My Research Focus

The why's, how's of science has always enthralled me to its fullest. I have always desired to pursue a career that provides opportunities and challenges to learn continuously and to evolve myself through a creative environment and put my skills to best use for betterment of science and humanity in general. Working in a Biosensors lab has introduced me to a spectrum of fields ranging from Electrochemistry to Microbiology and a plethora of other areas of advanced research. My current research is an amalgamation of fields like Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Dynamic Simulations, Electrochemiluminescence, Fluorescence. I work on cardiac biosensors with an aim to develop diagnostic strategies which has a potential to cater to people in various walks of life with different social and economic backdrops.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality all-round the globe. More people die of CVDs than any other cause which makes up to 31% deaths in 2015(WHO Report). There are reports that 24.8% of all deaths in India in the last decade was due to CVDs. A recent investigation by Calvin Ke et al. observed the increasing trend of CVDs in both rural and urban India. The primary reason for death due to CVD is because of Myocardial Infarction (MI) in both developing and developed economies. More than 75% of deaths due to CVDs are in developing countries. The mechanism of an MI often involves the complete blockage of a coronary artery caused by a rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque. The onset of symptoms in myocardial infarction is usually gradual, over several minutes, and rarely instantaneous. It is estimated that one billion cardiac cells are lost in a typical MI. The conventional methods for diagnosis require sophisticated instruments, lacks warranted diagnostic ability and is often time-consuming. The emergence of cardiac biomarkers specifically cardiac troponins into the scene in the late nineties ensured an increase in diagnostic accuracy. But the other aspects were left untouched. Regan et al. (Jan 2003) reported the first immunosensor for AMI detecting the presence of cardiac troponin I (cTnI). Till date, more than a hundred papers have been published. A few of them have also been introduced into the market which has annihilated the duration for detection to a great extent. The biosensors in the market have issues like the cost, shelf life, sensitivity, stability and a few others.