KOCHI: The main concept of medical research is ‘from laboratory to bedside’. Delay in detecting the cause of a disease can be fatal. Chandrasekhar B Nair, director of Bigtec Pvt Ltd at Bangalore, aims to produce cost-effective diagnostic devices based on nano technologies that would take healthcare to a new paradigm.
A native of Palakkad, Chandrasekhar is focusing on low-cost and high quality diagnostic products.
Most of us have heard about polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment and some of us have seen it in super-speciality hospitals.
But Bigtec’s hand-held PCR is a revolution of sorts. With this, real time micro PCR diagnostic results are available in a few minutes making it an ideal platform for disease monitoring at the doctor’s office or even at airports. “Our battery-operated PCR is poised to revolutionise medical analysis. Using stateof- the-art micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology, the devices are slated to be at the cutting edge of medical diagnostics for years to come,’’ says Nair.
“Our platform is designed for the diagnosis of infectious diseases, irrespective of whether the causative organisms are bacteria, virus, fungi or parasites. We are planning to apply for an international patent,’’ says this engineer-CEO.
This platform technology enables physicians and healthcare workers to detect infections once the appropriate biology is incorporated on a chip.
The fully developed portable system will result in a diagnostic platform based on specific target amplification, enabling such diagnosis at the point of care. “Development and validation of the entire platform is complete. Chips functionalised for Hepatitis B detection are currently undergoing rigorous clinical trials. Extension of this platform for diagnosis of select pathogens is in progress,’’ he said.
The company has six global patents to its credit and many more in the pipeline.
Bigtec Labs is located at the Society of Innovation and Development at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at Bangalore, and collaborates extensively with IISc and other scientific institutions in India and a few institutions abroad.
sudha@epmltd.com