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# 2023 OS Malaria Diagnostics |
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OS Malaria Diagnostics offers an open-source malaria diagnostic system, addressing challenges in rural regions. WHO highlighted 247 million malaria cases in 2021, stressing the need for affordable, accessible diagnostic tools. This system, featuring a blood sample preparer, low-cost microscope, and image analysis pipeline, can be manufactured entirely locally using publicly available blueprints. Initially tested in Pisa (Italy), it is now being trialled in Nairobi hospitals. Collaborative design ensures adaptable, cost-effective solutions for global health.
Valentina Mangano (MSc Biological Sciences, PhD Immunology, MSc Epidemiology) is Associate Professor of Parasitology at the Department of Translational Research, University of Pisa, Italy. She has more than 15 years experience in conducting research on malaria epidemiology in sub-Saharan populations, in collaboration with partners in endemic countries, non-governamental organizations and international networks (Centre National de Recherche et Formation sur le Paludisme, Burkina Faso; Doctors With Africa CUAMM; MalariaGEN; EVIMalaR). Since 2020 she is vice-director of the Centre of Peace Sciences of the University of Pisa where she promotes education on global public health. more
Carmelo De Maria, MEng, PhD, is Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the Department of Information Engineering at the. University of Pisa, and affiliated with the Research Center ‘‘E. Piaggio’’. He is a member of the African Biomedical Engineering Consortium secretariat, and one of the manager of the UBORA platform (https://platform.ubora-biomedical.org). His research interests are in the field of additive manufacturing technologies, with a particular focus in Biomedical applications, including Bioprinting and the prototyping of Medical Devices. more
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Florinda Coro is a PhD student at the Research Centre Enrico Piaggio and the department of Information Engineering at the University of Pisa, in Italy. During her master's degree she spent two periods abroad participating in two summer schools aimed at the collaborative design of open-source medical devices in Nairobi (Kenya) and in Kampala (Uganda) in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Her research activity is currently aimed at developing open-source medical devices for low resource settings with a special focus on an in-vitro diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of the malaria disease. Her interests range from design, mechanical and electronic prototyping to regulation with the target of making safe, appropriate and affordable medical devices accessible to everybody. more
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Arti Ahluwalia is a professor of Bioengineering at the Department of Information Engineering, University of Pisa. She is Director of the Centro 3R, the Italian Inter-university Center for the Promotion of the 3Rs Principles in Teaching and Research. She has contributed to the creation of the "Africa Biomedical Engineering Consortium" (http://abec-africa.org), dedicated to improving health in Africa through the training of biomedical engineers and was involved in the creation of the Ubora platform (https://ubora-biomedical.org) for collaborative design of safe, open medical technology. more
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