Groundbreaking researcher Balagaddé to speak at Fort Wayne Campus
Groundbreaking researcher and Manchester graduate Frederick Balagaddé will speak about his work at the Manchester University Fort Wayne Campus on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
The seminar is 5:30 p.m. at the campus, 10627 Diebold Road, just east of Interstate 69 at the Dupont Road exit. It is free and open to the public.
While at the California Institute of Technology, Balagaddé invented the microchemostat, a cellphone-sized device that mimics biological cell culture environment in a highly complex web of tiny pump and hair-sized water hoses, all controlled by a multitasking computer.
“Africa suffers the overwhelming brunt of global disease.” says Balagaddé, who graduated from Manchester in 2001 with degrees in physics and computer science. Balagaddé experienced this suffering firsthand in the 1990s, when his hometown in Uganda was swept over by HIV.
“What begins as a tragedy in a Third World country could easily become a global problem.” He said. Upon graduation, Balagaddé spent two years as a research scientist at Stanford University and did his doctoral studies in applied physics at Cal Tech.
Today, Balagaddé is an assistant investigator at Kwazulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV. K-RITH is a key place for scientific discovery and translation of research into diagnostics and treatments for these global killers.
"I am passionate about the future of Africa,” Balagaddé adds.
He will also speak at the North Manchester campus in a program that is free and open to the public:
http://www.manchester.edu/News/BalagaddeVIA2015.htmThe University will award Balagaddé at Manchester’s Homecoming and Family Weekend 2015 with the
Young Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award. Lisa Updike Starts, a Fort Wayne attorney, will also be honored.
October 13, 2015