Sri Seemesh Bhaskar, DST-Inspire SRF, SSSIHL, was awarded the Prestigious Dr. K. V. Rao Scientific Society Research Award 2021 at a ceremony held online. Seemesh, won the Bhoutikam Runners-up award in the Physics category, for his innovative research explorations performed at STAR Lab, CRIF, Dept. of Chemistry, SSSIHL on the topic “Hybrid Soret Nano-assembly for Ultrasensitive Surface Plasmon-Coupled Emission and Photonic Crystal-Coupled Emission Interfaces”. The award includes a prize Rs. 10,000/- and a trophy to the runner up in each category.
STAR Lab Research Scholar Awarded the Prestigious Dr. K. V. Rao Scientific Society (KVRSS) Research Award 2021
Dr. K. V. Rao Scientific Society Research award was formed in 2001 and is held annually to promote scientific research, popularize science and encourage young scientists to continue their career in basic sciences. Young researchers from all over the country below the age of 30, working in the field of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biosciences are selected for the award, based on the scrutiny and recommendations of the panel of judges (eminent scientists) after careful evaluation of research work and the presentations by the candidates in each category of allied sciences. The research work to be presented for the award should also be part of the doctoral program carried out or being carried out by the candidate.
This year the prestigious award ceremony was held in the august presence of the President, KVRSS, Mr. Anil Kumar Kutty, I.A.S and Prof. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, Chancellor of Central University of Rajasthan and NIIT University, an eminent Scientist and Ex-Chairman of ISRO for 9 long years and recipient of three highest civilian honors, The Padma Shri (1982), The Padma Bhushan (1992) and The Padma Vibhushan (2000).
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) congratulates Sri Seemesh Bhaskar for the above prestigious recognition and for making the University proud.
Link for the Dr. K. V. Rao Scientific Society program: https://www.kvrss.org/research-awards.html
YouTube link of the award being presented to Sri Seemesh Bhaskar: https://youtu.be/BdJUbbqHRw0?t=7533
A Frugal Engineering Green Chemistry Approach for Better Detection of Toxic Metal Ions
The SSSIHL Research team, led by Asst. Professor, Dr. Sai Sathish Ramamurthy, has published a new paper in ACS Applied Nano Materials that explores the use of a novel biopolymer, Lycoat®, to synthesize silver nanoparticles via a frugal disruptive approach. The augmented enhancements obtained from these nanoparticles were utilized for mobile phone-based attomolar sensing of environmentally hazardous mercury (Hg2+) ions.
Identifying the Issue
- Chemical, microwave and sonication assisted synthesis of nanoparticles have been used frequently. However, the advantages of UV light, an abundant renewable natural source, is seldom discussed which is significantly conducive for the synthesis of nanomaterials
- Metal ions in unregulated concentrations wreak havoc in the ecosystem by entering the food chain. The alarm with regard to mercury poisoning has been raised world-wide and several methodologies are adopted for detection of Hg2+ ions at extremely low concentrations for early diagnosis and environmental monitoring
- There is an urgent need of a frugal science based disruptive technology for the fabrication of nanomaterials to be used in translational applications that are rapid, low-cost and user-friendly, portraying high sensitivity and specificity
Objective of the Research
- Identifying eco-friendly and cost-effective approach for the synthesis of nanoparticles with defined geometries and anisotropy that can aid in achieving augmented fluorescence enhancements
- Improving the sensitivity and specificity of the sensor materials in comparison with the cost intensive and hazardous technologies that are currently being utilized. Sensors are extensively used in environmental health monitoring, public health control, industries and homeland security
Who should read this?
