https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/press-centre/press-release/2017/451411

Detecting malaria with computer-powered blood tests: Jan van den Boogaart and Oliver Hayden named European Inventor Award 2017 finalists

26.04.2017

in Press release

Dutch haematologist and Austrian biochemist nominated for European Patent Office (EPO) prize for developing first automated blood test for detecting malaria
Method relies on detecting malaria's destructive effect on blood
Invention teaches malaria's "data fingerprint" to standard haematology testing device capable of diagnosing up to 120 samples per hour
EPO President Battistelli: Thanks to these inventors, fast, reliable and automated testing of malaria could tilt the scales in the struggle against this deadly disease."

Munich, 26 April 2017 - Malaria is one of the deadliest infectious diseases of our time, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths a year. Complicating matters, malaria is also one of the most difficult diseases to detect - only 10% of all infections are accurately diagnosed. This may soon change, thanks to the world's first automated, computer-powered blood test for malaria, developed by Dutch haematologist Jan van den Boogaart and Austrian biochemist Oliver Hayden at Siemens Healthineers. Blending laboratory medicine with information technology, their test uses a fine-tuned algorithm to diagnose malaria infections in over 120 blood samples per hour with 97% accuracy.

For this achievement, Jan van den Boogaart and Oliver Hayden have been nominated as finalists for the European Inventor Award 2017 in the category "Industry". The winners of the 12^th edition of the annual innovation prize will be announced at a ceremony in Venice on 15 June.

"Thanks to these inventors, fast, reliable and automated testing of malaria could tilt the scales in the struggle against this deadly disease," said EPO President Benoît Battistelli, announcing the European Inventor Award 2017 finalists. "The invention is also exemplary of the potential in beneficial effects that can be derived from the growing convergence of technologies."

Prior to the invention, modern medicine had no automated blood test that could accurately detect malaria. As the key to success, Jan van den Boogaart and Oliver Hayden pioneered a data-driven approach. Instead of looking for the presence of malaria pathogens in the blood, they used information technology to detect the disease's damaging effects, as indicated by key blood parameters, such as lowered platelet counts. van den Boogaart was inspired by talking to a Siemens colleague from South Africa in 2008, who had noticed similar changes in the haemograms - or blood profile tests - of several malaria patients. Viewed in isolation, none of these factors were sufficient for a diagnosis - but a combination of 30 parameters revealed a "data fingerprint" that identified malaria with 97% certainty.

With Hayden contributing key statistical analysis, the inventors filed for a European patent application in 2011 and the two connected with a Siemens biosensors research group in Vienna - which collaborated with a team in Graz - to create a malaria-specific algorithm for the company's blood testing system, which is widely used around the globe to perform standard tests on haemograms. Loaded with the inventors' algorithm, however, it becomes the world's first automated malaria detector.

Tracking an elusive infection

The culprit behind malaria infections - originally believed to stem from "bad air" (Italian "mal aria") - was first identified by French military doctor Alphonse Laveran in 1880: protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, spread by mosquito bites. Today, detecting malaria in blood samples still requires an elaborate microscopic procedure scarcely available in the developed world, let alone in impoverished regions where malaria is rampant. Flipping the script, van den Boogaart decided: "Instead of trying to detect the malaria-causing parasite in the blood - a very time-consuming task - I focused on the destructive effects of the disease in blood cells. These effects can be detected by the blood analysing device." If 30 parameters read abnormally at the same time - including shape and density of red blood cells and levels of the blood-colouring agent haemoglobin - the case is clear. "With this method we can diagnose malaria with a sensitivity of 97%. Until now this was impossible," says Oliver Hayden.

Fighting a global pandemic

While malaria has been banished from North America and Europe, it affected over 200 million and killed around 430 000 in 2015 (WHO). According to recent studies, accurate malaria testing - especially at high volumes with the inventors' computer-driven method - has the power to prevent 100 000 deaths and more than 400 million false treatments per year in Africa alone. Ultimately, the team's technology, for which the patent was granted in 2015, could break the vicious cycle of poverty and malaria that has held large parts of Africa and tropical Asia in its grip for centuries. Today, the economic burden of malaria on African countries - where almost 86% of infections occur - is estimated at around EUR 11.1 billion (USD 12 billion) per year.

The team's test also promises to improve outcomes for travellers from Western countries returning home infected with malaria: Currently, over 59% of these cases are misdiagnosed initially and almost 8 days elapse before doctors initiate correct treatment, a critical week during which the risk of complications, even death, increases dangerously. In the bigger picture, the team is certain that other diseases can be detected with a simple blood test, once their "data fingerprint" is known. "Thanks to our approach, we now can detect life-threatening diseases with a standard instrument, without the need for special equipment or elaborate tests," says van den Boogaart, who is currently fine-tuning tests for leukaemia.

A strong market proposition

The world market for malaria diagnostics has been waiting for automated tests. The team's invention is much cheaper and more accurate than so-called "dip-and-react" tests for malaria antigens. What is more, van den Boogaart and Hayden's method requires no investment in new hardware, which acts as a major facilitator for market entry. Over 3 000 units of the Siemens ADVIA 2120i haematology system are already installed worldwide. "Teaching" the system to detect malaria is only a matter of a software update. With computer-driven accuracy and processing speeds, the invention holds the power to reshuffle the malaria diagnostics market, which was valued at EUR 535 million in 2015. Third-party analysts at Grand View Research estimate the market to reach EUR 728 million by 2022, with Africa remaining the dominant market region with a 58% share.

Blending information technology and medicine

A dedicated researcher in the field of haematology and blood test development for over 35 years, Jan van den Boogaart earned his bachelor's degree in microbiology (1980) and in clinical chemistry (1981) from H.B.O. Eindhoven. He is currently perfecting the "data fingerprint" method for automated blood tests for sickle cell anaemia and acute promyelocyte leukaemia (APL) as the DX Product Manager at Siemens Healthineers in The Hague. Speaking about his motivation, he says: "When you can read the information hidden in blood, you know almost everything about the body."

Oliver Hayden earned his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Vienna (1999) and developed an interest in data-driven analytics during postdoctoral research in nanotechnology at Harvard. Currently Head of In-Vitro Diagnostics & Bioscience Germany at Siemens Healthineers in Erlangen, the award-winning scientist is a principal investigator for a next-generation haematology analyser for high-throughput infection diagnostics. In June 2017, Hayden will assume the role as the Heinz-Nixdorf-Chair for Biomedical Electronics at the Technical University of Munich.

Additional resources

The future of medicine, driven by data

For the past 15 years, medical technologies have been the leading category among patent applications to the European Patent Office (EPO). Currently changing the playing field is a mixture of personal patient data - including DNA and blood samples - with powerful computer analytics. The data-driven test for malaria is but one example from a new generation of diagnostics that uses computers to detect patterns amidst immense amounts of information. Ultimately, this intersection of medicine and information technology will not only allow for making complex diagnoses with algorithmic precision, but also unlock single-patient, personalised treatments. Read more about the future of medicine.