No existing medicine can defeat dengue. It’s one of the top ten threats to global public health, and as the effects of global warming begin to bite, the stage is set for its spread outward from the tropics. This looks like a job for medicine makers without borders, doesn’t it? Here to walk us through DNDi’s opening gambit against this neglected, climate-sensitive disease are Panisadee Avirutnan of Mahidol University and the DNDi’s own Isebela Ribeiro. Is there an open source path to victory here? Can the nonprofit model stop dengue in its tracks?

Panisadee Avirutnan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology at Mahidol University in Bangkok.

Isabela Ribeiro is the Director of DNDi’s Viral Diseases Cluster.

Mentioned in the episode

the rise of dengue in Southeast Asia
South-South leadership and cooperation
the four serotypes of dengue

Read more from the sharpest minds in pharma at 
themedicinemaker.com

If you have thoughts on anything you heard in this episode and want to share them or contribute to the magazine, then drop me an email at angus.stewart@texerepublishing.com

In our penultimate episode we are looking at the Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform, also known as LEAP. Here to talk me through this interconnected, collaborative network are two LEAP members who first met as colleagues and later became firm friends; Ahmed Musa of Khartoum University and Simon Bolo of DNDi Africa. This was a fascinating discussion that it on many of seriou hurdles faced by medical professionals working in the region.

Ahmed Musa is Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Institute of Endemic Diseases in the University of Khartoum.

Simon Bolo is Regional Operations Leader for DNDi Africa. He can be found on Twitter at @BoloSimon.

Mentioned in the episode

• Leishmaniasis  - a parasitic disease
• the nomadic peoples of East Africa
• the problem of brain drain

Read more from the sharpest minds in pharma at
themedicinemaker.com

If you have thoughts on anything you heard in this episode and want to share them or contribute to the magazine, then drop me an email at angus.stewart@texerepublishing.com

In episode four, as we continue our focus on the digital, we look to DNDi’s use of the next-gen digital projects in open science. This one’s a bit of a two-parter. In our first interview we’ll be talking to Pushmeet Kohli of a very high profile DNDi partner: Google’s DeepMind. Then I’ll be talking to Alpha Lee of the University of Cambridge about his role in the COVID Moonshot. Also joining us (for a second time!) is the DNDi’s own Ben Perry!

Pushmeet Kohli is Head of Research in AI for Science, Reliable and Trustworthy AI at DeepMind. He can be found on twitter at @pushmeet

Alpha Lee a Winton Advanced Fellow and Royal Society University Research Fellow (from Sept 2020) in the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge. His research group lives online at alpha-lee.com

Ben Perry is the Discovery Open Innovation Leader for DNDi. He can be found on twitter at @MrBenGP

Mentioned in the episode

• AlphaFold - DeepMind’s protein discovery AI
• the COVID Moonshot - Alpha’s open science mission
• the Human Genome Project - a classic example of open science

Read more from the sharpest minds in pharma at 
themedicinemaker.com

If you have thoughts on anything you heard in this episode and want to share them or contribute to the magazine, then drop me an email at angus.stewart@texerepublishing.com