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Anand Ambily Rajendran

PhD Programme: Technologies for Nanosystems, Bioengineering and Energy
Research group: NEPHOSYS – Nanoelectronic and Photonic Systems
Supervisor: Beatriz Prieto-Simón 

Bio

Anand completed his integrated Masters (BS-MS 5 year dual-degree) in chemistry from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, India in 2017. He started his first research project on "Study of graphene and its derivatives" under Prof Sulabha Kulkarni at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, India in 2014. From there on he worked on ''Graphene quantum dots for metal ion sensing'' (also with Prof Sulabha Kulkarni) followed by ''Surface modifications of metal ferrites nanoparticles'' with Prof. B L V Prasad, at National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, India in 2015. His summer internship 2016, was in Tokyo, Japan at Hosei University with Prof. Kazuyuki Takai on "Host-Guest Interaction of Graphene". In 2017, as a research intern at University of South Australia (Future Industries Institute, Adelaide, Australia), as a part of his Master Thesis project, he worked on the development of a disposable amperometric immunosensor for the detection of illicit drugs such as marijuana and methamphetamine in saliva with Dr. Beatriz Prieto Simon and Prof. Nico Voelcker.

Project: Bio-inspired nanochannel platforms for the detection of pathogens in the early stages of blood stream infections (BSI)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that more than 30 million people worldwide are affected by sepsis (a serious blood stream infection) and causing around 6 million deaths every year. It is of utmost importance to therfore direct early treatment in order to have an appropriate diagnostic, indicating whether bacteria, viruses or fungi are the cause of blood stream infections (BSIs). Delayed treatment is associated with increase in sepsis related mortality and thus clinicians tend to use broad-spectrum antimicrobials especially for the immunocompromised patients, contributing to the emergence of drug-resistant super bugs. New approaches for early detection and treatment in the context of BSIs can result in guided antimicrobial use (reducing the emergence of drug resistance). The main objective of this project is to design, fabricate and use bio-inspired nanochannel platform to allow sequential detection of target analytes required to solve intricated research questions. Thus, developing a biosensor based on these nanochannel platform is a crucial step to prescribing the correct antibiotic and hence preventing anti-microbial resistance in the process.

Outreach activities

  • European Researchers’ Night 2019: “El grafè: un material meravellós”.

International secondment

  • University College London, UK. 3 months (2022).

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