TI Challenge puts spotlight on students’ lung cancer detector
BENGALURU: A system to rapidly identify human blood type, a method for early detection of lung cancer and several other innovations were showcased by 33 college teams at the semifinals of the 2nd Texas Instruments India Innovation Challenge design contest held on Monday. The challenge saw participation by 15,380 students this year, up from 11,000 students in the first edition.
Showcasing a product to help detect lung cancer early on, Geerthy T, P Rama Surekha and Vishal Kumar Upadhyay from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli explained the workings of the product.
“Exhaled gas is taken to a chamber with sensors which can detect organic compounds like toluene, alchohols and carbon monoxide which indicate the presence of lung cancer,” the students said. Explaining the need for an early detection system, Geerthy T said, “If lung cancer is detected at later stages, the chance of succumbing to it in five years is 85 per cent.
Early detection will prevent that. In India, lung cancer detector tests are expensive and reach up to K50,000 but this product could give you early detection at a much cheaper price of few thousands.” Another innovation in the medical field which was showcased is the Rapid Portable Blood Group Identification System designed by Atanu Debnath, Kingshuk Khare and Saraf Aniket Akshay from IISc.
This product, when installed in ambulances, will detect the blood group of the accident victim right there and send the result to the concerned hospital so that precious time is not wasted when the victim reaches the hospital. if the blood is not available , the hospital can arrange for it in the meantime the victim reaches the hospital. Saraf Aniket Akshay says, “In India, after road accidents happen a significant amount of time is wasted to reach hospital and then the patients blood group is detected only after he reaches the hospital . We wanted to change that.
The product is a mix of analog and digital components and based on the property of reactivity of blood with antibodies. A simple blood test in India costs about `2,500 but this product only needs the slide which costs a mere `4.” Many other students from institutes like Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, BITS Pilani Goa campus, NIT Warangal and others took part in the event. Another semi-final will be held on June 9 at Amity University, Noida and the results for both the semi finals will be declared on June 15.