Week 1 RET @ BU

My first week at Boston University (BU) could not have been any more productive.  Initially, my pre-service colleague, Liz and I met with Tim, a fourth year Ph. D. candidate.  Tim did a phenomenal job describing to us what he had been working on in the biophotonics lab.  In sum, they are working on creating a low cost state of the art microscope that will improve the resolution depth and quality of the various specimen.  More, importantly, it will take the technology of a litro (the camera that allows one to take one shot and zoom in on any aspect of the image) into a microscope.  He described a phase contrast imaging technique that uses an LED light, which is added to a standard light microscope to allow for increased image quality in depth.

The possible application of this technology is to add another dimension to rapid diagnostic tests (RDT).  To put it in context, one possible use of this is to use it to diagnose whether a patient have the parasite that causes malaria in their blood.  Unfortunately, there are already RDTs that identify the disease with much more ease and more appropriate for developing countries (dipsticks).

We are now looking into using this technology to diagnose sickle cell anemia (SCA).  Liz and I have been reading much literature about malaria and the various diagnostics tools available.  I've already improve my knowledge about the disease:

• Caused by four different species of plasmodium
• P. falciparum - most common and deadliest
• P. vivax
• P. malariae
• P. ovale
• Cycles of parasite reproduction in the blood causes the observed symptoms:
• fever
• headache
• chills
• vomiting
• Diagnostic tools varies
• RDTs are used in the field
• Microscopy is used in the clinics
• Treatment - artemisinin for which some P. falciparum are already developing resistance
• Vaccine? since parasites resides inside the human host cells, it is hidden from the activation mechanism of the immune system.

Now, we have turn our focus onto sickle cell anemia.  our first objective is to once again is to acquire some background on the topic.  Second, we are to find a vendor that carries sample sickle cell blood so we can place an order.  I've initiated the search for a vendor and so far it does not look too promising.  Animals are used as model organisms for testing potential therapeutics and as of now some of the possibilities are mouse, rat and rabbit.  Nonetheless, the search continues...

Some of the questions I currently have about the PAW:

1. Can it differentiate between SCA and the SC trait?
2. Can it be used to test for other blood related disorders such as hemophilia, diabetes, leukemia...?