Mysore :

Rajiv Ranjan, a Junior Research Fellow at the Mysore-based CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, has bagged the 2014 Gandhian Young Technological Innovations Award.

He won the award for designing bioluminescence based “simple tool for detection of hazardous materials and sanitary condition at rural level.”

The award is instituted by SRISTI (The Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions).

Ranjan received the award from eminent scientist Padma Bhushan Dr. R. A. Mashelkar at a function held in Ahmedabad recently.

Using Rajiv Ranjan’s invention, presence of very low levels of pollutants like mercury, cadmium, arsenic and 2-4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (a remnant of pesticides) can be detected. Within half-an-hour the device can show the presence of up to 2 ppm of mercury, 4 ppm of arsenic, 16 ppm of cadmium and 100 ppm of 2-4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Besides, it can also detect presence of 100 cfu (colony forming units) per ml of bacteria in samples of food, milk and fruit juice.

The device has been designed using a marine luminescent bacterium and luciferin extracted from a new kind of firefly. For details, contact A. S. K. V. S. Sharma on Ph: 0821-2515910.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / April 24th, 2014