Plants have directly contributed to the development of important drugs. The antimalarial treatment artemisinin, pain medication morphine, and cancer chemotherapy taxol are just three examples of drugs derived from plants. Africa is endowed with up to 45,000 plant species – about 25% of the world’s plant genetic resources. More than 5,000 plant species from this enormous African resource are used in traditional medicines. Medicinal plant specialists Associate Professor Adeyemi Aremu and Professor Nox Makunga highlight some of these plants...[more]
A sustainable pharmaceutical industry in Africa is possible | Dr Alexandra Graham & Lenias Hwenda
From Let us Talk about Health in Africa
5 Innovative Use Cases for 3D Printing in Medicine via @formlabs
From Formlabs:
Personalized, precision medicine is on the rise. New tools and advanced technologies are bringing doctors closer to patients, delivering treatments and devices customized to better serve each unique individual.
Advances in medical 3D printing technology have made tremendous contributions to fields throughout healthcare. For patients, new tools and therapeutic methods developed through 3D printing can bring new degrees of comfort and personalization to treatment. For doctors, this newly accessible technology allows for a greater understanding of complex cases and provides new tools that can ultimately result in a higher standard of care.
From surgical planning models to 3D printed vasculature and bioreactors, read on to discover five ways 3D printing in healthcare is taking off and why many medical professionals are excited about the potential of this technology in medicine...[more]
The Science Fiction World of 3D Printed Organs
Over at Interesting Engineering:
Bioprinting could end up saving millions of people’s lives each year. Here is what you need to know about this innovative new industry...[more]
An open-source molecular diagnostic platform approach for outbreak and epidemic preparedness – African Journal of Laboratory Medicine
From the African Journal O Laboratory Medicine:
Abstract
Background: Diagnostic development for outbreak pathogens has typically followed a disease-specific reactive rather than proactive response. Given the diversity of outbreak pathogens, particularly those prioritised by the World Health Organization Research and Development Blueprint, a more flexible and proactive approach to epidemic preparedness is needed to expand access to critical molecular diagnostic tests in peripheral and resource-constrained deployment settings.
Objective: New and more sustainable directives are needed to spur the development of high-quality products, particularly for epidemics more often found in low- and middle-income countries. To leverage and de-risk the development process, we present the benefits and challenges of an open-source business model for co-development of molecular diagnostic tests for decentralised settings.
Methods: We identify key outbreak pathogens that are available only for testing in high infrastructure laboratories and compare in-country installed base platforms that could be leveraged for menu expansion. Key strengths and challenges for development are highlighted for both platform and assay developers, with discussion of how to leverage and de-risk the process through an open-source development model.
Results: Depending on the specific partner strengths, options for partnership roles are presented. The proposed open-source business model addresses the particular challenges in the detection of outbreak- and epidemic-prone pathogens in low- and middle-income countries, reduces development and deployment risks to support outbreak response, strengthens diagnostic capacity and creates a viable market for product developers.
