CHENNAI: An IIT Madras-led multi-institute research team has developed a new biosensor platform that can test pregnant women for pre-eclampsia, a life-threatening complication, within 30 minutes.
Pre-eclampsia, which typically develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy, affects 2-8% of pregnancies worldwide. The IIT-M, in a statement, said while traditional methods to detect preeclampsia are time-consuming, the new platform offers rapid, on-site, and affordable screening at an early stage. Timely treatment is crucial to minimise maternal and neo-natal morbidity and mortality rates.
Currently, placental growth factor (PlGF), an angiogenic blood biomarker, is used for pre-eclampsia diagnosis. The IIT-led team of researchers have developed the Plasmonic Fiber Optic Absorbance Biosensor (P-FAB) technology for detecting PlGF at femtomolar level using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) based U-bent polymeric optical fibre (POF) sensor probes.
“The POF sensor probes could measure PlGF within 30 minutes using the P-FAB strategy. The clinical sample testing confirmed the accuracy and sensitivity of the sensor platform,” said VV Raghavendra Sai, IIT-M faculty.