Tag Archives: Michael Harms

Egyptian scientists win cash prize for innovation: a nano test for Hepatitis C

A team of Egyptian scientists won the $10,000 prize for 3rd place at Intel’s 7th Annual Global Challenge held at the University of California at Berkeley. The team,  Dr Hassan M E Azzazy, Tamer M Samir, Sherif Mohamed Shawky, Mai M H Mansour and Ahmed H Tolba, won both an Intel Global Challenge Prize and 1st place in the Arab Technology Business Plan Competition for its Hepatitis C test. From the Nov. 16, 2011 article by Georgina Enzer for ITP.net,

The team developed a Hepatitis C test which uses gold nanoparticles to detect Hepatitis C in less than an hour, and at one-tenth the cost of current commercial tests. The team won a $10,000 prize for their innovation.

The Intel Global Challenge at UC Berkeley encourages student entrepreneurs and rewards innovative ideas that have the potential to have a positive impact on society.

The Egypt team, NanoDiagX, led by Dr Hassan M E Azzazy, Tamer M Samir, Sherif Mohamed Shawky, Mai M H Mansour and Ahmed H Tolba won first place in the 7th Arab Technology Business Plan Competition 2011, organised by the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) in partnership with Intel Corporation. The regional competition, which was also in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), features 50 projects from 50 Arab entrepreneurs across 15 countries.

U.S. President Barak Obama has recognized the team’s achievements, from the Nov. 19, 2011 news item on Egypt.com

U.S. President Barack Obama honored the Egyptian team that won third prize of Intel’s Global Leadership after discovering a new cure for hepatitis C virus with nanotechnology.

The Egyptian team, Nano-Diagx, is the first Arab team to win the competition, organized by the Arab Organization for Science and Technology in cooperation with Intel and UNIDO.

Azazi [Dr. Hassan Azazi] said his team s most important advantage is the spirit of teamwork, which is uncommon in the culture of the Arab region.

He added the project used nanotechnology and gold to develop a cure for HIV hepatitis, which affects more than 200 million people worldwide and more than 100,000 Egyptians annually, particularly in cancer cases and cirrhosis of the liver.

It should be mentioned 28 technological projects participated in Intel’s World Challenge this year. The projects are all from 22 countries; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Thailand, America, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, India, Uruguay, China, Japan, Brazil, Taiwan, Philippines, Turkey, Argentina, Chile, Poland, Denmark and Israel.

I came to the conclusion that the team was successful in two competitions, Intel’s World Challenge which attracted 28 entries and the Arab Technology Business Plan Competition which attracted 50 entries even though it’s not stated explicitly in the materials I have read.

Congratulations to the Egyptian team’s accomplishments which become even more noteworthy when you realize the working conditions for many scientists in Egypt. In a Feb. 4, 2011 posting, I excerpted parts of an interview in Nature magazine about Egypt and science,

The article goes on to recount a Q & A (Questions and Answers) session with Michael Harms of the German Academic Exchange Service offering his view from Cairo,

How would you describe Egyptian science?

There are many problems. Universities are critically under-funded and academic salaries are so low that most scientists need second jobs to be able to make a living. [emphasis mine] Tourist guides earn more money than most scientists. You just can’t expect world-class research under these circumstances. Also, Egypt has no large research facilities, such as particle accelerators. Some 750,000 students graduate each year and flood the labour market, yet few find suitable jobs – one reason for the current wave of protests.

If you are interested, here’s the article, ‘Deep fury’ of Egyptian scientists.

Brief bit about science in Egypt and brief bit about Iran’s tech fair in Syria

I came across (via Twitter) this article  in Nature magazine about scientists in Egypt and their response to the current protests, ‘Deep fury’ of Egyptian scientists,

As the protests against President Hosni Mubarak gather pace across Egypt, the growing possibility of regime change is inspiring hope among many sectors of the population. The swelling number of protestors has seen academics add their voices to the call for change (see ‘Scientists join protests on streets of Cairo to call for political reform’).

The article goes on to recount a Q & A (Questions and Answers) session with Michael Harms of the German Academic Exchange Service offering his view from Cairo,

How would you describe Egyptian science?

There are many problems. Universities are critically under-funded and academic salaries are so low that most scientists need second jobs to be able to make a living. [emphasis mine] Tourist guides earn more money than most scientists. You just can’t expect world-class research under these circumstances. Also, Egypt has no large research facilities, such as particle accelerators. Some 750,000 students graduate each year and flood the labour market, yet few find suitable jobs – one reason for the current wave of protests.

But there are some good scientists here, particularly those who have been able to study and work abroad for a while. The Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education has started some promising initiatives. For example, in 2007 it created the Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF), a Western-style funding agency. And Egypt is quite strong in renewable energies and, at least in some universities, in cancer research and pharmaceutical research.

(Harms has more interesting comments in the article.) I must say the bit about needing 2nd jobs was an eye-opener for me.

There’s been some talk about the role that social media may or may not played in the civil unrest in Tunisia and Egypt. Jenara Nerenberg in her article, Iran Tech Expo Features Nuclear Might, Doubts, Concerns, for Fast Company, highlights comments from a Nobel Laureate who has no doubts that social media played a role in those countries and suggests the same could occur in Iran.

In fact, Iran is holding a five-day technology fair (starting this Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011) boasting its accomplishments. It has held such fairs before but for the first time Iran is holding its fair in another country, Syria. From Nerenberg’s  Feb. 3, 2011 article,

“Technological achievements” appears to be handy code words for nuclear achievements, based on recent reports and statements. [sic] But rockets, satellites, nanotechnology, and aerospace technology are all expected to be exhibited.

The event also comes at a time when there is growing use of consumer technology for political purposes, as seen in the case of Tunisia and Egypt. Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, in reference to recent events in those two countries, said, “I can tell you that thanks to technology dictators can’t get a good night’s sleep. As to what is going to happen in the future it is too early to say. But I can say the people in Iran are extremely unhappy with the current situation. Iran is like the fire underneath the ashes and the ashes can suddenly make way for the fire at the slightest event.”

I present these two bits because they point to the fact that science and technology are deeply entwined in society and have social impacts that we don’t always understand very well. There have been social uprising and revolutions that owed nothing to “consumer technology”. There are many questions to be asked including, does scientific or technological change somehow foment social unrest? Perhaps we should be calling on the philosophers.