Covid-19 – The KGP Chronicle

IIT Kharagpur invented an automatic supplemental oxygen therapy device for treating COVID-19 and COPD patients at home

A team of researchers and doctor from IIT Kharagpur has devised an automatic oxygen therapy system as home solution for the patients with respiratory dysfunction including Covid infected patients.

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur has developed an Android application based a new medical device named “Senflex: Oxigenio”, for providing supplemental oxygen therapy to the COVID-19 patients at home.

The system comprises of an electronic flow controller, a pulse oximeter and an Android app. The device would also be suitable for the patients with any other respiratory dysfunction, requiring long term oxygen therapy (LTOT), such as patients diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD), Asthma etc.

The use of supplemental oxygen is an essential requirement to the patients affected in COVID-19 as the disease predominantly affects the pulmonary system leading to hypoxemia for most of the patients. Although oxygen therapy is lifesaving, it may be associated with deleterious effects when administered for prolonged periods at high concentrations.

“It has become necessary to maintain the prescribed oxygen flow rate per minute as per the physicians’ advice. This essentially depends upon the oxygen saturation levels and other physical conditions of the patient. Keeping this in mind, we have developed an automatic oxygen therapy device that controls the oxygen flow rate automatically as per the oxygen saturation level (SPO2) of the patient in a specific time”, said Prof Dipak Kumar Goswami, the lead researcher and the Professor of the Department of Physics at IIT Kharagpur.

At Organic Electronics Laboratory (ORELA), Department of Physics, IIT Kharagpur, along with Prof. Goswami and his research team (SenFlex), Tanmay Ghoshal from the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, Pranab Lodh and Suman Mitra, both from the School of Nanoscience and Technology as well as Dr Mousam Manna from B C Roy Technology Hospital, developed an algorithm to decide the oxygen flow rate, based on the data collected from the history of oxygen use by the COVID-19 patients, who were under oxygen support during their treatment.

“The system has the flexibility for the physicians to decide the initial parameters as per the current patient conditions including any co-morbidity if any, or patients with COPD or Asthma to start the automatic flow of oxygen”, added Dr Mousam Manna.

The flow controller is connected wirelessly to an android app through a Bluetooth connection for remote monitoring and control. The system can be switched to manual operation at any point of time from automatic mode, where the flow rate can be altered manually. The researchers have filled a patent for the innovation.

Media contact: Prof. Dipak Kumar Goswami, Professor, Department of Physics, IIT Kharagpur

Email: dipak@phy.iitkgp.ac.in, Ph no.: +91-3222-283818

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

Email: media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282004

Alumni have done a Good Samaritan Act

IIT Kharagpur Foundation, USA has bestowed twenty oxygen concentrators of 5 LPM capacity (by Philips Respironics Company) to IIT Kharagpur.

The oxygen concentrators have been delivered to B C Roy Technology Hospital with the hope of dealing successfully with the immense oxygen crisis for Covid-19 affected patients.

“I will never be able to thank Ron Gupta and all our alumni enough for such a generous venture. Not many people have the privilege to associate with someone as caring and understanding as them. Their sincere effort in resolving the crisis of oxygen is much appreciated. We hope to make the best out of it and also to hear more from them in near future”, mentioned Professor Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director of IIT Kharagpur.

With the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc in India, there is huge demand oxygen concentrator, as they are considered to be life-saving for patients with breathing difficulties. Oxygen concentrators can help Covid-19 patients to get the required oxygen when the oxygen levels drop and cylinders’ supply is scarce.

“Our sincere gratitude to those people who have been Good Samaritan in these tough times. Words cannot describe how truly thankful we are to the IIT Kharagpur Foundation, USA and all our alumni who are associated with this noble initiative for standing with the institute and the community during this unprecedented time. Their help and support in dealing with this pandemic would be and shall be an inspiration for others”, said Prof Jayanta Mukhopadhyay, Dean Outreach of IIT Kharagpur.

(Inputs from Rituparna Chakraborty, Branding Executive)

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

Email: media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282004

Global Launch of COVIRAP – Nucleic acid-based Point-of-Care Diagnostic Device for COVID-19 and beyond

Highlights

A generic step-wise isothermal nucleic acid-based testing technology for the rapid diagnostics of pathogenic infections including but not limited to SARS-CoV-2 in individuals.
Nasal Swab/ Saliva to result from integration in about 45 minutes in a highly affordable pre-programmable portable device developed by the team, without requiring any separate facility for RNA extraction.
Kit supplemented with a free smartphone app to facilitate unambiguous results interpretation and automated dissemination to the patients. The test may be performed by unskilled personnel outside the controlled lab with no intermediate manual intervention between sample loading and result dissemination.
Patents filed in the India, USA, several other countries, and the foreign filing license has been granted recently.
The unique trade-off between the high scientific standards of advanced molecular diagnostics with the elegance of common rapid tests for underserved community care.

IIT Kharagpur has successfully commercialized its flagship healthcare product – COVIRAP – the novel diagnostic technology for infectious diseases including COVID-19 and beyond. The product developed by lead researchers Professor Suman Chakraborty, Dr. Arindam Mondal and their research group has been licensed for commercialization to the Rapid Diagnostic Group of Companies, India and Bramerton Holdings LLC, USA.

