Development of Low Cost Rapid Detection
Microwave Biosensors for Efficient Diagnosis
of Health Risks in Rural Zones of India
Pilot proposal submitted to
Ministry of Human Resource Development
Under the Scheme on
“National Mission on Education through Information and Technology”
Project PI: Dr. K. S. Daya
Microwave Physics Laboratory
Department of physics & Computer Science
Dayalbagh Educational Institute
Dayalbagh, Agra –282 110
Motivation
Technology advancements in the field of healthcare and biological
sciences has overwhelmingly influenced our lifestyle and lifespan.
Advanced technologies today seem incomplete due to the complexity
of the biological systems and for its drawbacks in providing easy and
fast information as it require highly priced consumables, considerable
time and skilled manpower, none of which are easily available.
Hence…
understanding the health risks and the health status of individuals in
the rural India has not been viable till date.
Over half the population of India lives in rural or geographically
challenging locations, thus any statistics available on the health is
incomplete.
Justification
There is a need to substitute the current conventional and
advanced testing methods with a simple yet reliable health
monitoring system that will provide convenience to the user,
interms of procedures, portability and economic viability and will
also provide the user with rapid and easily extractable results.
There lies a great socio-technological challenge to bridge this
information gap between the urban and rural population. The
only bridging solution is ‘services at the door step’; by giving
them solutions for self monitoring of health hazards which will
provide autonomy and will inculcate a sense of self responsibility
towards their own health and surroundings.
Objective for the Pilot Phase
Until the 1970s, it was widely believed that the prevalence of diabetes in
Development
of NON-INVASIVE
PLANAR
BLOOD
GLUCOMETER.
India was low compared
to the western
world. But
recent
statistics now
show that India has the world's largest diabetic population.
And another major health safety concern is …
Today, India has 40.8 million diabetic patients, more than any other
country, and the number is expected to rise to 57 million by 2025!
Objective for the Pilot Phase
Ensuring the supply of safe drinking
water in India is a constitutional
mandate, with the Article 47
‘Both surface water and ground water should be
regularly monitored for quality’
- National Water Policy (2002) of India
Objective for the Pilot Phase
•
•
•
•
Since the First Five-Year Plan in 1951, investments made in water and
sanitation have been estimated at
Rs 1105 billion.
Yet, it has been estimated that
around 37.7 million Indians are affected by water-borne diseases
annually,
1.5 million children are estimated to die of diarrhea alone
73 million working days are lost due to water-borne diseases each year.
The resulting economic burden is estimated at US$ 600 million a year.
Clearly, the health benefits in terms of reduction in waterborne diseases have not been commensurate with the
investments made.
Objective for the Pilot Phase
Thus ,ACCESS to safe drinking water remains an
urgent necessity, as 90% of rural households still
depend completely on untreated surface or
groundwater.
Though a degree of intervention interms of
monitoring of water quality exists in major
cities and towns, rural India, which constitutes
the bulk (70%) of the population, is usually
‘deprived’ of such interventions.
Objective for the Pilot Phase
The “Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission” (RGNDWM)
was launched in 2006 to undertake the assessment of all
drinking water sources……..
However, as on date less than 50% of all the rural water sources have only
been analysed,
due to factors such as the lack of skilled man power and inadequately
equipped laboratories.
 Weak links in the supply chain for transporting the reagents and chemicals
to remote locations
“THUS MONITORING IS THE WEAKEST LINK IN THE SYSTEM THAT WORKS TO
PROVIDE SAFE WATER IN RURAL INDIA.”
( Source :- CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL.97, NO.3, 10 AUGUST 2009)
Objective for the Pilot Phase
To demonstrate a NON-INVASIVE PLANAR MICROWAVE SENSOR
for BLOOD GLUCOSE DETECTION
To demonstrate RAPID DETECTION MICROWAVE SENSOR FOR
THE PRESENCE OF PATHOGENIC BACTERIA IN DRINKING WATER
Rapid Detection Microwave Bio-sensors
Non Invasive Blood
Glucometer
Low cost, NO-PRICK and easy to use solution for
continuous self monitoring of blood glucose .
Thus there is an immediate need for a easy and safe solution which will
overcome:-
The psychological hassle to a prick.
Blood related safety concerns (infections)
Requirement of skilled manpower.
Requirements of consumables of conventional ready to use
invasive gluco-meters.
And …
Provides with an indigenous and user friendly self monitoring systems to the
under privileged and elderly
Working Principle
• Microwave sensors are based on the interaction
between microwaves and matter. When the electric
field passes through the dielectric medium, electric
field affects medium parameter called permittivity
(dielectric constant)
• Measuring the dielectric properties of a material can
indirectly measure other properties that have a
correlation to the material
• Dielectric constant of blood increases with increase in
glucose level in blood
Why RF sensors for biological system ?
• Microwave sensors are very sensitive to change in
dielectric constant and most of the bacteria
commonly found in water are high dielectric proteins
• Microwave sensor does not require any reagents
or chemical, thus an indigenous solution without
interdependencies
• Unlike biological methods, results are immediate
Benefits
•
•
•
•
Easy to use
No technical expertise required
Can be a completely portable systems
No reagents or chemical required, thus
eliminating the need of supply chain for
transporting chemicals to remote locations
• Gives autonomy to the user resulting in better
health safety concern
TIMELINE & DELIVERABLES
Time Line
0th month
3rd Month
6th Month
9th Month
12th Month
Deliverable
Project kick off
Designing of resonator
Identifcation
of
suitable
dielectric
material
and
simulation
of
glucometer sensors
Spiking studies for the
presence of bacteria.
Live testing of gluco
sensors.
Milestones
1st
stone
2nd
stone.
Miles
Mile
PROPOSED BUDGET
ITEM
S.No.
Site Preparation
Bax DUPONT PCR based detection system
Laminar Air Flow Bench
Biosafety Cabinet
Deep Freezer
Incubators
Glass wares
Millipore filter Assembly with Vaccum pump
Analytical Balance
Refrigerator
Books & Journals
Autoclave
Laptops & Computers
Other software
Microscope
Hot air oven
Spinner
Millipore water purification system
Microwave Connectors
UPS
Total Non Recurring Cost
Cost in Lakhs
(in INR)
MANPOWER
Senior Research Fellow
5
40
3
5
10
3
5
2
2.0
1.0
15
1.5
6
15.0
10
1.0
1.0
5
5
1.5
Cost in Lakhs
for one year
1
2.4
Junior Research Fellow 4
Research Assistant
2
Lab Technicians
1
Lab attendants
1
Consumables
General Maintenance
Travel
Glass wares
Bacterial Strains
Contingency
Miscellaneous
Microwave Laminates`
Chemicals & Reagents
Total
128.2
Non-Recurring
INR
1.28 Crore
Recurring
INR
0.451 Crore
Total
INR
1.74 Crore
7.2
1.92
1.2
0.6
3.0
2.0
5.0
2.0
2.0
3.0
5.0
10.0
45.12
OUTCOME
• Present project proposal would lead to the development of low
cost, user friendly, biosensors for noninvasive glucose sensing in
blood and rapid bacteria sensing in water.
• The developed prototype will be of use in continuous and
consistent health and health risk monitoring in the rural parts as it
will be user friendly, economically viable and rapid solution .
• As the product developed aims to replace the high cost involved in
precision instruments, reagents and skilled manpower, it would
bring down the capital and operational expenditure in health
monitoring at remote locations.
• To summarise, the output of this proposal will be providing
economically and operationally viable solution for continuous and
consistent health and risk monitoring of millions of truly localized
people residing in the rural zones of India.
THANK YOU !!