Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems

Chapter 1

Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems: Introduction Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on November 17, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): October 23, 2017 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2017-1267.ch001

Ronda Grosse* Chemists Without Borders

http://www.chemistswithoutborders.org/ *E-mail:

[email protected].

This chapter introduces the motivation for the American Chemical Society symposium held, and provides an overview of multiple humanitarian projects that require scientific expertise. The purpose of this book series is to expand on conference discussions and inform readers of ongoing work using chemistry to benefit underrepresented communities. Topics include clean water initiatives, access to quality medicines, science education, and advancements in inexpensive analytical methodologies that can be applied in developing countries. In most cases, utilization of local resources in country is key. Volume 1 covers targeted humanitarian aid work in South Asia, South America, and Africa.

World statistics on top humanitarian issues today include refugees of war, political instability, natural disasters resulting in famine and homelessness, lack of education, poor infrastructure, disease, and scarcity of medicines and clean water (1–4). Around 75% of people living in poverty are located in environmentally vulnerable or politically fragile countries (5). This human suffering has accelerated the search for new practices to allow finite resources to help people affected by various crises. In particular, shortage of clean water has far-reaching negative impact. Improving water quality and availability would bring about real change in the critical areas of hygiene and sanitation, reducing diseases and premature deaths. It would also decrease conflicts and pollution, and increase gender equality, healthy food production, and strengthen communities (6). © 2017 American Chemical Society Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 1 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on November 17, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): October 23, 2017 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2017-1267.ch001

Across the globe, a considerable number of humanitarian problems remain unresolved. Many non-profit and non-government organizations (NGOs) work diligently to contribute ideas and resources toward solving these problems. In addition to altruistic aid provided by such charities, as well as what is given by government and other social agencies, creative solutions from chemists are greatly needed. This book focuses on the humanitarian issues that may benefit from applying science, exploring ways in which chemists can uniquely contribute to providing potential solutions to these problems. Analytical chemistry can afford specific benefits in this type of international humanitarian work, as trace measurement of contaminants is often pivotal to confronting problems – whether they involve pure water, food or medicines. This volume (and Volume 2) includes multiple examples from laboratories worldwide where chemistry is being utilized to address humanitarian problems such as water, food and pharmaceutical quality. Several of the authors also volunteer their time at Chemists Without Borders. Chemists Without Borders is a public benefit, non-profit, international humanitarian volunteer network designed to alleviate human suffering through the use of proven chemical technologies and related skills. Its primary goals include, but are not limited to, providing affordable medicines, vaccines and medical devices to those who need them most, suplying environmental solutions (e.g., water purification, green energy and chemistry) in developing countries, supporting self-reliance education, and providing disaster relief. Chemists Without Borders fosters collaborations with other organizations for the mutual benefit of their various missions (7). Chemists Without Borders seeks to mobilize the resources and expertise of the global chemistry community and its networks. Chemists and others have united to work toward solutions to longstanding humanitarian issues. An invited symposium at the 2016 Fall National American Chemical Society meeting, sponsored by the Analytical Chemistry Division, addressed this topic. Given below are abstracts of the ten papers presented at the symposium. 1.

Chemists Without Borders: Providing Humanitarian Solutions by Mobilizing the Chemistry Community and its Networks by Bego Gerber, Chemists Without Borders Imagine a future time when chemists are as renowned for their humanitarian work as doctors are today. Chemists Without Borders is a vehicle that allows chemists and their networks to make that future come true. We will briefly review the history of Chemists Without Borders and its extraordinary team of volunteers, and discuss some of the lessons learned.

2.

Distributed Pharmaceutical Analysis Lab: Citizen Scientists Tackle a Global Problem by Marya Lieberman, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame 2

Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 1 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Falsified and substandard medications harm patients, damage trust in the medical system, and contribute to development of “superbugs”. The analytical procedures needed to assay pharmaceuticals are well established and match the types of experiments often carried out in instrumental analysis courses. The Distributed Pharmaceutical Analysis Lab connects analytical laboratories at academic institutions in the US with medical regulatory agencies in the developing world. Students get the opportunity to analyze samples that really matter, and their results help to ensure that people everywhere have access to high quality medicines.


3.

