New Delhi: A second-year PhD student, Harshil Dave, at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, has developed the first “Made-in-India” hydrogel that can be injected as a liquid but turns into a solid gel inside the human body.
This gel could make it easier to perform invasive procedures for polyp removal. Polyps are precancerous tumours which, if not removed, can turn cancerous.
The technology has been granted a patent by IIT Gandhinagar.
“For the first time, we have developed a ‘Made in India’ solution in this space. Currently, most available technologies are imported from the US or Japan, so this can reduce dependency and make advanced care more accessible,” said Harshil Dave.
In current clinical procedures, solutions like saline and dextrose are used to form a bulge—a sort of cushion—around the polyp so that it can be easily removed. However, Dave points out that because of the nature of these solutions, the bulge dissolves quickly, and the polyps may not be removed entirely. Doctors also have to inject the solution repeatedly.
But the bulge formed by this hydrogel can stay intact for up to two hours, making the procedure easier.
“What we have developed is a small molecule-based hydrogel, derived from a plant-based compound used in the food industry. It behaves differently—when force is applied, it forms a stable, localised gel exactly where the polyp is,” Dave added.
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‘Makes the procedure safer’
Dave, the lead researcher from the Department of Biological Sciences and Engineering at IIT, has been awarded the Vikram Sarabhai Young Scientist Award 2026. He was not alone—the paper was co-authored by his colleagues Hitasha Vithalani, Hemant Singh, Indu Yadav, Abhinav Jain, Ankit Pal, Nishant Patidar, Archana Navale and Mukesh Dhanka.
“I feel encouraged by this award, and it has also prompted others in the health tech department to push their ideas beyond the lab and towards real-world applications,” Dave said.
This hydrogel not only aids in the removal of polyps but also helps manage internal bleeding during surgery, due to a haemostatic agent included in it.
“We have also encapsulated a haemostatic agent in the hydrogel, which helps in clotting during surgery. So in case of internal bleeding, it makes the procedure safer, more precise and more controlled.”
(Edited by Saptak Datta)