IIT Delhi researchers develop device for early diagnosis of Dengue

Common diseases like dengue require rapid diagnosis but conventional diagnostic tools like nucleic acid detection using RT-PCR is a time-taking process, which requires expensive equipment and reagents, IIT Delhi said.

A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have developed a handheld device for early diagnosis of dengue. The device can give a dengue test result in one hour. The researchers have tested hundreds of blood samples in collaboration with the ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), New Delhi. The research work was funded by the IMPRINT India program of the Ministry of Education.

Common diseases like dengue require rapid diagnosis but conventional diagnostic tools like nucleic acid detection using Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) is a time-taking process, which requires expensive equipment and reagents, IIT Delhi said.

To address this, the GLancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) research group at IIT Delhi’s Physics Department, led by principal investigator Professor JP Singh, developed the handheld Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) based platform.

The research was published in the journal, Analytical Chemistry. The IIT Delhi team, in collaboration with ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune, successfully carried out detection and distinction of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) using the SERS based platform. The SERS based platform gives HIV-1 test results within an hour, IIT Delhi said.

The SERS platform was capable of distinguishing different tropic strains of HIV-1 suggesting tropism-based detection, it added.

Speaking about the device, Prof. Singh said, “This ultrasensitive and handy device has a wide range of applications in the early-stage on-site detection of viral diseases and can produce the final report of investigation within an hour.”

Meanwhile, IIIT Delhi has launched a new interdisciplinary postgraduate program, MTech in cybersecurity. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi, made the announcement through his social media handle. The MTech programme will allow applicants to register as full-time or part-time candidates. Those sponsored by any industry or the government can also register themselves.