Researchers at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, have developed a miniaturized device that can rapidly detect harmful bacteria, including ‘Pseudomonas Aeruginosa’ which causes severe infections such as pneumonia and cystic fibrosis. The innovative technology can deliver results in just 15 minutes and it is set to transform how hospitals and clinics diagnose bacterial infections, informed Dean of Research & Innovation and co-lead researcher Sanket Goel.
“Our device is small, affordable and designed for quick, on-site testing, particularly in resource-constrained settings unlike current bacterial detection methods are slow and often require sophisticated lab equipment,” he said in a press release.
The device employs ‘Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA)’, a technique that operates at lower temperatures and does not require expensive thermal cycling equipment. A built-in photometric detection system can identify trace amounts of DNA from various bacteria,” said Associate Professor and Co-lead Researcher Satish Kumar Dubey.
“The platform can easily be adapted to detect other dangerous bacteria, making it highly versatile for a range of diagnostic applications. We are also exploring integrating it with cloud-based systems for remote data monitoring,” said research scholar P. Ramya Priya.
The device has immense potential to revolutionize healthcare diagnostics by enabling faster and more efficient pathogen detection and improving patient outcomes across the board, added Prof. Goel. The research has been published in the IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, added the release.
Published - October 13, 2024 06:06 pm IST