Bramerton Holdings has signed a record deal for securing global rights for commercially disseminating the COVIRAP technology developed at IIT Kharagpur in various geographical locations outside the territory of the Indian subcontinent. Rapid Diagnostic has also initiated adapting the COVIRAP technology platform for COVID-19 and tuberculosis, in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur.

The research team has now developed a more advanced version of COVIRAP using a step-wise isothermal nucleic acid testing technology for the rapid diagnostics of pathogenic infections including SARS-CoV-2 in individuals. The COVID-19 diagnostic test can be conducted directly from human swab samples in the portable device developed by the team, without requiring any separate facility for RNA extraction. The results can be made available within 45 minutes of obtaining the patient sample. The kit has also been also supplemented with a free smartphone app to facilitate unambiguous results interpretation and automated dissemination to the patients.

Recognizing the impact of the COVIRAP technology in meeting the long-standing demands of high-quality community-level testing, IIT Kharagpur has further initiated the procedure of deploying this product for on-campus use to detect possible novel coronavirus infection.

“The above move has taken place at a critical juncture when the recent spurt in COVID-19 infection, commonly known as the second wave, has been threatening to spread more rapidly than ever before. Moreover, the commercialization of COVIRAP will initiate complete indigenization and availability of a large range of affordable healthcare products in the Indian market as well as deep trenches of a large global market that is literally starving for the need of such technology. COVIRAP promises its reach to the grass-root level in catering to the needs of the last person of the society,” opined Director Prof. V K Tewari.

For use of the test, the nasal, as well as oral swab samples, are diluted in a solution and tested in the portable device by mixing with reagents that are supplied in a pre-mixed form. The test runs automatically in the device without intermediate manual intervention.

“We have conducted field trials for running the tests with the help of unskilled personnel outside controlled laboratory ambiance, with no compromise in quality of the test outcome. The entire sample-to-result procedure may be conducted in the portable device, virtually anywhere and with minimal training thus making the process of testing more effective for community-level screening and early detection of any emerging infection outbreak. This may act as a key to arrest community level spreading of the infection,” remarked Prof. Suman Chakraborty.

Nucleic acid-based point-of-care tests such as COVIRAP usher great promises as viable alternatives for rapid testing of pathogenic infections at low cost in resource-limited settings.

“The COVIRAP test overcomes several potential bottlenecks faced by similar other tests in the past, for instance, poor performance outside highly controlled laboratory and lack of simple, affordable, yet generic and universal instrument that may be used for home-based testing and community healthcare for a wide variety of infectious and non-infectious diseases,” he explained.

Patents centered around this innovation have been filed in the India, USA, several other countries, in the name of IIT Kharagpur. The foreign filing license has been granted recently. Commercialization and use in the USA and Europe under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) process are currently underway. Both the Rapid Diagnostic Group in India and Bramerton Holdings in the USA, in association with IIT Kharagpur, have already identified the key resources towards establishing the reagent supply chain, kit and device manufacturing in entirety under a ‘Make in India’ initiative with complete import substitution. In addition to licensing COVIRAP to these companies, the inventors at IIT Kharagpur will receive further support via industrial consultancy project mode for further advancement of the product.

The envisaged trade-off between the high scientific standards of advanced molecular diagnostics with the elegance of common rapid tests appears to be the future of infectious disease detection and management. A platform technology capable to be inclusive of all such disease detections where nucleic acid-based tests may be deployed, COVIRAP is not just a one-time solution targeted specifically to COVID-19 but will remain imperative in global disease management overall years to come.

For more information contact:

Research & Product: Prof. Suman Chakraborty, suman@mech.iitkgp.ac.in; Media: media@iitkgp.ac.in; VeenaNxt: info@VeenaNxt.com

Follow IIT Kharagpur on Facebook/Twitter: @IITKgp Instagram: @iit.kgp

About IIT Kharagpur: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is a higher educational institute known globally for its graduate output and affordable technology innovations. Set up in 1951 in a detention camp as an Institute of National Importance, the Institute is ranked among the top five in India and has been awarded Institute of Eminence by the Govt. of India in 2019. The key areas of research of IIT Kharagpur are Affordable Healthcare Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing, Advanced Transportation, Precision Agriculture and Food Technology, Cyberphysical Systems, Ecology & Environment, Mining, Water Resources and Architecture. The Institute is engaged in several international and national mission projects and ranks significantly in research output including 50-100 IPR filed annually and about 2000 research publications in top journals and conferences. At present, the Institute has about 750 full-time equivalent faculty members, more than 14000 students and over 70000 Alumni. For more information visit: www.iitkgp.ac.in

About COVIRAP Commercial Partners:

Rapid Diagnostic Group of Companies: Founded by Dr. Bharat Jindal, a medical doctor by profession, the companies were established in 1995 with the sole aim of providing quality and leading-edge products and services to the Indian Healthcare ecosystem. By now, they have established an extensive national network of 22 offices and 4,000 distributors, enabling outreach to customers at under-resourced locations where the infrastructure of high-end diagnostic tests remains non-existent. In response to the pandemic situation, they came into the production of COVID IgG ELISA kits with a joint venture of ICMR/NIV, Rapid tests, PPE kits, Masks and few more products which can help the Nation. Boosted by their own manufacturing facility of diagnostic tests based in Delhi, they envision bringing the COVIRAP technology to the Indian Market at the earliest. As a pioneer in the industry, their mission is to provide timely, high-quality diagnostic kits, diagnostic instruments, point of care and critical care instruments at an affordable price. They have also initiated adapting the COVIRAP technology platform for TB diagnostics, in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur.