Solving Problems of Humanity with Separation Chemistry by Satinder Ahuja, Ahuja Consulting Chemists can help solve various problems facing humanity, with their expertise in chromatography and separation chemistry. Adverse effects from chemicals can be encountered even when human beings are not responsible for them. Arsenic contamination of groundwater from Mother Earth is one such example, where about 200 million people have been affected worldwide, including the United States. In response to my worldwide appeal in 2003 in C&EN, a large number of chemists offered to help. With the help of small grants from ACS and IUPAC in 2005, we held a workshop in Bangladesh where this problem was affecting 100 million people. This was followed by symposia at the Atlanta ACS meeting. Following these discussions, potential solutions to the problem were published in Science. Unfortunately, the problem still plagues 20 million to 30 million people in Bangladesh. A study was designed for Chemists Without Borders to help educate students and, through them, the community, on the hazards of arsenic contamination. We found that water drunk by children at 2 out of 6 schools had high arsenic contents. We are in the process of remediating this situation and are looking for volunteers with innovative ideas who can help improve the current water purification systems. This can lead to profitable businesses and more employment. Some examples of our work will be discussed.

4.

Arsenic in Food and Water: Promoting Awareness Through Formal and Informal Learning on and off the Campus by Julian Tyson, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Several programs, organized by Chemists without Borders or the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in which secondary school or college students are introduced to the impact of arsenic contamination of the environment, and in particular of groundwater in Bangladesh, are described. A common feature is that students are recruited as members of a research group or investigative team and take ownership of the work by making relevant chemical measurements and participating in discussion of the implications of their findings. Leadership is provided 3



in a hierarchical model in which, very often, more experienced students acting as near-peer mentors guide the activities of the newly recruited members of the groups. In some of the programs, the students work with teachers who have been trained by researchers on the university campus. Both in-school and out-of-school programs are described. Another common feature is that chemical measurements are provided by low-cost field test kits based on the Gutzeit-Marsh reaction, the modification of which has provided a driving force for a considerable number of research projects. Currently, researchers affiliated with Chemists without Borders are critically evaluating several possible strategies for making the test more cost effective. Many hundreds of students have been impacted, and the programs, particularly that in Bangladesh, have considerable potential for empowering the students as agents of change in their communities as they not only take specific action as a result of their engagement but also educate other members of their families and communities about the potential hazards of consuming arsenic-contaminated water and rice and how these can be mitigated. Raising student awareness has also been achieved by incorporating relevant arsenic-related topics into undergraduate courses on the UMass campus, including the junior-year writing class, a large-enrollment, physical sciences general education class for non-scientists (taught in both face-to-face and online modes), a faculty first-year seminar, and a course-based research experience. 5.

“Penny per Test” – Low Cost Arsenic Test Kits by Christopher Lizardi, ChemTel, Inc. Arsenic contamination of drinking waters is a major health and environmental issue, and poor rural communities are often disproportionately affected. This is especially the case in Bangladesh, where most rural water supplies come from tubewells that are contaminated with arsenic from mineral sources and leaching of agricultural and industrial arsenic-containing compounds. In spite of this, testing wells and water supplies contaminated by arsenic remains a challenge for most rural Bangladeshis due to the high cost of arsenic test kits available on the market. Chemists Without Borders (CWB) has recently discovered a possible solution for the people of Bangladesh, by developing a “Penny per Test” arsenic test kit. CWB plans to manufacture test kits based on the established Gutzeit method in Bangladesh, with pilot-scale studies performed at the Asian University for Women. This could lead to the start-up of a manufacturing facility for arsenic test kits in Bangladesh. We envision this will provide the lowest cost option to Bangladeshi laboratories and public health departments, in addition to employing Bangladeshi citizens. This will serve to empower the people of these rural communities, and give them greater chances to protect their families with accurate and precise knowledge about the chemistry and purity of their water supplies. 4



6.

Chemistry Education in Sierra Leone by A Bakarr Kanu, Department of Chemistry, Winston-Salem State University Sierra Leone suffered a civil war from 1991-2002 from which much of the country’s infrastructure and educational system was devastated. To address the urgent need of chemistry education in Sierra Leone, Chemists Without Borders volunteers have partnered with other organizations to provide greatly-needed chemistry materials to resume science coursework and enhance student learning. Our plan is to assemble inexpensive lab kits focusing on experiments relevant to Sierra Leone and other developing countries. In addition to standard labs that will help students understand basic chemical concepts, the laboratory exercises are unique in that they also focus on the application of chemistry towards practical knowledge relevant to the lives of ordinary Sierra Leoneans. Our plan is to assemble 12-15 lab activity kits ready for use in Sierra Leone by September 2017. We anticipate upon implementation of this project, the kits will service between 200-500 teachers and students covering approximately 50 schools in the region annually.

7.

