Bangladeshi researchers invent low-cost cancer detection tech

A group of Bangladeshi researchers on Wednesday said that they have invented a mechanism for detection of cancer through the blood test in less than five minutes at a cost of Tk 500, when currently cancers diagnosis is a long, costly and challenging process.

The group from the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Sylhet shared their finding at a press conference in Dhaka and said that they have applied the technology for a patent in the US and Bangladesh of invention titled ‘Method and system based on nonlinear optical characteristics of body fluids for diagnosis of neoplasia’.

Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid and University Grants Commission chairman Abdul Mannan said the much-needed simpler invention is a great achievement for the SUST and Bangladesh.

Nurul Islam Nahid said now a patient needs to spend Tk 8000 to Tk 10,000 for detection of cancer through tests those take six to seven days for providing results.

‘But with the new invention, cancer detection will require few minutes and less than Tk 500,’ he said.

‘Diagnosis of cancer using the nonlinear optics is for the first time ever in the world,’ lead researcher of group and SUST physics professor Yasmeen Haque said.

The technology enabled device will be ready within a year, she said.

Yasmeen Haque said that the phenomena of nonlinear optical phase change when a sufficiently high LASER beam is passed through the blood serum yields a characteristic nonlinearity parameter value.

This noninvasive method of obtaining blood sample leads to nonlinear optics-based methods for non-destructive quick diagnosis of cancer, she said.

The innovation is a part of the project titled ‘Innovative Biomarker Detection System Using Nonlinear Optics’ under Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project under the UGC with funds provided by the government and the World Bank.

A group of 25 researchers is working on the Tk 9-crore project since 2016.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net