NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

It’s a medical breakthrough story that begins with a long line.

Brian Grimberg was working at a clinic in Papua New Guinea, watching in frustration as the queue of people hoping to get tested for malaria stretched out the door. It took almost an hour to analyze each person’s blood. Clearly, they wouldn’t get to everyone.

There had to be a better way, he thought.

That led to conversations with Robert Brown, who, like Grimberg, is a researcher at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Brown is a physics professor there, while Grimberg is an assistant professor of international health at Case Western’s School of Medicine, but they ended up collaborating on a research project that resulted in a device that could revolutionize how malaria is detected and treated around the world.

“We tried a lot of ideas,” says Grimberg, “but the last one is both the cheapest and the most effective.”