Medical Diagnostics in Africa? Bring the lab to the people?

Akili Labs - A Biotechnology company born in Africa -

I am a biotechnologist who studies at Rhodes University in South Africa and before that I lived in numerous African countries and saw the difficulties that medical professionals experience. This got me thinking why not instead of limiting them due to the lack of access to diagnostic labs instead bring the lab to them!

So myself and my Co-Founder Lucas Lotter founded Akili Labs with the goal of producing low cost lab equipment to bridge the gap in healthcare experienced throughout Africa!

I will be posting updates as to our progress and new ideas!
Everything we post is open source and you are welcome to build your own version as well.

So this one of our prototypes and we will share the final design soon just before we take it to The Innovation Bridge event in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Here is a little description of what we have planned for this single unit:

The lab in a box known as FieldLab allows medical professionals working in the field to have the same access to equipment as their counterparts in a fully equipped medical diagnostic laboratory. FieldLab will offer medical professionals in the field a microscope, centrifuge, PCR thermo-cycler that can also double as a heating block and an agarose gel electrophoresis system along with a visualization system. This will allow for diagnosis using PCR kits for viral infections, bacterial infections and even fungal infections. FieldLab with its high powered light microscope can also be used to visually diagnose malaria. The system is designed to optimize workflow and to be rugged allowing for rough transportation and handling without damaging the equipment inside. This would make it ideal for disaster areas, rural areas throughout Africa and even conflict zones. An example of how FieldLab may be used relates to the current Zika Virus outbreak and its spread:

Medical professional (Doctor) suspects that the Zika virus has spread to a new zone but the closest medical diagnostic laboratory is thousands of kilometers away but they have a FieldLab at there disposal along with the FieldLab rapid diagnosis PCR kit (PCR kits to be compiled).

1. The Doctor can then take a blood sample from people he suspects may be infected with the Zika virus.

2. Performs DNA extraction using a DNA extraction kit by making use of the centrifuge in FieldLab.

3. Performs PCR on the extracted DNA using the Zika Virus PCR kit (Currently Available from: Genekam Biotechnology) and the built in thermo-cycler.

4. Post PCR amplification of the Zika virus amplicon the mixture is run in an agarose gel which separates and allows for the
   visualization of the DNA fragments.

5. Should a amplicon of a certain size be present it would mean that the sample is positive for the Zika Virus.

FieldLab can also be charged from solar (Included), 12V car battery or 110V/220V AC and on its built in battery system can perform at least 22 diagnostic cycles with each cycle being able to handle at least 5 samples including controls. FieldLab also integrates something which is extremely difficult to have in the field and that is a laminar flow system with UV workspace sterilization thus improving the overall quality of the diagnosis performed. The entire system is modular and currently can be modified to have multiple of the same modules or to whatever specifications the user requires. Additional modules currently include: Extra power bank and The Light Microscope module. Future module: Photo-spectrometer.