Bramerton Holdings: Bramerton Holdings is a subsidiary of Riverfort Global Capital (ww.riverfort.com). The Riverfort Group comprises a London-based investment advisor regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and a number of regulated investment funds and investment companies. In addition, the Riverfort group is an investor in the Sure Vally Ventures (SVV) venture capital fund which invests in early-stage technology companies and includes both private sector and governmental investors. The Riverfort Group and its founders have arranged and advised the funding of over 100 companies deploying over 500 million USD in capital. Bramerton Holdings is launching the special purpose vehicle for the global development and distribution of the COVIRAP technology via its subsidiary called VeenaNxt Limited. [Contact at info@VeenaNxt.com]

The Bramerton Holdings leadership team includes Chairman Brian Kinane, (MBA London & Columbia Business Schools) and BA (Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin) having more than 12 years investment fund management experience and 15 years entrepreneurial, corporate & operational experience across global technology giants; Gytis Martinkus, Managing Director & CFO, an experienced financial professional having qualified long-term association with the KPMG; Subhendu K Misra, Managing Director US Markets, MBA (Columbia Business School, USA) and BS and MS (in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA), having over 20 years of experience at the intersection of life sciences, technology, and innovation, involving the top global pharmaceutical and medical devices companies across the US, Europe, and Japan; and Mark Wheeler, Chief Legal Officer, a qualified practicing solicitor holding, by training LLB in law (University of Bristol) and LPC (University of Law, Guildford branch), having over 10 years of experience as a qualified solicitor, and named as a key individual in small cap capital markets and up to £ 50m mergers and acquisitions transactions in the Legal 500, 2020 edition.The VeenaNxt Limited board of directors includes Richard Morgan and Peter Bains as a strategic advisor. Richard Morgan is on the VeenaNxt board of directors. Richard co-founded Celgene in 1987 and was on the board for 20 years, serving as Chairman and CEO before recruiting a new CEO. He remained on the board for a further 10 years, serving on the Executive Committee and chairing the Compensation Committee until his retirement in 2008. He was the Chairman of Quidel Corp, a NASDAQ listed company, and Polarean. Richard was also a Managing Partner at Wolfensohn Partners LP which followed 15 years at Schroders plc, then a leading British merchant bank. In 1982 he completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. Peter Bains is a strategic advisor to VeenaNxt. Peter is currently CBO and Executive Director of Mina Therapeutics, a privately held UK biotech company as well as Non Executive Director of Mereo BioPharma Group plc, a NASDAQ listed company and Indivior, a FTSE listed company. Peter was the Chief Executive Officer of Syngene International, which he successfully took public on the Mumbai Exchanges in 2015. Peter has over three decades of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, which included a 23-year career at GlaxoSmithKline, among other roles he was also a member of various GSK teams with strategic, operations, marketing, and business development responsibilities and a Member of the Board of Directors of GSK India. He also served as the Representative Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Sosei Group Corporation, a Tokyo listed biotech company. Their team profile for the exclusive launch of COVIRAP in the global market is boosted further by executive scientist Dr. Gopal Pattanayak, Staff Scientist at the University of Chicago in the life sciences space, as well as Dr. Ajaya K. Mohanty, an internationally recognized technology professional having played a leading role in developing private and public sector partnerships in scientific research, education and IT, and having advised and consulted on the National Supercomputing Mission and (Digital) Infrastructure in India and recipient of an award bestowed by the President of India in 2017.

With You, We Are, As You Were: Year-long Relief Campaign by Alumni for Pandemic Affected Temporary Workers

Highlights:

IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA launched the fundraising campaign from alumni in USA, India and rest of the world in April 2020 and it is ongoing
IIT Kharagpur has been organizing regular camps for the distribution of relief materials funded by the alumni benefitting over a half a lakh people
Temporary workers (including laundry cleaners, domestic helps, temporary hostel workers, rickshaw pullers etc.) and other economically affected poor people who are dependent on the IIT Kharagpur campus for their livelihood were provided relief materials

IIT Kharagpur has reached the milestone of the first anniversary of the relief campaign which the Institute of Eminence has been running for people from the lowest rungs of the society who were economically affected due to COVID-19. Over this one year, the Institute and its alumni through the IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA have supported more than half a lakh people residing in villages around the campus and were dependent on the campus for their livelihood.

Considering the employment quandary faced by various temporary workers in April 2020, the Institute and the Foundation launched the first-of-its-kind public outreach campaign by a higher educational institution. The campaign was inspired by distinguished alumnus and philanthropist Dr. Vinod Gupta who made significant contributions towards the campaign along with Foundation President Ranbir (Ron) Gupta, Arjun Malhotra, R N Mukhija, Rakesh Gupta along with close to fifteen hundred alumni from across the globe playing the good samaritan for the affected people.

