News

By Sarah Bernardo

Preeclampsia–a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure, swelling, and protein in the mother’s urine–is the second leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide. Nearly 76,000 women and 500,000 babies die from preeclampsia complications annually; deaths that could be prevented with early detection of the condition. To address this global health crisis, a team of public health students, with support from the Big Ideas Contest, are designing a preeclampsia diagnostic tool that will save lives in resource-constrained settings globally. The urinary-based test is affordable, easy to use, and can be used at home by women to self-screen for the onset of preeclampsia.

“This test is important in low-resource settings where women don’t have adequate access to pre-natal care screenings,” said Denali Dahl, a Duke University Global Health master’s student and co-creator of the device. “Preeclampsia is pretty common and its prevalence is similar worldwide, but women in high-resource settings have greater access to pre-natal care screenings. In places where women don’t have those pre-natal care screenings, the complications often go undiagnosed until they become severe or fatal.”

The motivation to develop a preeclampsia diagnostic test first arose when two of the tool’s co-founders, Brian Matovu and Zoe Sekyonda–undergraduate Bioengineering students at Uganda’s Makerere University, noticed that preeclampsia was a huge problem in their hometown of Kampala, Uganda. OBGYNs and nurses at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala affirmed that the high number of preeclampsia and eclampsia cases posed a serious concern.

“In Uganda, women will go in for one pre-natal care visit when they first realize that they’re pregnant, but then don’t return to the hospital until they have a severe complication or it’s time for them to give birth,” said Dahl. “We want women to know when they’re developing [preeclampsia]. The earlier a woman is diagnosed, the sooner she can receive the necessary care to help herself and her child.”

Dahl attests that the biggest barrier to seeking treatment for women in low-resource settings, like Uganda, is lack of accessibility.  When pregnant women living in rural areas begin to feel sick, they are given herbs or traditional remedies. If that fails they may visit a local clinic or hospital, which often doesn’t have the resources to make an accurate diagnosis. From there, women are referred to the National Referral Hospital in Kampala. However, getting there involves high financial and time costs.

“If a sick woman needs to go to Kampala, she has to go the bus station and wait several hours for the next bus to come,” Dahl said. “Then, it may be a 12 hour bus ride to the hospital. When she gets to the hospital, it’s overcrowded, so she has to wait several hours before she can see the doctor.” Dahl and her teammates hope that their test can help women with preeclampsia better navigate these barriers.

The idea for the diagnostic tool was developed in a graduate-level course that is jointly offered between Duke and Makerere University. What began as a class project quickly morphed into a functional development plan, and grew from there. As the innovation continued to iterate, the team applied to the Big Ideas Contest in the hopes that seed funding would allow them to successfully refine and deploy their tool. The team utilized Big Ideas resources to successfully develop their innovation, noting how the program’s mentorship and support allowed them to bring their idea to the next level.

“When we first started this competition, we had a vague idea of what we wanted to do but didn’t really understand how to do it.” said Dahl. “Our mentor, Dr. Richard Lowe, was phenomenal and helped us think through the process.” Cross-cultural and multidisciplinary was also key to the team’s success. “The power of collaboration between students of engineering, global health, medicine, and social innovation in the United States and Uganda was incredible.”

Looking to the future, the team’s one year goal is to move beyond the proof-of-concept stage to develop and deploy a functioning prototype. Over the next two to five years the team plans to focus on implementation of the product while gaining a deeper understanding of the broader innovation ecosystem. The team is committed to ensuring their tool is contextualized and fits the needs of the end user in Uganda.

While the diagnostic tool will enable early diagnosis, the team recognizes that lack of access to health care in Uganda is a multi-faceted systemic problem. “Our diagnostic test is not a silver bullet to fix all of the problems associated with accessing health care, but rather an early warning method so women can begin the lengthy process of seeking care weeks before they currently do,” said Dahl.

Future Plans:

After receiving her Masters of Science in Global Health at Duke University this spring, Dahl will be starting a PhD program in Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Sekyonda and Matovu will both be graduating in June with a Bachelors of Science in Bioengineering from Makerere University. Sekyonda hopes to pursue a higher degree in the field of molecular biology, but also in line with biomedical engineering. Matovu plans to seek employment after graduation while concurrently seeking opportunities for higher education in the biomedical field.

