A comment just published in Lancet Global Health expresses concern for the whole global supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  M. Lieberman is one of the 53 co-authors.  The comment urges the global community not to loose track of the need to provide access to good quality medical products for all the other illnesses out there.  Already, the epidemic is limiting mass gatherings for medical treatments such as vaccination, creating intense demand for drugs without a good evidence base for use in COVID-19, and curtailing regulatory efforts such as post-market surveillance. …

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Surgical masks are made from non-woven fabric and are glued, not sewn. Directions for how to make your own no-sew mask  from items you probably have around the house.

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How does a global pandemic affect medicine quality? According to a blog posting by researcher Elizabeth Pisani, it is likely to result in numerous breakdowns in the systems that provide safe and effective medicines.  The Food and Drug Administration has already issued a public warning…

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Directions and a video for use of the ND Filter Cap.

1). Collect 2L of water in a clean 2L soda bottle. 

2). Screw the filter cap on. Flip the bottle upside-down.…

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Madeline passed her PhD defense on Monday Feb. 10, 2020.  Her projects will keep two graduate students busy....Kat Hayes is taking on the chemoPAD work, and Ornella Joseph will follow up on the urinary iodide PAD.  Congratulations and best wishes to Dr. Eberle! …

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Using enzymes embedded in a paper test card, Jessica Zinna and Tracy Lockwood developed an accurate test for lactose in illicit drugs.

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Paper Millifluidics Lab: Using a Library of Color Tests to Find Adulterated Antibiotics

A two to three period analytical chemistry experiment has been developed which allows second year students to explore chemical color tests used to detect adulterated pharmaceuticals. Students prepare several paper analytical devices (PADs) to generate positive and negative controls antibiotics, along with cutting agents such as starch and chalk. These PADs are used to identify the active ingredients and excipients in mystery tablets prepared by their classmates. In the second part of the lab, the students select an individual color test and design an experiment to quantify their mystery pill’s active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Nearly all the student groups were able to successfully identify adulterants present in their mystery tablets.  The quantification of the mystery tablets was also successful with all but one group calculating the correct concentration within 6%. In a post-lab assessment, the students identified their largest gains in their ability to analyze data and other information, skill in science writing, and learning of laboratory techniques.…

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A simple kit for collecting soil, dust, and paint samples gave 96% accuracy in identifying samples that violate the EPA and HUD regulations for environmental lead.  Read the manuscript here....…

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Every person has the right to receive safe, quality medical products – but all too often, this isn’t the case.

• Poor-quality medical products (including medicines, vaccines, biologics and diagnostics) fall into two categories: substandard or falsified. Both negate the benefits of modern health care and put patients at risk.
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Congratulations to Sarah Bliese, whose paper on analysis of ceftriaxone via the 12-lane PAD was just accepted in Analytical Methods.  Sarah used principal component analysis (PCA) to differentiate good and bad products and even to figure out why a given product was bad quality.  

Color "bar codes" classify the products as good or bad.…

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Nick Meyers' paper on quantitative analysis of beta lactams on a paper card was just accepted by Analytical Methods.  Congratulations Nick! The aPAD accuracy is about 5%, not quite as good as an HPLC, but then again, the aPAD doesn't cost $40,000.  

The more blue dots appear, the smaller the antibiotic content.…

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The San Diego ACS meeting is coming up, and Dr Lieberman will give an Eminent Scientist lecture on Monday August 26.  The student newsletter InChemistry has an article about it.   The talk is aimed at early career stage chemists--mostly undergraduates--and focuses on how the PAD technology can be applied to preventing drug overdose deaths. …

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Madeline's poster was titled, "The chemoPAD: A Paper Analytical Device for Detection of Four Chemotherapy Drugs," and Ayenew Ashenef from Addis Ababa University is a co-author.  Congratulations to Madeline!  

 

The 2019 Gordon Research Conference on Preclinical Form and Formulation for Drug Discovery focused on cutting edge research on the development, characterization and manufacture of formulations that span multiple modalities., such as …

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The Disease Diagnostic INventors Challenge provides funding to focus measurement science and engineering creativity at Purdue, IU, IBRI and Notre Dame on innovations with the potential to address unmet biomedical needs. Kathleen Hayes and Vincent Schmitz brought together the research strengths of the Whalen and Lieberman groups at Notre Dame to tackle the difficult task of detecting bad quality or fake oxytocin.  There is currently no field test available for oxytocin quality, and studies show that about 1 in 4 vials dispensed to women in Africa do not meet quality standards.  Good luck to these energetic first year grad students!…

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The 2019 Lumen Christi award was presented to Heather DiLallo, who has worked for many years with the PAD project at Saint Mary's. Heather is a Chemistry major who has worked to detect falsified medicines in Nepal and China through Toni Barstis's IRES program.  She is in the 5-year dual degree program, and will be continuing her engineering coursework next academic year at Notre Dame.  We look forward to seeing her around campus! …

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Alec is working on color tests for detection of caffeine as a cutting agent in cocaine.  He was recognized at the Friday COS-JAM session.  Well done!  …

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Madeline was selected as a recipient of an AAUW American Dissertation Fellowship in the amount of $20000 for the 2019-20 award year. …

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Meghanne is working to discover environmental lead in pre-1978 homes without using children as the detection tool. …

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I'm at the icddr,b site in Bandarban, and sharing the facility with about 800 boxes of shoes donated by shoe company Tom's.  They promise that for every pair they sell in the US, they'll donate a pair of shoes to children in need.  Looks like they are following through.  The community health workers distribute the shoes when they're doing their other duties.  Photo coming later. …

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Marya Lieberman gave a workshop about post-market surveillance for 40 staff members from the Directorate General of Drug Administration in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the National Control Lab, and WHO-PQM. 

The workshop included a fun project to evaluate the supply chain of a medicine which involved 28 neophytes analyzing samples from a fictional country.  The PAD reader box also made its first debut outside Notre Dame.  This smart PAD reader will be sited in Bandarban at the icddr,b field office, where a small sampling project will be based in 2019.    …

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