Talking about the campaign Ron Gupta said, “We felt particularly concerned about the non-salaried people living around the IIT Kharagpur campus. At the IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA, we raised about five hundred thousand dollars to help more than ten thousand workers with food supplies and even cash in some instances so that they could survive the pandemic. We truly appreciate the leadership at IIT Kharagpur. We Kgpians are what we are due to IIT Kharagpur and these workers like ward boys, rickshaw pullers played a very important role during our education.”

During the year-long course of this initiative, many alumni had shared heartwarming stories about the temporary workers; everyone seemed to have a memory of a time that they were helped out by the workers and these stories were never a struggle to remember. They could recall them like they happened yesterday.

A statement shared by the IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA mentions, “Even alumni who may not have been normally involved in the past were keen to help out how they could. A real sense of community could be observed. Everyone coming together to help the greater good, those that had helped them during their formative years and their time at IIT Kharagpur.”

While IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA managed the fundraising campaign to support about 10500 needy workers and their families, IIT Kharagpur led the humongous logistics to distribute relief materials. The relief recipients included daily wagers, ward boys in halls, dhobi, small tea shops, rickshaw pullers, domestic help, construction workers, etc. The Institute also supported the sellers of perishable items who suffered losses after a fire incident last summer.

“Our self-interests are best served when we serve them in the spirit of pluralism. As we talk of these people being dependent on the campus, the campus also depends on them, they are part of our fraternity. It is vital for us to support every member of our fraternity in whatsoever way we can. It only makes our lives better in the long run. I am thankful to my fellow Kgpians whose altruism has made this initiative possible along with the relentless service of every emergency worker at IIT Kharagpur,” said Director Prof. V K Tewari.

The next phase of distribution is scheduled in May. Considering the increasing spread of the pandemic, the affected community earnestly looks forward to the support provided under the IIT Kharagpur COVID-19 Alumni Relief Campaign while the Institute and the Foundation continue to reach out to the alumni worldwide.

About IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA:

The IITKGP Foundation, USA is tax-exempt [Under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) in the United State of America] non-governmental organization set up by the alumni of IIT Kharagpur in the USA in 2002 to oversee alumni related matters such as fundraising, networking, outreach etc. The Foundation raises funds for various activities at IIT Kharagpur each year as well as helps promote the news, achievements and activities of the Institute. The Foundation has a reach of close 25000 alumni and is instrumental in engaging these alumni through various campaigns and newsletter. IITKGP Foundation, USA is headed by Ranbir (Ron) Gupta at present. For more information please visit: https://www.iitkgpfoundation.org

For more information contact: Erin L. Moran, Executive Director, IIT Kharagpur Foundation USA, Email: emoran@iitkgpfoundation.org

Press Contact: media@iitkgp.ac.in

Follow us on social media: Facebook / Twitter: @IITKgp Instagram: @iit.kgp

Authored by: Erin Moran, IITKGP Foundation USA, Sanjeev Kumar, Office of Alumni Affairs, Shreyoshi Ghosh, Executive Officer, IIT Kharagpur

Photo courtesy: Arnab Moitra

SARS-CoV-2 Alters Lung Cell Metabolism – IIT Kharagpur Research Model Shows, Model Could Help Therapeutics

Model development by IIT Kharagpur researchers predicting alteration in metabolic reaction rates of lung cells post SARS-CoV-2 infection
The research would lead to a better understanding of metabolic reprogramming and aid the development of better therapeutics to deal with the viral pandemics

COVID-19 pandemic has been posing unprecedented threats to the whole world. Among its many perils is the cellular metabolic system of those who tested positive. Coronaviruses are known to hijack the metabolism of lung cells. This threat makes it absolutely imperative to understand the mechanism of metabolic reprogramming of host human cells by SARS-CoV-2.

Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have, for the first time, have reported a method to find an alteration in metabolic reaction rates inside lung cells when they are affected by virus/pathogens. As the method finds and reports critical aspects of physiology, which are affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection, it will enable the discovery of therapeutic targets.

“We have used the gene expression of normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBE) infected with SARS-CoV-2 along with the macromolecular make-up of the virus to create this integrated genome-scale metabolic model. The growth rate predicted by the model showed a very high agreement with experimentally and clinically reported effects of SARS-CoV-2,” said Dr. Amit Ghosh, Assistant Professor, School of Energy Science & Engineering, IIT Kharagpur.

Scientists have been trying to extract information from the human genome sequences for the past two decades to gather a better understanding of genetic disorders thus allowing us to penetrate deeper into the fabric of life and enable better therapeutics.

Talking about this new development researcher Piyush Nanda (B.Tech.-M.Tech Dual Degree, Biotechnology, 2020, currently a graduate student at Harvard University) explained, “In this model development, we have explored how metabolism works and how it is altered in diseases. Our work involved measuring how the tens of thousands or more complex chemical reactions change when biological cells are intruded on by an uninvited guest like SARS-CoV-2, which would help improve our understanding of diseases.”

Using the power of genomics the researchers posed the operation of reactions as a set of mathematical equations and solved it to obtain which reactions are altered in the cells when SARS-CoV-2 infects a person.

“A better understanding of metabolic reprogramming would aid in the design of better therapeutics to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic,” remarked Piyush.

Further, the researchers have identified pathways like fatty acid synthesis and lipid metabolism that can be targeted by novel drugs. This model is based on genome-scale differential flux analysis (GS-DFA) in context-specific metabolic models.

