VIJAYAWADA: Dr Anil K Suresh, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, and his team from SRM University-AP recently developed a see-through transparent (with transmittance above 85 per cent) bio-template which they derived from the fish scale wastes to substitute the extensive usage of disposable plastic cuvettes, for UV-Visible Spectroscopy measurements in the spectrum of 350-900 nm.
UV-Vis spectroscopy is a versatile analytical tool used to examine the nature of various synthetic, biological and clinical molecules for pharmaceutical and environmental applications. The team members demonstrated the practical on bio-template analysis of diverse analytes such as DNA, proteins, nanoparticles, organic dyes, bacteria, BSA assay and dye-degradations.
Dr Anil said the large-scale development of the bio-template can resolve several issues in performing sustainable research; for instance, generating huge demand for fish scales as a resource stratagem which otherwise causes foul smell and disease propagation when discarded. Second, the use of non-biodegradable plastic cuvettes can be minimised for routine analytics and third, unlike plastic cuvettes that demand 500-fold analyte, the bio-film allows the analysis at 10 micro litre volumes.
Dr Anil K Suresh owns the copyrights for this invention. This work has also been accepted for publication in the prestigious Journal of “Green Chemistry” by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Dr Anil emphasised that the biodegradable transparent bio-template huge potential in routine scientific and pharma UV-Vis analytics and he will very soon bring this product to the scientific community as a sustainable science solution.