Shantikumar Nair, Ph.D.
Professor & Director, Amrita Center for Nanosciences & Molecular Medicine, Amrita University, India
Spatially Distributed and Hierarchical Nanomaterials in Biotechnology
Although nano materials are well investigated in biotechnology in their zero-, one- and two-dimensional forms, three-dimensional nanomaterials are relatively less investigated for their biological applications. Three dimensional nano materials are much more complex with several structural and hierarchical variables controlling their mechanical, chemical and biological functionality. In this talk examples are given of some complex three dimensional systems including, scaffolds, aggregates, fabrics and membranes. Essentially three types of hierarchies are considered: one-dimensional hierarchy, two-dimensional hierarchy and three-dimensional hierarchy each giving rise to unique behaviors.
Satheesh Babu T. G., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Sciences, School of Engineering, Amrita University, Coimbatore, India
Nanomaterials for ‘enzyme-free’ biosensing
Enzyme based sensors have many draw backs such as poor storage stability, easily affected by the change in pH and temperature and involves complicated enzyme immobilization procedures. To address this limitation, an alternative approach without the use of enzyme, “non-enzymatic” has been tried recently. Choosing the right catalyst for direct electrochemical oxidation / reduction of a target molecule is the key step in the fabrication of non-enzymatic sensors.
Non-enzymatic sensors for glucose, creatinine, vitamins and cholesterol are fabricated using different nanomaterials, such as nanotubes, nanowires and nanoparticles of copper oxide, titanium dioxide, tantalum oxide, platinum, gold and graphenes. These sensors selectively catalyse the targeted analyte with very high sensitivity. These nanomaterials based sensors combat the drawbacks of enzymatic sensors.
Arathy R and Binoy B Nair
PC based heart sound monitoring system
Heart diseases caused by disorders of the heart and blood vessels, are world’s largest killers. Early detection and monitoring of heart abnormalities is essential for diagnosis and effective treatment of heart diseases. Severalmethodologies are used for screening and diagnosing heart diseases. They are auscultation, electrocardiogram (ECG), echo-cardiogram, ultrasound etc. The effectiveness and applicability of all these diagnostic methods are highly dependent on the equipment cost and size as well as skill of the physician. This paper presents the design and development of a low cost portable wireless/tubeless digital stethoscope which can be used by the physician for monitoring the patient from a distance. The stethoscope system interfaces to a PC and is also capable of analyzing the heart sounds and identifying abnormalities in the heart sound and its classification. Storage of heart sound for later analysis is also possible.This advanced functionality increases the physician’s diagnostic capability, and such a PCG is not still available in most hospitals. Acoustic stethoscope can be changed into a digital stethoscope by inserting an electric capacity microphone into its diaphragm (Wang, Chen and Samjin, 2009).