Electrically Controlled Drug Delivery by Richard Zare and Devleena Samanta, Dept. of Chemistry, Stanford University One of the main challenges in drug delivery is to develop less invasive, localized, and precisely controllable drug release methods to minimize side effects and increase drug efficacy. We report the development of a drug delivery system based on electric-stimuli-responsive polymers that can provide spatially and temporally controlled drug release. This could have significant medical applications, particularly in the treatment of chronic diseases that require repeated doses of drugs, such as, cancer therapy, diabetes, and chronic pain management.

8.

A Major Impediment to the Effectiveness of Chemists’ Role in Improving Lives in Developing Countries by Ephraim Govere, Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences, Pennsylvania State University In virtually all developing countries, people’s main concern is to meet the first level of Abraham Harold Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: water, food, clothing, and shelter. These needs are actually chemical products in which chemists play a superior role. Thus, chemists are essential to human existence. However, compared to other professionals, chemists are not as involved in development projects in developing countries. The general notion of a chemist is someone who works in the laboratory and this is true to a great extent. Our University curriculums also testify to this – a lot of chemistry lectures and laboratory practicums. This mode of education and work style has created one major impediment to the effectiveness of a chemist, as a global team member, to improve the lives of those living in developing countries. My experience as a project 5



manager and project evaluator of international development projects has led me to believe that the major impediment to the effectiveness of a chemist is the lack of cultural competence. Being culturally competent means possessing the values, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and attributes that will allow the chemist to work appropriately, respectfully, effectively, and efficiently with colleagues and clients from different ethnic, racial, religious, geographic, or social groups. This presentation will highlight soil-testing programs for fertilizer application in Africa that failed due to chemists’ lack of cultural competence. The lessons learned will contribute to the understanding of the logistical challenges involved in improving the lives of those throughout the globe. 9.

Extensively Low-cost 3D Printed Biochemical Instrumentation With a Novel Zero-dollar Interface and Distributed Firmware by Matthew Champion, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame Commercial lab equipment remains a challenge in resource-limited areas. Building capacity is critical to developing independent research infrastructures. The high-precision equipment necessary to perform basic molecular biology techniques remains financially and logistically out of reach of many environments. Efforts to design low-cost instrumentation do not factor assay cost. The choice of liquid volume and throughput increases consumable costs eliminating savings from reduced cost-devices. Inexpensive controllers enable complex firmware; however interfaces, screens, and input devices become a substantial portion of costs. Repairing and replacing parts on devices is also problematic and has significant cost. Here we introduce our design framework to ameliorate these barriers by offering nearly fully 3D printed molecular instrumentation which are controlled by a novel firmware which is interface-free. Complex logic to directly control lab equipment and robots is readily encoded in the audio and video signals from online and social media sites like YouTube. Access to mp3 files in the form of video/ipods or even phone calls enables us to perform movement and control tasks to run biochemical equipment without programming, editing or control inputs. We have focused implementation on two major instrumentation areas; Polymerase Chain Reaction with thermal cyclers and liquid chromatography separations. We have built a 3D printed thermal cycler, which is programmed via a social-media interface and is capable of amplifying DNA and RNA in 96-well format. PCR is an essential process for molecular diagnostics and any healthy life-science infrastructure. Parts can be made in situ using the most inexpensive 3D printers currently on the market, and reagent tubes can be scaled to any volume-reducing the operating costs to those of high-throughput instruments. Liquid chromatography is the most dominant form of separation used to purify and separate compounds. We have designed a separate firmware-free FPLC to 6


perform gradient liquid chromatography at biochemical scales using 3D printed pumps valves, and columns. 3D printed materials suffer rapid fatigue and failure under stress; the availability of printable wear-tolerant nylon has made the pumps more durable than peristaltic tubing. Our distributed firmware and on-site part creation raise the distinct possibility that fully-functioning lab equipment will be e-mailed or downloaded at the convenience of a researcher.


