Ministry of Science & Technology press release · 15 April 2026 · pibtracker filter

A GLOWING ALERT FOR NICOTINE

PRID2252244 MinistryMinistry of Science & Technology Released15 April 2026 Reading9 min

Posted On: 15 APR 2026 4:36PM by PIB Delhi A tiny fluorescent “turn-on” sensor for rapidly detecting nicotine and its major metabolite, cotinine, in aqueous media and living cells, could enable early and rapid detection of nicotine exposure and biomarkers levels of cotinine its long-lasting footprint in the body. Smoking and second-hand smoke exposure remain major global health issues. Nicotine is highly addictive and harmful, while cotinine is a stable biomarker present in blood, saliva, and urine. Therefore, developing a selective and biocompatible probe for nicotine/cotinine detection is important for public health screening, monitoring smoking exposure and biological and cellular research related to nicotine metabolism. Conventional nicotine/cotinine detection methods (GC-MS, HPLC, electrophoresis, immunoassays) are expensive, time-consuming, require skilled operators, and need complex sample preparation. Scientists from Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, an autonomous institute of the Deparyment of Science and Technology (DST) have developed a sensor using an iron metal-organic framework (Fe-III-MOF) nanosphere a microscopic, sponge-like structure made from iron. The scientists synthesised the Fe-MOF nanospheres through a process called solvothermal process, tested them for safety and effectivity. This material is full of tiny pores that can trap molecules like nicotine. Fig: Testing the nanospheres for sensing. Using intracellular imaging and confocal microscopy to follow the cellular uptake they found that when molecules like nicotine or cotinine entered the pores, the nanosphere began to glow brighter with shift towards blue. The nanosphere reported in the journal Nanoscale, was also found to be highly selective recyclable. The researches have suggested that fluorescence enhancement occurs due to host–guest interactions and electron transfer, leading to a stronger emission signal. It is also simple to operate and works in aqueous medium. The abundance of iron makes the Fe-based MOFs a convenient, safe option suitable for biological applications like non-invasive health monitoring, medical and research studies related to smoking, addiction, and metabolism, potential future development of low-cost sensing kits and safer biological detection due to low cytotoxicity and high biocompatibility. It could help public health monitoring and smoking biomarker screening, rapid low-cost screening for tobacco exposure and Fluorescent MOF-based biosensing platforms for other biomarkers. Publication link: DOI: 10.1039/D5NR00785B ***** NKR/FT/NM (Release ID: 2252244) Visitor Counter : 1014 Read this release in: Urdu , हिन्दी Ministry of Science & Technology A GLOWING ALERT FOR NICOTINE Posted On: 15 APR 2026 4:36PM by PIB Delhi A tiny fluorescent “turn-on” sensor for rapidly detecting nicotine and its major metabolite, cotinine, in aqueous media and living cells, could enable early and rapid detection of nicotine exposure and biomarkers levels of cotinine its long-lasting footprint in the body. Smoking and second-hand smoke exposure remain major global health issues. Nicotine is highly addictive and harmful, while cotinine is a stable biomarker present in blood, saliva, and urine. Therefore, developing a selective and biocompatible probe for nicotine/cotinine detection is important for public health screening, monitoring smoking exposure and biological and cellular research related to nicotine metabolism. Conventional nicotine/cotinine detection methods (GC-MS, HPLC, electrophoresis, immunoassays) are expensive, time-consuming, require skilled operators, and need complex sample preparation. Scientists from Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, an autonomous institute of the Deparyment of Science and Technology (DST) have developed a sensor using an iron metal-organic framework (Fe-III-MOF) nanosphere a microscopic, sponge-like structure made from iron. The scientists synthesised the Fe-MOF nanospheres through a process called solvothermal process, tested them for safety and effectivity. This material is full of tiny pores that can trap molecules like nicotine. Fig: Testing the nanospheres for sensing. Using intracellular imaging and confocal microscopy to follow the cellular uptake they found that when molecules like nicotine or cotinine entered the pores, the nanosphere began to glow brighter with shift towards blue. The nanosphere reported in the journal Nanoscale, was also found to be highly selective recyclable. The researches have suggested that fluorescence enhancement occurs due to host–guest interactions and electron transfer, leading to a stronger emission signal. It is also simple to operate and works in aqueous medium. The abundance of iron makes the Fe-based MOFs a convenient, safe option suitable for biological applications like non-invasive health monitoring, medical and research studies related to smoking, addiction, and metabolism, potential future development of low-cost sensing kits and safer biological detection due to low cytotoxicity and high biocompatibility. It could help public health monitoring and smoking biomarker screening, rapid low-cost screening for tobacco exposure and Fluorescent MOF-based biosensing platforms for other biomarkers. Publication link: DOI: 10.1039/D5NR00785B ***** NKR/FT/NM (Release ID: 2252244) A tiny fluorescent “turn-on” sensor for rapidly detecting nicotine and its major metabolite, cotinine, in aqueous media and living cells, could enable   early and rapid detection of nicotine exposure and biomarkers levels of cotinine its long-lasting footprint in the body. Smoking and second-hand smoke exposure remain major global health issues. Nicotine is highly addictive and harmful, while