Video: A scientist makes cheap, effective medical devices from toys

As you may remember, I interviewed Jose Gomez-Marquez for this blog in October of last year.

He’s certainly one of the more creative scientists I’ve come across.

In some ways, Gomez-Marquez is like the MacGyver of medical inventions.

Gomez-Marquez is program director for MIT’s Innovations in International Health, an initiative that shows medical professionals in the developing world that they can use ordinary household items to make their own medical devices.

Playing with toys allows Gomez-Marquez to think outside the box and dream up new solutions to new vaccines and other medical technologies.

The Boston-based MIT scientist was in the Bay Area, so I asked him to come in for an interview at CNET’s headquarters (which is also home to SmartPlanet).

During the interview, Gomez-Marquez shows off several products, including a nebulizer powered by a bike pump, printable diagnostics and lab-on-chip devices made in the mold of Lego bricks.

Check out a more detailed blog post on CNET.