Eritrean scientist convert DVD drive into blood analysis machine

Aman Russom Associate Professor : KTH

Aman Russom is an Associate Professor and senior lecturer of the
School of Biotechnology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in
Stockholm. He was born 1976 in Asmara, Eritrea. He received his M.
Sc. degree in Chemical Engineer with emphasis on Biotechnology in 2000
and his PhD in 2005 from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Dr
Russom then did his postdoc fellowship at Harvard Medical School between
2005-2008. In 2008 he returned back to Sweden, where he is
currently heading the clinical microfluidics Lab, currently consisting
of four PhD students and two postdocs, at the division of Proteomics and
Nanobiotechnology at KTH. His current research is focused on applying
engineering principles and technologies, especially micro-and
nanotechnology, to clinical medicine.
 Professor Russom and a team of scientists from the School of Biotechnology at KTH in Stockholm modified a DVD player to perform blood tests, including a check for HIV. The scientist and his research team converted a commercial DVD drive into a laser scanning microscope that can analyse blood and perform cellular imaging with one-micrometre resolution.

The breakthrough creates the possibility of an inexpensive and simple-to-use tool that could have far-reaching benefits in health care in developing countries such as Eritrea. His innovation into laser-scanning microscopy technique has been featured by the journal Nature Photonics, The Royal Society of Chemistry Journal and the Wall Street Journal this month.

“With an ordinary DVD player, we have created a cheap analytical tool for DNA, RNA, proteins and even entire cells,” says Russom. “The so-called “Lab-on-DVD” technology makes it possible to complete an HIV test in just a few minutes.”

In a proof of concept demonstration, the researchers collected cell-type CD4 + from blood and visualized it using the DVD reader technology, DVD LSM. Enumeration of these cells using flow cytometry is now standard in HIV testing, but the practice has been limited in developing countries. Russom says DVD-based technology will provide an attractive option in places like Africa and Asia.

The Lab-on-DVD reaps 30 years of research and development on optical storage technology to create an alternative to flow cytometry, the standard equipment for hospitals. Flow cytometry units can cost upwards of USD 30,000, excluding maintenance. By contrast, mass-produced Lab-on-DVD units could be made available for less than USD 200, Russom says.

“The low cost of the technology makes it suitable as a diagnostic and analytical tool in clinical practice close to the patient,” Russom says. “And because it delivers extremely fast analysis, the patient does not need to go home and wait for a response. They can get it right on the first visit to a doctor.”

The researchers are now working on extending the system to handle larger sample volumes so that low- concentration species such as circulating tumour cells can be analyzed or cancer detected. 

“Primary tumors sheds cells into the blood stream, a process called metastasis, and these circulating tumor cells in the blood end up spreading to other organs and grow. These secondary tumor sites are responsible for over 90% of cancer related death – meaning it is not the primary tumor that end up killing but the ones spread through the blood stream.”, says Russom. “In general, the earlier one detect cancer the better patient outcome. Hence, early detection of the so called “circulating tumor cells”, is expected to have huge impact on treatment of patients in the future.”

Since Russom’s DVD scanner has single cell image resolution, it is possible to detect a cancer cell in the background of billions other cells with his technology as long as you immobilize it on the surface of the DVD .

Eritrean Air Force pilot defected to Saudia Arabia

captain Rahwa Gebrekristos

captain Rahwa Gebrekristos military pilot sent by Eritrea to Saudi Arabia  to reclaim a jet stolen by two fellow officers when they flew to seek asylum has herself defected, Saudi media has reported.The pilot, who holds the rank of captain, told the authorities in Jizan province she did not wish to return to the east African country, a single-party state with no independent media and up to 10,000 political prisoners, Arab News reported.
The jet has been in Saudi Arabia since October, when it was diverted to the kingdom by its two officers who wanted to seek asylum, the newspaper said on Monday.
"She came to the kingdom two weeks ago to retrieve the military plane," Ali Za'le, a spokesman for Jizan governorate, was quoted as saying. "When she reached Jizan, she expressed her wish to stay here… her request is still being considered by the authorities."
Diplomats at Eritrea's embassy in Riyadh were not available to comment on the report.
Arab News said the pilot's father lived in Saudi Arabia.
Mass defections are common in Eritrea, considered one of the world's most reclusive states where dissent is dealt with harshly. Thousands of Eritreans flee the country each year, escaping unlimited conscription and poverty in the Red Sea state, aid agencies say.
Last year, 14 Eritrean footballers from the national soccer squad sought asylum in Uganda a year after 13 members of a club disappeared while participating in a regional tournament.
The UN refugee agency says more than 250,000 Eritrean refugees and nearly 15,000 asylum seekers live across the Horn of Africa.
Eritrea has a population of about 5.5 million. Earlier this year, dissident soldiers with tanks briefly took over the information ministry in Asmara, demanding that all political prisoners be freed.
Calm soon returned to the capital but Eritrean opposition activists in neighbouring Ethiopia cite growing dissent within the army over economic hardships.