By Morgan Hillenbrand

It was standing room only in Blum Hall Wednesday night as seven teams competed in Berkeley’s 6th Annual Rudd Family Foundation Big Ideas Grand Prize Pitch Day.

Each year, the Big Ideas competition brings together teams of students from across disciplines to design creative solutions for social impact. This year, 326 teams representing more than 1,000 students from 16 universities submitted proposals. Of those, 44 teams were awarded seed funding for their ideas after two rounds of review, and seven were selected to present at Grand Prize Pitch Day.

In front of a panel of high-profile judges comprised of industry leaders and social entrepreneurs, finalists described how their innovations would effectively address issues related to affordable housing, healthcare, human rights, energy, and waste management. These new and creative ideas included ventures that aim to bring light to rural India, more effectively diagnose pneumonia, and give a voice to immigrants who have been detained and deported.

Former White House Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation and Big Ideas founder, Tom Kalil, was impressed by the caliber of contestants this year. “It’s great to see the ambition of students at Berkeley and other campuses to tackle major societal challenges – both at home and abroad,” Kalil said. Other esteemed judges included Christine Gulbranson, Senior Vice President of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, UC Office of the President; Danielle Cass, Silicon Valley Tech Sector Liaison, USAID; Jean Shia, Head of Portfolio and Investment, Autodesk Foundation; and Jeremy Fiance, Managing Partner, The House Fund.

Each team was given three minutes to pitch their big idea in front of a packed audience. During the question and answer session that followed, judges asked  tough questions about each team’s innovation, pilot methodology, sustainability plan, and implementation model. While nerve-wracking, teams relished the opportunity to dive deeper into their ideas. When the pitches were complete, judges retreated for 30 minutes to deliberate.

“The teams all did well,” said Christine Gulbranson. “All 10 UC campuses were represented in this competition, which demonstrates the innovation, breadth, and entrepreneurial spirit across the UC system.”
When the results were determined the winners were announced as follows:

1^st Place ($5,000 prize):

• Tabla (UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco): Pneumonia is the number one killer of children under five, globally. Tabla, an apple-sized device that costs $70, is a portable, accessible, and inexpensive diagnostic tool that will reduce child mortality in resource constrained settings.

2^nd Place Winners ($3,000 prize):

• Point-of-Care Diagnostic Test for Preeclampsia (Duke University, Makerere University): Each year, 76,000 women die of preeclampsia. Team Preeclampsia developed a safe and effective urinalysis diagnostic tool for early detection of preeclampsia in low-resource settings, allowing women to seek treatment before symptoms become life threatening.
• ZestBio (UC Berkeley): The juice industry produces 20 billion pounds of waste each year. Team ZestBio turns orange peel waste into plastic bottles, reducing food and plastic waste, and carbon emissions.

3^rd Place Winners ($2,000 prize):

• Undergraduate Lab at Berkeley (UC Berkeley): University faculty often seek research assistance with prior research experience, limiting opportunities for undergraduates looking to gain the experience they need to progress in their education and careers. ULAB helps freshman and sophomores gain lab skills and solve real world problems, building the next generation of social innovators.
• HomeSlice (UC Berkeley): Lack of affordable housing locks many—and particular young people—out of home ownership. HomeSlice makes it easier for people who can’t afford to buy on their own to buy in groups—empowering them to build their assets instead of being forced to rent.

Honorable Mention ($1,000 prize):

• MakeGlow (UC Davis, Texas A&M University): 25% of India lives in the dark. MakeGlow is a low-cost solar lantern designed to teach students in low-income rural communities about the environmental benefits of using solar, while providing them with light for their homes.
• MigRadio (UC Berkeley): Over 3 million immigrants have been deported in the last decade. MigRadio is new podcast that explores immigration policy through the lens of deported immigrants who tell their stories in their own words.

The Big Ideas contest is made possible by the generous support of the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation. We invited you to join us at the Blum Center for the Big Ideas Awards Celebration next Wednesday, May 3 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. RSVP here to attend the event.

By Sarah Bernardo

Grace Nakibaala, Isah Ssevume, and Molly Mbaziira Nannyonjo from Makerere University formed the PedalTap team to prevent the spread of infection at communal handwashing facilities in Uganda. The PedalTap is a free-standing, universally-fitting connection that can be attached to any water tap. Rather than turning the tap on and off using their hands, users can control water flow by stepping on a foot pedal that is made from a bicycle brake handle and a spring-loaded water cut-off mechanism.

