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From 2012e.igem.org

The Challenge

Every year 300 million people get infected with malaria and 1 million die because of it. One of the challenges in dealing with malaria lies in diagnostics. Malaria is prevalent in developing countries in which there are not nearly enough tests, WHO states there is a need for 1.6 billion tests annually to deal with the disease, but only 16 million are delivered. On top of that the available tests don’t work in a number of cases. For instance, in pregnant women, the concentration of parasites is too low to detect with traditional diagnostic tools, ultimately resulting in many deaths every year.

The Solution

Amplino is developing an affordable, mobile, easy to use, diagnostic tool for malaria. It will work by taking a drop of blood from a finger, putting it in a cassette, this is put in the device and after a short wait the patient knows with high reliability whether he or she has contracted malaria. The device is based on a 40 year old technology, widely used in hospitals around the world. We simplify the design and transform it into a point-of-care device, which will operate as close to the patient as possible. The device will be able to detect very low quantities of parasite and can thus reliably test malaria. This will lead to improved health care for this vulnerable group of patients and ultimately lives saved. The device will be low cost, offering an opportunity for micro credit loans and local entrepreneurship.

Company

We are keen on making a positive impact and believe this works best from a for-profit social venture. By earning a profit on our product, while keeping it affordable to use, we are building a sustainable company bringing new affordable health care products to developing countries.

For more information visit our [http://www.amplino.com Amplino company website].

Amplino project summary

At Amplino we believe biotech and business combine best when one keeps things simple. Here's a brief overview of our project:

Goal: set up a sustainable biotech business

Vision: get high tech to low resource environments

Mission: make a real impact on the world

Target Market: bottom-of-the-pyramid in developing countries

Challenge: inadequate Malaria diagnostics, especially at low parasite levels

Solution: an affordable, mobile, easy to use, diagnostic device for Malaria

Business Model: stimulate entrepreneurship and economically incentify improvement of health in a local community

On this wiki we will present our deliverables for the iGEM Entrepreneurship competition. For more information on our business, please visit the [http://www.amplino.org/ Amplino website].

Business Tour

Right after the iGEM E jamboree the Amplino team will tour the Boston area. Our goal is to meet as many people as possible and set up partnership to support our mission. The tour dates are Sunday November 4th till Saturday November 10th.

If you are interested in meeting us, please contact us at info@amplino.org.

Contact Us

For any inquiries regarding this iGEM Entrepreneurship project, please contact us at info@amplino.org. Also, take a look at our press page.

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