Interview with Boyan Slat
Inventor – Founder,
Netherlands

Boyan Slat, a 19 yr old Dutch engineering student at Delft University of Technology, has invented a device that claims could clean up some 20 billion tonnes of plastic waste from the world’s oceans in next five years. He came up with the idea of a series of floating booms and processing platforms designed to collect floating plastic rubbish. The ‘ocean cleanup’ concept is designed to capture the floating plastic but allowing life like fish and plankton to pass through unharmed, while saving the waste materials to be recycled. This is Boyan’s interview regarding his invention:

Q: What made you to take on this research?
A: I was 16 years old, and I was diving in Greece, and suddenly I realized I came across more plastic bags than fish. For a high school science project I then dedicated half a year to understanding the problem itself, and why it’s so difficult to clean up. I’d always been interested in engineering, and then came up with a concept on how I thought we could feasibly clean the ocean garbage patches.

Q: Has it been applied already and what where the results?
A: In the past there have been many concepts aimed at cleaning plastic from the oceans, but these were all based on vessels with nets, that would fish for plastic. Not only would this take billions of dollars and 79000 years, but it would also create by-catch and emissions. Not a very attractive proposal. Furthermore the plastic rotates in the areas where the plastic concentrates, so it does not stay on one spot. So I wondered; why move through the oceans, if the oceans can also move through you? I came up with a passive system of floating barriers that is attached to the seabed, and oriented in a V-shape. The barriers first catch, and then concentrate the plastic, enabling a platform to efficiently extract the plastic once arrived in the center of the V. Please visit http://www.theoceancleanup.com/press.html

Fig: Boyan Slat with his invention Ocean Clean Array
Q: What is this invention really and how costly is it for communities to apply it?
A: Now we start the second phase of the project, in which through a series of up-scaled tests we work towards a largescale and operational pilot in 3 years’ time. To help fund this next step, we have now launched a crowd funding campaign, in which we hope to raise over 2 million USD in 100 days. To campaign, that is still on schedule, can be found www.theoceancleanup.com.

Q: What is your advice regarding Ocean’s protection – can this invention help to protect the coral and fragile ecosystem in the world?
A: Yes it does. Millions of tons of plastic have entered the oceans, damaging ecosystems and entering the food chain. Although it’s essential to prevent more plastic from entering the oceans, the plastic that’s already trapped in the currents of the oceans doesn’t go away by itself.

Q: What is Boyan’s advice to Young Entrepreneur’s out there?
A: Don’t be afraid to think big, and use your age to your advantage.

Dr. Adila El Obeid,
UNESCO L’Oreal Ph.D. Scholarship at Uppsala University (Sweden)
Sudan

Introduction:
With increasing life expectancy around the world, dementia is a rapidly growing socioeconomic
and medical problem. Over 35 million people currently live with dementia and this number is
expected to triple by 2050 as populations live longer, making the care burden on families and the economic burden on society a major global problem. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is currently considered to be the most common cause of dementia. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by decline in cognitive function, progressive impairment of activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms. It is a major cause of emotional and financial problems the magnitude of which is predicted to increase steeply in the next few decades if no cure is found.

Clinicians and researches in the AD field face great challenges including the fact that the pathophysiological processes causing AD are not well understood, and most of the therapeutic
options are limited to treating the symptoms rather than the cause of the disease. Never the less,
new insights into the pathophysiological events that lead to AD increase the hope that reliable
diagnostics and effective therapies may emerge.

In The first part of my PhD research project, we reported that hyperphosphorylated tau pathology
is actually noted at quite early age ranging between 38 to 50 years in “Locus Coeruleus” a nucleus located in a subtentorial regions, pons. The results of this work are published in Acta neuropathologica,”Hyperphosphrylated tau in young and middle-aged subjects”. (Elobeid A,
Soininen H, Alafuzoff I. 2012:123:97-104)

In the second part of the PhD project, we applied the new neuropathological diagnostic criteria
recommended recently by the National Institute on Aging and Alzheimer’s Association. The emphasis in this work was to assess whether the new criteria could be implemented on aged nonimpaired individuals often displaying AD pathology in various extent. We assessed 587 cognitively unimpaired aged subjects. Interestingly 28 subjects showed intermediate level of AD pathology following the new diagnostic criteria. This work is published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Future plans:
Given the critical role of axonal transport in maintaining normal cellular function; it is not
surprising that perturbation of microtubule based transport can lead to diverse phenotypes in
humans such as neurodegenerative disorders. Using “immunohistochemistry” we will study levels of expression of an axonal transport protein in post-mortem human brain tissue of different Alzheimer’s disease stages and compare these with levels in normal brains, to assess whether changing levels of this protein may be involved in the disease process. The ultimate goal of this project is to define some of the mechanisms involved in the Alzheimer’s disease process, in particular, axonal transport defects, which may eventually lead to development of new arrays of therapeutics with symptomatic effects or disease modifying potential.

