BIG IDEAS ON A NANO SCALE

By SHAGORIKA EASWAR

The images Perseverance is sending down from Mars has the world enthralled.

But for most of us, it’s difficult to wrap our heads around how the knowledge gained impacts us – it’s so far away in terms of both distance and time. And any application of that knowledge is still in the distant future.

On the other hand, there are inventions that we can grasp in our hands, literally. Whose impact is way more tangible.

Lab-On-a-Chip (LOC) technology, is one example. Dr Muthukumaran Packirisamy, Concordia University Research Chair in Optical Bio Microsystems, describes it as something that can help answer a lot of fundamental questions in varied fields.

“A regular lab needs space, equipment, data analysis... all those functions can be made available on a chip.”

The “bringing-hospital-to- home” concept can be a boon for people in remote areas. Those with limited access to health facilities can use the chip to take health data and send it to doctors. 

Working with biology collaborator Dr Anja Geitman, he has applied it to the study of pollen grains. His PhD students created a LOC that can catch a single pollen grain and identify how it grows, how it finds an ovule, etc.

“We simulated natural situations and studied the effect of environment on pollen grains,” says Dr Packirisamy, who is also Professor, Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering at Concordia and Director of Micronano Bio Integration Centre. “Imagine the potential of such studies. We can learn which fertilizers work best, which pesticides to use,  all on a chip, instead of at a large farm – resulting in tremendous savings in both money and time. LOC is also being used in cancer treatment as a diagnostic tool, devising therapy by analysing cells.”

He sees a whole new world of opportunities in miniaturization.

“Look at computers. The chip inside may be the same size as what you saw 30 years ago but chips that could pack thousands of transistors can now pack billions – all because of miniaturization. A smart phone today can do more than the wall-to-wall computers of a few decades ago. And now we are moving from micro to nano.”

Dr Packirisamy combines both for bio applications, making it far easier to study bacteria, viruses, protein cells or a strand of DNA.

The applications are far-reaching and multifarious in fields as diverse as medicine, green energy, robotics... and online shopping.

He has designed micro sensors that can replace bulky ones in aerospace technology. Not even a few grams each, they are cheaper to manufacture, use less material and consume less power. And since an aircraft can carry 10 of these instead of one regular sensor, there’s multiplicity, providing backup should any fail.

Other microsensors he designed can detect ammonia and other hazardous substances in mines or areas where mobility and access is an issue, or map pollutants in city air.  Similar to drones, these micro air vehicles pack everything that is needed to analyse air or water samples in lakes and rivers in something no bigger than two quarters.

Dr Packirisamy talks about the microsensors used in Chandrayaan and Mission Mangal, India’s space exploration work. A spectrometer is huge, he says, but one he made on a chip that could detect various atmospheric gases, pressures, temperatures, etc., was so powerful and so sensitive that  NASA was interested.

And something that sounds straight out of science fiction are tactile sensors he is working on. With surgery already having become minimally invasive in many cases, surgeons use visual feedback from devices during laparoscopy and endoscopy, says Dr Packirisamy. Now imagine if surgeons could feel the tissues and bones.

It’s not easy to engineer a sensor with the same degree of sensitivity of fingers, he says, but they are working on increasing the range. Another use of these could be in online shopping where one would be able to feel textures without physically touching the product.

This technology that could revolutionize online shopping might be available sooner than you imagine, says Dr Packirisamy who has the working devices and is working on trials to integrate with existing devices.

He holds thirty-plus patents and was inducted into the US National Academy of Inventors for his innovative life’s work, becoming the first-ever Quebecer and only the 11th Canadian to join the prestigious academy.

“My friends describe me as a born inventor,” he says with a laugh. “But I do keep coming up with ideas and solving problems in many fields. You could say I am fascinated by problems. I think of a problem as a solution waiting to happen. So I think about what I can contribute to make that happen. And that’s how collaborations happen, and help find new ways, new solutions.”

Dr Packirisamy’s philosophy of research is to involve students and associates and he is, as he says, big on collaborations. He worked with his research associate Dr Simona Badilescu and biology collaborator Dr Alisa Piekny on Swarna Bhasma, for instance.