“Analysis of the rates of all intercellular metabolic reactions in disease biology is opening up new avenues for therapeutic interventions. Numerous diseases lead to metabolic pathway alterations and it is becoming increasingly important to be able to quantify the difference under normal and diseased conditions. Using our method we have observed the alterations between diseased and normal metabolic states in the case of SARS-CoV-2 infection which have been proven using human patients data. The model will allow researchers to understand the wide spectrum of viruses that manipulate human metabolism and will help to design better therapeutics in COVID-19 treatment leveraging the power of systems biology,” added Dr. Ghosh.

In the case of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the researchers predict that lipid metabolism particularly fatty acid oxidation, cholesterol biosynthesis and beta-oxidation cycle along with arachidonic acid metabolism to be most affected which was confirmed with clinical metabolomics studies.

The research was published in the international journal PLOS Computational Biology

Cite paper: Article Source: Genome Scale-Differential Flux Analysis reveals deregulation of lung cell metabolism on SARS-CoV-2 infection Nanda P, Ghosh A (2021) Genome Scale-Differential Flux Analysis reveals deregulation of lung cell metabolism on SARS-CoV-2 infection. PLOS Computational Biology 17(4): e1008860. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008860

For more information contact:

Dr. Amit Ghosh, Assistant Professor, School of Energy Science and Engineering, IIT Kharagpur,

E: amitghosh@iitkgp.ac.in; Mobile: +91-9635844538

Piyush Nanda, B.Tech.-M.Tech Dual Degree, 2020, Dept. of Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur, Graduate Student, Harvard University,

E: piyush.wcame@gmail.com

Media Contact: media@iitkgp.ac.in

Media Coverage:

India Today	Financial Express	Times of India
Economic Times	Dainik Jagran	Yahoo News
Firstpost	Bio Spectrum	ET Healthworld
Data Quest	India Blooms	ABP Education
Outlook	NDTV	Devdiscourse
Indian Express COVID Updates

IIT Kharagpur Researchers Develop Novel Technology for COVID-19 Rapid Test

The entire rapid test can be conducted in an ultra-low-cost portable device with the test results available in a customized smartphone application for dissemination within 1 hour without requiring manual interpretation. All of this at a cost of around ₹ 400/- per test.

Photo: Arnab Moitra, Graphics: Suman Sutradhar

In a unique effort, researchers at IIT Kharagpur have innovated a novel portable rapid diagnostic device to detect COVID-19 infection. This first-of-its-kind device will bring the testing for COVID-19 out from the walls of expensive laboratories and RT-PCR machines and enable testing at affordable costs for the under-served community across the world.

This entire test with the extracted RNA from the patient saliva samples can be conducted in an ultra-low-cost portable enclosure as an alternative to specialized laboratory equipment. The same portable unit can be used for a large number of tests, on mere replacement of the paper cartridge after each test. The device has been proven to produce no false result with remarkable accuracy and sensitivity compatible to standard RT-PCR tests. This test has an unprecedented low cost of less than ₹ 400/- per test, taking all components of expenses and business model into account.

Considering the impending outbreak of COVID-19 infection at progressively more geographical locations with the anticipated increment in number of affected personnel at a dramatic rate, there is an emergent need to run large numbers of reliable diagnostic tests at affordable cost and minimal infrastructural support, for monitoring the early stages of progression of the disease when many of the infected persons do not exhibit discernible symptoms of infection.

However, the testing technologies currently under use are highly expensive, despite the innovations in low-cost testing kits as the actual testing machinery cost remains high. Further testing mechanism has logistical issues due to the infrastructural requirement of the testing centres. A team of researchers from IIT Kharagpur, contemplating on the challenge, realized the alternative cannot be new innovations for the existing detection systems such as testing kits and PCR machines but a disruptive approach leading to a new technology and testing process being innovated without sacrificing the scientific rigor and medically acceptable high standards of the test results.

Prof. Suman Chakraborty (L), Prof. Arindam Mondal (R)

Prof. Suman Chakraborty from the Mechanical Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur, and Dr. Arindam Mondal from the School of Bio Science, IIT Kharagpur, came up with the concept of a portable non-invasive rapid detection test for COVID-19 thus taking the testing mechanism to a whole new level. The technology essentially deploys a disposable simple paper-strip for chemical analysis and visualization of results.

The device is capable of conducting the detection of the viral genomic RNA in an ultra-low-cost portable enclosure as an alternative to a highly expensive RT-PCR machine. The same portable unit can be used for a large number of tests, on mere replacement of the paper cartridge after each test. The new device has been designed to be usable at locations with extremely poor resources in an uncontrolled environment, catering the needs of the underserved population. Moreover, it can be operated by minimally trained personnel, precluding the needs for skilled technicians.

The research team has successfully validated the detection procedure, taking time of approximately 60 minutes to run each test. This obviates the need of an expensive PCR machine, by means of a set of innovations such as a portable automated pre-programmable temperature control unit for the genomic analysis, coupled with a specially functionalized detection unit on a simple strip of paper, and a customized smartphone application for dissemination of test results without requiring manual interpretation. While the Institute can produce the testing kit up to a certain scale, patent licensing will facilitate commercialization opportunities for medical technology companies.

