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BGU Researcher Awarded Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant for Malaria Detection Technology

BGU Researcher Awarded Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant for Malaria Detection Technology

May 13, 2011

Medical Research

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a range of mobile phone applications in an effort to improve global health. BGU is mentioned in this Fast Company article that gives an overview of the different applications.

BGU researcher Alberto Bilenca, Ph.D. has been awarded one of these prestigious grants to develop a fast, low-cost device that accurately diagnoses malaria without the need for blood collection in field settings.

His project uses a mobile phone camera equipped with a polarized laser pointer to create images of hemozoin crystals in fingertip blood — a near strong indicator of malaria infection.

“Our diagnostic probe is portable, simple-to-use and inexpensive to produce,” Bilenca explains. “This probe helps meet the need for diagnostic technologies capable of noninvasive, reliable and rapid diagnosis of malaria in resource-limited areas.”

“It will aid in the patient triage at hospitals and also be of tremendous value in monitoring these patients in intensive care settings prompting aggressive treatment in severe malaria cases when necessary.”

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