Diagnostic lab-in-a-backpack

Imagine a remote spot in the developing world - be it in Africa, Asia or South America, where the only way to reach your patients is a day's trek over harsh terrain. Once you get there, you can be assured that there'll be no power, no refrigeration and no sterile setup. Now imagine that a large proportion of your patients have HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis or diabetes. "Oh, that's too bad," you'll say, "this is a situation beyond redress."

In come the student volunteers from Rice University's "Beyond Traditional Borders" program, equipped with a backpack that carries everything you need: a stethoscope, an otoscope and an ophthalmoscope, a glucose monitoring kit, an urinalysis kit, a pulse oxymeter, a hematocrit centrifuge, a microscope with a 100x oil-immersion objective, and all manner of power cords, battery chargers, head lights and the like. Plus, three rows of compartmented boxes holding just the appropriate medication.

Yes, this is not a pipe dream - it is a reality today. Meet Rice University's proprietory lab-in-a-backpack, developed by students and faculty from a unique program of study - "Beyond Traditional Borders." This program draws students and faculty from disparate fields of specialization such as engineering, design, economics and the like.

And the whole program is spearheaded by the visionary scientist and social entrepreneur, Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum.

For more details on this project, please visit here.