Anyone in industry, working directly or indirectly on sensor development or sensing related technologies including, security, surveillance, monitoring, environmental safety monitoring and medical technologies
Bio-Nano Inspired Anisotropic Interfaces- A Frugal Engineering Green Chemistry Approach
- The eco-friendly and biocompatible methodologies for diverse applications in nanophotonics and biomedical domains are discussed in this work
- Lycoat® is a plant derived biopolymer that complies with the European directive on food additives & USFDA and consequently is considered as a natural food ingredient. It is beneficial for use in patients (wound dressings), consumers and has found useful applications in food, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. Even though Lycoat® has been used extensively in the industries, it has so far not been explored for the green synthesis of anisotropic nanoparticles
- Three main challenges in the development of nanotechnologies have been addressed theoretically and experimentally in this work. The biosynthesized nanomaterials present: (i) non-toxic bio-inspired frugal science approach for synthesizing nanoparticles, (ii) obtaining augmented fluorescence emission enhancements using anisotropic nanoparticles, (iii) development of sensors with high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of hazardous heavy metal ions
Key Features and Benefits
- Bio-inspired synthesis route for nanoparticles
- Synthesis of anisotropic nanoparticles with defined geometries using a green synthesis nano-approach
- Bio-inspired approach in surface Plasmon-coupled emission platform by utilizing the synthesized nanofractals and nanocubes in three different SPCE interfaces- spacer, cavity and extended cavity architectures
- The multifold nanogaps generated by the nano-engineered hybrids sustain innumerable hotspots catering to attomolar sensitivity of the fluorescent dye molecule, rhodamine B
- The proposed green nanotechnology platform is useful in the sensing of heavy metals that are hazardous to the environment and human health
Impact
- A simple, cost-effective, frugal methodology is adopted to synthesize silver nanoparticles using a plant derived biopolymer- Lycoat® and applied them on a conventional existing sensor technology based on plasmonic platform
- The silver nanofractals (AgNFs) and silver nanocubes (AgNCs) synthesized here using a biocompatible Lycoat® polymer would be of immense use as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-oxidant, anticancer, and antiviral agents
- The well-known ability of the biocompatible Lycoat® polymer as films, and their ability to yield AgNFs and AgNCs (as reported here) upon simple UV exposure is being tested on different cloth materials (masks) to fight the COVID-19 pandemic
- An industry or market seeking such devices with augmented sensitivity could take forward the proposed methodology for utility in environmental safety and industrial applications
- A green approach for nano-engineering of silver nanoparticles and photonic sensor platforms that are of immense benefit for low- and middle-income countries, in resource-limited settings
- The mobile phone-based sensor platform presents a user-eco-friendly and economical detection compared to existing cost intensive spectrophotometers
Team
Sriram Rathnakumar, Seemesh Bhaskar, Aayush Rai, Darisi V. V. Saikumar, Naga Sai Visweswar Kambhampati, Venketesh Sivaramakrishnan and Sai Sathish Ramamurthy. Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh 515134, India
Paper Published in: ACS Applied Nano Materials
Title: Plasmon-Coupled Silver Nanoparticles for Mobile Phone-Based Attomolar Sensing of Mercury Ions
Read Paper Here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsanm.1c01347
Task-sharing to screen perinatal depression in resource limited setting in India: Comparison of outcomes based on screening by non-expert and expert rater
The STAR Lab, SSSIHL, has published a new article in Asian Journal of Psychiatry that presents the task sharing approach as an effective strategy for the detection of perinatal depression in rural area of South India. This study presents a synergistic outcome from the educational and medical institutions established by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Founder Chancellor, SSSIHL. This collaborative effort was carried out at Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital (SSSGH), Prasanthi Nilayam over a period of three years. The longitudinal study involved two expert doctors from the SSSGH (Prasanthi Nilayam and Whitefield), three psychiatrists (two from Schizophrenia Research Foundation, Chennai, and one from Government Medical College/Government General Hospital, Anantapur) and a biostatistician from Germany, all of whom worked continuously with the members from the STAR Lab, SSSIHL.
Study and Outcome
In this work, we have assessed the quality of perinatal depression screening by a non-expert in the context of task sharing in a rural Indian maternity service. This is a longitudinal study carried out for three years involving voluntary participation of pregnant women right from the second trimester up to 3 months post-delivery. A qualified midwife (trained by a psychiatrist and doctors from SSSGH) administered the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), a questionnaire that is widely used for identifying possible depressive symptoms in pregnant women and new mothers. With the study participants’ consent, these EPDS sessions were recorded (audio/video) in line with the approval obtained from the SSSIHL institutional ethics committee. As part of the study, these audio/video recordings were analyzed by expert psychiatrists. Several studies have suggested that task-sharing is an effective strategy to monitor perinatal depression (PND), but no study has assessed the quality of PND detection by a non-expert, in the context of task-sharing especially in a rural Indian population. This approach further addresses the shortage of mental health care professionals (MHPs) in resource limited settings, especially in low and middle income countries and promotes remote care solutions during the pandemic. Our research study findings suggest that with adequate training, in the absence of experts (psychiatrists), non-experts (midwives) can be highly effective at task-sharing implemented for screening PND.
