TI, IIT-Kgp in medical tech pact

Texas Instruments (TI), the global information technology company, has signed a four-year collaborative agreement with the School of Medical Science and Technology of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP), to develop semiconductor technologies that will help improve the quality, comfort and accessibility of healthcare in India.

This is TI's first partnership with an IIT on research projects devoted to medical electronics innovation. The project is a part of TI's recent announcement to spend $15 million towards funding research work in the field of medical technology.

According to Ajoy Kumar Ray, head of school of medical science and technology at IIT-KGP, "In India alone, about 800,000 patients undergo coronary bypass surgery every year, while one in every 12 women develops breast cancer. Also, oral leukoplakia and oral sub-mucous fibrosis have been widely prevalent in India and are a cause of concern to scientists in the country. The TI-IT KGP technology partnership will enable devices that could help address some of these pressing healthcare issues."

The research team will develop semiconductors for medical equipment for cancer and cardiac-related treatment. TI's was supporting this research to help develop new semiconductor technologies for personal medical devices, implantables, medical imaging, wireless healthcare systems and bio-sensor technology.

The IIT-KGP research collaboration reflected TI's keenness to develop the next generation of innovators.

The outcome of the research would be intellectual property of TI, which will use the technology globally, said Bishwadip Mitra, managing director of TI India Ltd.

Other research focus areas would be detection technology for cancer and heart problems by use of imaging technology and micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) based biosensor technology.

"The research will be essentially on TI platform, as the company has an arsenal of about 17,000 analog chips, which can be used for imaging techniques," Mitra said.

The collaborative research with IIT-KGP, which would involve 15-20 researchers, would be divided into three groups "" biological research team, image processing team, and doctors, said Mitra.

This apart, specialists from TI would also work with the IIT researchers, and the research would be reviewed every six months, Ray added.

TI works with medical device customers across the globe to make quality healthcare more accessible to consumers.