Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology here have developed a handheld Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)-based platform for early diagnosis of dengue and also gives dengue test results within one hour (rapid diagnosis).
HIV detection
The institute said that the handheld device has been successfully tested on the clinical blood samples collected from hundreds of individuals in collaboration with ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), New Delhi, and also helps in rapid detection of HIV.
Conventional tools
“Early diagnosis of dengue is the key to prevent deterioration of a patient’s health. However, conventional diagnostic tools like nucleic acid detection using Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) is a time-taking process and it also requires expensive equipment and reagents for the diagnosis of dengue,” the institute said outlining the need for the device.
Speaking of the handheld device, the project’s principal investigator, J.P. Singh, professor at IIT-Delhi said, “This ultrasensitive and handy device has wide range of applications in the early stage onsite detection of viral diseases and can produce the final report of investigation within an hour.”
The research work was funded by IMPRINT India programme of the Ministry of Education with New Age Instruments and Materials Pvt Ltd as the industry partner.
