Dr. Ram Chepyala, Ph.D., Email & Phone Number

India

India

Ireland

Developed centrifugal (CD) microfluidics-based solutions for decentralized bio-analytical testing | Cell Capture | Immunoassays | Medical Diagnostics | Micro-nano fabrication My role as a researcher was to design, fabricate, and develop centrifugal microfluidic systems and study the fluidic behavior in the confined geometries on the disc. I applied fundamental concepts from chemical engineering, reaction and transport phenomena to study the fluidics, reactions, transport processes and designed the discs for performing the biological assays to meet the high TRLs.I applied Quality-by-Design approach to develop fluidic technologies to meet high technology readiness levels (TRLs) to make commercially viable products.

Mumbai Area, India

Project: Development of Cellulose based microfluidic platform technologies for point of care diagnosticsSalient features:> Fabricated Cellulose based microfluidic chips> Re-engineered cellulose strips to demonstrate immunoassay independent of wicking pads, absorbing pads, nanoparticles etc.,> Developed a device to read signal without the need of image analysis> Tuned reaction and transport of biological fluids on cellulose strips> Performed remobilization studies of dry and liquid reagents on cellulose strips> Tuned fluidic behavior to maximize the rate of mass transfer> Tuned antibody-antigen interactions on cellulose strips> Optimized fluid-wall interactions and interfacial mechanisms> Performed optical and electrochemical characterizationOutput:1) Developed alpha level proof of concept prototype and an electronic reader2) Achieved limit of detection of 3 ng/ml on a sequential delivery single cellulose strip3) Secured extension funding for Tata Center, IIT Bombay4) Grant proposal selected from IMPRINT-2017 award for transnational workCore principles used:I used chemical engineering principles, reaction and transport phenomena along with working knowledge from other disciplines such as biochemistry, protein interactions, enzymatic reactions to translate the idea into final product.

United States

Project: Development of "Hydrogel-Cellulose based biosensor Platforms for detection of nucleic acids, proteins and miRNAs". Skills and Experience on:> Synthesis of hydrogels and strategies > Patterning hydrogels on various substrates> Soft-lithography and fabrication techniques> Development of Nucleic acid assay and detection schemes> Optical microscopic techniques> Image analysis > Reaction and transport of analyses in/out of polymers synthesized on various substrates> Engineering designing of devices and demonstration of assayCore principles used:Chemical engineering, reaction engineering, and transport phenomena to study the polymerization process, analyte diffusion (mass transfer), enzymatic reactions.Output:1) Established State of the art nucleic acid and micro/nano fabrication facility at IITBombay2) Technology successfully transferred to IIT Bombay, India3) Successfully trained and empowered the manpower to handle the development operations at IIT Bombay4) Patent disclosed at MIT and US patent application is under preparation

Involved in "Developing Si based microfluidic immunosensors for early detection of prostate cancer by electrochemical methods". The project involved:1) The technical studies and proof of concept 2) Development of working prototype3) Experiments in microfluidic sensors to study fluid flow, biofunctionalization, and sensing4) Design and development of optimized process conditions for immunosensorsOutcomes:1) Developed EIS based microfluidic immunosensor2) Developed supporting devices/tools/accessories for microfluidic immunosensors3) Filed couple of Indian Patents on immunosensor along with supporting devices

Kanpur

The doctoral work focused on studying the surface engineering and fluid flow characteristics in microfluidic immunosensors. The knowledge generated has been used in engineering the sensor surfaces based on the number densities, proper orientations of the molecules, along with the choice of the appropriate linker molecules. In addition, the knowledge of the surface energies and flow characteristics of the polar and apolar interactions along with the electrolyte interactions of the solvent molecules on the antigen-antibody binding in microfluidic immunosensors have been utilized to design and develop highly sensitive, efficient sensors for detection of cancer biomarker Prostate specific antigen (PSA) and other biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and BSA.