Health Diagnostics

Hilmi Quraishi and team are building a system to enable adherence to TB treatment. The proposed solution is sliced from ZMQ's Fully-Technology Linked Model (F-TLM) for TB treatment and management called the Open and Universal Technology based TB (OUT-TB) Management and Treatment Framework. The framework was developed by ZMQ under its Freedom TB initiative. The proposed solution empowers the patients with active compliance reporting, gamification, and effective self-management of TB treatment using mobile-based tools integrated with miniature DOTS Center Systems and DOTS Provider Toolkit.

Bill Thies and the team of 99DOTS aim to achieve 99% TB drug adherence using a combination of basic mobile phones and augmented blister packaging to provide real-time medication monitoring at drastically reduced cost. The approach is to utilize a custom envelope, or blister card, into which each pack of medication is inserted and sealed by the care provider. When the patient dispenses medication from the blister pack, the pills also break through perforated flaps on the blister card. On the back side of each flap is a hidden number.

Nishant Kumar and team are building a mobile hardware app which can serve an electronic pill box and can be attached to a conventional mobile phone. The hardware attachment has a rectangular sleek design, which can be fixed onto the mobile phone or can be used separately. A mobile application runs on the phone and controls the hardware attachment via Bluetooth. This product also facilitates a novel points-based incentives system to further encourage the patient towards continued adherence. A complementary mobile phone application runs on the handheld devices of the health worker.

Ranjan Nanda and Virander Chauhan of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology in India will gather breath samples from tuberculosis patients and use gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify and track unique molecules such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that might serve as biomarkers to diagnose tuberculosis. The overall goal is to then create a handheld "electronic nose" to diagnose the disease in resource-poor settings.

Chetan Patil of Temple University in the U.S. is adapting camera mobile phones for the simple and low cost measurement of bilirubin levels to identify jaundice in newborns by photographing the skin. Jaundice is a common disorder in newborns and can often be easily treated with sunlight. In developed countries, bilirubin measurements are standard-of-care, but in low resource settings, detection can be prohibitively expensive. If jaundice is not treated, it can lead to long-term disabilities.

Lindsay Allen of ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center in the U.S. will develop methods to rapidly and accurately measure concentrations of multiple micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) in small volumes of human breast milk. This will enable them to test whether micronutritional supplements during lactation can boost infant health and development. In Phase I, they established new methods to detect low concentrations of specific micronutrients including vitamin B12, iron, copper and zinc.

Dan Luo of Cornell University in the U.S. proposes a "self-amplifying-DNA-polymer" system in which monomers bind to specific pathogen biomarkers and then create polymer aggregates when exposed to light. This amplification step, to be used as a component for future diagnostic devices, is totally enzyme-free and only occurs in the presence of specific pathogens.

Axel Scherer of the California Institute of Technology in the U.S., along with collaborators at Dartmouth, will develop a prototype quantitative PCR (qPCR) amplification/detection component module that can rapidly detect a wide range of pathogens with low cost, low internal and outward complexity, low power consumption, a small size, and a rugged design.

Besik Kankia of the Ohio State University in the U.S. proposes to develop isothermal amplification of nucleic acids using a simple fluorescence detection method. If successful, the fluorescence signal will be detected by a portable fluorimeter or by eye after excitation with an appropriate light source.

James Heath of the California Institute of Technology in the U.S. will work to develop protein catalyzed capture agents, which are synthetically-created peptides that may act as drop-in replacements for antibodies in diagnostic assays. These agents, designed to be stable up to 40°C for extended periods, aim to be as sensitive as antibodies, but due to their chemical structure, more easily transported, stored, and used in various diagnostic platforms in developing world settings.