Project Updates » Archives » 2016

New blog to watch

Author: Marya Lieberman

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This blog  focuses on new technologies with potential to impact global heath.  The PAD project is highlighted in the 14 Nov. 2016 posting.

 

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Nick's fast pitch on iodine nutrition brings him $1,000

Author: Marya Lieberman

Nicholas Myers pitched the saltPAD at the Micronutrient Forum in Cancun Mexico, explaining how this simple paper device could help program managers monitor iodine nutrition.  He won second prize, out of a field of 70 entrants from 18 countries.  The pitch was repeated in 1 minute format at the gala…

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Jamie Luther wins poster prize at MUACC

Author: Marya Lieberman

Jamie Luther presented a poster at the October 12 MUACC meeting at the University of Illinios Urbana-Champaign and received a poster prize from the assembled analytical chemists.  The poster described the "milkPAD" she is developing to detect adulteration of dairy milk, a bit of unsavory product manipulation…

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ACS press conference on PAD project

Author: Marya Lieberman

Marya Lieberman and Sarah Bliese were invited to give a press conference at the  252nd National ACS meeting in Philadelphia.  We described how PADs can help to address the flood of low quality drugs now swamping developing countries and answered lots of questions;  view the whole thing here

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MITI health battles poor quality drugs in Kisumu region

Author: Marya Lieberman

MITI Health was started by Stanford medical student Jessica Vernon as a way to provide high quality medicines to pharmacists in Kenya.  The PAD project and AMPATH are partners with MITI Health;  we help them conduct confirmatory assays on suspicious products.   This KQED news piece describes how a…

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Problems in Kenyan Pharmacy and Poisons Board?

Author: Marya Lieberman

Business Daily Africa reports on a whistleblower's claims that in exchange for bribes, the Pharmacy and Poisons board issued permits for non-registered suppliers to import low-quality drugs into Kenya between 2005 and 2011.  The Chief Registrar is implicated in the claims.  We'll be following this…

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REU students return from Kenya trip

Author: Marya Lieberman

Muriel Mcclendon (Chicago State University), Sarah Bliese (Hamline College), and Albert Vargas (UND) spent two weeks in Eldoret and Nairobi as part of the Analytical Chemistry REU program.  Muriel worked on a quantitative paper test card for antibiotics and gave a presentation at Eldoret University,…

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PAD patent issued

Author: Marya Lieberman

US Patent 9,354,181, Analytical devices for detection of low-quality pharmaceuticals, was issued May 31, 2016, to Toni Barstis, Patrick Flynn, and Marya Lieberman.  

Toni, Pat, and Marya are grateful to Allan Fanucci at Winstrom & Strawn LLP, who acted for us and provided most valuable…

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VWR supports PAD project

Author: Marya Lieberman

Prof. Lieberman is very pleased to report that she has received financial backing from VWR International, a global laboratory supplier and distributor of chemicals, consumables, equipment, and instruments. Through their relationship with Notre Dame, VWR is providing Prof. Lieberman with $10,000 per…

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Pathology of Negligence: Report on Batch J093

Author: Marya Lieberman

In the third week of September, 2011, a worker loaded white powders from drums and plastic bags into a mixing machine at Efonze Chemical Industries to produce Batch J093 of a drug called Isotab.  It had been ordered by a cardiac clinic in Pakistan.  One of the drums, labeled as pre-gelatinized starch, was probably filled with pyrimethamine.  A batch of this antimalarial medicine had arrived in a moldy container earlier in the month and been transferred to a blue drum, the same type of drum used to hold starch.  Perhaps no-one updated the label.  In any case, over 20 Kg of pyrimethamine was somehow added to the batch of isosorbide mononitrate.  Each heart pill that was pressed contained over 50 mg of this drug in addition to the intended active ingredient;  patients who took the heart medicine would receive doses of 100-150 mg pyrimethamine per day.    The recommended dose of pyrimethamine is just 25 mg per week.  The consequences to hundreds of Pakistanis would be devastating.  

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Lab is now well EQUIPped

Author: Marya Lieberman

In order to determine whether a population is receiving enough iodine in their food, it's necessary to measure this micronutrient in urine samples.  The analysis is very difficult because the concentrations are so low--between 10 and 500 parts per billion.  

The Centers for Disease Control…

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ND undergraduates participate in PAD research in Eldoret

Author: Marya Lieberman

Notre Dame juniors Tabitha Healy and Paulina Eberts are assisting with the repair of four HPLC systems that will be donated to labs in Africa. They accompanied Prof. Lieberman to Eldoret over the winter break.

Tabitha and Paulina working with one of the Waters HPLC instruments in the drug analysis…

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