Conclusion: We hope this model for a collaborative and open-source approach for molecular diagnostics serves to encourage stakeholders to consider co-development partnerships to improve outbreak preparedness and epidemic/pandemic response...[more]
The Wilfred Ngwa Lab at Harvard – Is Pioneering new Technologies and Approaches (including PhytoMedicines) for Cancer treatment and reducing Healthcare disparities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62jLop-JWq0
Dr Ngwa's research is focused on clinical translation of technologies/approaches that can increase access to quality cancer treatment. This includes smart radiotherapy biomaterials (Tiny drones to Target cancer or nanoparticle drones) and PhytoMedicines. The award-winning drone technologies are designed to help eliminate both local and metastatic tumors with minimal collateral damage or side effects. The drones can be employed to sustainably deliver different drug payloads (including immunotherapy/chemotherapy drugs or cannabinoids) precisely to disease sites or targets, with greater therapeutic efficacy. This work leverages the abscopal effect and the biomaterials drone technology in research to significantly increase survival and quality of life for patients...[more]
Engines of life At the level of the tiny, biology is all about engineering. That’s why #nanotechnology can rebuild #medicine from within
From Aeon
In the mid-1980s, evidence started to emerge from labs across the world confirming that scientists were finally able to reach the nano level in experimental conditions and not just with their theories. Working at scales defined in millionths of a millimetre, Richard Smalley, Robert Curl and Harold Kroto reported the discovery of ‘buckminsterfullerene’ – a nanosized polyhedron, with 32 faces fused into a cage-like, soccer-ball structure, and with carbon atoms sitting in each of its 60 vertices...[more]
Ade Adesanya cofounded Moving Analytics ( @movinganalytics ) to improve an outdated cardiac rehabilitation system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zHaTnSl-FE
From Forbes:
Developing a locally-manufacturable typhoid diagnostic in Cameroon – @openbioeconomy
From Openbioeconomy:
An early Christmas present for Open Bioeconomy Lab has come in the form of funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund to develop a proof-of-principle DNA-based typhoid diagnostic using cutting-edge molecular techniques with partners in Cameroon. We are aiming to develop a locally manufacturable diagnostic tool that is capable of distinguishing typhoid fever from paratyphoidand has areagent cost of < $1 per reaction.
For this we are partnering with colleagues at Buea University and MboaLab Biotech in a two-way exchange based on our respective strengths. PI Dr Jenny Molloy and Co-I Dr Jim Ajioka, both based at the University of Cambridge, have expertise in protein purification, molecular diagnostics, cell-free protein expression; while Co-I’s Dr Tobias Apinjoh and Mr Mboa have expertise in infectious disease epidemiology and immunology, drug-resistance surveillance, molecular biology, knowledge of local stakeholders and healthcare system. In addition we are growing the teams with two full time researchers based in Cambridge and Yaounde and we welcome back Minette Shalo as a Masters student on the project, following her three month internship with MboaLab in 2019...[more]
Researchers Create A Roadmap for 3D Bioprinting
via 3D Printing Industry:
A worldwide collective of researchers and scientists from universities, institutions, and hospitals have come together to produce a roadmap for 3D bioprinting.
Published in Biofabrication, the paper details the current state of bioprinting, including recent advances of the technology in selected applications as well as the present developments and challenges. It also envisions how the technology can improve in the future, and details the research that went into creating the roadmap.
Each of the authors takes on different aspects of bioprinting technology to focus on within the study. Specifically, these topics range from cell expansion and novel bioink development to cell/stem cell printing, from organoid-based tissue organization to bioprinting of human-scale tissue structures, and from building cell/tissue/organ-on-a-chip to biomanufacturing of multicellular engineered living systems...[more]
Global Health Technologies: Time To Re-Think The ‘Trickle Down’ Model by @paimadhu
Madhukar Pai writing in Forbes:
Technologies (e.g. vaccines, drugs, diagnostics) are critical for addressing global health needs. But the field of global health has a problem - an excessive reliance on the ‘trickle down’ model, where products and innovations are developed in the Global North, and after a decade or two, they slowly trickle down to the Global South, where the biggest needs are, and where technologies often have the greatest impact. This model is not surprising, since every aspect of global health is dominated by high-income countries. Nevertheless, the model needs a re-think...[more]
Meet Biomedical Engineer, Ronke Olabisi @OlabisiLab ,who fixes bones with oyster shells!
Alyse Sue writes:
Adam Feinberg from Carnegie Mellon University and Ronke Olabisi from UC Irvine undertaking groundbreaking work in healing ‘unhealable’ wounds with adult stem cells and creating 3D bio-printed materials that can be used in biomedical research to test new drugs and print new organs such as hearts and lungs...[more]
Stem Cells in Space: Dr. Abba Zubair’s Research Story https://youtu.be/g5khrXRfTrk #Nigeria
From the Mayo Clinic
Research from the University of Cape Town – How we are developing immunotherapies relevant to Africa via @TC_Africa
In The Conversation:
The exorbitant costs of cancer drugs make it difficult for public and private health care systems to provide the latest treatments to patients. If this trend continues it will become increasingly difficult for patients to access basic cancer treatment, let alone the new generation of immunotherapy drugs...[more]
Tambua Health #Kenya utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to offer cheap, accessible, and reliable diagnosis solutions for respiratory tract infections
via Echoing Green:
Tambua Health utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to offer cheap, accessible, and reliable diagnosis solutions for respiratory tract infections, while advancing the use of digital therapeutics and healthcare informatics in Africa. Tambua Health aims to provide a cheap and accessible diagnostic solution for tuberculosis and pneumonia and reduce the misdiagnosis of these diseases across Africa.
