香港六合彩

Image above: we are visited by a team from Ecuador including the Ecuadorian Minister of Health.听

The group has close ties to 香港六合彩, thanks to Dr Sara Adela Abad Guam谩n, an Ecuadorian living in the UK. Sara is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the 香港六合彩 Department of Mechanical Engineering. She completed her Masters and PhD in the UK, funded by a scholarship from the Ecuadorian government.

We spoke with Sara and two other group representatives:

• Dr Danilo Ch谩vez, Escuela Polit茅cnica Nacional, Quito听
• Professor Cristian Perez, Universidad Tecnica de Ambato

Dr Sara Adela Abad Guam谩n

Sara and her friend Diego Moya, another Ecuadorian researcher in the UK, started thinking about ways they could help their country fight COVID-19. Sara and Diego are both members of IIASUR (Institute for Applied in Applied Sustainability Research) in Ecuador. Diego is also a coordinator for ABREC (Asociaci贸n de Becarios del Ecuador/Association of Fellows from Ecuador).

鈥淒uring the pandemic, they [IIASUR and ABREC] were trying to find ways to help Ecuador and I knew what was going on at 香港六合彩. I talked to Diego and he said, 鈥極K, let鈥檚 go!鈥� So basically, that鈥檚 when everything started. We contacted the first group in Ambato, and then a university from Quito joined us鈥�.听

Sara says it is hard seeing the situation develop in Ecuador while she is in the UK, but she is trying to help however she can. She is particularly grateful for 香港六合彩 arranging the delivery of functioning CPAP prototypes to the researchers in Ecuador, to help guide the team as they replicate the devices.听

鈥淗aving the devices to use in Ecuador is really helpful for the researchers because they can open it up and know what things are inside 鈥� it鈥檚 much better having it in front of you鈥�.听

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Dr Danilo Ch谩vez

Danilo Ch谩vez is a researcher at the Escuela Polit茅cnica Nacional in Quito. He and Sara know each other from her undergraduate days.听

He explained how his team pivoted from trying to develop a ventilator to focusing on CPAP devices instead.听

鈥淲ith COVID, there was an enormous need for ventilators and treatments. A consortium formed at a national level to manufacture ventilators. But when we were developing the respirator, we realised that we were too far behind from an industrial capacity.鈥澨�

鈥淭hat鈥檚 when Sara appeared with the CPAP idea and we integrated with another group of researchers in Ambato鈥�.听

He described how the biggest challenge for the group has been sourcing the materials and manufacturing capabilities to create the CPAP devices.听

鈥淓cuador doesn鈥檛 have a culture of manufacturing technological equipment, and is even less oriented towards biomedical manufacturing. Since there isn鈥檛 this culture, the regulations can be very difficult.听

鈥淭he CPAP is interesting because it鈥檚 non-invasive. This will make it much easier for us to pass the tests and regulations we have here鈥�. 听

The team鈥檚 primary focus at the moment is creating a prototype then beginning the regulatory process. He believes the fact the device has been approved in the UK will aid in this.听

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Professor Cristian Perez

Cristian is from the Ambato part of the team. He is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Universidad Tecnica de Ambato/ Technical University of Ambato.

He heard about the project when he was contacted by ABREC. He echoed Danilo鈥檚 thoughts about the challenges of manufacturing medical equipment in Latin America, particularly as they can鈥檛 access their labs during the quarantine. However, he said:

鈥淥ur spirits are very high, as we鈥檙e sharing experiences with international teams. Without a doubt, this has been an excellent experience鈥�.听

Cristian explained the group are looking to manufacture a dozen devices as a start, then seek funding for further manufacturing. In order to make the manufacturing of the devices feasible in Ecuador, they have to re-design some of the components to work with the technology they have available to them.听

鈥淭he aim is to promote the technological and academic development of our developing country鈥�.听
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