Impact
This study has a significant impact on society, particularly in rural areas, with respect to healthcare management. Our research outcome recommends that with sufficient training, non-experts (midwives) can be effective at task-sharing, implemented for the screening of PND at clinical centers where availability of MHPs is limited. The empowerment of non-experts for the given task will also serve as an excellent alternative to address the shortage of MHPs in resource limited areas, especially in rural areas of India. This training can also provide an alternative for remote care even during the pandemic
Team
Pradeep Kumar Badiya, Sasidhar Siddabattuni, Venkatesh Srinivasan and Sai Sathish Ramamurthy
STAR Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, 515134, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Debarshi Dey
Independent Researcher, Biostatistician, Munich, 82152, Germany.
Akkamahadevi C. Hiremath
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital, Whitefield, Bangalore, 560066, India.
Raj Lakshmi Nalam
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital, Prasanthi Nilayam, 515134, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Sridhar Vaitheswaran and Aarthi Ganesh
Schizophrenia Research Foundation, Chennai 600101, Tamil Nadu, India
Yendluri Prabhakar
Department of Psychiatry, Government medical college/Government General Hospital, Anantapur, 515001, Andhra Pradesh, India
Article Published In: Asian Journal of Psychiatry
Read Article Here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dKRT6gcL74LZP
Novel Rational Nanohybrid Engineering approach to augment Sensor Technology capabilities
The STAR Lab, SSSIHL, has published a new paper in ACS Applied Nano Materials that demonstrates the use of a novel biopolymer, soluplus-mediated plasmonic nanohybrids for mobile phone-based biosensing applications. This judicious synergy of materials at nanoregime are utilized to revisit and overcome the perpetual problem of Ohmic lossy quenching in metals, thereby demonstrating excellent performance in sensing analytes of interest.
![1. SPCE experimentation](https://www.sssihl.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/1.-SPCE-experimentation-150x150.jpg)
Identifying the Issue
- Sensors are widely used in industrial processes, public health control, homeland security, forensics, environmental health monitoring.
- Photonic nanomaterials made of metallized nanoparticles are globally used for sensor technology development. However, their true potential is plagued by inevitable intrinsic Ohmic losses, that hinder the performance of any sensing platform.
- Therefore, there is a constant need for hybrid material green technologies for global market sensor industries, using nanochemistry-based biocompatible methods.
Objective of the Research
- Identifying fundamental reasons which lead to interband Ohmic losses in terms of basic chemistry and biophysics of nanomaterials.
- Finding an economically viable green technology solution to minimize/prevent the Ohmic losses and improve the performance of plasmonic materials, which in turn translates into superior efficiencies for the industries offering solutions based on sensing technologies.
- Improving the overall sensitivity and specificity of sensor materials in comparison with cost-intensive and hazardous nano-sensor techniques.
Who should read this?
Anyone in industry, working directly or indirectly on sensor development or sensing-related technologies including, security, surveillance, monitoring, environmental safety monitoring, medical technologies, and disease diagnostics. Further, this article will be extremely useful to researchers currently faced with the problem of ‘Losses in plasmonic nanomaterials.
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AgAu NanoHyrbid Engineering – A burgeoning practical solution for the problems in biosensors
- The eco-friendly and biocompatible methodologies for diverse applications in nanophotonics and biomedical domains are discussed in this work.
- Soluplus is a graft copolymer of polyvinyl caprolactam – polyvinyl acetate – polyethylene glycol. Although extensively used for improving the solubility and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs, amphiphilic chemical bi-functional properties have so far not been explored for green nanosynthesis.
- The three main long-lasting challenges in plasmonic technology development have been addressed experimentally and theoretically in this research work. The proposed hybrid materials overcome the following caveats: (i) inescapable quenching in the presence of AuNPs, (ii) chemical unsteadiness in AgNPs, and (iii) inherent Ohmic losses in metallized NPs.
