Patients with Parkinson's, schizophrenia, and addiction, will benefit from our device

Actor, TV host, dancer, and academic, Shalini Menon is a true allrounder. The young chemist from Kerala has earned a patent for a groundbreaking device, the Dopameter, which detects dopamine levels in the body.

- Nirmal Jovial

The device could significantly impact the treatment of neurological disorders like Parkinson’s and psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia. In an interview, Menon said that although dopamine is crucial in neurological disorders, it is not routinely monitored in clinical settings. “Traditional methods like high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry are costly, timeconsuming, and require complex lab setups,” she said. “Consequently, doctors often rely on indirect tests and symptom observation, leading to delayed diagnoses.” This highlights the importance of the invention by Menon and her team, developed at the Cochin University of Science and Technology under the supervision of Professor K. Girish Kumar. After her patent was granted, some media outlets mistakenly reported her device as one that measures happiness, confusing it with dopamine’s reputation as the feel-good hormone. Menon, currently associate editor, the Institute of Physics Publishing in the UK, clarifies that her device is intended only for clinical use by trained medical practitioners. Excerpts:

Q/ Could you explain how dopamine functions?