PHOTONIC SENSING SYSTEM FOR EARLY & RAPID DETECTION OF VIRUS AND BACTERIA. PART 2 OF 3

Research and Invention of New Science. Journey So Far…….. Photonic Sensing Technologies 

CATS is a Research and Photonic Development and invention company. We observe, infer and create knowledge using path breaking new science on photonic sensing technology.

?These technologies are indigenously developed. With more than 20 man years of diligent R&D, CATS has developed cutting edge multipurpose sensors by using laser (light) as medium for multifunctional applications like: - 

?Environment monitoring (Pollution {AIR, Water, Land}, Weather, Hydrodynamic signatures at Sea).

?Machines & Structures (Conditions & Safety of Machines and Structure health Monitoring).

?Security, Surveillance, Eaves Dropping (Anti Stealth, Intrusion detection, Disaster Management).

After successfully developing above solution we focused and concentrated on Human Health and diagnosis. This successfully resulted in following outcome: -

?Exhaled breath Analysis: - Initiated for Detecting Early stage Pneumonia amongst infants.

?Hospital Acquired Infection: - For detecting bacteria in air.

?Detecting of contamination and bacteria in Packed drinking water.

Said so, we have developed a Concept note on COVID-19 for real time identification and early stage detection using portable and simple to use, wearable device.

Dr. VSN Rao Tatavarti invented unique Photonic Sensing Solution, hence the breath analyzer is branded as Dr. T.

Breath analysis is a promising field with great potential for non-invasive diagnosis of a number of disease states. Analysis of the concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath with an acceptable accuracy are assessed by means of using analytical techniques with high sensitivity, accuracy, precision, low response time, and low detection limit, which are desirable characteristics for the detection of VOCs in human breath. 

Accurate detection of specific VOCs in exhaled breath, known as biomarkers or breath fingerprinting, can provide essential information for the diagnosis of specific diseases. Exhaled breath contains thousands of chemical compounds that can signal health issues. Scientists are developing tests to diagnose a growing list of disease based on breath.  Some diseases – and the clues that come out of your mouth.

Objective

?Can we detect Covid-19 (Corona virus) on real time / instantaneously?

?Can we detect without swab and non-invasive methods?

?Can a system be developed to be used by no wise and need no learning curve?

?Can the system be portable, inexpensive and easy to use and deploy immediately?

? Can the system have low life-cycle cost, precise, stable & long-term operation?

?Can we Screen many people in shortest of time?

?Can this be scalable to be deployed at point of care worldwide? 

?Can a single system perform diagnostic test for major known diseases?

?Can the same diagnostic hardware or kit be quickly brought to use for any such pandemic virus threats in future ?  

Functional Objectives

Breath is an obvious matrix for analysis of VOCs, as the VOCs are generated within the body, travel around the body via the blood and then they can cross the alveolar interface and appear in exhaled breath, being measured at trace concentrations in the parts-per-million by volume (ppmv) and parts-per-billion by volume (ppbv) levels or lower. Although the trace compounds produced in the oral cavity do not necessarily enter the blood stream, they do appear on exhaled breath. Dr T. analyzes the concentrations of VOCs in breath with an accuracy and can provide an indicator of metabolic status, allowing a distinction between healthy and diseased states. Thus, these techniques have the potential to detect diseases in their early stages, non?invasively and painlessly.

Our innovative, two-pronged redundant diagnostic approach involves determination of :-

The laser scatter position and intensity (based on Rayleigh Scattering principles) in an exhaled breath sample to determine the presence of established biomarkers (bacterial and non-bacterial), as well as respiratory rate;

?      Breath analysis is a promising field with great potential for non-invasive diagnosis of a number of disease states.

?      Analysis of the concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath with an acceptable accuracy are assessed by means of using analytical techniques with high sensitivity, accuracy, precision, low response time, and low detection limit, which are desirable characteristics for the detection of VOCs in human breath. 

?      Accurate detection of specific VOCs in exhaled breath, known as biomarkers or breath fingerprinting, can provide essential information for the diagnosis of specific diseases.

?      Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Metabolites found in a person’s breath can indicate probability of infection, including Coronavirus Disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) or the resulting disease, pneumonia or tuberculosis. 

Current Status and Past Performance

·        Earlier work in air quality monitoring has resulted in the development of a real time, low cost portable system (patent pending) using similar principles by monitoring the optical back scatter from air molecules / atom (with or without aerosols) in a given volume of sample. Hence, we are confident to detect optical scatter in a given volume of sample on real time basis, even when the size and concentrations are very small. We, therefore, propose to identify host response biomarkers for differentiation of bacterial as well as non-bacterial causes of any disease, by monitoring and parameterizing the Rayleigh scattered laser beam intensity and deflection characteristics for healthy and infected breath samples.

·        Capturing the values of VOC and other Gases in Parts per billion of given volume for monitoring air quality. Also trials performed in qualifying and quantifying various bacteria in Air exp. for hospital Acquired infecting by using one laser beam. 

·        Experiments and trials done in collaboration with University of Georgia US for identifying compounds of nitric oxide out of exhaled breath of an infant for diagnosing early stage pneumonia.  

Major Break-through in Microbial Identification. (currently under last phase of research)

to be continued............ Part 3 of (3)