Key Features and Benefits
- Use of hybrid plasmonic passages to avoid Ohmic losses.
- Experimental demonstration of dequenched and augmented SPCE enhancement.
- The multifold nanogaps generated by the nano-engineered hybrids sustain innumerable hotspots catering to the attomolar sensitivity of the SPCE reporter molecule, rhodamine B (RhB).
- The proposed green nanotechnology platform is useful in disease diagnostics for monitoring the early stages of the disease and also aid in the fabrication of smart sensor chips for use in Point-of-Care (POC) devices.
Impact
- A simple, user-friendly, cost-effective methodology presenting a state of “dequenching the quenched” phenomenon successfully addressing the decade-long issue of ‘zone of inactivity’ in plasmonics.
- The subject platform is expected to find immediate deployment for real-time POC medical diagnostics. It is strongly believed that this study presents a stepping stone to a plethora of exciting plasmonic nano-architectures and disruptive diagnostics in near future with the aid of Au-Ag-Au noble metal plasmon passage rationality.
- An industry or market seeking such devices with augmented sensitivity could take forward the proposed methodology for utility in early disease diagnostics, environmental safety, and industrial applications.
- A green approach for Nano-engineering of AgAu inter-plasmonic and photonic sensor platforms that are of immense benefit for low- and middle-income countries, in resource-limited settings.
- The mobile phone-based sensor platform presents a user-eco-friendly and economical detector compared to existing high-cost spectrophotometers.
Team
Aayush Rai, Seemesh Bhaskar, Sai Sathish Ramamurthy. STAR Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, CRIF, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh 515134, India
Paper Published In: ACS Applied Nano Materials
Read Paper Here: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.1c00841
New GraSP Engineering to Help Enhance the Performance of Sensing Technologies
The SSSIHL STAR Lab Research team, led by Asst. Professor Dr. Sai Sathish Ramamurthy, has published a new paper in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces that explores the use of a novel metal-free, graphene oxide-based photonic crystal framework (GraSP engineering) for Biosensing application. It enhances the performance of plasmonic materials and overcomes Ohmic losses in metals.
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Identifying the Issue
- Sensors are of wide-spread use in industrial processes, public health control, homeland security, safety and monitoring
- Plasmonic materials made of metal nano-architectures are world-wide used for sensor technology development. However, their performance is plagued by inevitable intrinsic Ohmic losses, that impede the performance any sensing platform.
- As a result, there is constant hunt for alternative material technology development for global market sensor industries
Objective of the Research
- Identifying the root cause which leads to Ohmic losses
- Finding a cost-effective non-metal-based solution to minimize/stop the Ohmic losses and improve the performance of plasmonic materials, which in turn translates into greater efficiencies for the industries offering solutions based on sensing technologies
- Explore the possibility of the solution aiding in improving the overall sensitivity and specificity by 3-4 times as compared to existing metal-dependent sensor techniques
Who should read this?
Anyone in the industry, working directly or indirectly on sensor development or sensing related technologies including, security, surveillance, monitoring, environmental safety monitoring, medical technologies, and disease diagnostics.
![Pattern hotspot-jpg-1200x851](https://www.sssihl.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Pattern-hotspot-jpg-1200x851-1-1024x726.jpg)
![Figure 4. Principle jpg](https://www.sssihl.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Figure-4.-Principle-jpg-scaled-1-1024x776.jpg)
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GraSP Engineering – A Eureka moment for the future of Sensing technologies
- The nanophotonic performance of the multistack was analyzed and successfully demonstrated to realize ‘graphene oxide plasmon-coupled soliton emission’ (abbreviated as GraSE) with steering/beaming emission characteristic as well as ‘graphene oxide plasmon-coupled emission’ (abbreviated as GraPE) with directional property
- Since both beaming GraSE and directional GraPE could be captured in a single platform, the combination led to the birth of GraSP emission platform
- An everyday example of soliton is a self-sustaining water bubble that maintains its shape as it moves, all the way from the bottom of the tank to the surface, in completely still water. Similar solitons transporting emitted photons in GraSP platform are successfully demonstrated in this research work for augmented sensor performance.