On completion of her PhD, Adila plans to return to Sudan to have a teaching and research career
in neurodegenerative pathology. She hopes to raise awareness of the need to develop her country’s research capacity in this field, leading to the establishment of Sudan’s first brain bank facility. In Sudan, traditional beliefs make it difficult for families to accept post-mortem organ donations. Encouraging brain donations will enable Sudanese researchers to progress more rapidly in understanding neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

Interview with Adila:
MOSAICQUE magazine interviewed Adila on what influenced her choices and beliefs in life.

Here is the transcript of the conversation:

1. What influenced your choices in doing this research
I have always liked medicine as a subject and my mother has always supported me for getting educated. In fact she has inspired all five siblings – 2 girls and 3 brothers, to get educated. Her mother “Saud Abd Alaal El Tahir” is her role model. I have been interested in neuropathology – molecular pathology, to understand how normal proteins can be used as a therapeutic treatment for Alzheimer’s.

2. What do you plan to do in the future?
After I complete my Ph.D. in Sweden I plan to go back home in Sudan and continue with her teaching career in medicine. Adila also plans to raise awareness of neurodegenerative disorder and develop a Brain Bank by encouraging Sudanese to donate brain.

3. What advice you would like to give the Young in Sudan
Her advice to the young in Sudan, is to invest in research fields of different systems of medicine. She believes this will make Sudan & Africa more scientifically strong and a leader. Adila encourages the young to invest in science and education.

Her message to the young is to “work hard, believe in their goals, and go achieve them”.

4. What are you hobbies
I love Sudanese music and our traditional food, particular our bread.

Profile: Dr. Adila Elobeid is a physician by training from North Sudan. She taught medicine at the University of North Sudan and is currently completing her doctoral degree from Uppsala University under the auspices of UNESCO-L’Oréal Fellowship for Women in Science. The fellowship has supported Adila Elobeid’s postgraduate studies in the field of molecular and morphological pathology. Adila plans to return to Sudan and start a brain organ donation bank and teach medicine. She encourages youth to study medicine and science fields.

i-biomed:

Dr. Ananth Natarajan
Founder, Infinite Biomedical Technologies,
San Marino, CA

Introduction:
This is an exclusive interview with Dr. Ananth Natarajan, who is the founder of Infinite Biomedical Technologies, LLC (IBT or i-biomed) a medical device company – an outcome of his MSE research in collaboration with his guide Dr. Nitish Thakor.

i-biomed, is dedicated to creating innovative and useful solutions in prosthetic technology, exclusively for upper extremity amputees. Ananth’s vision is to solve important prosthetic problems through first-hand feedback and by translating our research discoveries into prosthetic products through commercialization. It develops prosthetic technologies for upper and lower limb amputees in order to make their prosthetics more comfortable and more useful. Our solutions include Flex Cell, a flexible prosthetic battery in two sizes that can fit within the prosthetic’s sleeve in order to provide a better distribution of weight.

Dr. Natarajan has been recognized by MIT TR 100 awards for his IBT’s research into technologies that are in various stages of development. These technologies are:
a) A minimally invasive screening tool for endometrial cancer.
b) A non-surgical prosthesis to treat stress incontinence.
c) A technology to equip pacemakers and implantable defibrillators with the ability to detect an impending heart attack and enable rapid therapy.
d) A wireless monitor with advanced detection algorithms to evaluate
neurological function following brain trauma.
e) An automated intraoperative monitor to improve spine surgery.

These innovations hold the promise to solve pressing clinical problems in the fields of cardiac, gynaecology and neurocrtical care.

Interview with Dr. Natarajan:
Who inspired you to take interest in this area of research?
My parents – both of whom are physicians, influenced and inspired me to take interest in medical field. It was during my training at the College of Bio-Medical Engineering in Duke University at its Pratt School of Engineering, I started to see technology as a means to solve health related challenges.

