Infectious Disease

This project will provide SMS based proof of prescription for drug purchase at retailer. These are matched to provide cashless reimbursement to partner retailers, thereby simplifying the claims administration process and lowering insurance premiums.

Counterfeit and substandard drugs are increasingly pervasive in developing nations. Current testing methods cannot identify compounds that are not normally present when the drug is produced, including harmful contaminants that can arise if the drug is improperly made or counterfeit. A stem cell-based drug testing platform will allow healthcare workers in developing communities to identify the source of counterfeit-drug induced illnesses at ultra-low cost with the same high standards used by pharmaceutical companies.

Fighting insect-borne diseases and enriching urban agricultural land by using molasses: a common by-product from sugar factories This innovation allows the use of one single technology to address both health issues and agricultural productivity. Researchers at the Ifakara Health Institute will create a cheap CO2 production line through fermentation of molasses, a sugar production by-product. This approach not only establishes disease vector surveillance and control, it can also use the fermentation residues to enrich urban agricultural lands.

A lack of simple, reliable biomarkers for bacterial infections – a major cause of infant mortality – leads to frequent misdiagnosis of malaria, the incorrect prescription of antibiotics and eventually reduced drug effectiveness.  This project’s rapid test for bedside diagnosis of bacterial illness will help improve misdiagnosis of non-malarial fevers.

WHO estimates almost half of 46 million blood donations in low-income countries are inadequately tested; in Africa up to 10% of new HIV infections are caused by transfusions. A University of Toronto-developed yeast-based blood screening tool will detect combinations of diseases. Like baking yeast, it can be stored dry, and can be grown locally with minimal equipment and training, improving accessibility in rural areas. We will create a ready-to-use, yeast-based blood screening tool, for simultaneously detecting combinations of diseases.

The aim of this project is to develop point-of-care disease diagnostic devices capable of identifying multiple biomarkers for a single disease. This device will be cost effective, and easy to use by people with minimal or no training, in environments with minimal or no infrastructure, and will address disease overtreatment, which will ultimately prevent unnecessary deaths. Follow Michael Serpe on Twitter @SerpeGroup"

Novel paper based diagnostics device which does not require power. It can serve as a platform for cell culture in environments with limited resources because cells grow in paper just as they do in a culture dish. Paper-based tests that use bacteriophage instead of antibody can be produced on-site to diagnose diseases like malaria, HIV or TB"

In Africa, large populations of children fail to complete a vaccination schedule. Our system will integrate a portable biometric patient identification system and computerized medical records with a childhood vaccine reminder service. This service is also tied to caregiver medical records, SMS cell phone messaging, and provider database access; giving three unique points of contact.

In Bangladesh, immunization coverage among children living in rural hard-to-reach districts and urban streets remains low (42%-60%). Our research will produce a sustainable mechanism to use mobile phones to improve immunization coverage among children living in those areas. The research will provide an effective tool to register every birth electronically, and get locations to make sure that every undeserved child is vaccinated. Follow International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh on Twitter @icddr_b"

Stable vaccines without refrigeration is a holy grail of medical science. In resource-poor locations, vaccine refrigeration is difficult and expensive, contributing to 2.5 million deaths each year that could be prevented with diphtheria, tetanus, measles and other immunizations. Innovators behind this project have found that entrapping vaccines with a polymer allows vaccine viruses to be kept stable at room temperature for months.