Point-of-Care Diagnostics Background

The United Nations has ranked almost two thirds of the world’s nations as underdeveloped. Due to this lack of development, and the associated lack of adequate healthcare, millions of people are dying each year from diseases that are well understood, preventable, and treatable (e.g. malaria, tuberculosis, and measles). For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, life expectancy is actually declining as a result of the AIDS epidemic. In order to bridge the divide between these countries, philanthropic organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have recently begun providing substantial funding for breakthrough science directed toward health improvement in the developing world.

Remote regions of the developing world are the regions at highest risk for emerging infectious diseases. Firstly, environmental changes brought about by industrial development expose people in developing regions to disease vectors that have not been previously encountered. Secondly, with increased global travel, developing regions are increasingly susceptible to diseases that are known and treatable in other parts of the world, but that these regions are not yet equipped to handle. Importantly, the rest of the world is not immune to the diseases endemic to these remote regions. Therefore, disease diagnosis, treatment and surveillance in the developing world, specifically in remote regions of the developing world, are of world-wide public health interest. Currently, the available medical tools for these tasks are insufficient.

Disease diagnosis (clinical, serological or immune) is the initial encounter of infectious disease patients with the healthcare system. In the developing world, it is sometimes the only encounter with the patient, since many patients cannot or do not return for treatment or diagnostic test results. Moreover, the extensive laboratory infrastructure needed to perform immune or serological diagnostic exams leaves many more infectious disease patients undiagnosed in remote regions of the developing world.
The development of diagnostic technologies for use at the immediate point of care takes center stage in the treatment and surveillance of infectious disease in the developing world. With such tools, pathogens can be identified at the patients’ locale; triggering both surveillance alerts and the administration of proper treatment. With more advanced and sensitive tools, one could identify different pathogen strains, patterns of drug resistance and sources of outbreaks.

With its latest advances in the fields of biotechnology, lab-on-a-chip, and technology miniaturization, the UC Berkeley community is poised to play a significant role in improving the lives of people in the developing world. Because lack of technology is a significant hindrance toward the improvement of healthcare in the developing world, the academic community should foster projects to these ends and promote its role as healthcare innovators. In light of this, the Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POCDx) Idea Lab was created to focus on developing diagnostic systems appropriate for the developing world. This idea lab will explore both technological challenges as well as issues relating to global health, policy, and business. Topics at our interdisciplinary biweekly meetings may include:

  • Technical challenges and innovative solutions from Berkeley researchers
  • Point-of-care products on the market
  • Infectious Disease Immunology and Epidemiology
  • Economics, Culture, and Quality of Life in the Developing World
  • Business Sustainability within the Developing World

In addition to the regular bimonthly meetings, this Idea Lab will host a monthly seminar series that will include guest speakers involved with POCDx systems. This seminar series will focus on:

  • Identifying the critical health technology needs in the developing world,
  • Strategies for health technology implementation in the developing world,
  • Rapid commercialization and delivery of health technology to the developing world,
  • Technological innovations as they apply to POC-Dx systems, and
  • New POC-Dx systems.

These talks will be invaluable to the students involved in the Idea Lab, providing them with perspectives on the needs in global health technology. By bringing together both engineers and experienced global health specialists, the Idea Lab fosters the rapid innovation of new, high-priority POCDx technology.