We create high-quality services.
Within the progression of technology, nature was greatly endangered. The reliance on fuel has generated the needed energy for vehicles to run and machines to keep working, but the same time for exhaust to be generated and accumulated which polluted the air we breathe, harmed our body and weakened our immunity. For factories to keep the production lines going to meet our needs, a massive amount of industrial wastes is being produced that contaminates our water and toxifies the marine life. To rapidly screen the effectiveness and safety of drugs, large number of laboratory animals have to be sacrificed and the normal ecosystem is being greatly disturbed. Aiming for a better tomorrow for the coming generations, we set our goals to help create a better world that is characterized with drinkable water, breathable air, more laboratory animals’ welfare, faster and more throughput drug screening systems and thus, the themes of our projects are as follows:
R&D Projects
Membranes for water purification and desalination
Clean water is considered as the “Elixir of life” as it is a universal unreplaceable survival necessity to all forms of life. Water resembles almost 97% of the entire Earth subdivided into salt water (almost 97%) and fresh water (around 3%). Because of climate change in the form of global warming in addition to the reckless attitude towards proper water preservation and management, we are threatened with upcoming unbearable shortage of usable water. It is foreseen that in the absences of innovative solution, to get a clean drinkable cup of water, might cost people their lives. In this project, we are working towards this global need. Our aim is to be a pioneer in producing modified membrane based on nanotechnology characterized with superior features in terms of cost, durability and yield that allow them to purify water from contaminants in a very efficient and facile way.
3D polymeric foams for wastewater treatment
The immiscibility between water and oil makes oil spills a catastrophic event initially to marine life and associated birds and eventually to the humans. The greasy oily layer at the same time imposes impediment to the ship movements and turbulence in the trading system. Among the major limitations of the conventionally applied methods are the diminished efficiency of water treatment, hazardous nature of the used chemicals and at the same time the massive financial demand. It is noteworthy that oil recovery is one of the unmet needs especially during the mining operations which augments the economic negative impacts of oil spills. Our aim in this project is to engineer naturally-derived material in the form of precisely tailored 3D polymeric foams so as to be used in wastewater treatment. Tackling the above listed challenges, our proposed solution is suitable for low-income countries and allows for oil recovery.
Membranes for air filtration
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic disease is an example of many tragic health crisis in the history of the mankind in which the death was the fate for many people after accidental or intentional exposure to polluted air. Inhalable particulates whether materials or microorganisms are proven to cause acute and chronic toxicities to the occupants. Since the exposure is unavoidable and our natural defense mechanisms stand helpless in such situations, the urge for air filtration is everlasting. Major advances have been achieved in this field and currently there is a myriad of air filtration systems that promise variable levels of particulate level cut off. In the commercially available systems, the safety level attained is inversely proportional to the cost and the user-friendly nature of the product rendering needy and vulnerable consumers unable to benefit from them and thus putting their lives at risk. Our aim is achieving the -up -till now- aggrieved balance between cost effectiveness, easiness of use and high level of air filtration.
Low-cost lab on chip devices
Accurate, sensitive and facile biomarker sensing is the core stone for decision making concerning the proper medical intervention and has been associated with significantly lower incidences of poor prognosis of the treated cases. Thanks to the complexity and the multifactorial nature of all health conditions, a long list of lab analysis of metabolites, contaminants and physiologically important biomolecules are needed for accurate diagnosis. The need is not restricted to the diagnostic phase, on the other hand, patients are obliged to frequently perform those assessments to monitor the treatment effectiveness and during the follow-up phase that may last for years. The conventional, time consuming, expensive, invasive, tedious, specialist and equipment demanding diagnostic methods jeopardize the life of the patients, economically exhaust them and raise their treatment procedure- associated distress. In this project, we aim to fabricate a low-cost lab on a chip to allow for simultaneous, rapid and affordable detection of many analytes.
The developed devices will be powered by the Internet of Things (IoT) concept, where all the connected objects that surround us can exchange data over a network. IoT-enabled smart devices and health services can reduce the diagnostic cost, provide real-time information to the house physician, and provide important health information without any mobility of the patient, therefore increasing their quality of life and the efficiency.
Waste management and reuse
Despite the increasing need for electronic devices, the existing world resources are limited and access to these resources generates high costs. Electronic waste (e-waste) that consists of obsolete and damaged electronic devices has become an emerging problem as well as business opportunity. Egypt is one of the highest African countries in production of e-waste with 500kt (22% of the total African e-waste production). There are serious concerns about unsafe handling of e-waste that are both harmful to human health and the environment. For instance, there are problems with open-air burning and acid baths being used to recover valuable materials from electronic components including iron, copper, gold and aluminium. These practices expose workers to high level of contaminants leading to irreversible health effects, including cancers, miscarriages and neurological damage. Among the major problems that affect e-waste management is the lack of an effective and at the same time safe take-back/collection system. In this project we aim to propose innovative ways that are environment-friendly for an efficient reuse of e-waste.
