Scaling up, stability testing and product testing of blood glucose strips

Ongoing Project Project Team: Department of Bio-Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Colombo

Grant No: TG/2015/Tech-D/01

Project Title: Scaling up, stability testing and product testing of blood glucose strips

Summary:

Price of a commercially available blood glucose strip in Sri Lanka is approximately Rs. 80/-. Some brands contain chemicals which are considered as carcinogenic. Accordingly, the import of such strips is being considered for limitation. Further, the strips available in the market have limited sensitivity and low detection limits. In addition, all dry reagent chemistries available for blood glucose are expensive. As such, there is a need to develop blood glucose strips which are of high sensitivity and cost effective (determination of blood glucose without a glucometer). Under this proposed project, it is planned to scale up production of blood glucose strips to a marketable level as an import substitute at a lower cost.

Status:
Award on : 7th August, 2015
To be completed by : November, 2017

Development of a control system for trough withering

Ongoing Project
Project Team: Tea Research Institute, Talawakelle

Collaborator: Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya

Dr K S P Amarathunga

Grant No: TG/2015/Tech-D /03
Project Title: Development of a control system for trough withering

Summary:
Withering has a direct impact on the final quality of made tea in black tea manufacturing. High electricity cost involved in withering is the other problem which needs to be addressed. As such, there’s a need in tea industry to reduce the electricity cost during withering process. A team of scientists has under taken to develop a control system for trough withering as a solution to the higher electricity consumption during manufacturing black tea. In order to enhance the product quality a portable Data Acquisition (DAQ) system will be coupled with the mathematical model already developed by them. This system will be incorporatedto the withering troughs having Variable Speed Drives (VSD). The system has a demand in the tea industry and as such there is a market potential.

Status:
Awarded on 14th August, 2015
To be completed by 13th August, 2017
Progressing well

Design and development of the new product, ‘Student Response System’ for classroom/ audience

Ongoing Project
Project Team: University of Ruhuna, Matara

Grant No: TG/2015/Tech-D /04
Project Title: Design and development of the new product, ‘Student Response System’ for classroom/ audience

Summary:
Many difficulties are faced in conducting quizzes with more than 100 students in a lecture theatre. As a solution, the basic structure of a multi-purpose student response system is developed and tested only for quiz mode. The proposed work is to upgrade the system to a multi-purpose response system to work in different modes; quiz mode, feedback mode, and voting mode. Further, it is planned to test the system. A group of scientists are involved in scaling up the product to have adequate number of items (around 150) enabling test trials. This system has a potential application in education sector and other sectors for improving two-way communication.

Status:
Award on 14th August, 2015
To be completed by 13th August, 2017
Progressing well

T cell based assay for the detection of serotype specific immunity to dengue infection and comparison of PRNT

Ongoing Project
Project Team: University of Sri Jayewardenapura

Collaborator: National University of Singapore

Grant No: TG/2015/Tech-D /05
Project Title: T cell based assay for the detection of serotype specific immunity to dengue infection and comparison of PRNT

Summary:
A dengue viral infection is a huge burden to developing countries including Sri Lanka. Therefore, developing a dengue vaccine is an urgent need. For dengue vaccine trials it is important to determine the previously infected dengue virus serotypes. Plaque Reduction Neutralization Assay (PRNT) is used for this purpose at present. It has been shown with studies that the validity of PRNT and use of same for dengue vaccine trials is questionable. Therefore, it is proposed to validate the already developed T cell based assay, and to compare its performance with PRNT. In order to conduct dengue vaccine trials this validation is required. Only validated T cell based assay has commercial potential. A competent team of scientists are engaged in executing validation process. There is a probability that the University can negotiate with a foreign company partner to commercialize the product.

Status:
Award on 14th August, 2015
To be completed by 13th February, 2017
Progressing well

An improvement to available paddle thresher

Ongoing Projects

Project Team: Rice Research and Development Institute, Ibbagamuwa

Grant No: TG/2015/Tech-D/02
Project Title: An improvement to available paddle thresher

Summary:
Rice processing with the existing paddle thresher is strenuous and hard and paddy is not properly threshed. Further, it is difficult to maintain variety-vise quality seed collection using the present machine. Under the proposed project a machine with improved features is to be developed Viz.,
1. A drawer to collect threshed paddy and the outer cover for the machine to avoid spreading of paddy all over the ground supporting variety-vise collection without mixing.
2. Operation is convenient where the operator can lean on the machine and feed the reap paddy while paddling.
3. Specially designed hooks will help to avoid braking of panicles into small branches improving threshing quality.
4. Machine will be easy to clean by opening the covering lid.
5. Machine will be lighter and therefore portable.
Other Rice Research Stations and small scale paddy farmers will be benefitted with the newly designed paddle thresher.

Status:

Awarded on 14th August, 2015
To be completed by 13th August, 2016