- GraSP can now simplify the existing surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology with enhanced performance
Key Features and Benefits
- Use of non-metal platform to avoid Ohmic loss
- GraSP improves the overall sensitivity and specificity by 3-4 times as compared to existing metal-dependent sensor techniques
- The extreme light entrapment and augmentation via hotspots from surface states and nanoscopic volumes aided in lowering the detection limit of the HuIFN-γ antigen to 1.95 pg mL−1, for superior performance in resource limited settings
- GraSP platform is useful in disease diagnostics in early stages of disease conditions and also help in the advancement of Point-of-Care (POC) devices
Impact
- A simple, user-friendly, cost-effective methodology is adopted to realize GraSP engineering with soliton-aided metal analogues and directional emission patterns on a conventional existing sensor technology based on plasmonic platform
- The subject platform is expected to find immediate deployment for real-time point-of-care medical diagnostics. It is strongly believed that this study presents a stepping stone to a plethora of exciting plasmonic architectures and disruptive diagnostics in near future.
- An industry or market seeking such devices with augmented sensitivity could take forward the proposed methodology for utility in early disease diagnostics, environmental safety and industrial applications
- GrasP is especially beneficial for low- and middle-income countries
Team
Seemesh Bhaskar, Naga Sai Visweswar Kambhampati, K. M. Ganesh, Mahesh Sharma P, Venkatesh Srinivasan, and Sai Sathish Ramamurthy. STAR Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh 515134, India.
Paper Published In: ACS Applied Matter Interfaces.
Read Paper Here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.1c01024
SSSIHL Research Fellow’s Popular Science Story Wins an AWSAR Award
“Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR)” has been an initiative by Department of Science and Technology (DST) that aims to disseminate Indian research stories among the masses in an easy to understand and interesting format to a common man.
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In order to bridge the yawning communication gap that exists at the science-society interface, Ph.D. Scholars and Post-Doctoral Fellows (PDFs) in Science and Technology (S&T) streams are encouraged to write popular science articles and to participate in a national competition. DST had received overwhelming responses from various research labs in the country, capturing and revealing the message of science in an easy-to-understand but at the same time interesting format, to connect with the masses.
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In this background, Sri Seemesh Bhaskar, DST-Inspire Research Fellow, STAR Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning has been selected to the award, winning a prize of ₹10,000/- along with a Certificate of Appreciation. A panel consisting of eminent science communicators and scientists, constituted by DST, has evaluated the entries. It is a proud moment that, in more than 5000+ participants, Sri Seemesh Bhaskar has secured a position within the top 100 for his popular science story entitled “Unity in Diversity- a Moonshot to Disruptive Innovations”, transliterated on the recently published* article: ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2020, 12, 30, 34323–34336. The award ceremony was streamed live on YouTube, Facebook, and India Science websites on National Science Day, February 28th, 2021.
For more on the Award: https://www.awsar-dst.in/results-2020
*Read the Paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.0c07515
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Research Scholar Honoured by ARCI, DST – Bags First Prize
Ms. Sai Kiran M, a doctoral research scholar with Department of Chemistry, SSSIHL, Anantapur won the first prize for her talk entitled “Self- assembled PVA -Based for Effective Defluoridation of Ground Water”* at the Science Technology Innovation Talks (STIN 2021) event, streamed on a virtual platform on 25-26 February 2021.
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Organized by the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad to commemorate the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) on National Science Day, Young Research Fellows from across India were invited to present their research work in the form of a 3-minute presentation in the area of Material Science and Engineering at STIN 2021.
A total of 68 shortlisted participants from premier Institutes like IIScs, IITs, CSIR labs, and Central universities presented their work on 25 February, 2021 to a panel of eminent professors and senior scientists, who chose the winners based on the novelty, scientific and technical content and their relevance to societal needs.
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Ms. Sai Kiran was awarded the first prize for her presentation which included prize money of 10,000 INR and a Certificate of Appreciation signed by the Chairman of the Organizing committee Dr. P.K Jain and the Director ARCI,
Dr. G. Padmanabham.
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) congratulates Ms. Sai Kiran for the above-mentioned recognition and for making the University proud.
