Invited Paper BP-SuA3
Engineering New Diagnostics for Global Health

Sunday, October 14, 2007, 3:40 pm, Room 609

More than 70% of the 40 million people living with HIV infection worldwide do not know they are infected, and do not have access to the critical blood tests--CD4 cell counts and HIV RNA levels—essential for effective treatment. Diagnosis of tuberculosis, which kills 9,000 people per day, remains rooted in a 19th century test--light microscopy--and as a result, nearly half of TB cases go undiagnosed. Malaria diagnostics, also dependent on microscopes, are insensitive and difficult to implement. Are these engineering problems? How can advances in microfabrication, MEMS, microfluidics, and nanosensing be extended to global health problems? Are technical solutions to the unforgiving challenges of monitoring disease in poor countries within reach? Through a case history of a CD4 cell counting device, I will review the product specifications of the most urgently needed diagnostic devices for global health; review current efforts in microscale and nanoscale diagnostics, and their application to diseases like AIDS, TB and malaria; and discuss the biological, technical, product development, intellectual property, funding, and commercialization challenges to unleashing the potential of microscale technologies for global health.