Duke University Uses Mitra Devices to Field-Test Diagnostic Tools in Liberia

Recently, Volumetric Absorptive Microsampling (VAMS™) technology helped a group of organ transplant patients summit Mt. Kilimanjaro. Now students and scientists from the biomedical engineering program at Duke University have found another transformative new use case: testing children in Liberia for biomarkers associated with malnutrition.

Over the summer, Daniel Joh, an MD-PhD student at Duke, and Angus Hucknall, a senior research scientist, touched down in New Kru Town, a neighborhood in the outer reaches of Monrovia, Liberia. They were there to field test diagnostic tools designed to rapidly measure the biomarkers linked to malnutrition. In this low-resourced reigion, they set up shop at Redemption Clinic, and made use of some revolutionary medical innovations to do their work under subprime conditions. Read more.