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dc.contributor.advisorGorthi, Sai Siva
dc.contributor.advisorToley, Bhushan J
dc.contributor.authorPoorna, Rajas
dc.date.accessioned2022-04-13T05:26:56Z
dc.date.available2022-04-13T05:26:56Z
dc.date.submitted2020
dc.identifier.urihttps://etd.iisc.ac.in/handle/2005/5686
dc.description.abstractThe Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is one of the most sensitive and specific diagnostic tools available today. Yet, it stands out of reach for many vulnerable populations because commercial solutions are expensive, bulky, and require a steady electrical connection. The vast majority of designs that attempt to fill in this gap use Peltier elements for heating and cooling. In this work, I develop a mechanism that promises the same benefits, but without the drawbacks: optical heating. Peltier elements are easy to use, have no moving parts, and are widely available, but suffer from a critical flaw: energy inefficiency. This is because they cannot directly deliver heat to a 10μL drop of reagent: they need extra scaffolding, such as a thermal block, to conduct the heat. Optical heating can sidestep this by directly heating a tiny chamber that holds the drop, minimising wasted heat. Commercially available LEDs with 65% radiant efficiency, coupled with highly absorbing inks (>99% absorption) promise extremely high efficiencies with correspondingly long battery life, but in this dissertation I demonstrate that even generic high-power LEDs combined with black permanent marker from the local stationery store are efficient enough to do the job. The bulk of my work has focused on developing a framework for a device that can be realised with no moving parts, no optics, and cheap, widely available components, materials, and processes. With this apparatus, I demonstrate heating and cooling rates of 11 and 8°C/s respectively, permitting ultrafast PCR operation, bringing the time required for a full 35-cycle PCR (with a 3 min hot-start and 2 min final elongation) down from an hour to only 15 minutes. Fast thermal cycling is only a part of the task at hand. Ensuring that an ultrafast PCR diagnostic assay works with the device requires further tuning of the device and work with the chemistries. The final sections of this work outline a variety of paths forward, towards realising a working ultrafast PCR device, ultrafast qPCR, and increasing the throughput of the device to more than 1 sample at a time.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNNetra Project jointly funded by MEITY and DST, BIRAC through IKP Knowledge Park as part of "Grand Challenges Exploration (GCE) India" granten_US
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rightsI grant Indian Institute of Science the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now hereafter known. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertationen_US
dc.subjectPolymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)en_US
dc.subjectPoint-of-care (PoC)en_US
dc.subjectDiagnosticsen_US
dc.subjectUltrafast PCRen_US
dc.subject.classificationResearch Subject Categories::TECHNOLOGYen_US
dc.titleA Platform for Handheld Ultrafast PCRen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.degree.nameMSen_US
dc.degree.levelMastersen_US
dc.degree.grantorIndian Institute of Scienceen_US
dc.degree.disciplineFaculty of Scienceen_US


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