Speaker : Dr. RoopaManjunatha

She has received her PhD degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, in the area of biomedical instrumentation in 2014; she received M.E degree with the specialization in Instrumentation and Control from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi in 2008. She has worked as a Post-doctoral fellow in the  Centre of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology- Delhi from 2015 to 2017. Her PhD work has been reported by media because of its novelty and usefulness. She has published many research articles in peer reviewed journals and proceedings. Her main research interest are mainly focused in the area of biomedical sensors, transdermal drug delivery systems especially using iontophoresis and sonophoresis techniques.

This talk was conducted on 8^th September 2017 and it was mainly focused on Biomedical sensors as a measurand in the human body. The speaker mainly spoke about the types of biomedical sensors as invasive, non-invasive, active and passive. She also focused on the piezoelectric sensing principle and the types of piezoelectric effect as direct and converse. She also spoke about the various advantages of the piezoelectric principle. The talk included the importance of PVDF based on its frequency range and its properties such as biocompatible, chemically inert and non-toxic as well as the medical applications of PVDF. She spoke about the use of PVDF sensors interlinked with human respiration, keeping in consideration the respiratory monitoring techniques like the chest and abdomen movement and the airflow sensing.

The talk also included information regarding the detection techniques such as the subjective methods and the objective methods. She added points regarding the VAS-Visual Analog Scale and the NOSE-Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation and the design of the nasal sensors. There was a discussion about the optimization of the PVDF on the nasal sensor dimensions based on the theoretical as well as the experimental outputs. She spoke about the signal conditioning hardware system for the PVDF sensors based on the sensor module and the DAQ module.

Her initial development was a PVDF sensor mounted on a spectacle frame, but this method increased the number of disadvantages and so the next development was the mounting on a head phone which involved optimization of the position or distance of the PVDF sensor including the facts such as the pressure calibration setup for the PVDF sensor.

Clinical results showed that the patients were comfortable with the improvised design and the sensor performance was satisfactory when compared against a standard measuring device. By adding wireless communication systems and protocols a patient can be monitored by remote health care centers.