Under the guidance of the Professors, the device design and fabrication work has been spearheaded by doctoral student Mr. Sujay Kumar Biswas, and the bio-analytical protocol has been standardized by doctoral students Mr. Saptarshi Banerjee and Ms. Nandita Kedia. Dr. Aditya Bandopahyay has further helped in developing the thermal unit.

Highlighting the need for such equipment, Prof. Suman Chakraborty, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, said, “In assessing the utility of a specific method of disease detection, there is a common failure to recognize that the cost of the test kit may not turn out to be the most critical factor from the viewpoint of affordable diagnosis, unlike what is being commonly portrayed. Rather, the greater challenge is complete elimination of the need for any specialized infrastructure and ensuring the possibility of conducting tests at large scale at low cost without compromised accuracy. In that light, the RT-PCR based tests suffer from a compelling constraint of requiring an elaborate laboratory-infrastructure and support system including the operational and maintenance cost, to perform the test. The alternative existing approaches to these tests, on the other hand, are either invasive (blood tests) and non-indicative of early stage of development of the infection, or dependent on reagents that are extremely unstable and cannot be implemented in resource-limited settings.”

The equipment developed by IIT Kharagpur Researchers will cost about ₹ 2,000 if a pilot facility is used. Use of a large-scale commercial facility will further reduce with increase in the production scale. This compares very favourably with the RT PCR machine costing ₹ 15 Lakh.

Further, Dr. Arindam Mondal, Assistant Professor, School of Bio Science, IIT Kharagpur, added, “The unique portable device developed by the IIT Kharagpur researchers has not only been validated for the diagnostics of COVID-19, but also been designed to be capable of detecting any other kind of RNA virus by following the same generic procedure. The impact of this, therefore, is long lasting, empowered by the capability of detecting unforeseen viral pandemics in the coming years that may potentially endanger human lives time and again.”

The results from this new technology have been strictly validated by following all established laboratory controls against the benchmarked results obtained from RT-PCR machine, using synthetic viral RNA. The synthetic RNA is exactly the same replicate of the viral RNA extracted from infected patients, as per accepted scientific benchmarking procedure, and is used for validating laboratory tests to avoid undue contamination and danger due to spreading of infection while handling sensitive body-fluid samples

Prof. Suman Chakraborty (L), Prof. V K Tewari, Director (Right)

The project received financial support from the Institute in late April as Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur, decided to set up a fund to support COVID-19 related research and product development.

“This unique innovation is aligned with the Institutional vision to develop high-end healthcare technologies that can be afforded by the ailing common people all around the globe at virtually no cost, and is likely to make significant breakthrough in global viral pandemic management”, opined Director Prof. V K Tewari.

The Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India has also been reaching out to all technical institutions regarding ongoing research work to help address India’s increasing need to augment testing facilities.

IIT Kharagpur is ready for commercialization of the product. Any corporate or start-up can approach the Institute for technology licensing and commercial scale of production. The Institute is open to tie-ups, including a mode where the government intervenes with regards to meeting our low-cost healthcare objective for the under-served community as a policy measure to protect the interest of public health amidst the pandemic situation, instead of merely developing a strong profit-oriented model.

Contacts:

Project Information: Prof. Suman Chakraborty, suman@mech.iitkgp.ac.in; Prof. Arindam Mondal, arindam.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in

Institute Related: Prof. B N Singh, registrar@hijli.iitkgp.ac.in; Media Outreach: Shreyoshi Ghosh, shreyoshi@adm.iitkgp.ac.in

For more information visit: iitkgp.ac.in. More News: https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/

Follow IIT Kharagpur on Social Media: Facebook: @IIT.Kgp; Twitter: @IITKgp; Instagram: @iit.kgp

IIT Kharagpur Start-up Launches Low-cost Surgical Face Masks

IIT Kharagpur incubated start-up has developed P3 layered surgical face masks. Anigiene Technical Textiles, led by a group of researchers at the Institute’s Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park, has developed the product keeping in mind the affordability by India’s low income groups as well as the quality requirement by those working in the healthcare sector.

The company has completed the field testing using local volunteers with encouraging feedback. The target for a full commercial production is expected to be one lakh units per month and to be priced at ₹10/-.

Watch Video

“We have kept in mind typically the needs of the people who are economically challenged while strictly avoiding any compromise on the part of health protection. Our product also caters to the health workers,” said Dr. Satyabrata Ghosh, Research Associate at the Department of Biotechnology at IIT Kharagpur and Director of Anigiene Technical Textiles.

Recently WHO has confirmed that eliminating COVID-19 pandemic would be a long haul. Thus with the health mandate to wear facial masks, it is expected that over the next several months its demand would remain exceptionally high. Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur has been emphasising on the role of technical institutions like IIT Kharagpur in addressing the health and hygiene, and other technological needs to combat COVID-19.

“Addressing basic needs of the public and making them available at affordable prices is critical. Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park at IIT Kharagpur is catering to this need by incubating and facilitating start-ups. I congratulate the researchers who have come forward with this product and contributed to keeping the country safe,” he said.

The startup is conducting end-to-end business operations at the facility allotted to them at STEP, the incubation hub of IIT Kharagpur. The infrastructure support is from faculty mentors at IIT Kharagpur and Focus Incubation Centre sponsored by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, located in STEP IIT Kharagpur.