According to Ananth there is no one answer to deciding what is right in research area, he believes its “an exploration” a random walk of life, persistence and dodged execution just like Edison. His Ph.D. supervisor Dr. Nitish Thakor has also played a pivotal role in his decisions and manifesting them.

What services do Infinite Biomedical Technologies provide?
Infinite Biomedical Technologies has developed multiple products in service of humanity. According to Ananth, what they do is not an easy thing – they have worked hard over years to reach this fame & popularity, it has required team work, most importantly finding the right people on the team has been challenging, and having them work together.

Is it easy to be an entrepreneur in the Healthcare sector in the U.S.?
Ananth believe that Healthcare has become a commodity in the U.S. and is under invested. The products or solutions they have marketed have not been easy for the first five years to make profits. There is less federal money for entrepreneurs and still less for healthcare innovations, which don’t ring profits for first few years on their investments. This certainly has made it difficult for healthcare innovators to thrive in U.S.

What do think about innovation challenges facing India or Asia?
Ananth understands that there are serious challenges pertaining to innovation in India/Asia. Although these are exciting times in India because of the emerging middle class, particularly because of huge opportunities available in bigger markets. He believes though that anyone who has a desire to make a difference in the community through healthcare innovations, they should come up with a sustainable model but first; understand the markets to receive return of revenue.

What challenges did you face to grow the firm?
For the first five years of i-biomed was purely research oriented, mostly geared towards getting the products in the market and thriving them. These years were not philanthropic and the net impact on human health was not that lasting. First few years i-biomed was federally funded by NIH and all products are cleared by USFDA. Originally contribution to the research supervision was done by Dr. Nitish Thakor who has worked in the health care system. There technology is primarily sold in U.S., Canada & Europe and the challenges present in these countries or continents are completely different that those in India or Asia.

What’s his best product service that he is proud of giving it to the community?
Serving 20,000 patients using their susbsidiary vigilant medical solutions is something Ananth is proud of providing to the community. The second in line product service that he is proud of is the prosthetic batteries & RFID that have restored human life.

Use of big data to improve lives of cancer patients – is a project on i-biomed’s radar, that will assist in ways of looking into molecular diagnostics from a larger population to provide a response to treatment or cure. This is their FUTURE’s investment.

The advice Ananth gives to all innovators is “Surround yourself with good advisors and mentors.” He further advices, that build things that are impactful but they should not become a burden to stakeholders in terms of resources or finances that might have them create barriers to deploying them.

Profile:
Dr. Natarajan is a physician and engineer who specializes in utilization of advanced technology to solve pressing clinical problems. He founded Infinite Biomedical Technologies (IBT) in 1997 and served as the Chief Executive Officer of the company for over ten years. Funding for the company was provided by the National Institutes of Health, which committed substantial capital to IBT for development of its high-risk, high-reward technologies.

The company has developed neurocritical care monitors and also spun-out a software company in the endoscopy space, Ikona Medical. The spin-out developed the first mobile reader application for capsule endoscopy on the Apple iPad™ platform. IBT also launched a healthcare information technology company (Vigilant Medical) which provides medical image sharing for clients, including four of the “Top 10 Heart Hospitals” as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. Over 20,000 patients have been cared for using the Vigilant system.

Currently IBT is developing an advanced dexterous prosthetic system for upper extremity amputees, and over 200 amputees are currently using one or more components of this system. For the past several years, Ananth has also been an active angel investor and has helped fund over a dozen early-stage technology companies, primarily outside the life sciences arena.

Ananth has several publications, presentations, and patents to his credit. He has received the TR35 award from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology Review and the Duke University Engineering Distinguished Young Alumnus Award. He has been featured in the Red Herring magazine in a cover story as one of “5 Technology Innovators Changing the World.” He is a member of the California Club, the Athenaeum, the Economic Round Table, the Pasadena Angels, and the Life Science Angels.
He serves as the President of the Caltech Associates, and also serves on the Board of Directors of Innovate Pasadena, Ikona Medical, Vigilant Medical (Chairman), and Scalable Wind Solutions (Chairman). In the past he has served on the Boards of the Duke University Alumni Association of Southern California, HIVE Lighting, the Pasadena Angels (Secretary), and the Pasadena Symphony. He is Past President of the Physicians’ Wine & Food Society and continues to serve on its Executive Committee.

Dr. Natarajan received his BSE in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Duke University (at age 18, with Distinction). He received an MSE in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and his MD from the University Of Chicago Pritzker School Of Medicine. Additionally, he completed his residency training in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Southern California.