cotinine is a stable biomarker present in blood, saliva, and urine. Therefore, developing a selective and biocompatible probe for nicotine/cotinine detection is important for public health screening, monitoring smoking exposure and biological and cellular research related to nicotine metabolism. Conventional nicotine/cotinine detection methods (GC-MS, HPLC, electrophoresis, immunoassays) are expensive, time-consuming, require skilled operators, and need complex sample preparation. Scientists from Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, an autonomous institute of the Deparyment of Science and Technology (DST) have developed a sensor using an iron metal-organic framework (Fe-III-MOF) nanosphere a microscopic, sponge-like structure made from iron. The scientists synthesised the Fe-MOF nanospheres through a process called solvothermal process, tested them for safety and effectivity. This material is full of tiny pores that can trap molecules like nicotine. <img src="https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/image/image001H6PS.jpg" style="height:374px; width:281px" /> Fig: Testing the nanospheres for sensing.   Using intracellular imaging and confocal microscopy to follow the cellular uptake they found that when molecules like nicotine or cotinine entered the pores, the nanosphere began to glow brighter with shift towards blue. The nanosphere reported in the journal Nanoscale, was also found to be highly selective recyclable.  The researches have suggested that fluorescence enhancement occurs due to host–guest interactions and electron transfer, leading to a stronger emission signal. It is also simple to operate and works in aqueous medium. The abundance of iron makes the Fe-based MOFs a convenient, safe option suitable for biological applications like non-invasive health monitoring, medical and research studies related to smoking, addiction, and metabolism, potential future development of low-cost sensing kits and safer biological detection due to low cytotoxicity and high biocompatibility. It could help public health monitoring and smoking biomarker screening, rapid low-cost screening for tobacco exposure and Fluorescent MOF-based biosensing platforms for other biomarkers. Publication link: DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D5NR00785B" target="_blank" title="Link to landing page via DOI">10.1039/D5NR00785B</a>   ***** NKR/FT/NM " /> var mPlayer = document.getElementById("background_music"); var mPlayAction = document.getElementById("playbutton"); var isPlaying = false; function playAudio() { mPlayer.play(); isPlaying = true; document.getElementById('stopA').style.display = "block"; document.getElementById('playA').style.display = "none"; } function pauseAudio() { mPlayer.pause(); isPlaying = false; document.getElementById('playA').style.display = "block"; document.getElementById('stopA').style.display = "none"; } //function HandleAudio() { // if (isPlaying == true) { // //Playing already Pause it // pauseAudio(); // } else { // //Play the music // playAudio(); // } //} var synth = window.speechSynthesis; function CleanHtml(html) { html = html.replace(/ /gi, ''); return html; } function stripHtml(html) { let tmp = document.createElement("DIV"); tmp.innerHTML = CleanHtml(html); 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} } /* === Film Roll Badge Styling(IFFI2025 countdown) === */ .film-roll-badge { position: absolute; top:82%; right: 20px; width: 230px; height: 70px; background: repeating-linear-gradient( to right, #9a2375 0px, #9a2375 18px, #6e2b8b 18px, #6e2b8b 36px ); border-top: 8px solid #9a2375; border-bottom: 8px solid #9a2375; border-radius: 8px; overflow: hidden; box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); animation: moveFilm 8s linear infinite; z-index: 10; } /* film sprocket holes */ .film-roll-badge::before, .film-roll-badge::after { content: ""; position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 10px; background: repeating-linear-gradient( to right, #9a2375 0px, #9a2375 10px, #fff 10px, #fff 20px ); left: 0; z-index: 2; } .film-roll-badge::before { top: -4px; } .film-roll-badge::after { bottom: -4px; } .film-roll-inner { position: relative; height: 100%; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; animation: flicker 2s infinite ease-in-out; } .countdown-text { font-size: 1.3rem; font-weight: 700; color: #fff; text-shadow: 0 0 6px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.4), 0 0 10px #000; white-space: nowrap; } /* === Animations === */ @keyframes moveFilm { 0% { background-position: 0 0; } 100% { background-position: 120px 0; } } @keyframes flicker { 0%, 100% { opacity: 1; } 50% { opacity: 0.9; } 25% { opacity: 0.95; } 75% { opacity: 0.85; } } /* === Responsive Adjustments === */ @media (max-width: 1500px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 68%; right: 18px; /* width: 220px; */ height: 65px; font-size: 0.85rem; } .press-section { margin-top: 35px; } } @media (max-width: 992px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 52%; right: 10px; width: 200px; height: 60px; } } @media (max-width: 768px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 56%; right: 10px; width: 124px; height: 55px; } .countdown-text { font-size: 0.9rem; } } @media (max-width: 576px) { .film-roll-badge { top: 59%; right: 5px; /* width: 160px; */ height: 50px; } .countdown-text { font-size: 0.85rem; } } const festivalStart = new Date("2025-11-20T00:00:00").getTime(); const festivalEnd = new Date("2025-11-28T23:59:59").getTime(); const countdownElement = document.getElementById("countdown"); const interval = setInterval(() => { const now = new Date().getTime(); // BEFORE FESTIVAL — show days + hours left if (now = festivalStart && now el.style.width = "350px"); clearInterval(interval); } }, 1000); //

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A GLOWING ALERT FOR NICOTINE

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