Three New Research Projects Addressing Global Challenges
This spring, the ETH4D Research Challenges Committee selected three outstanding reseach projects for funding. Find out more about the projects dealing with point-of-care diagnosis of trichomoniasis, scaling up the use of serious games as catalysts for biodiversity conservation, and low-cost monitoring of critical infrastructure.
Research Challenges Project
«Point-of-care Diagnosis of Trichomoniasis to Improve Linkage to Care and Combat Antimicrobial Resistance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries»
Contact: Dr. Daniel A. Richards
Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering (D-CHAB)
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to public health and its complications disproportionately affect communities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This is particularly true for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Amongst STIs, trichomoniasis, caused by the parasite T. vaginalis, remains one of the most common. Infection with T. vaginalis is associated with serious health consequences, including adverse pregnancy outcomes and an increased risk of transmitting HIV to sexual partners. In the absence of appropriate diagnostics, resource-limited countries rely on syndromic management to tackle trichomoniasis. This results in the use of inappropriate treatment strategies and contributes to the development of resistance to nitroimidazoles, the only effective drug class available.
An essential first step in mitigating the impact of trichomoniasis is the deployment of effective diagnostic tests and timely linkage to appropriate care. Currently, available diagnostic platforms, whilst highly accurate, are prohibitively complex and expensive, making nationwide introduction in LMICs unfeasible. To circumvent these issues, researchers from ETH Zurich, in collaboration with the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), are developing a novel low-cost point-of-care diagnostic device to detect both the presence of T. vaginalis and antimicrobial resistance genes. This test will combine a novel CRISPR-Cas12 based biosensing assay with highly scalable microfluidic architectures. To ensure implementation at the point-of-care in LMICs, the device will be developed in line with guidelines published by The Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics (FINDx).
Seed Grant Projects
«Serious Games and Forum Theatre as Catalysts for Inclusive & Participatory Green Transition»
Contact: Anne Giger Dray
Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems (D-USYS)
Focus Country: São Tomé and Príncipe
The archipelago country of São Tomé and Príncipe is recognised as one of the most interesting biodiversity hotspots in the Gulf of Guinea, with a large percentage of endemism. However, the country faces significant threats to its unique Natural Capital due to poor environmental governance and resource depletion, associated with population growth. external page BirdLife International, in collaboration with external page LEAF Inspiring Change, ETH, and external page CIRAD, has developed a serious game prototype named "Dukunu Mole" to explore alternative development pathways for Natural Resources & Land Use management in São Tomé. The game was tested with different groups, refined, and recalibrated through several iterations based on players’ feedback, and validated.
The Seed Project aims to upscale the game's use and mainstream its adoption to foster awareness, dialogue, and policies around biodiversity conservation. We aim to disseminate the approach within diverse arenas: youth & students, policy makers, other islands population and larger audience. To do so, we combine the approach with Forum Theatre to overcome the attendance limitations within a given game session and reach for larger numbers in a single setting. The impact of the project streamlines the Serious Game and Forum Theatre approaches as part of BirdLife's engagement activities with communities and stakeholders, integrating the tools into environmental curricula at various educational levels, and creating a change in narrative on the current topic of biodiversity conservation.
«Low-cost Monitoring of Critical Infrastructures»
Contact: Dr. Vasileios Ntertimanis
Structural Mechanics and Monitoring (D-BAUG)
Focus Country: Ghana
One of the significant challenges facing critical civil infrastructures in Ghana is the absence of an efficient and reliable inspection and monitoring framework for tracking the health of infrastructure(s). This project seeks to develop a low-cost sensor-based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system to aid the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) in inspecting and monitoring bridges in the country.
The project's primary objective is to develop a monitoring-supported bridge inspection framework and provide recommendations for integrating the developed framework into GHA's bridge maintenance programme. The anticipated outcomes of this project include a low-cost sensor-based SHM framework for improving safety and longevity of highway bridges, as well as reducing the maintenance and repair costs for the GHA. This project could potentially position Ghana as a leader in assimilation of SHM techniques for critical infrastructures in the West Africa sub-region. The project aligns with resilience and sustainability objectives, as it seeks to deliver diagnostic tools and methods, which will help to save money on repairs and prevent catastrophic failures.