“Simona loves India and was fascinated by ancient medicines including Swarna Bhasma, or gold dust. Siddha practitioners we spoke to said they were getting good results, but they didn’t know how the medications reached the cell. We believe the gold dust acts like the transporter. That’s one of the issues with alternative therapies – they may be effective, but we need to build evidence into function. I brought some Swarna Bhasma back from India and we are continuing our research on it.”

The man who’s so big on miniaturization didn’t start out in that field. In fact, he was working on and designing large gas turbine engines in India after completing his Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He then did his Master’s in Chennai and switched to research. He applied to universities abroad for a doctorate and was in the happy position of choosing among the several offers he received. He chose Concordia in Montreal.

“All the others were in my field, classical mechanical engineering, but Concordia offered the opportunity to study microtechnology, which was then  a growing field,” he explains. “My interest was piqued. I saw the potential in the new field and decided to give it a shot. I’m very comfortable trying new things!”

 Dr Packirisamy was one of the first few PhDs in Canada in microtechnology.

It helped that the offer came with a generous scholarship and with the “good money and good subject” under his belt, he landed in Montreal in 1996.

As an international student and an academic, he didn’t face any of the “lack of Canadian experience” barriers that many newcomers encounter, though he admits to not knowing too much about Canada when the process of coming here began.

“Someone I met in Bangalore had lived and worked in Montreal and loved it – and that was the extent of my knowledge of Canada when I landed! But I felt at home within days. I had the good fortune to have a beautiful lab in a beautiful city and work with very friendly people. My PhD co-supervisor Dr Rama Bhat is a wonderful person who made me feel at home in Montreal right after I landed.

“I had no issues. Everything I was used to was easily available. It was like continuing my previous life with new experiences.”

It used to be said that fewer girls pursue science, that they don’t display their strengths in these fields to avoid being seen as “bookish”. Asked if that was still the case or if as a professor, he was seeing more girls entering his field, Dr Packirisamy says new surveys show more women in science today, that there is equal or more participation.

“We are seeing a positive trend in science, but would definitely like to see more girls join engineering. That’s the new mantra. There are many girls in computer science but mechanical engineering is seen as ‘macho’. We go to schools and conduct outreach programs to encourage girls, to explain the opportunities.”

His wife, Dr Indrani Chelliah, is an astrophysicist, with a PhD in radio astronomy of pulsars. Their son Sudarsan is in Grade 11 and he’s so much into aerospace that for a summer job he trained kids at an aerospace camp at Concordia, says his proud dad.

Is their dinner conversation all about science and formulae, then?

“Rarely!” chuckles Dr Packirisamy. “I love my work, and I work hard, but I am not all work!”

He loves swimming, going for bike rides, doing yoga, and was reading the Upanishads at the time of the interview. Sudarsan is a singer, learning classical music and Dr Packirisamy also plays the mridangam.

He tells those who ask him for advice on finding success in Canada that he doesn’t take anything easy. And he never gives up.

“I’m a big believer in hard work. As a newcomer you have to learn the system. You have to focus. That’s all I did. I had the passion, I worked hard. Of course, you need luck, but if passion drives you, you’ll get there. You know what they say about the harder you work, the luckier you get!

“Also, don’t think negative. When you lose, when you don’t get the result you were hoping for, don’t lose heart. I’ve lost count of the number of times an experiment fails before it succeeds. But students get upset and come to me saying it’s not working out as expected. I tell them not to look for what they want but to see what they’ve got. Nothing will be invented if you are not open-minded. If you go in with a preconceived idea then there is no learning.”

He shares with them how he finds the very nature of solving problems very rewarding.

“Making new discoveries is beautiful. Coming up with new ideas to solve problems, and helping people is very satisfying on a personal level.”

Dr Packirisamy believes that the benefits of research should reach society. He talks about post-doctoral commercialization and tells his students that learning in the lab should result in applications that help people.

“The climate in Canada is very encouraging. There are lots of government programs and there’s the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, to encourage small industry. Incubator units at universities provide training and grants. There’s lots of focus on science and technology – and no limit to opportunities for those who have the passion to take it to the next level.”             

• Grant’s is proud to present this series about people who are making a difference in the community. Represented by PMA Canada (www.pmacanada.com).