A Hub, Life Sciences Research and Medical testing company | African Biosciences #Ibadan #Nigeria
Founded by Ikhide Imumorin: African Biosciences is
...a one-stop company for everything biosciences. We sell biological reagents, we own our lab where customers can do all kinds of genomics research work, we provide all year-round training and workshops, we provide research and technical support to institutions and government agencies.
‘Biomedical Engineering for Africa’ – A downloadable eBook
A new book:
Health technology innovation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including countries in Africa, falls far short of meeting the healthcare needs of these settings. The result is a heavy reliance on products and technologies imported from industrialised countries that are often not suited to, or sustainable for, LMICs.
Appropriate healthcare products for LMICs are best developed in these countries, where local knowledge and understanding of needs, context and available resources may be incorporated into designs and implementation plans. The objectives for enabling health technology development in LMICs include: 1) expanding the base of expertise through research training programmes with a problem-solving focus; 2) stimulating new knowledge, approaches and solutions by enabling innovation; and 3) integrating research communities within and across institutions to build critical mass.
The field of biomedical engineering is central to health technology innovation. This book is a response to the need for biomedical engineering capacity in Africa. It is grounded in the African context. It serves as a resource for academics and students in biomedical engineering, for those interested in entering the field in any capacity and for practitioners at every stage of product development. University leaders intent on establishing new biomedical engineering programmes or departments, may draw on the content for guidance on structuring their offerings. The book reaches beyond Africa, as it is relevant to other LMIC settings, and provides insights to guide global health initiatives focused on technology innovation...[more]
Trep Labs #Nigeria presents Real Drip, a device "that prevents backflow of blood during drip treatment…"
From Trep Labs
REALDRIP, a non-invasive device that prevents thrombosis during drip treatment by continuously monitoring flow rate, volume administered and automating the drip treatment process. REALDRIP eliminates the guesswork in setting IV flow rate and tells the user precisely how fast the fluid is flowing, which allows the healthcare worker to know how much medication the patient is receiving.
This is a lower-cost, simpler solution that maintains the ability to safely administer precision infusion.
Euracare Multi- Specialist hospital Lagos #Nigeria intends to reduce the incidence of Medical Tourism
Euracare Multi- Specialist hospital:
CFAO’s and Eurapharma’s long-standing commitment to Nigeria have inspired us to develop a healthcare offering based on cutting-edge technology and stringent professionalism to remedy the need for medical tourism –on which Nigerians have been spending upward of 1 USD billion per year according to government estimates.
Our diagnostic department offers an extensive range of cutting-edge Siemens radiology modalities as well as a clinical laboratory. Image acquisition is handled by a team of expat and local radiographers...[more]
Sonocare Mobile Diagnostics Nigeria
SonoCare is a Port Harcourt, Nigeria-based mobile diagnostic imaging company dedicated to providing quality healthcare in the diagnostic imaging industry. Our comprehensive approach will help you add additional services to your practice, hospital or organization.We are the pioneer in delivering diagnostic expertise on an as needed, when needed, where needed basis using technology and innovation.
Kigali Surgical Innovation Hackathon
Recently held:
The theme of the hackathon was ‘Surgical Innovation’, where keynote presentations and problem pitches were presented within the framework of a National Surgical Obstetric and Anaesthesia Plan (NSOAP).
