Eritrean scientist develops low cost technology to detect HIV
By <
http://www.capitaleritrea.com/author/patrick/> Editorial Team,
capitaleritrea news, April 22, 2013 in
<
http://www.capitaleritrea.com/category/business/phrama-medical/> Pharma &
Medical |
<
http://www.capitaleritrea.com/eritrean-scientist-develops-low-cost-technolo
gy-to-detect-hiv/#comments> 7 Comments
Aman Russom is an Associate Professor and senior lecturer of the School of
Biotechnology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He was born
1976 in Asmara, Eritrea. He received his M. Sc. degree in Chemical Engineer
with emphasis on Biotechnology in 2000 and his PhD in 2005 from KTH Royal
Institute of Technology, Sweden. Dr Russom then did his postdoc fellowship
at Harvard Medical School between 2005-2008. In 2008 he returned back to
Sweden, where he is currently heading the clinical microfluidics Lab,
currently consisting of four PhD students and two postdocs, at the division
of Proteomics and Nanobiotechnology at KTH. His current research is focused
on applying engineering principles and technologies, especially micro-and
nanotechnology, to clinical medicine."
Professor Russom and a team of scientists from the School of Biotechnology
at KTH in Stockholm modified a DVD player to perform blood tests, including
a check for HIV. The scientist and his research team converted a commercial
DVD drive into a laser scanning microscope that can analyse blood and
perform cellular imaging with one-micrometre resolution.
The breakthrough creates the possibility of an inexpensive and simple-to-use
tool that could have far-reaching benefits in health care in developing
countries such as Eritrea. His innovation into laser-scanning microscopy
technique has been featured by the journal Nature Photonics, The Royal
Society of Chemistry Journal and the Wall Street Journal this month.
"With an ordinary DVD player, we have created a cheap analytical tool for
DNA, RNA, proteins and even entire cells," says Russom. "The so-called
"Lab-on-DVD" technology makes it possible to complete an HIV test in just a
few minutes."
In a proof of concept demonstration, the researchers collected cell-type CD4
+ from blood and visualized it using the DVD reader technology, DVD LSM.
Enumeration of these cells using flow cytometry is now standard in HIV
testing, but the practice has been limited in developing countries. Russom
says DVD-based technology will provide an attractive option in places like
Africa and Asia.
The Lab-on-DVD reaps 30 years of research and development on optical storage
technology to create an alternative to flow cytometry, the standard
equipment for hospitals. Flow cytometry units can cost upwards of USD
30,000, excluding maintenance. By contrast, mass-produced Lab-on-DVD units
could be made available for less than USD 200, Russom says.
"The low cost of the technology makes it suitable as a diagnostic and
analytical tool in clinical practice close to the patient," Russom says.
"And because it delivers extremely fast analysis, the patient does not need
to go home and wait for a response. They can get it right on the first visit
to a doctor."
The researchers are now working on extending the system to handle larger
sample volumes so that low- concentration species such as circulating tumour
cells can be analyzed or cancer detected.
"Primary tumors sheds cells into the blood stream, a process called
metastasis, and these circulating tumor cells in the blood end up spreading
to other organs and grow. These secondary tumor sites are responsible for
over 90% of cancer related death - meaning it is not the primary tumor that
end up killing but the ones spread through the blood stream.", says Russom.
"In general, the earlier one detect cancer the better patient outcome.
Hence, early detection of the so called "circulating tumor cells", is
expected to have huge impact on treatment of patients in the future."
Since Russom's DVD scanner has single cell image resolution, it is possible
to detect a cancer cell in the background of billions other cells with his
technology as long as you immobilize it on the surface of the DVD the
Eritrean- born scientist told capitaleritrea news.
<
http://www.capitaleritrea.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Aman-Russom.jpg>
Aman Russom, Associate Professor: KTH
Received on Mon Apr 22 2013 - 14:47:05 EDT
