Innovators and Achievers

Prof Sujoy Guha, an Indian Biomedical Engineer from IIT Kharagpur, has won prestigious Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant of $ 1 mn for being the development of a non-surgical and completely reversible alternative to tubectomy.

Prof Guha has found a novel drug - a magnetic polymer which, when inserted through the vagina and placed inside the fallopian tube of a woman with the help of radio frequency, kills or incapacitates both sperm and ovum passing through it. The procedure - Transcervical Reversible Female Contraception - has shown 100% efficacy in small animal trials like on rats and rabbits. While tubectomy is a surgical procedure and a permanent method of contraception where the fallopian tubes (FT) are blocked so that the ova or eggs are prevented from travelling to the uterus from the ovary, Prof. Guha's procedure is non-surgical and reversible. This means whenever a woman wants to conceive, the drug compound placed inside the tube is removed, restoring the woman's fertility. The drug is in its final stage of human critical trials and will hit the market soon. In addition to contraception, this drug will also help resist prostate cancer.

Another remarkable innovative invention by Dr. Guha is The Total Artificial Heart (TAH) said to be the first such in the country. It has been developed by Dr. Sujoy Guha, at IIT, Kharagpur School of Medical Science and Technology. The creation is better and far more affordable than the first artificial heart developed in the US, which showed a "high rate failure" and at Rs. 30 lakh, beyond the reach of the common man. The inventors hope to fit the unique 13-chamber heart into an ailing patient within a few months, once permissions from the Indian Council of Medical Research come through.

The TAH will be of great help to patients whose heart muscles have become so weak that they need immediate transplantation. Angioplasty, stents and even bypass surgery are of no use for such patients because they cannot strengthen muscles. It is difficult to find donor organs and even if transplantation is done, the body develops auto rejection and severe medication is required to suppress immune reactions.

Sujoy Kumar Guha is an Indian biomedical engineer. He was born in Patna, India, in 1939. He did his graduation (B.Tech.) in electrical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. He received his Ph.D. in Medical Physiology from St. Louis, United States. He then founded the Centre for Biomedical Engineering [1], IIT Delhi and AIIMS and also obtained his MBBS degree from Delhi University. One of the founders of Biomedical engineering in India, Prof. Guha is internationally renowned in the areas of Rehabilitation Engineering, Bioengineering in Reproductive Medicine and Technology for Rural Health Care. He has received several awards and has more than 100 research papers in cited journals. His major contributions have been in the indigenously developed non-hormonal polymer based injectable male contraceptive (RISUG) for which the Final Phase-III Clinical trials are underway; Problem-solving at a national level regarding contraceptives in mass usage, especially Copper T; individualized spot air-conditioning system for hospital patients and rehabilitation of the blind, with emphasis on opening automobile repair as an employment avenue.

He has led scientific research which brings about a synthesis of engineering and biomedical sciences and the setting up of academic programs at the national and international levels. His work has given a foundation for Biomedical Engineering in India. He has introduced to the international scientific community the area of Bioengineering in Reproductive Medicine and authored the CRC book publication “Bioengineering in Reproductive Medicine”. Professor Guha's technological work has helped develop in India a strong manufacturing base of contraceptives including the Copper T and the Fallopian Tube Occlusion Ring. At present Prof. Guha is developing a clinical Andrology program and is also the president of the society of Andrology, India.