A Malayali student has forged an unlikely link between Kerala's popular tuber crop and a medical test to monitor heart activity. Tapioca, an all-time favourite of Keralites, is what a 29-year-old Malayali student at the National Institute of Design (NID) found as a solution for making ECG (electrocardiogram) electrodes biodegradable. In the process, she has also found a way to ease the discomfort, women patients feel, while undergoing ECG. 

Malavika Byju, a native of Kochi, who pursues her post-graduation at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, has developed biodegradable ECG electrodes, and a specially designed hospital gown, especially for women. This innovation has earned her two grants, the prestigious NID–Ford Foundation Grant and support from the National Design Business Incubator under Gujarat’s Student Start-up Innovation Policy (SSIP). These grants then funded her research.

“I was always bothered by the enormous amounts of plastic in medical waste. In hospitals, ECG electrodes are used in huge quantities, especially in intensive care units. These electrodes are almost always made from synthetic polymers and are non-recyclable,” said Malavika.

The project took about a year and a half, with the first two months spent speaking to medical technicians and studying the science behind ECG technology. “Kappa, or tapioca, is a staple in Kerala. At home, I noticed large volumes of wastewater from tapioca, rich in soluble starch, were simply discarded. I collected samples and found that each litre contained around 86 mg of soluble starch. That was my starting point,” she explained.

Malavika developed a biopolymer film from tapioca starch that could replace the synthetic plastic used in ECG electrodes. “The electrodes we use now take 35–45 years to decompose. The ones I designed break down in 40–55 days and will be around the same price,” she said.

But she didn’t just stop there. While visiting hospitals to understand the real life use of ECG electrodes, Malavika saw a female patient preparing for an ECG, visibly uncomfortable as she removed her clothing to attach electrodes to her chest. “That made me think, what if there was a way to avoid this?”

She designed a hospital gown with velcro-secured pockets and pouches,  which allows medical staff to attach the sensors without requiring the patients to undress. “It is a minimal design that will solve a very difficult problem,” she said. The design went on to receive a Design Registration Certificate from the Patent Office of India.

“Currently, there are limited resources in India to do my research. So I want to do PhD studies abroad and do more research with much more resources so I can improve my designs. After that only will I start making my designs available in the market,” Malavika added. Dr Ketankumar Vadodaria, a faculty member at NID, acted as Malavika's guide.

“I wanted to be a fashion designer ever since I was a child, but my parents were against it since it wasn’t a conventional career,” she said. So, she studied English literature for her undergraduate degree. Determined to pursue her dream, she took a year off, prepared and earned a place at NID.

However, after joining the NID, her focus shifted from mainstream fashion to functional design. Specialising in apparel design, she works on wearable solutions for healthcare professionals, firefighters and the military. Her mother is a homemaker, and her younger sister studies in Ireland.