Open Source medical hardware from Glia
The Glia team is working hard to make Free/Libre open source medical hardware that is high-quality, and low-cost. We are a collection of health and engineering professionals who are committed to leveraging the newest technologies to create devices.Their projects include:Stethoscope ,Tourniquet, Pulse Oximeter, Otoscope, Electrocardiogram Dialysis
Plug-and-play diagnostic devices. Modular blocks could enable labs around the world to cheaply and easily build their own diagnostics.
From MIT:
Researchers at MIT’s Little Devices Lab have developed a set of modular blocks that can be put together in different ways to produce diagnostic devices. These “plug-and-play” devices, which require little expertise to assemble, can test blood glucose levels in diabetic patients or detect viral infection, among other functions...[more]
Access your Doctor in #Nigeria and elsewhere via dokita247
Founded by Richards Afonja Dokita247 allows:
Instant access to a doctor anytime, anywhere in the world.Speak to a board-certified licensed doctor using your mobile device, telephone, or text/sms within minutes.If medically necessary, a prescription can be sent directly to your pharmacy of choice. Registration is completely free. Pay only for medical consults.
The making of the protein microarray malaria detecting KILChip
From the SMART partnership:
SMART Team making a protein microarray called KILChipv1.0. KILChipv1.0 would allow the Team to recreate the Malaria parasite on a glass
Developing A Portable Tech for Blood Processing
Scidev reports:
A low-cost system to separate blood into its main components without a centrifuge is being developed, and could be put to use in areas with off-grid healthcare or following natural disasters.
The system is portable and would need minimal training to operate, according to a proof-of-concept study published in the journal PLoS ONE...[more]
Medical tech designed to meet Africa’s needs #TEDGlobal
Matibabu has developed a non-invasive test for Malaria
In the Guardian:
Malaria is the leading cause of death in Uganda. Children and pregnant women are most vulnerable, but the blood tests that help diagnose it are invasive, expensive and time consuming. It means that half of all malaria deaths continue to be in children aged under five.
Software engineer Brian Gitta, 25, became determined to turn this statistic on its head after malaria forced him to miss lectures at university. Along with six student friends – all of whom have been infected several times with malaria – he developed a low-cost, reusable device that can test for the disease quickly and accurately, without drawing blood.
Matibabu – “medical centre” in Swahili – clips on to the patient’s finger and shines a red beam of light on to the skin, detecting changes in the shape, colour and concentration of red blood cells, all of which are affected by malaria...[more]
Phillip Mukoza Mpaata’s Syringe Operated System (SYROPS)
enStartUp reports:
Phillip Mukoza Mpaata a Ugandan pharmacist has become the country’s first pharmacist to hold patent for dosing device. The smart dosing system was awarded the patent early this year in UK. The patent for Syringe Operated System (SYROPS) was granted by the UK patent office on January 26, 2016 with subsequent publication in the UK Patents Journal on February 24, 2016, reports Uganda’s Daily Monitor...[more]
image via
FieldLab – 3D-printed, solar-powered lab-in-a-box
Lynsey Chutel reporting for Quartz:
FieldLab is a solar-powered lab-in-a-box created by two grad students at Rhodes University in South Africa. The FieldLab can be carried like a briefcase and is designed specifically to address the constraints facing medical diagnostics in Africa: affordability, mobility and robustness.More here
The FieldLab’s simplicity belies its ability to handle molecular biology in harsh conditions. The portable lab’s 3D printed equipment is able to test for viruses and bacteria, testing samples in much the same way as a laboratory in a building. The carry-on lab was specifically designed for medical workers travelling to remote or conflict ridden areas.
FieldLab is a 3D-printed, solar-powered diagnostics lab-in-a-box designed by Lucas Lotter and Charles. Faul A simple solution. (FieldLab) The FieldLab is able to carry out DNA analysis, centrifugation (in which fluids in the sample are separated) and offer a visual analysis of the result. The lab is modular, and can accommodate additional parts like a microscope and a thermocycler (which amplifies DNA segments).
