Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: handheld thermal cycler, LavaAmp, PCR, Polymerase Chain Reaction, DNA, molecular biology, Unreasonable Insitute, DIY, technology, Guido Núñez-Mujica, streaming video

Millions of people in the Global South suffer from neglected diseases, many of which could be treated, even cured, if they were detected early enough. But reliable, low cost diagnosis hasn't been available, as drug companies have no incentive to invest in the diseases of the poor. New pandemics can go undetected until they have spread out of control, like HIV, and treatable ailments can cripple impoverished communities because it is too expensive to detect them early enough to do something.

Guido Núñez-Mujica, a Venezuelan computational biologist, is developing the LavaAmp: a portable, rugged, inexpensive thermal cycler that can perform reliable DNA tests for infectious diseases in low resource environments. LavaAmp is not a diagnostic method for one specific disease, but a hardware platform that can be used to test for many different conditions. Núñez-Mujica envisions LavaAmp as part of new, evidence-based Public Health approaches to managing both new pandemics and neglected diseases. Local governments and international agencies need cheap, accurate, reliable information about the spread and incidence of disease to plan and deploy an effective response. At less than one-tenth the price of current devices, LavaAmp would open the door to widespread testing for diseases, giving the world's poorest people access to the kind of preventative medicine most people in rich countries take for granted. LavaAmp could also revolutionize education in tools in molecular biology for developing countries, educating the bio-innovators of the future.

LavaAmp makes a rugged, accessible, DNA diagnostic tool that can be used to quickly respond to pandemics and neglected diseases and educational applications of molecular biology. Read more about this interesting project and if you like it, consider donating to the LavaAmp at the Unreasonable Institute. Núñez-Mujica already has $4775 out of $6500 needed to fund this very cool project.

En Español:

Me puedes contactar en guido[en]lava-amp.com

Millones de personas en el Sur padecen de Enfermedades Olvidadas, muchas de las cuales podrían ser tratadas, incluso curadas, si fuesen detectadas a tiempo. Lamentablente, métodos diagnósticos seguros y de bajo costo no estñan disponibles, y las compañías farmaceuticas no están interesadas en desarrollarlos para un mercado que no puede costearlos, las enfermedades de los pobres. Nuevas pandemias pueden no ser detectadas hasta que sea demasiado tarde y estén fuera de control, como el VIH, aparte que dolencias tratables pueden destruir comunidades empobrecidas, porque es demasiado caro el detectar las infecciones en sus etapas iniciales.

LavaAmp hace posible una herramienta de diagnóstico confiable, robusta y resistente, ara responder rápidamente a las pandemias y a las enfermedades olvidadas, y con aplicaciones educativas accesibles a bajo costo. Si te gusta este proyecto, por favor apóyanos en el Unreasonable Institute: