IIT Guwahati establishes ICMR-DHR CoE for Biomedical Device and Diagnostics Innovation and Commercialisation

IIT Guwahati has established an ICMR-DHR Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Biomedical Device and Diagnostics Innovation and Commercialisation, focussing on development of technologies to cater the needs of the last-mile population, a statement from the institute said.

The CoE is currently situated at the Centre of Nanotechnology and Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology of IIT Guwahati, added the statement.

It also said that this multi-disciplinary initiative, also in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of Government of India wherein professors, researchers, entrepreneurs, doctors, and students from multiple departments join hands under a single umbrella to inculcate research and innovation in the domain of healthcare innovation. The initiative has been led by the Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Biosciences and Bioengineering, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, and Design and Mathematics, among others.

Further, as per the statement, the key objectives of the ICMR Mission Secretariat at IIT Guwahati include the following:

Ø Detect biomarkers using microfluidic and semiconductor nanobiosensors to detect various Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as Chronic Kidney Disorder (CKD), post-diabetic complications, liver or pancreatic malfunctions, cardiac illnesses and Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs).

Ø Develop frugal Point-of-Care (PoC) diagnostic devices for the collection, storage, security and analysis of the data specific to rural India.

Ø Develop three indigenous products in the domain of healthcare that can be commercially successful in the near future

Ø Innovate indigenous alternatives to healthcare devices (such as auto-analysers and semi-auto analysers) imported from other countries under the Government of India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat  initiative.

Further, speaking about how this Centre could have a vital impact in rural healthcare in the statement, Professor TG Sitharam added, “The center is envisioned to excel in the frugal innovations related to biomedical devices and develop a unique academia-industry model for the product development related to the med-tech innovation in the country. The translational innovations proposed in the centre are expected to cater the societal needs related to the diagnostics and healthcare delivery, especially in the rural India. The technologies innovated may also spur import substitution to materialize the dream of Make-in-India and Atmanirbhar Bharat. ”

In addition, the statement also mentioned about the key outcomes envisaged from this centre, which are as follows:

Ø An array of frugal PoC diagnostic devices

Ø A few pilot-scale digital health kiosks catering to the digital healthcare to the rural population

Ø An array of new inventions and innovations targetting the societal needs of the country

Ø Import substitution and development of Indian technologies for the healthcare problems related to India.