Waterloo teen invents low-cost solution to help identify heart attacks

Teen develops device to identify heart attacks A Waterloo Grade 12 student is aiming to make a global impact in healthcare. Stephanie Villella reports.

A Grade 12 student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute is working to make an impact in health care by providing a low-cost solution for the detection and treatment of heart attacks.

Neil Mitra, 18, is the founder and CEO of Mitra Biotechnologies, a startup focusing on revolutionizing the accessibility of healthcare for heart attack victims.

“We’re able to detect multiple protein biomarkers one at a time on a simple paper device that costs about a dollar to make,” said Mitra.

Biomarkers tell doctors which part of the heart is damaged, aiding them in determining the best course of treatment.

Mitra’s solution for detecting heart attacks comes with a price tag of roughly $1 and cuts down the time it takes for a doctor to identify a heart attack and start treatment.

“We can get it within five minutes. This is really important for physicians or cardiac surgeons because to them, essentially, time is tissue," said Mitra. “The longer you wait, the chance of mortality is greater."

PRAISE FROM THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY

Mitra’s research has been gaining popularity in the science community.

Earlier this year he was named one of 34 global teen leaders by the We Are Family Foundation.

“I try my best to help others around me,” said Mitra. “I think our generation is the one that’s going to end up solving most of the world’s problems.”

Mitra started his research in 2019 after a family member passed away from a heart attack.

“No matter which part of the world you are at, cardiac care is still pretty rudimentary for the point of care,” he said.

His device, which is still in its early stages, is waiting on approval from Health Canada.

“[It’s] really, really impressive that he was able to put this together, especially at such a young age and was able to think his way through this and get to a prototype that actually works,” said Laurie Banit, Mitra’s biology teacher at Waterloo Collegiate Institute. “It's very, very impressive.”

Mitra will be heading to the University of British Columbia in the fall where he will be studying biomedical engineering.