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* Reference: Mani, Sai Kiran, Rajni Bhandari, and Anita Nehra. “Self-assembled cylindrical Zr (IV), Fe (III) and Cu (II) impregnated polyvinyl alcohol-based hydrogel beads for real-time application in fluoride removal.” Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 610 (2021): 125751. DOI:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2020.127571
Read the Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0927775720313443?via%3Dihub
Also view a news report published in 02, March 2021 Hyderabad edition of The Hindu: https://bit.ly/3soGPlj
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Langmuir publication – Femtomolar Detection of Spermidine
Noble metals such as gold and silver behave contrastively at nano-dimensions. While silver intrinsically enhances the luminescence of a fluorophore (a fluorescent chemical compound that can re-emit light upon light excitation), gold quenches the same.
In an attempt to overcome this inevitable loss in plasmon-coupled emission platform, Dr. Sai Sathish Ramamurthy, Asst. Professor, STAR Labs and Dr. S Prathap Chandran, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, SSSIHL have come up with novel hybridized plasmon engineering methodology.
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The research group have innovated a translation application using a cell phone camera to detect spermidine in aqueous samples. Further research could help realize the detection of spermidine in biological specimens as well.
Spermidine is an indispensable natural polyamine compound – found in ribosomes & living tissues, having various metabolic functions within organisms, required for maintaining cellular homeostasis in every living organism. Apart from exhibiting anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, this molecule significantly affects several biological processes including tissue regeneration, cardioprotective and neuroprotective effects, regulation of translation, cell growth and proliferation, DNA and RNA stabilization, and enzymatic modulation to name a few.
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The group have published a paper entitled: Femtomolar Detection of Spermidine using Au Decorated SiO Nanohybrid on Plasmon-Coupled Extended Cavity Nanointerface: A Smartphone based Fluorescence Dequenching approach.
Read the paper in ACS Langmuir: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b03869
#SSSIHLChemistry #SSIHLCRIF #STARlabResearch #hybridized plasmons #femtomolarsensing
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Disruptive Innovations to Lower Healthcare Costs
Prof. Govind Rao, Director, Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST) and Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA delivered a guest lecture on Disruptive Innovations to Lower Healthcare Costs at SSSIHL on 30 Jan 2020. The lecture was attended by students and faculty of the University, as well as doctors from Sri Sathya Sai Higher Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram.
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Prof. Rao highlighted the growing cost of healthcare in the United States, costing close to $4 Trillion per annum while 71% of world population lives on a $10 per capita per day income. Under these circumstances, where medicare is beyond the reach of the masses, the Center for Advanced Center Technology (CAST) has developed next generation bio-manufacturing technology with the ability to manufacture protein-based therapeutics at the point-of-care. Under Prof. Rao’s able guidance, cell-free systems have been used to produce lifesaving biologics in under 8 hours. His talk centered around the application of non-invasive sensors, minimizing pain and removing infection risks especially for vulnerable infants in neonatal care.
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He also spoke about the development of low-cost cardboard incubators for new born babies that is currently in clinical trials in India. Overall, he highlighted the application of sensor technology in reducing healthcare costs and reducing disparity by making disruptive and innovative low-cost devices for use in low resource settings.
They young students and researchers greatly benefitted from the talk and had a chance to interact with him after the lecture.
https://cast.umbc.edu/people/govind/
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03455-x
#SSSIHLResearch #SSSIHL
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Amalgamation of plasmonic and photonic crystal-based sensing technologies
Dr. Sai Sathish Ramamurthy, Asst. Professor, STAR Lab, Dept. of Chemistry, SSSIHL in collaboration with Dr. Shivakiran Bhaktha B N, Photonics Lab, IIT Kharagpur and alumnus SSSIHL, have been working on amalgamation of plasmonic and photonic crystal-based sensing technologies.
The novelty of this work is the creation of a highly precise platform for the detection (1 femtomolar) of environmentally hazardous aluminium ions in drinking water. In common parlance, it is not just the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack, but even the eye of the needle. This is done using nanocavities; ‘hot-spots’ as they are called.
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Under their supervision, Sri Seemesh Bhaskar, Dr. S Venkatesh (SSSIHL) and Mrs. Pratyusha Das (IIT Kharagpur), have theoretically and experimentally investigated electromagnetic modes supported by photonic crystals in different nano-architectures.
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Read the paper published in ACS The Journal of Physical Chemistry C: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b11092
#SSSIHLResearch #SSSIHLChemistry #photoniccrystal#femtomolarsensing