Akash Manoj, the boy who invented a skin patch to detect heart attacks

FABP3 is a protein that’s found at levels around 75 ng/ml in a normal person,” says Akash Manoj. He speaks with the ease of a medical researcher. “At the onset of cardiac ischemia, the levels of this protein increase alarmingly,” he continues. Manoj is only 15 years old.

This is the teenager whose invention — a skin patch that can detect a silent heart attack six hours before it happens — could revolutionise healthcare. Manoj’s innovation has already received clinical validation from the Tokyo University of Science, London’s Royal Society of Medicine and Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences.