HKU BME Distinguished Lecture Series: Professor Jon Cooper “Low-Cost, Mobile Phone-Enabled Infectious Disease Diagnosis using Paper-based Microfluidic DNA Testing” (Mar 15, 2022)

Professor Jon Cooper from The University of Glasgow will deliver a lecture entitled “Low-Cost, Mobile Phone-Enabled Infectious Disease Diagnosis using Paper-based Microfluidic DNA Testing” via zoom on Mar 15, 2022 (Tuesday). Details as follow:

Time: 5pm (HKT)

Zoom Link:

https://hku.zoom.us/j/97177539049?pwd=Tmp4NFZxV2ZKRnAvOE9adml0TXZQZz09

Meeting ID: 971 7753 9049

Password: 106897

Abstract:

Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death and morbidity of people living in poverty, with profound economic and social impacts.  One challenge in providing effective interventions within remote, under-served communities in rural communities in the Global South is that results often need to be communicated to healthcare professionals, once testing has been completed, in order to implement care pathways. This talk will describe the development of  low-cost DNA-based paper microfluidic biosensing devices, and subsequently how results, collected from these diagnostics, can be processed using deep learning, providing a smart decision support system. As part of our on-going efforts in digital health, we have worked with the Ugandan Ministry of Health in implementing these technologies onto a mobile phone platform. Using blockchain, most commonly associated with cryptocurrencies, we ensure that wireless medical and geospatial information, transmitted to health service providers, is considering within a framework of trust, identity, privacy and securely (TIPS). The system meets The World Health Organisation ASSURED characteristics and opens up the possibility of the integration of secure geotagged diagnostic information within surveillance databases.

About the Speaker:

Professor Jon Cooper, FREng, FRSE holds The Wolfson Chair of Bioengineering at the University of Glasgow. His multidisciplinary research seeks to address major healthcare challenges with a particular focus on medical imaging, medical diagnostics and medical devices. He has worked extensively in Eastern Africa on infectious diseases diagnostics in rural communities in Uganda, Malawi and Tanzania.  He is on the Chinese Academy of Sciences Innovation Cooperation Centre International Advisory Board and holds Visiting Professorships at OSCAR, Suzhou China, and The School of Medical Science and Technology, IIT Kharagpur, India. He is Chair of the International Advisory Panel for the Biomedical Engineering Batchelor Program at Hong Kong University. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK’s National Academy of Engineering) as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Scotland’s National Academy of Arts, Humanities and Sciences).

 All are welcome.