Eritrean regime refused UN Special Rapporteur's entry

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea said authorities in Asmara have refused her entry into the country to asses the human rights situation in one of the world’s most repressive nation.
Speaking at the 53rd session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, Gambia, Beedwantee Keetharuth said this week that the Eritrean government have failed to cooperate as required by the UN Human Rights Council.

Ms. Beedwantee Keetharuth, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea

As a result she said she would be forced to undertake her mission - assessing the human rights situation in Eritrea - by talking to refugees in neighbouring countries.
“In the meantime, I will engage with all others concerned by human rights in Eritrea, including those who consider themselves to be victims of alleged human rights violations, human rights defenders and other civil society actors,” she said.
It is to be recalled that the Eritrean government immediately rejected the appointment of the UN Special Rapporteur by the UN Human Rights Council last July.
In a statement the Eritrean government said it won’t accept the mandate, describing her appointment as politically motivated.
Eritrea’s regional rival Ethiopia, however, has welcomed the appointment then and called upon its neighbour to comply with the resolutions of the Human Rights Council.
The UN Special Rapporteur to Eritrea is mandated to investigate the situation of human rights in Eritrea as the regime of the reclusive nation allegedly continues to commit widespread and gross human right violations.
The Special Rapporteur will present her first report on the human rights situation in Eritrea to the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly in June 2013.
Keetharuth called on the Eritrean government to “consider the mandate of the Special Rapporteur as an opportunity to start a fresh and constructive dialogue on human rights issues that have been raised by the international community and other stakeholders”.

Eritrean foreign minister holds talks with Egyptian president

Eritrean foreign minister Osman Saleh and the Eritrean presidential adviser for political affairs, Yamani Jabr met with President Mohamed Morsi and Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr ,in Cairo on Monday to boost bilateral relations between the countries and discuss a number of regional and international issues.
According to foreign ministry spokesperson Amr Roshdy, the two dignitaries addressed the growing problem of trafficking in African refugees through Egyptian territories. For the last two years, refugees and asylum-seekers, most of them Eritrean, have been kidnapped from refugee camps in Sudan and transported to the Sinai desert where they are held for ransom by Bedouin gangs, according to a recent Amnesty International report.
In the report, Amnesty International called on all the countries along the trafficking route to crack down on kidnappings and abuses and to increase their engagement with international agencies to protect the safety of refugees. In Monday’s meeting, Amr stressed the need to increase awareness of this issue and the harm it causes to African refugees.
They also agreed to establish a plan headed by both foreign ministers to increase political communication between the two countries, to strengthen Egypt’s relationship with Eritrea and the rest of the African continent, and to increase Egypt’s involvement in a variety of development projects in the Nile Basin countries, Roshdy said.
Amr also confirmed Egypt’s desire to promote trade with Eritrea, especially once the planned land bridge between Sudan and Egypt has been established.

The evil of human trafficking in Sinai

It was in the Sinai desert that the nation of Israel received God's law. Consequently we tend to think of the Sinai as a place of law-giving. Today, however, under Egyptian control, the Sinai (particularly the north-east) is absolutely lawless -- a place of law-breaking. Not only has al-Qaeda established a presence, but Bedouin criminal gangs and human traffickers operate with impunity.

The Egyptian government knows that the clusters of concrete buildings dotting the Sinai desert are being used as torture chambers by human traffickers. The traffickers relay their victims' agony to family members

Eritrean Refugees in the Shagarab camp

or diaspora groups via mobile phone to facilitate payment of ransom. Even when ransom is paid it is not uncommon to find that victims are subsequently sold on to other traffickers who repeat the process. Failure to pay will result in death by torture, including through the extraction of saleable organs. New York Times (NYT) estimates that some 7,000 refugees have been abused this way in the past four years and that 4,000 of them may have died.The victims, mostly Eritrean (99 per cent), Somali and Sudanese refugees, include many Christians who have fled persecution in their homelands. Most of the victims have been kidnapped from the Shagarab refugee camps in eastern Sudan, home to tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees, and then transferred to the Sinai where they are sold to criminals. Eritrean opposition groups are demanding that Sudan improve security at the camps.
Chairman of the Ethiopia-based Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA), Tewelde Gebresilase, says human trafficking is carried out by a highly organised network that stretches from Eritrea to the refugee camps in Sudan and to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. It is a highly lucrative business, not only for the Bedouin, but for the Eritrean, Sudanese and Egyptian offici als who are involved either directly or indirectly through taking bribes. According to intelligence sources, it is a major form of revenue for the corrupt and wicked regime ruling Eritrea.
On 1 April Amnesty International (AI) released a report entitled 'EGYPT/SUDAN: refugees and asylum seekers face brutal treatment, kidnapping for ransom, and human trafficking'. (Index: AFR 04/001/2013). AI is appealing that Egypt and Sudan should 'make urgent and concerted efforts to stop asylum-seekers and refugees being kidnapped from camps in Sudan, forcibly transported to Egypt, and being severely abused in the Sinai desert'. Reporting on a typical case, AI writes, 'On 22 January 2013, two Eritrean women living in the Shagarab camps set out to go to church, but did not arrive at their destination. Camp residents believe they were kidnapped.'