Transforming the PedalTap from an idea into a usable product was a challenging process for the team. Grace Nakibaala, team lead for PedalTap explains, “We were stretched in ways we never imagined, way beyond our comfort zones.” She continues, “One of the challenges we faced quite early on, as a multidisciplinary team of students, was in making time for our project. Our schedules never seemed to align, but we quickly learned that if this was important to us, which it was, we had to make time for it.”

Besides finding the time to work collaboratively on the process, the PedalTap team was also challenged in the piloting stage. Nakibaala elaborates, “We did not have the resources to pilot the product in the community and turn our idea into a viable product on the market. We knew it was important to iteratively engage the end-user in the design, development, and testing stages before taking our product to the market but did not have the means to do so.”

PedalTap submitted their product to the Big Ideas Contest in November 2015 , and ultimately won 3rd place in the highly competitive Global Health category which received 66 submissions that year. According to Nakibaala, “The $5000 prize that we secured from the Big Ideas competition was the first award we ever got. It went a long way in showing us that someone believed in PedalTap and in facilitating the piloting phase of implementing our project. We also received mentorship from engineer Cosmos Mwikiriza, who we were matched with through the Big Ideas competition and who has continued to guide us individually in our different career paths and as a group in turning our idea into a viable business.”

Since winning the Big Ideas prize, PedalTap has piloted their product at Mulago Hospital, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Makerere University, and the Infectious Disease Institute (IDI). PedalTap focuses on three types of usage for their product: humanitarian emergencies, general health care, and the private sector. Based on the needs of each case, the team has developed three different products. Through the initial pilot, PedalTap received valuable feedback from users which allowed them to make improvements to their design. PedalTap is now producing ten new taps which they will install at the test sites. The taps are free and will be piloted for an additional month with continuous monitoring and feedback from users.

PedalTap maintains a blog online, and their work in Uganda has garnered media attention. The PedalTap was spotlighted in local newspapers and on several television programs. Most prominently, the project was featured in a segment on BBC World News. “The media coverage has helped increase PedalTap’s visibility and has drawn in a large clientele that is anxiously waiting for PedalTap to hit the market. But more importantly, the media coverage has helped share our vision and our story, and I believe this is what people have fallen in love with- the potential impact of PedalTap in communities,” says Nakibaala.

Looking to the future, PedalTap is focusing on branding, marketing, and scaling up their product. Nakibaala says that their next goal is threefold: “One, to further refine our product using the feedback from our initial pilot. Two, to increase our reach and impact through partnering with organisations like the Ministry of Health in Uganda that align with our vision as PedalTap. Three, to increase our capacity as a team. We have registered PedalTap as a business and currently outsource some of the work in developing the PedalTap, but we want to be able to produce the entire product in a workshop we own. We believe this will lower production costs and will therefore contribute towards a more affordable product.”

PedalTap also hopes to develop more partnerships to help their project grow. The team’s current partnerships with Big Ideas and USAID have provided funding as well as support through mentorship and training. Big Ideas and USAID have also connected PedalTap to the ResilentAfrica Network which has given the team a physical space to work and access to a reliable internet connection–two resources that are essential to entrepreneurs but are often difficult to acquire in African countries such as Uganda. Nakibaala explains that PedalTap is now looking to partner with other organizations that share their vision of lowering the spread of infection through promoting proper hand hygiene while also conserving water. Ultimately, the team hopes to build partnerships that will enable them to secure their own workshop and increase their capacity for mass production of the PedalTap.

In addition to seeking new partnerships, PedalTap continues to enter their product in various competitions. Nakibaala says, “[The] PedalTap team is also very excited and preparing to take part in the TechCon Innovation Marketplace. We are determined to be the winners of this year’s marketplace.” TechCon is an annual convention hosted by the Higher Education Solutions Network and USAID. The convention brings together a wide range of people from students and development experts to entrepreneurs and researchers. One feature of TechCon is the Innovation Marketplace in which young innovators and students compete as individuals or teams in one of two categories: “products & services” or “research.” The final round of winners from each category will win financial and/or mentorship support. This year, PedalTap will be going to MIT on November 10-12 to participate in the “products & services” category. Along with winning a prize, Nakibaala says, “the thing I’m looking forward to most is identifying and meeting potential partners that can help scale our innovation.”