Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, has secured a €5m (about N8.9bn) grant to develop an artificial intelligence-powered microscope capable of diagnosing some of the world’s most stubborn parasitic diseases.
The university’s Public Affairs Directorate, which announced the development in a statement on Monday, said the grant was won under the highly competitive Horizon Europe EDCTP3 Call for Innovative Digital Health Solutions for Sub-Saharan Africa.
It said leading the groundbreaking project is Dr. Gloria Chechet, a Reader in Biochemistry at ABU, and a molecular parasitologist at the university’s Africa Centre of Excellence for Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology (ACENTDFB).
Reacting, Chechet said the feat is not just a win for Ahmadu Bello University but for Nigeria, for African women in science, and for the millions of people still suffering the consequences of these neglected diseases.
She said when developed, the tool will help drastically transform the speed, accuracy, and accessibility of diagnosis in even the most rural and hard-to-reach communities.
According to her, MultiplexAI’s microscope, which will integrate a smartphone and a bespoke app, allows health workers in remote communities to rapidly and accurately detect multiple infections simultaneously at the point of care, without the need for sophisticated laboratory infrastructure.
She noted that the technology is specifically designed to meet the realities of low-resource settings in Africa, where parasitic diseases continue to claim lives due to late or inaccurate diagnoses.
The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kabiru Bala, described the success as a historic milestone, not just for the institution but for Nigeria’s academic and research community, praising the ACENTDFB team for putting ABU on the global innovation map.
The MultiplexAI microscope project is expected to deliver prototypes ready for pilot use within the next three years, with field trials slated for Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda.
The AI-powered microscope is designed specifically for point-of-care diagnosis of parasitic diseases, including African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), malaria, leishmaniasis, and filariasis — diseases which remain a public health burden in sub-Saharan Africa.