Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
3.1 EDUCATION & RESEARCH
Bringing smart technologies to healthcare
The
KAUST Smart-Health Initiative ( SHI ) was
launched in 2021 as a multidisciplinary scientific and clinical research and innovation health initiative . The mission of SHI is to develop and use smart health technologies and methods to support and promote translational health research programs that transform fundamental scientific discoveries into practical clinical tools and solutions for prevalent diseases .
Partnering with top hospitals and medical schools in the Kingdom , the initiative counts with a MD – Ph . D . program in collaboration with Al-Faisal University .
The MD – Ph . D . program provides a diversified curricula of clinical sciences / experiences while exposing students to emerging knowledge from basic and translational research , targeted to their fields of specialization . Students are challenged to contribute with innovative and effective health services , as well as investigating diagnostic and treatment tools to tackle diseases with local and global impact .
antigens in body fluids , in just 15 minutes . The study ,
published in Nature Biomedical Engineering in 2021 , proved the use of the technology and the team aims to collaborate with industry partners to produce prototype devices on a large scale . The final goal is to equip medical practitioners with a rapid , accurate testing tool that can detect not just COVID antigens , but other pathogens .
3.2 OPERATIONS
KAUST-developed COVID-19 test kit is used for community testing
Since the onset of the pandemic , the number of daily COVID 19
PCR tests in the Kingdom rose from a few thousand to between 75,000 and 110,000 a day . In 2021 ,
KAUST startup Noor DX developed an SFDAapproved , economical , single-step , multi-use
RT-PCR test that was used for KAUST community testing .
Priced at 140 SAR for university community members and guests , the test presented a significant reduction from previous tests priced at 200 SAR . In addition to being the first Saudi test kit provider , Noor DX is the first genomics entity in the Kingdom with fully localized capability , offering a portfolio of genomic services . Localized production is strategic to building genomics expertise within the Kingdom .
KAUST Smart-Health Initiative meeting
Using organic transistor sensors to detect pathogens
Organic transistor sensors provide a new route to highly accurate and rapid testing for COVID-19 and other diseases . Several researchers at KAUST have combined their expertise in electronics and biology to produce an organic electrochemical transistor ( OECT ) capable of detecting single-molecules of COVID-19 and MERS viral
Noor DX
10 | KAUST SDG HIGHLIGHT REPORT