10. Physiochemical Changes of Prussian Blue by Adil Mohammad, Division of Product Quality Research, Food and Drug Administration Prussian Blue (PB) or ferric hexacyanoferrate is an FDA approved oral dosage form for the treatment of internal radioactive contamination of cesium or thallium. PB is one of the oldest known and most stable inorganic compounds and is a critical medical countermeasure drug stored in the Strategic National Stockpiles. Previous work conducted in our labs shows that PB is thermodynamically stable, but physiochemical changes in PB crystals occur due to the loss of bound water. This loss of water decreases the binding capacity of thallium and cesium. The current study is focused on evaluating the loss of iron over the human gastrointestinal pH profile, to further investigate the physiochemical stability of PB crystal. Loss of water from PB was determined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). PB was incubated in situ at pH 1.0, 5.0 and 7.5 @ 37°C for 1-24 hours. Iron metal was measured using a validated inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method. Results show that leaching of Fe from PB crystal is pH dependent, with negligible leaching of Fe at gastric pH 1.0 and upper GI pH of 5.0, but the amount of Fe increased to 50 ppm from PB drug product at pH 7.5. Analytical method development/validation for Fe using ICP-MS and in detail Fe leaching experiments, along with results, will be discussed. The purpose of this book (Volumes 1 and 2) is to expand upon symposium discussions and inform readers of ongoing work applying chemistry to benefit underrepresented communities. Topics include clean water initiatives, expanding access to quality medicines, science education, and advancements in inexpensive analytical methodologies that can be readily applied in developing countries. Projects in progress or completed are summarized, and assessment of the comprehensive benefits of these efforts is provided. In addition, logistical, cultural and technical challenges are explained. Subjects beyond what was covered at the ACS meeting symposium include addressing the heavy metal contamination problem in Bangladesh through education, water testing and well remediation, and development of a test-kit method for the determination of inorganic arsenic in rice. Additionally, the history and mission of AIDSfreeAFRICA in Cameroon is explained, as is the Foundation for Analytical Science in Africa. Specific supply chain issues in Kenya related to availability, accountability, and adherence are discussed. Chapters covering 7 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 1 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


projects in Latin America include science education in Guatemala and engineering work in Bolivia. Topics vary from specific green chemistry using softwood lignon to a general overview of analytical chemists easing world poverty. In Volume 1, the Chapter 2 provides an introduction to the nonprofit organization, Chemists Without Borders, including its inception, organization, and ongoing humanitarian work. Chapter 3 outlines the most significant project of Chemists Without Borders to date: Arsenic Education in Bangladesh. Through a combination of educating high schools and communities about the dangers of arsenic in drinking water, providing test kits and instruction on how to test water, and remediation of contaminated water sources with new wells, CWB has made considerable strides in addressing the arsenic problem in Bangladesh. Chapter 4 describes efforts toward developing an inexpensive test kit for measuring arsenic in water using locally supplied materials. In Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, research into a new method for analyzing inorganic arsenic content in rice is reviewed, and the authors discuss how awareness of the arsenic issue in food and water is promoted in an educational environment. Chapter 7 provides a thorough description of conducting technical humanitarian aid in South America, including challenges and practical suggestions. In Chapter 8, cooperative efforts between institutions to detect substandard and falsified pharmaceuticals using HPLC and paper analytical devices (PAD) are reviewed, and in Chapter 9, the issues of availability, accountability and adherence that prevent broad access to needed medicines are discussed, both with focus in Kenya. Authors recommend ways that chemists can apply their efforts to create straightforward chemical techniques, such as PAD, with the potential to significantly improve quality of medicines and patient outcomes, and to facilitate the delivery of care to patients. The objective of this symposium series volume is to share best practices to date in mobilizing chemistry expertise to solve humanitarian problems, and engage a broader audience of scientists who desire to apply their knowledge and skills to benefit others. The editor and authors hope many more chemists will be encouraged to utilize their time and talents toward humanitarian efforts as we work together to improve the quality of life for many across the globe.

References 1.

2. 3.

4.

Mercy Corps. Nine Humanitarian Crises We Can’t Ignore this Year, 2015. https://www.mercycorps.org/articles/9-humanitarian-crises-we-cant-ignoreyear (accessed February 6, 2017). The Water Project. Water Scarcity and the Importance of Water, 2017. https:/ /thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity/ (accessed February 6, 2017). Marshall, S. Poor Quality Medicines Pose a Danger to Patients. The Pharmaceutical Journal, September 26, 2014. http://www.pharmaceuticaljournal.com/news-and-analysis/event/poor-quality-medicines-pose-adanger-to-patients/20066604.article (accessed March 23, 2017). Newton, P.; Green, M.; Fernandez, F. Impact of Poor Quality Medicines on the Developing World. Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 2010, 31, 99–101. 8 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 1 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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7.

Global Humanitarian Assistance Report, 2016. http:// www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/GHAreport-2016-full-report.pdf (accessed February 26, 2017). The Water Project, 2017. Ten Ways Clean Water Can Change the World. https://thewaterproject.org/why-water/10-ways-clean-water-changes-theworld (accessed February 26, 2017). Chemists Without Borders. https://www.chemistswithoutborders.org (accessed March 23, 2017).

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Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems

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