“We are conducting further experiments on using natural fibres such as fruit peels for fully biodegradable masks,” remarked Anigiene Director Dr. Ghosh.

Contacts:

Project Information: Dr. Satyabrata Ghosh, satyabrataghosh23@gmail.com

Institute Related: Prof. B N Singh, registrar@hijli.iitkgp.ac.in;

Media Outreach: Shreyoshi Ghosh, shreyoshi@adm.iitkgp.ac.in;

More News:: https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/;

Follow IIT Kharagpur on Social Media: Facebook:@IIT.Kgp; Twitter: @IITKgp; Instagram: @iit.kgp

IIT Kharagpur develops COVID-19 Predictive Model for Decision-making

The study also predicts that new cases of the disease will continue until at least the end of September 2020.

India Today Hindustan Times Times of India Economic Times (Health) Business Insider News 18 Outlook The New Indian Express Down to Earth NDTV The Hindu India Blooms Telangana Today Lokmat Navbharat Times Dainik Jagran

IIT Kharagpur has developed a prediction system to help predict the future spread of COVID-19 and help decision making in health-care, industry, economy, and even academics. Prof. Abhijit Das from the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering has developed a logistic model which can be used to fit the available daily counts of infection cases.

The data used for the predictions pertain to the entire country, and for the eight most affected states in the country including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh.

Talking about the model development Prof. Das said, “The model uses only the daily infection counts available in the public domain without accessing sensitive information pertaining to medical records or contact-tracing data for a large fraction of the population. Despite that, the prediction curves show remarkably good fitting with the past data, and can be used for future planning.”

Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director IIT Kharagpur said, “People have been living in an uncertain black box without the knowledge about which way life is going to turn and how to plan their activities. A study like this based on a clear statistical model will enable them to understand and plan their wayforward. The model though experimental could prove to be helpful in planning our academic semester and policy matters related to the Institute and the campus under the current circumstances.”

However, the predictions for the future change quite rapidly with time. There are several potential factors for this such as different mobility patterns of Indian people in different phases of lockdown, large-scale migration of laborers, change in diagnostic facilities, evolution of the coronavirus, and so on. These are well beyond the control of the logistic model or any other currently known prediction model for that matter.

Although the implementation fails to generate stable and reliable predictions at the moment, the trend clearly reveals that the disease is going to stay in the country for many more months.

“Our study indicates that India is yet to achieve a steady pattern in the spread of the disease. It is unlikely to get rid of COVID-19 before the end of September 2020,” remarked Prof. Das.

He further added, “This does not leave us in a region of comfort, but the reality has to be accepted, and appropriate plans must be chalked out to address all the issues associated with the outbreak of the pandemic.”

Download Report

Contacts:

Project Information: abhij@cse.iitkgp.ac.in; Institute Related: Prof. B N Singh, registrar@hijli.iitkgp.ac.in; Media Outreach: Shreyoshi Ghosh, shreyoshi@adm.iitkgp.ac.in; More News:: https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/; Follow IIT Kharagpur on Social Media: Facebook:@IIT.Kgp; Twitter: @IITKgp; Instagram: @iit.kgp

Cleaning Automation Post COVID-19

IIT Kharagpur Develops Mechanised Mobile Broom for Cleaning Large Public Spaces

Business Insider Outlook Times Now India Today News18 Hindi The Week Navbharat Times Republic World

Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed a vehicle-based mechanized broom to clean the 2100 acre campus area. The technology has been successfully tested across the campus during the present lockdown situation.

Named Sammarjak MB 4.2 this technology consists of two mechanized brooms in the front and one side, running on battery and solar power. It has the flexibility to move the dirt on roads in angular directions or in up and down direction to fit various road conditions.

Prof. Virendra K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur, has planned to deploy the vehicle to be used on campus as the administration expects to face a shortage of sanitation staff even after lockdown opens. Talking about the current labour situation on the campus, he said,

“We had restricted entry of a significant section of the workforce to our campus since late March. Further we have reassigned some cleaning staff towards sanitizing the key areas in the campus which are frequented by the residents. But considering our campus size we needed a substantial number of sanitation workers and this gap is being filled by automatizing the brooming system across all the pathways.”

He congratulated Prof. Mihir Sarangi who led this frugal innovation to keep the campus clean during the lockdown period.

“The system is highly flexible to suit Indian road conditions including those in semi-urban areas. Being an indigenously built technology we kept in mind the steep curves and undulations of Indian streets and made the brooms adjustable vertically and horizontally. Further we have added solar power charging in addition to the battery to keep the running cost low,” said Prof. Sarangi.

He is hoping this would enable organizations and public bodies, with budget constraints, to adopt the system.

Another key issue being addressed by this system is that of automation of public services. With the restrictions on movement of labourers and their uncertain health conditions, engagement of 30 per cent workforce to maintain social distancing norms as recommended by the government, cleaning and sanitizing large areas are becoming a concern for various public bodies and organizations. IIT Kharagpur envisions automation as the solution to address this challenge.

“To avoid any disruption or slowing down of productivity due to less labourers, it is crucial for our society to make a firm move towards automation, be it industries or the regular walk of life such as community maintenance mechanisms. This has been a reality in the developed nations and I do not see a reason why it cannot be ours,” remarked Director Tewari.

