A few years ago (2018), together with Wendy Fong, a graduate student at that moment, and Dr. Carol Martinez (Eng Schoool), we wanted to contribute to the fight against tropical diseases in Colombia - most of them threatening the life of the most vulnerable in the country (and around the world). We decided to work in the malaria field --- we wondered why local engineering has yet to follow other disciplines in its study (we were able to name several well-known scientists in basic science, but no engineer colleagues - in part, thanks to our ignorance). Soon, we were working with another four grad students. We had several early victories (external financial support, conference presentations), but the pandemic tamed us (a bit). Now we have a happy face thanks to our first paper in this fascinating field and the registration of a piece of software able to quickly detect and classify malaria parasites in microscopy images (soon in clinical/field tests).
- Fong W, Martinez C, Cortés L, Suarez DR. Image features for quality analysis of thick blood smears employed in malaria diagnosis, Malaria Journal, 21(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-022-04064-2
- Suárez D. , Martinez C, Fong W, Sora J, Martinez O, Salazar C, Castañeda M (2020), MalariAPP (versión 1.0) [software]. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, DNDA 13-89-235, 31 march 2022. Restricted.
