Procrastinating? We’ve got just the thing! The YTT have pulled together a series of TED Talks that they LOVE. Grab some popcorn and get comfy, because you’re about to get seriously inspired by these amazing engineering projects.
Frederick Balagadde: Bio-lab on a Microchip
What’s this TED talk about?
Frederick Balagadde grew up in sub- Saharan Africa and was effected by loses caused by HIV aids. He made it his mission to help eliminate this problem by creating small diagnostic chips to help identify the virus before it gets out of hand. This “hand held bio lab” can positively affect the lives of million who suffer in third world countries with this terrible disease.
What’s amazing about it?
Using this technology can push diagnostics and patient care to a new level. The device itself is the size of an iPhone and can be taken to remote or inaccessible locations where bio labs and facilities are unavailable. One chip can diagnose up to one hundred people and speeds up diagnosis by a whopping 50%. This small chip could save lives and help people get on track to get the medication and care they need to battle this disease.
How did it inspire you?
Seeing how many people this small device could save really inspired me. One of my engineers worked on a similar diagnostic device as well. These two things have really caused me to look into bio engineering and the development of devices that help save peopled lives. I think that there is nothing more gratifying than the feeling of helping someone or even saving them, and that is what these things do. Even today when we have so much technology and medical intelligence horrible diseases still run ramped in poorer countries and if in the future I could do something to stop that, then that would be a life changing moment for me.
What surprised you?
I think the most surprising thing to me was how just supplying the drugs wasn’t the best solution. In the video it talks about how giving people drugs without properly diagnosing them can lead to terrible mutant forms of the disease that are immune to treatment. They also talked about how these form of HIV could spread to other parts of the world and could become very costly and difficult to treat. It really surprised me how seemingly versatile these diseases can be and showed me how dangerous they really are. Seeing how many people this small device could save really inspired me. One of my engineers worked on a similar diagnostic device as well. These two things have really caused me to look into bio engineering and the development of devices that help save peopled lives. I think that there is nothing more gratifying than the feeling of helping someone or even saving them, and that is what these things do. Even today when we have so much technology and medical intelligence horrible diseases still run ramped in poorer countries and if in the future I could do something to stop that, then that would be a life changing moment for me.
Did you ever have an idea about developing something yourself that solves a problem in the world? Tell us all about it.
Technology isn’t really there yet but I have always wondered about prosthetics that can be used like normal parts of the body. Ones that are able to communicate to the brain using electrical impulses through the nervous system just like normal limbs do. Also I find stem cell research very interesting and graphing new organs that can be used for implantation on a regular basis is becoming a more real and plausible thing so I would love to get into that.