Over the past 20 years, vaccinations have prevented over 2 million deaths. This triumph, however, has not been a panacea. Today, 1 million children in low- and middle-income countries continue to die from vaccine-preventable diseases each year. This inequality is largely fueled by technical challenges surrounding the administration of vaccines using hypodermic needles. The MEDiRoller, consists of a novel, handle applicator, containing a spring-loaded delivery system and one of our two types of single-use polymeric microneedle cartridges. The two types of cartridges include a novel cartridge containing a hexagonal solid microneedle roller, that can raster across skin to treat larger surface areas, as well as a MNP cartridge containing a sterile biomedical sponge for sterile vaccine or drug containment and loading, followed by delivery through hollow microneedles. This Big Idea, if successfully developed, will revolutionize vaccine and drug delivery in low-resource communities.
Iron-Deficiency Anemia is the major cause of illness and death in adolescent girls in developing countries, weakening an already vulnerable population and contributing to the cycle of poverty and gender inequality. Unfortunately, attempts to address iron-deficiency anemia in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are often limited by bottlenecks in access, distribution, and community and cultural acceptance. These issues commonly bring well-funded, national-scale global public health initiatives to a halt. By utilizing naturally growing turkey berries, this initiative mobilizes a ubiquitously accessible, culturally integrated, and uniquely bioavailable plant-based iron supplementation solution to address iron-deficiency anemia in LMICs. In a first-of-its-kind randomized-controlled trial held in Ahafo, Ghana, turkey berry–fortified biscuits outperformed UNICEF’s nationwide initiative by a factor of triple, six times faster, and at a cost of roughly US$15 per adolescent girl over a month and a half.
Patients undergoing mechanical ventilation usually use an endotracheal (ET) holder that secures the face and contains a bite block to protect the patient’s mouth. This holder, however, causes discomfort, facial pressure sores, and risks spreading bacterial pneumonias. The Secure-Swap team is developing a device that customizes fit for patients to increase comfortability, maintains patency of the breathing tube, and prevents infection from the bite guard. Their ultimate aim is to help improve care for patients and prevent any complications that can come from traditional ET holders.
Periodontitis, impacting 50 percent of adults in the United States, is a chronic destructive inflammatory disease that affects the tooth-supporting tissues. The current treatments in the market mainly deal with bacteria elimination, and the regeneration of periodontal tissues remains a challenge. Sal-Patch offers a periodontal microarray patch that enhances the local effectiveness and sustainably delivers therapeutics for inhibiting the bacteria growth while modulating immune cell functions. Together, it both repairs the receding gum line and reverses bone degeneration. Periodontitis is especially prevalent in impoverished communities, and Sal-Patch wants to mitigate the issue with its low-cost, accessible dental patch.
According to the National Cancer Institute, the cost of cancer care will reach $246B in 2030. NurLabs is transforming the diagnosis and treatment paradigm for cancer through a patented liquid biopsy platform, so we may treat cancer earlier, when survival rates are the greatest and treatment is the least expensive. Our innovation is the nexus of materials science and bioinformatics, bringing a fresh perspective to a $246B problem.
Donor human milk (DHM) is key to helping infants in neonatal intensive care units grow, fight infection, and thrive. Existing methods of DHM preparation struggle to create products of high nutritional value while remaining affordable for widespread use. LacNation brings a new pasteurization technique to the table that more selectively eliminates pathogens while sparing important nutrients for growth and infection prevention. Moreover, this system has the potential to reduce costs of safe DHM production and allow hospitals to expand coverage to more infants thereby.
Sickle Cell Disease is said to affect 30 million people worldwide, including 100,000 people in the United States. For most of the world, it is too expensive to diagnose, leading to unnecessary childhood deaths. Even in high-income countries, SCD is hard to monitor and even harder to treat. KovaDx provides an AI-based diagnostic and monitoring device for sickle cell and other hemolytic anemias combining 3D phase imaging with deep learning. The point-of-care device can be influential in low-resource areas by affordable and quick tests. Monitoring also aids in the process of treating and minimizing health care costs.
Catena has developed a novel platform to create cures for diseases previously thought incurable. Catena’s groundbreaking technology enables the attachment of proteins using only native amino acids, allowing for the rapid production of exciting new protein and cell-based therapies. We plan to utilize this technology to bring massive breakthroughs in autoimmune disorders, oncology, and vaccine development.
There is a dire need to invest in intermediate care bridging from the resuscitative efforts in the Emergency Departments and the supportive care offered by the intensive care units in Uganda. There is a high prevalence of missed opportunities for patients requiring advanced ventilatory support in ICUs at Emergency Units. This is due to there being only 55 Intensive Care beds with Mechanical Ventilators for a population of close to 40 million in Uganda. The Automated Ambu Bag System (AABS) is designed to provide controlled ventilatory support to patients with respiratory failure. The project is aimed at utilizing existing and relatively affordable bagging technology providing vital features of an Advanced Ventilatory Support System. The device will offer intermediate-advanced respiratory support to patients in the transition to the ICU, which usually takes up to one week in our setting.
