Origin of the collaboration
The project was born thanks to the collaboration between Professor Claudio Tiribelli and Professor Richard Wennberg. Their goal was to find a simple solution to eradicate Kernicterus, a preventable disease that affects thousands of newborns worldwide.
With over 30 years of experience in clinical and basic bilirubin research, they were able to propose a strategy that could end this scourge.
From their analysis emerged that most cases of Kernicterus are caused by late diagnosis of jaundice, failure to evaluate risk factors and failure to monitor infants after discharge.
In response to these deficiencies, Professor Tiribelli and Professor Wennberg committed themselves to design a quick and portable diagnostic system that could measure total bilirubin concentration in new-born’s blood.
Once the first steps of the design were defined, Dr Carlos Coda Zabetta joined the team and became responsible for the development of the device. Now all that was left was a Technical Affairs Manager and that was when Dr Chiara Greco came into play.
At last, the Bilistick® System as we all know and love was born.
Our team
Claudio Tiribelli
Bilimetrix President and Scientific Director of the Italian Fegato-Onlus Foundation.
With more than 40 years of experience as Medical Doctor, he specialised on the physiological and pathological aspects of the liver with particular interest in bilirubin toxicity in the central nervous system.
Coordinator of numerous international scientific projects related to neonatal jaundice and brain damage caused by bilirubin.
This project is born with the greatest motivation to give the chance to every newborn in the world, especially the less fortunate ones, to have no permanent brain damage for a missed diagnosis or a delayed one. To me, this means giving thousands of children a future full of joy and happiness. We have already achieved a great deal, but it won’t be enough until every child in the world has the same opportunities.
This is why our mission in developing country will always be just as important. Our dream is to integrate rapid diagnosis with phototherapy treatments devices and educational programs designed to eradicate kernicterus from the world.I have done and will do my best to see this dream come true.
Diego Sardon
CEO of Bilimetrix and Experienced Founder with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry.
Strong entrepreneurship professional skilled in Business Intelligence, Data Science & Data Health.
Diego Sardon
CEO of Bilimetrix and Experienced Founder with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry.
Strong entrepreneurship professional skilled in Business Intelligence, Data Science & Data Health.
Carlos Coda Zabetta
After graduating in Argentina in Biotechnology, in 2009 he came to Italy to get the Ph.D. in Molecular Biomedicine at the University of Trieste, focusing on the study of bilirubin toxicity mechanisms in neuronal cell models.
In 2011, he became responsible for the development of the Bilistick® System. Since 2014 he is the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Bilimetrix and is responsible for the coordination of research projects in different countries around the world.
From the very beginning of my college experience, my dream for the future was to play my part in the fight against diseases. I did not know how to do it, but I was convinced that one day I would have had the opportunity to go against one of those conditions affecting so many people in the world. During my PhD, the reasons why bilirubin caused brain damage caught my attention, but I missed the direct impact of my research on people.
When Prof. Tiribelli asked me to be in charge of the development of this project, the first thing that went through my mind was: "This is the opportunity I was looking for!". For me it has become a personal challenge. The first time I saw the Bilistick® preventing a child from being disabled for the rest of their life was the day in which I finally thought:I made it!”.
Chiara Greco
She graduated as a Biomedical Laboratory Technician and in 2015 she obtained her Master’s Degree in Science Diagnostic Techniques at the University of Ferrara.
Today she covers the role of Quality Responsible for Bilimetrix.
This project is very special to me because it is the first research project I was involved in, my "first love" we could say. The Bilistick project was in factthe basis of my degree thesis in 2011. At that time we tried to understand, through a research prototype, whether the system conceived by Professor Tiribelli and Professor Wennberg could be a valid method of measuring bilirubin. Our dream was to produce a low-cost device to save the life of many children in developing countries. After finishing my thesis for a few years I worked for another institute and for me it was really exciting to come back into the team and see that thanks to the work that Carlos and Professor Tiribelli had done over the years, our dream was becoming a reality. I am proud to work for Bilimetrix because I am firmly convinced that " the most worthwhile thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others" (Robert Baden-Powell) and how can you do it if newborns cannot grow and enjoy an healthy life?
Chiara Greco
She graduated as a Biomedical Laboratory Technician and in 2015 she obtained her Master’s Degree in Science Diagnostic Techniques at the University of Ferrara.
Today she covers the role of Quality Responsible for Bilimetrix.
This project is very special to me because it is the first research project I was involved in, my "first love" we could say. The Bilistick project was in factthe basis of my degree thesis in 2011. At that time we tried to understand, through a research prototype, whether the system conceived by Professor Tiribelli and Professor Wennberg could be a valid method of measuring bilirubin. Our dream was to produce a low-cost device to save the life of many children in developing countries. After finishing my thesis for a few years I worked for another institute and for me it was really exciting to come back into the team and see that thanks to the work that Carlos and Professor Tiribelli had done over the years, our dream was becoming a reality. I am proud to work for Bilimetrix because I am firmly convinced that " the most worthwhile thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others" (Robert Baden-Powell) and how can you do it if newborns cannot grow and enjoy an healthy life?