When asked whether such automation would reduce job opportunities, Director Tewari cited how the introduction of computers has revolutionized Indian job sector and the opportunities automation would create through new avenues and ancillary industries engaged in indigenous production.

Kgp Cares: Student Outreach

Campus Lockdown: How IIT KGP is facilitating students on-campus and beyond

Business Insider Outlook Times of India

IIT Kharagpur has recently sent about 35 students to their hometown in Kolkata. This is one among the several student outreach initiatives taken by the Institute administration in the past two months while the campus adopted social distancing followed by the nation wide lockdown.

Classes at the Institute have gone digital since March 17 in the process of following social distancing. Following the lockdown announcement on March 24, all classes were moved to web-conferencing mode, video lectures of NPTEL, or through email. The academic calendar was also revised with the final semester examination scheduled in July and Autumn semester in August end. Further the Moodle platform was made accessible from outside the Institute LAN for submission of assignments by students from outside the Institute LAN. A crucial part of academic programmes are internships which have been rearranged either in online form with corporate houses or at the Institute. Pre-final year students were offered to opt for internships at any department in the Institute on topics of their choice and as per project availability as part of the ongoing COVID19 e-Learning initiatives. But the initiatives undertaken by the Institute were not only limited to academics.

A quick look at the social media handles of Director of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. V K Tewari would give a glimpse of student outreach activities undertaken by the Institute extensively in the past few weeks. The Director has visited all the halls of residence and discussed with the students regarding their lifestyle and extracurricular activities while remaining indoors and maintaining social distancing.

“We take pride at IIT KGP for being a home away from home. I have visited my family members at the halls of residence for the past few weeks. We talked about how they are spending their time during lockdown, how to reduce the risk of infection, minimise social gathering and to ensure social distancing and hygiene norms just as we are doing during these visits. And together in our applause we said heartfilled thanks to the security staff, healthcare professionals, mess and sanitation workers and other essential service providers,” said Prof. Tewari.

Director interacting with girl students at a hall of residence

He has also been reaching out to the students and campus community through his social media handle and encouraging them to learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and pursue activities for which otherwise people fall short of time.

Taking the cue from the Director, many students have been keeping themselves busy in activities. Srijita Pal, PhD scholar at the Dept. of Mathematics has joined her friends to learn ballet to continue with a healthy lifestyle. She talked about several students in her hall of residence who are trying their cooking skills and it is not because of any disruption in mess services.

“Mess food continues to be usual but engaging in activities with a friend is helping us sail through the lockdown period,” she said.

Students leaving for Kolkata on IIT buses

In another initiative, the Institute has been arranging for students to return to their hometowns. At present there are more than 5000 students residing on the campus. Out of them close to 700 students have consented to go home. In the first installment, the Institute has arranged for two buses to drop 35 students to their hometown Kolkata. Further plans are being made to send the other students to their home locations across the country. Students opting to go home have been advised to stay in self-isolation for two weeks.

Talking about the initiative, Kinjal Bhattacharyya, research scholar at the Dept. of Civil Engineering said, “My decision to move to Kolkata was to support my parents in daily activities during this time of crisis. The Institute was kind to do all the arrangements from medical checkups, getting permission and arranging hassle-free travel with safe and sanitized institute buses. I will always be indebted to the institute for taking the initiative.”

His parents Supratip Bhattacharyya and Anuradha Bhattacharyya expressed their gratitude to the IIT KGP security and administration.

“Our son felt completely safe and kept us very well-assured during his stay in the campus. Also we are really happy that he is back now to support us, kudos to the IIT KGP team for taking all the efforts to arrange safe and secure travel of my ward,” they said.

Aniruddha Saha at his hall of residence at IIT KGP

However, the majority of the students have decided to stay back at the campus. While Mouli Majumdar from the Dept. of Architecture and Regional Planning stayed back to complete her PhD project work, Aniruddha Saha from the Dept of Mechanical Engineering, who hails from Barrackpore felt that the campus would be a safer place to stay and would continue with his B.Tech. internship during the summer recess. The students did not have much to complain about except that they were missing their batchmates.

Ankita Gupta who recently reached her home at Basirhat said, “We were looked after quite well with the messes being open and interactions in small groups while maintaining social distancing norms. But being a 1st year M.Sc. student with my friends already away from the campus, I felt being at home would be happier though campus was safer.”

Deepak Verma attending an interactive session by the Director

The Institute has also distributed facial masks to students and made available necessary facilities well within residential boundaries. However, they are also allowed to move outside the hostel for 30-40 minutes, particularly for procuring essential items from the on-campus market. The halls are being sanitized as well at regular intervals with the service staff properly geared with PPEs.

The Institute has been maintaining regular contact with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India through various platforms and apprising them about student outreach initiatives. The Ministry has set up a web-portal YUKTI (Young India Combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation) wherein centrally funded higher educational institutions are to submit reports regarding the efforts and initiatives which have been taken in the wake of COVID-19.

Director, Prof. Tewari thanked Hon’ble Union HRD Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” for his initiative to connect with individual institutions to discuss the wellbeing of the students and campus community and motivate the leadership to continue with their responsibilities and work during these challenging times.