The work utilises bimetallic nanostructures that are 10,000 times thinner than the width of a human hair for the high-fidelity detection of the biomarkers in the human blood.

Publishing

The findings of this research have been recently published in the high-impact journal, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, authored by Dr. Mitali Basak, Prof. Dipankar Bandyopadhyay and Prof. Harshal B. Nemade.

The high (HDL) and low (LDL) density lipoproteins transport cholesterol to the cellular sites for various metabolic activities, say researchers from IIT Guwahati.

An imbalance of LDL and HDL cause arterial plaque formation leading to hypertension, formation of blood clots, or ischemia.

On the other hand, Triglycerides (TGA) transform into fatty acids and glycerol during digestion which in turn is packaged inside lipoproteins namely very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), for transportation to the cells.

An elevated level of triglycerides leads to atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease, pancreatitis, type 2 diabetes, or fatty liver, say sources from IIT Guwahati.

Timely detection

Therefore, the timely detection of any abnormality and a close monitoring of cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood is highly sought for.

While traditional lipid profile tests of blood are reliable, they often require laboratory settings, are not available as a point-of-care solution, and can take time to provide results.

The researchers employ SERS active bimetallic nanostructures – the silver shelled gold nanorods, which enable a Plasmonic resonance hybridisation of silver and gold to produce augmented spectral resolutions as compared to pristine silver or gold nanorods.

Subsequently, the these bimetallic nanorods are linked to two different Raman active receptors and immobilised with the enzymes cholesterol oxidase and lipase for concurrent detection of different concentrations of cholesterol and triglycerides, say sources from IIT Guwahati.

Such innovations help in the development of a platform for the ultrafast point-of-care detection kit with a higher level of the detection sensitivity.

Research

Speaking about the research, Prof. Dipankar Bandyopadhyay said, with the recent advent of the low-cost and portable Raman spectroscopy devices open the possibility of utilisation of these sensors for the real-time monitoring of HDL, LDL, VLDL, and TGA at patients’ site, that may help and mitigate the cardiovascular diseases before even their onset if not at the acute stage.

Further, IPR of such technologies will enable indigenisation of such high-precision gen-next sensors for the development of our own auto-analysers, which are presently imported from the abroad, he said.

Performance

The researchers validated the superior performance of their silver-gold nanorods (Ag–Au NRs) through both experiments and advanced simulations.

Due to the unique coupling of silver and gold, these nanorods showed enhanced light interaction properties, known as localised surface plasmon resonance (LSPR).

This combination amplified signals 20 to 50 times more effectively than using gold nanorods alone, proving their significant advantage for applications like nano-enabled SERS.

Breakthrough

This breakthrough research represents a major step forward in molecular diagnostics. By enhancing the precision and sensitivity of cholesterol and triglyceride testing, the team’s work has the potential to transform healthcare, enabling earlier detection of cardiovascular diseases at the patients’ site.

At present, the Institute has eleven departments, nine interdisciplinary academic centres and five schools.

They are covering all the major engineering, science, healthcare, management, and humanities disciplines, offering BTech, BDes, BSc(Hons), MA, MDes, MTech, MSc, MS(R), MBA and PhD programmes.

The institute offers a residential campus to 455 faculty members and more than 8,600 students at present.

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Development of this advanced facility is a key demonstration of the research and technical capabilities of IIT Madras and the nation.

Solutions

This is a unique facility that can address challenging problems in Indian ports, waterways and coastal Engineering.

Facility

This facility has been established through the National Technology Centre for Ports Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC), a centre dedicated for technological innovations and the evolution of new ideas and breakthroughs in the port and maritime sector.

It works as the technology arm of the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India and provides the needful technological support to ports, IWAI and other institutions, say sources from IIT Madras.

Department of Ocean Engineering at IIT Madras

Prof. Prof. K. Murali, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, said, this facility will position IIT Madras in international arena as one of the institutes that operates the large scale shallow wave basin for research and industry applications.

We no longer need to depend on technology from other countries for the generation of waves in laboratory, he said.

Initiative

Prof. V. Sriram, also from the Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras, said except a few items that they needed to import due to non-availability, rest of the Shallow Wave Basin was truly a ‘Make in India’ initiative.

It was indigenously developed with most of the fabrications of the wavemaker done within IIT Madras itself, he said.

The entire architecture, communications and designs were made in-house for the operations and sustainability of the facility over the long term, he said.

The facility was conceived with the future government of India initiatives in mind for the new ports and coastal engineering as well as for inland waterways projects, he said.

Prof. Torsten Schlurmann who is also a long-term collaborator at IIT Madras added, that the facility will elevate IIT Madras’ status as a world-class institution for marine science and engineering by facilitating ground-breaking research and international collaboration across a broad range of disciplines.

Fundamental understanding

This state-of-the-art research facility can be used for fundamental understanding as well as for application projects, where the influence of 3D waves on the structures can be critical.

The basin can be used for harbour, coastal, offshore, inland waterways and shallow water manoeuvring-related projects, say sources from IIT Madras.

In these studies, sediment transport – mobile bed modelling, stability of the armour units, hydraulic and hydrodynamic performances, wave impact loading and the determination of the relevant design aspects due to climate change can be ascertained.

Key benefits

The key benefits of this facility include testing of varieties of the coastal structures, post impact analysis of the coastal structures, large solar floating plants, climate change effects and many more.

This large-scale facility is one of its kind in the world with mobile wave maker, thus multiple projects can be carried out parallel, if required.

Planning

With the growing development of new ports in Indian coasts, this indigenous facility will help with the planning and is set to become a crucial tool, say sources from IIT Madras.

With the knowledge gained by creating such a large scale facility, IIT Madras is also set to help other institutes like NITs, IITs and research institutes in India to establish such cutting-edge research centres for their academic and research purposes.

Both waves, current and a combination of these can be generated. As of now, due to the available stroke, velocity limits and basin size, for example, a wave period range from 5 s- 18 s with a significant wave height upto 3m can be easily generated in 1:10 scale or in large scale easily.

The circulation facility around the tank can be efficiently used to generate the currents inside the basin, this will be implemented in the near future.

Scientific support

The NTCPWC gives effective solutions to an extensive range of problems being faced in the industry through scientific support.

It also provides valuable education, applied research and technology transfer in maritime transportation at the local, regional, national and International levels.

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