Open Artificial Pancreas System
Over at Boing Boing:
Dana Lewis kickstarted the Open Artificial Pancreas System (previously) by trying to solve her own problems with monitoring her glucose levels, calculating insulin doses, and administering them around the clock -- an onerous task that her life depended on, which disrupted her sleep and challenged her to make reliable calculations regarding dangerous substances while her blood-sugar levels were troughing or spiking.The Open Artificial Pancreas uses statistical machine-learning techniques to anticipate movements in blood sugar and introduces small, frequent doses of insulin to smooth out otherwise dangerous and debilitating fluctuations...[more]
A simple birth kit for mothers in the developing world
AI-Powered Microscope Counts Malaria Parasites in Blood Samples
Jeremy Hsu writing in Spectrum:
Today, a Chinese manufacturer and a venture backed by Bill Gates will announce plans to commercialize a microscope that uses deep learning algorithms to automatically identify and count malaria parasites in a blood smear within 20 minutes. AI-powered microscopes could speed up diagnosis and standardize detection of malaria at a time when the mosquito-borne disease kills almost half a million people per year...[more]
Africa needs to start creating its own medical technology. Here’s how
Tania Douglas writes:
Biomedical engineering can save lives. It draws on and integrates knowledge from disciplines like engineering, computer science, biomedical sciences, and public health as well as clinical practice. This knowledge is combined to improve health – often through the design of medical devices for diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
Most of Africa’s medical equipment is imported. “Equipment graveyards” become the final resting place for medical devices that aren’t suited to local conditions. This can include dust, heat, humidity and an intermittent supply of electricity. Some machines are discarded because hospital and clinic staff haven’t been trained to operate them or because replacement parts are not available when they’ve broken...[more]
The Juakaliscope – A 3D printed microscope
From JuakilBox:
With deep interest in 3D printed products, Karl Heinz has revolutionized the health and education sector by making the Juakaliscope – a 3D printed microscope which is portable, locally available and accessible at a cheaper price ($100 for the student version V5.15 and 250$ clinicial versions V5.15 ls65)...[more]
Electricity Free Anesthesia with the Universal Anesthesia Machine (UAM)
Matt Petronzio writing in Mashable:
More hereFor many hospitals in rural parts of the developing world, electricity is unreliable at best. In the course of one day there can be brownouts and power spikes. Electricity may cut off for hours or even days at a time, without any warning.
image via
If this happens during surgery or forces surgeons to postpone operations — and it does — it will often cost people their lives.
But an innovative device called the Universal Anesthesia Machine (UAM), from nonprofit medical device company Gradian Health Systems, allows health workers in countries like Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Zambia to deliver anesthesia without any electricity, and helps save patients' lives in the process.
OneMedical helps hospitals in West Africa go digital.
Founded by Adegoke Olubusi:
OneMedical offers a user-friendly platform to help hospitals simplify records and streamline processes, with the goal of improving both quality of care and profit margins. It includes a searchable database of patient records, along with features for tracking finances, staff, and medical supplies. The system runs offline at hospitals and syncs to the cloud when there's an Internet connection available, and it's accessible through any smart device or operating system...[more]
Matibubu – A Non-Invasive Diagnostic Kit Used to Detect Malaria
via TechCrunch, Matibubu
....a Uganda-based company is looking to make it easier to diagnose malaria so those who are infected can get the right help faster.
Blood from the Sky: Zipline’s Ambitious Medical Drone Delivery in Africa
MIT reports:
MetaFluidics – An Open Repository for MicroFluidic Systems
Metafluidics was built to provide a home for digital design files and all of the other information necessary to reproduce or remix a microfluidic device. Please create a profile for yourself and peruse the repository! There are devices and parts for you to make, and also a simple interface for you to add your own. We hope that this repository will inspire both veteran microfluidic experts and a whole new generation microfluidic makers and users.
