Incubation

Blood Plasma Separation

The acoustophoresis-driven blood plasma separation device offer higher plasma recovery at high throughput. This continuous plasma separation device can be used for high volume plasma separation. Also the device can integrated with sensors and used for continuous monitoring of analytes, for example, online analyte monitoring at hospitals during surgeries.

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Single Cell Technology

We have developed a microfluidic platform for fluorescence-based detection and isolation of target rare cells in single-cell format that is portable/affordable and will have significant impact on healthcare diagnostics, cell/molecular biology research. 

• Droplet encapsulation for cell focusing and detection
• Innovative integration of the detection and isolation modules
• Innovative integration of the detection and isolation modules
• Target rare cells in single-cell format for further downstream processing
• Portable, affordable, simple and easy to use and thus would improve availability

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Detection of Gasotransmitters (H₂S, H₂O₂, etc) in Biofluids

Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) is a significant contributor of mortality in road accident and paediatric patients in India. This is due to rampant infection burden and increased antibiotic resistance. Majority of these patients enter into septic shock and multi-organ failure. One-third of all in-hospital patients, greater than 50% of all ICU patients and more than 80% of surgical ICU patients suffer from SIRS induced morbidity and mortality with diminishing chances of survival due to delayed diagnosis and poor prognosis. Microbial tests are time consuming and the currently available biochemical markers lack specificity and are detected at later stages of sepsis. Thus, early diagnosis of sepsis in acute trauma patients is mandatory for effective management.

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of nitric oxide (NO) and Hydrogen Sulfide (NO, H₂S, H₂O₂) in detection and prognosis of sepsis due to their ability to predict immune-endothelial cross-talk. However, their measurement in blood in routine biochemical laboratories is difficult owing to their short half-lives and quenching by either free radicals, heme or atmospheric oxygen.

Currently, we are developing a microfluidics based Lab On Chip (LOC) platform for continuous monitoring of the ratio of vascular gasotransmitters (NO, H₂S, H₂O₂) for early detection and montoring of vascular health in sepsis.

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Dengue Diagnostics

Recent estimate indicates there are more than 390 million dengue infections per year. In addition, the general clinical symptoms of dengue is similar to those of other febrile diseases. Hence, Accurate detection of dengue virus antigen is critical for appropriate treatment. Currently available paper-based Rapid Diagnostic Tests are have poor performance profiles in terms of sensitivity and false positives are found with serological tests. Therefore, development of a microfluidics based LOC colorimetric detection platform would enable us to perform easy-to-use, accurate, low cost and rapid detection of dengue.

We are currently developing a colorimetric based diagnostic device for Dengue NS1 antigen detection integrated with a blood plasma separation module. This simple, inexpensive, accurate device will help in clinical management, surveillance, outbreak investigations to prevent or control epidemics.

CTC Isolation and genotyping

Efficient isolation of all CTCs followed by effective characterization could be a very useful tool for diagnosis and prognosis in cancer patients. CTC enumeration and genetic profiling of single CTCs may provide deeper insights into metastasis, which is important for personalized medicine applications for effective drug treatment. Among the existing cell-separation methods, acoustic-based approaches provide significant potential to preserve the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of sorted cells, owing to their safe, label-free, and contactless nature. We have developed a novel method for size-independent isolation of CTCs by acoustophoresis. Integration of droplet-based RT-PCR with acoustophoretic CTC isolation will help in developing cost-effective platform for CTC analysis.

We provide consultancy services for design and fabrication of single and multi-layer microfluidic devices in a variety of materials including PMMA, PDMA and silicon. Send your requirements to ashis@iitm.ac.in

Fabrication

Materials : PMMA, PDMS and Silicon

Specifications:

• Single or multi-layer devices.
• PMMA devices: channel dimension: >20 microns width and depth.
• PDMS devices: channel dimension: >10 microns width and depth.
• Silicon devices: channel dimension >10 microns.
• Integration of electrodes with PDMS, and Silicon devices.

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Design

• Multi-physics simulation to predict device performance.
• Design for ease of fabrication. Design for reducing device complexity.
• Design of microfluidic components: micromixers, micro droplet generators, microparticle separators/sorters.
• 3D focusing for micro flow cytometry.
• Droplet microfluidic devices.
• Microfluidic devices with electrodes.

Simulations for design of device

Research Engineer/Scientist

We welcome highly motivated engineers/scientists with background including but not limited to microfluidics, cell biology and optoelectronics who may be interested to work with our interdisciplinary team. Please send your resumes to ashis@iitm.ac.in