Global health R&D at work in Michigan
Michigan State University (MSU) researchers are developing a low-cost skin patch that can rapidly and safely detect malaria. Current diagnostics for malaria generally require blood; the patch will render this unnecessary via an array of microneedles that painlessly collect fluid from just beneath the skin’s surface, an area known to contain proteins from the malaria parasite in infected individuals. This sample will then be transferred to a test that would indicate a positive diagnosis with colored lines. The MSU team aims to develop a prototype for preliminary evaluation. Each year, malaria kills almost half a million people, mostly young children in Africa.