DIY mycologists
Stefanie Cohen reporting on:
the Citizen Scientists Who Think Mushrooms Have Superpowers
At Psychedelic Science 2017, Steinhardt, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, delivered a talk describing her research on a specific subset of amateur scientists within this world: DIY mycologists. Some of these mushroom enthusiasts who grow their fungi at home use them in recipes, or to make medicinal tinctures. But others get more creative, using them for citizen-science projects like myco-remediation (cleaning environmental toxins with fungi), myco-forestry (using mushrooms to maintain forest health), and doing DNA analysis on mushrooms to determine local strains...[more]
A Maker Revolution in Healthcare
From Makerfaire:
Health making is revolutionizing the way care is delivered in hospitals, clinics, and home care divisions across the globe. Patient-made machines are changing the provider-patient dynamic. The solutions by frontline staff are making care better and more affordable...[more]
Christian Toé’s Laafi Refrigeration Bag
From the BBC via google translate:
The ACP also reports
At 28 years old, the young Burkinabe engineer develops Laafi Bag, a refrigeration bag capable of keeping the vaccines at the proper temperature for four days.More here
His invention will certainly help many health workers who vaccinate children living in remote and hard-to-reach areas of Africa.
The ACP also reports
The laafi bag is a light cooling bag, for the transport of vaccines, laboratory samples and perishable goods. Equipped with a photovoltaic module to conserve and regulate the temperature inside, it allows vaccines and other sensitive products to be delivered into the most critical or inaccessible areas without interruption of the cold chain...[more]
Bio-bots: the living tissue robots and the future of personal health
Rebecca Pool writing in Engineering & Technology:
Robots built from living tissue are set to crawl through your body to detect disease, deliver drugs and perform surgery.
In March this year, American electrical engineer and scientist Professor Rashid Bashir published a blow-by-blow account of how to design and make a muscle-powered biological machine. Dubbed ‘bio-bot’, the walking, 6mm-long device can be powered by muscle cells, controlled with electrical and optical pulses and could one day roam your body to deliver drugs, detect disease or remove pieces of tissue...[more]
Diagnose Medical Images with Dr CADx
From Zimbabwe:
Dr CADx is a computer aided diagnostic system to help doctors diagnose medical images more accurately in order to provide better patient outcomes and save lives, and to provide pervasive radiology diagnostics in underserved regions.
Abba Zubair – Stem Cell Pioneer
A profile of Dr Abba Zubair:
This Lab-in-a-Box Could Make Gene Therapy Affordable
Over at Tech Review Antonio Regalado writes:
More hereAdair, who runs a gene-therapy lab...demonstrated a new technology she thinks could democratize access to gene therapy. Tweaking a cell-processing device sold by German instrument maker Miltenyi, she mostly automated the process of preparing blood cells with a gene therapy for HIV that her center is also testing. Cells dripped in one end came out the other 30 hours later with little oversight needed. She even added wheels. Adair calls the mobile lab “gene therapy in a box.”
image via
Bioprinter makes fully functional human skin
From Next Big Future:
Scientists from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), CIEMAT (Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research), Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, in collaboration with the firm BioDan Group, have presented a prototype for a 3D bioprinter that can create totally functional human skin. This skin is adequate for transplanting to patients or for use in research or the testing of cosmetic, chemical, and pharmaceutical products...[more]
Digital Fabrication & Surgical planning from Imhotep Medical Solutions #Egypt
Shehab Anwer writes:
Based on your patients’ CT or MRI, IMHOTEP Medical Solutions fabricates 3D-printed models dedicated to pre-operative surgical simulation allowing better visualisation of the anatomy focusing on the region of interest. This can help the healthcare professional better understand the pathology and plan the most suitable approach for the operation...[more]
Mama Ope Pneumonia Kit – Made in Uganda
via Asian Age:
Mamaope is a pneumonia kit used to diagnose the disease in young children at an early stage. It consists of a wearable and and a mobile phone application to do the diagnosis.
image via Asian Age
We use mobile technology to reduce the child mortality rate given that pneumonia is the leading child killer in Uganda and the world more that HIV, malaria and measles combined as reported by WHO. This we do by ruling out misdiagnosis of the disease with malaria which was reported as among the reasons for the increasing deaths by the Uganda Pediatrics Association (UPA)