From repurposing everyday camping gear for safely storing medications to developing non-invasive diagnostic testing, Western researchers are rethinking technology to solve pressing health-care challenges - here and around the world. These projects are supported by the Frugal Biomedical Innovations program, a multi-faculty initiative led by the Faculty of Engineering. The program works with partners in remote and low-resource communities in Northern Canada and Africa to develop and deploy high-performance, low-cost medical devices.
Transforming camping coolers into validated cold chain
Maria Drangova (Geoff Robins)
"Many life-saving medications must be stored at controlled low temperatures, but a large portion of the population in Africa lacks access to electricity, and where it is available, it is often unreliable. Because of that, many medications and vaccines are not routinely stocked in remote health clinics," said Maria Drangova, professor of medical biophysics at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Robarts scientist.
Drangova is collaborating with engineers at Uganda's Makerere University, a Ugandan medical supply distributor and Drop Access - a start-up in Kenya - to validate the use of highly efficient 12V camping refrigerators for use as sustainable and reliable cold storage for medicines in rural and remote clinics across Africa.
The refrigerators, which are sold for recreational use in North America, are mass produced and inexpensive. Drangova's team has transformed these units into sustainable and reliable medical-grade refrigerators by determining the optimal system of solar panels and batteries to enable the refrigerators to work with no interruptions while off grid.
By instrumenting the refrigerators with a custom-built array of thermometers, they have demonstrated that uniform temperature (2 to 8 C) is maintained throughout the fridge, meeting the World Health Organization's medical-grade standards.
"This is exactly what frugal innovation is about. We're not just inventing new tech - we're reimagining how existing tools can be used to solve urgent health challenges." - Maria Drangova
"These fridges were designed for campers and are very cost-effective, but now they will preserve life-saving vaccines and medicines," Drangova said.
The medication storage system was one of many projects presented at the Frugal Biomedical Innovation Symposium, where Western researchers and their partners shared updates on their innovations.
"This project matters - to the families in remote communities who rely on medications, to the entrepreneurs building health infrastructure and to us here at home," Drangova said. "It forces us to look differently at what we already have. That's the spirit of the Frugal Biomedical Innovations program - radical creativity, practical solutions and a commitment to making health care work for everyone."
Creating sustainable, needle-free blood tests
Dr. Michael Rieder, professor in the departments of paediatrics, physiology and pharmacology and medicine, is creating a new non-invasive cell monitoring, point-of-care approach for routine blood testing. He and his team are developing a no-needle alternative to conduct complete blood count (CBC) testing, one of the most ordered diagnostic tests, using capillaroscopy - a non-invasive method that provides imaging of capillaries in the nailbed.
By analyzing images of capillaries (blood vessels where red and white blood cells and platelets pass in a single file and can be easily identified based on their size) Rieder's team can estimate vital blood components using a smartphone-linked device. The technology could detect infections, anemia and early signs of cancer.
Dr. Michael Rieder (Schulich Medicine & Dentistry)
"It's needle-free, accessible and ecologically friendly," said Rieder. "It's more comfortable for patients - especially children and those who are afraid of needles - and an added bonus is that it doesn't generate the same waste associated with traditional blood draws."
The latest prototype is being adapted for broader usability, ensuring it will also work well for a wide range of skin types. This device can be used in the most remote clinics because the device doesn't require blood to be drawn.
"It brings diagnostics to where people are," Rieder said. "By capturing images of the capillaries with cameras similar to those in a smartphone, we aim to provide immediate diagnostics at rural nursing stations."
The project includes field testing in collaboration with the Joint Clinical Research Centre in Uganda, where the devices will be evaluated to determine if they could help detect conditions like sickle-cell anemia and pneumonia in remote communities.
"People talk about collaboration between high and low-resource countries. There's often an implication that the high resource countries lead the projects but really it is a true partnership, because the knowledge and input from the user is important in informing the design of these projects," Rieder said.
