Red Gold

It's been a long break since my last blog. So I think it's only appropriate I talk about something new. I was reading a recent article in the Economist about "the New Oil Spill." It talked about the adverse effects of massive palm oil plantations on the environment. Case-in-point was Malaysia, the world's biggest producer of palm oil.
Palm oil, a crop native to West Africa, was found to grow in Malaysia in the early 1900s. Since then, palm oil has become one of the main agricultural exports of Malaysia.
I read more on the subject and found out about the Ghana Oil Palm Development Corporation (GOPDC) and the work being done by the Belgian group, Siat, in Ghana.
It's amazing how little attention this sector of the economy is getting.
The potential of using palm oil as a renewable source of biofuel has already been realized by companies like Neste Oil of Finland, which plans to produce 800,000 tonnes of biodiesel per year using Malaysian palm oil. Their proprietary NExBTL is a next-generation biofuel that contains 90% palm oil.
Countries like Brazil have used corn ethanol to diversify their energy portfolio, requiring 25% ethanol content in all car fuels since 2007. Brazilian flex-fuel cars are capable of running on 100% ethanol (E100) and accounted for 92% of cars sold in Brazil last year.
In the next few blogs, I'll explore the idea of building a biofuel industry around oil palm in a developing economy like Ghana's.

Point of Care: an iPod-sized biosensor

The miniature NMR biosensor is an ongoing nanotechnological challenge. A recent Nature article describes one such device (figure shown above) made with a simple permanent magnet, miniaturized NMR electronics, microfluidics for sample handling and an array of microcoils for making NMR measurements. Basically, the device takes in a sample, presumably through some well, and sends it through a network of microfluidic channels that mix it with magnetic nanoparticles that are sensitive to some analyte within the sample. Upon binding to a target, the magnetic nanoparticles cluster and have a shorter T2. Having multiple microfluidic channels enables parallel analysis of different samples. Since you can only fit so many such channels into something the size of an iPod nano, the panel of microfluidic channels will have to be recyclable or replaceable.

Point of Care: Personalized Medicine II

Personalized medicine is poised to change the way we relate to our health. The sequencing of the human genome has fundamentally affected our understanding of certain diseases, forcing an ideological retreat from the one-size-fits all approach to treating disease.
Two necessary criteria must be satisfied by any device that aims to do for medicine what the iPhone has done to ICT. This pocket-diagnostician must be both miniature and integrationist in its design. T2 Biosystems' NanoDx is small enough to be carried out into the field and used at home but doesn't quite make the cut as a handy device in today's world. The NanoDx uses NMR, MRI's scientific cousin, to detect viruses and signature proteins in blood, saliva and urine. The sample is loaded onto a disposable cartridge containing magnetic nanoparticles. The presence of an analyte causes the nanoparticles to cluster, resulting in a cooperative enhancement in the magnetic properties of the particles. These magnetic particles, in turn, reduce the time it takes for the net transverse magnetization (T2) of neighboring water protons in a sample to be completely dephased or lost in a magnetic field. This physical effect is translated into a readout.
The key advantage of using NMR over other techniques lies in its capacity to analyze "dirty" samples. Sticking your head in an MRI machine generates an image because it maps the behavior of water protons in your body based on their location. Magnetic resonance (MR) analysis does away with the need for building a purification system into the device. A simpler device means a cheaper device.
These issues of simplicity and cost are especially crucial if a technology is to be utilized in developing countries. More on miniaturist design and cost issues in my next blog.

Point of Care: Personalized Medicine I

Healthcare in Africa is a human-resource nightmare. According to the WHO's World Health Statistics for 2009, there are 2 doctors for every 10,000 people in Africa, 26 doctors for every 10,000 people in the US and 32 doctors for every 10,000 people in Europe.
To many, the solution to this anomaly seems simple: train more African doctors. Unfortunately, many African-trained doctors choose to work outside the continent, where their skills are worth more. The result is a not-so-curious osmosis. Sociologists call it the "Matthew effect"; while I myself had the option of studying medicine in Ghana after high school, choosing Yale was a no-brainer.
So, how do we improve healthcare in spite of that? I believe the answer lies in personalized medicine. "Personalized medicine" is a buzz-phrase that captures current efforts to harness the latest advances in biomedical science and information technology to provide indivualized healthcare and democratize the practice of medicine. The parallel with the IT industry is striking; some 35 odd years ago, the idea of a "personal computer" was deemed oxymoronic at best. It is believed that personalized medicine would reduce medical costs significantly by encouraging a more preventive approach to healthcare.
In Africa, cheap and handy tools that give people more control over their healthcare could make a world of difference, compensating for the seemingly inevitable egress of health professionals from the continent.
Today I'd like to mention a company whose forward-looking technology, I believe, is pushing the envelope in this regard. T2 Biosystems uses NMR technology to detect the presence of bacteria, cancer, viruses and small molecule drugs in blood, saliva or urine. Their product, the NanoDx, is the nifty portable shown above (the picture is borrowed from the company website).
More on the NanoDx and how it works in my next blog.

The future of biotech in Africa

This is the first in a series of blogs I intend to write about the prospects of using biotech to fuel development in Africa in much the same way that ICT has done in places like India. The title of this blog is based on a popular poem by Keats in which he claims that, by dissecting the physical nature of light, Newton had sullied the beauty of the rainbow. Had Keats lived today, perhaps he would have said the same thing about the Watson-Crick discovery of the structure of DNA, the most significant watershed scientific moment in the last century and what many believe to be the start of the modern biotech revolution.
Keats would have been as wrong now as he was then, for science hardly detracts from the beauty of nature. An engineer by training, I believe the true value of science lies in its application to solve problems and better the lot of humanity. As a matter of fact, Keats would have been less likely to pen his (in)famous lines had he lived in our age and appreciated the utility of the radio, TV, microwave and a myriad other inventions that Newton's discovery laid the foundation for.
Africa, with its sundry challenges and very human problems, presents the perfect stage for a new breed of philanthropic science. Biotech has the strongest potential to play this role; few industries can match the breadth of its impact in fields as diverse as food, medicine or energy and the immediate effect it could have on the quality of people's lives.