated these with a number of potential customers and it should be undergoing field trials in hospitals soon.

It is important to state that the R&D Centre has collaborative partnerships with the major worldwide industries for example Intel, Indo or Hitachi Ltd.

More information:

Mrs. Vrindha Vishvanathan

www.iitb.ac.in