X

Design for Biosecurity

By Prof. Mainak Das   |   IIT Kanpur
Learners enrolled: 640   |  Exam registration: 195
ABOUT THE COURSE:
Biosecurity and bioterrorism are of prominent global concern, considering their profound impact on agriculture, animal production, human health, and the economy. There is a significant thrust on designing and developing more efficient sensors to detect bioterrorism agents. The present course aims to understand sensor systems' design, architecture, and efficiency to identify these agents.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Bio-Design, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering

PREREQUISITES: High school with science

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Biomedical devices, Biosensor, Biowarfare and Bioterrorism solutions
Summary
Course Status : Completed
Course Type : Elective
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Biological Sciences & Bioengineering
  • Bioengineering
Credit Points : 3
Level : Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date : 22 Jul 2024
End Date : 11 Oct 2024
Enrollment Ends : 05 Aug 2024
Exam Registration Ends : 16 Aug 2024
Exam Date : 27 Oct 2024 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.


Page Visits



Course layout

Week 1 : Challenges of biosecurity
  • Agriculture Security
  • Livestock production
  • Human health 
  • Pandemics 
  • Bioterrorism

Week 2 : Need for economic sensors to meet the emerging threats of biosecurity 
  • Case study for Filoviruses (Ebola, Marburg) sensor
  • Case study for Bacillus anthracis (Anthrax) sensor 
  • Case study of botulism toxin
  • Case study of insulin

Week 3 : Design of electrochemical sensors
  • Galvanic cells
  • Nernst equation
  • Equilibrium constant
  • Cells as a chemical probe
  • Concepts of E0 and E0’

Week 4 : Electrode design and printing of electrodes
  • Selection of electrode materials for rapid sensing
  • Bio-inspired electrode materials 

Week 5 : Electrode design and printing of electrodes
  • Processing of electrode materials
  • Printing of electrodes 
  • Design challenges of electrode integration in protective technical textiles and defence gears

Week 6 : Electrodes, potentiometry
  • Reference electrode 
  • Indicator electrode

Week 7 : Electrodes, potentiometry
  • Junction potential
  • Ion-selective electrode
  • Solid-state chemical sensors (Fields effect transistors)
 
Week 8 : Redox titrations in electrochemical sensors
  • Redox titration curves
  • Determination of endpoints
  • The oxidation state of the analyte

Week 9 : Electro-analytical methods
  • Basic electrolysis
  • Electro-gravimetric analysis

Week 10 : Electro-analytical methods
  • Coulometry
  • Amperometry
  • Voltammetry

Week 11 : Designing human-on-a-chip platforms for toxin detection, neurocomputing, robotics, and rehabilitation
  • Concepts of whole cell biosensors
  • Neuro-technology
  • Action potential shape analysis in toxin detection & role of voltage gating molecules
  • Micro-electrode arrays
  • Field effect transistors 

Week 12 : Designing of a biosecurity facility
  • Infrastructure
  • Instrumentation
  • Sample handling, quarantine protocols, biosafety levels, personnel safety and security
  • In-house fabrication, printing, and micro-machining facility
  • Data analysis & storage

Books and references

1. The Problems of Biological Weapons, Milton Leitenberg, Swedish National Defence College, Department of Security and Strategic Studies, ISBN: 9789189683273, 9189683277 (2004)

2. Biotechnology Research in an Age of Terrorism, Committee on Research Standards and Practices to Prevent the Destructive Application of Biotechnology, National Academic Press, ISBN: 9780309089777, 0309089778 (2004)

3. Popular Reading: A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them, Neil Bradbury, St. Martin's Press, ISBN-10: 1250270758 (2022)

4. Popular Reading: Hot Zone, Richard Preston, Anchor, ISBN: 0-385-47956-5 (1994)

5. Measurement, Instrumentation, and Sensors Handbook, Electromagnetic, Optical, Radiation, Chemical, and Biomedical Measurement, Volume 2, Compilers: Halit Eren, John G. Webster; CRC Press (2017)

6. Principles of Instrumental Analysis, Douglas A Skoog, James Holler, Stanley R Crouch, ISBN: 9781337468039, 1337468037 (2017)

7. Instrumentation, Franklyn W Kirk & Nicholas R Rimboi, American Technical Society, ISBN: 9780826934208, 082693420X (1966)

8. Quantitative Chemical Analysis (Edition 8), Daniel C. Harris, Freeman Palgrave Macmillan International Edition, ISBN- 13: 978-1-4292-1815-3 (2010)

9. A Textbook of Quantitative Inorganic Analysis including elementary Instrumental Analysis (Edition 3), Arthur I Vogel, The English Language Book Society & Longmans, Green & Co Ltd (1961)

10. The electrochemical detection of bioterrorism agents: a review of the detection, diagnostics, and implementation of sensors in biosafety programs for Class A bioweapons, Connor O Brien, Kathleen Varty, Anna Ignaszak, Microsystems & Nanoengineering, Volume 7, Article Number: 16 (2021)

11. Nanoelectronics & Nanosystems, From Transistors to Molecular & Quantum Devices, Karl Goes, Peter Glosekotter, Jan Dienstuhl, Springer, ISBN: 3-540-40443-0 (2004)

12. Enabling Technologies for Cultured Neural Networks, Volume 1, Editors: David A. Stenger, Thomas M. McKenna, ISBN: 9780126659702, 0126659702 (1994)

13. Nanobioelectronics - for Electronics, Biology, and Medicine, Editors: Andreas Offenhausser, Andreas Offenhäusser, Ross Rinaldi, Springer, ISBN: 9780387094595, 0387094598 (1979)

Instructor bio

Prof. Mainak Das

IIT Kanpur
Professor Mainak Das is an educator and researcher in sustainable materials and design. He is a trained agriculturist, dairy cattle physiologist, bioengineer, material chemist, and bio-designer. Professor Das has extensively designed futuristic, sustainable agricultural, green energy, physiology, and sensor systems for twenty-five years. He and his scientific group have discovered that nano iron pyrite seed and root treatment results in increased yield in a wide range of grains (wheat, rice), pulses (chickpea), vegetables (spinach, carrot, beetroot, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower), spices (chili, fenugreek, onion), oilseed (mustard, sesamum), fodder (alfalfa) and floral (marigold) crops. It is a robust breakthrough in nano-agriculture and has tremendous potential to increase agricultural yield sustainably with minimal additional input. This discovery is an avenue to cut down on synthetic fertilizers and reduce the expenditure on farming. Earlier, Professor Das discovered that natural fibers like silk and hair have the potential to generate electricity from waste heat.

Along with these, his group is a pioneer in developing supercapacitors from natural sources for energy storage applications. From 2000-2010, Prof Das worked on various US government projects (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation) to develop drug discovery platforms for spinal cord/ brain damage. Following up on this work, he has worked with India's defense on developing nanomedicine for soldiers stationed at high altitudes with low pressure and low oxygen tension- a condition termed hypobaric-hypoxia. Prof. Das's MS thesis is screening the health of dairy cattle, while his doctoral thesis is on developing drug-screening platforms. He has graduated eight Ph.D. students, five master’s in technology/ Master's in Design students, and aided many bachelor's students. Prof Das is instrumental in offering global online courses through the Indian government's National Programme on Technology-enhanced Learning (NPTEL) portal. He has procured significant funding from the Government of India for research and technology development.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: 
27 October 2024 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kanpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team


MHRD logo Swayam logo

DOWNLOAD APP

Goto google play store

FOLLOW US