filtration. The Life Cell is inspired by the work of Harvard Medical School professor Donald Ingber, pioneer in the exploration of biological cell structure in terms of tensegrity principles. Where Professor Ingber has used the principles of Buckminster Fuller to understand cellular structure, we have drawn on cellular structure to design our solution to water transport and filtration problems in the developing world. The Life Cell is a tensegrity skeleton comprised of lightweight plastic rods and elastic cables. Without an asymmetric pressure the tensegrity skeleton assumes an isotropic shape around which a polymeric skin can be pulled, but it can be easily compressed into other shapes (Figure 1), so that its flexible internal structure and resistant membrane resemble a cell’s. The skin can be removed, replaced, washed and repaired easily and inexpensively. Without this skin, the tensegrity structure becomes an educational illustration of architectural and biological design principles. The Life Cell can also serve as a filtration system if a semi-permeable membrane is slipped over its opening. As illustrated in Figure 2, filling the Life Cell with water and applying external pressure becomes a simple way of cleaning dirty water before drinking, irrigation, or any other basic act of life. When full of water, the Life Cell retains its shape and can be transported by rolling. When empty, it can be flattened and stacked for long-distance distribution, rolled like a wheel, or converted into a backpack (Figure 2). Its durability, maneuverability, and compressibility make it a major advance over the Hippo Water Roller, an existing water transport method. And its simple, modular design makes it conducive to innovation by manufacturers and consumers alike.

Describe the critical need your solution addresses.

Over the next three years we plan to continue to research (Year 1),
design and field test (Year 2), and distribute and sell (Year 3) the
Life Cell in Africa. More specifically, with the prize money and
additional funding from the Idea Translation Lab, the Harvard
Initiative of Global Health and the Harvard Initiative of Biologically
Inspired Engineering we plan to develop various prototypes Life Cell
for first laboratory testing in the spring of 2009. After refinements
are made, we plan to test our second phase prototypes in South Africa
and learn, in collaboration with the nonprofit MEND, based in
Pretoria. With our newfound insights and discovery of new needs from
our field tests, we will revisit our design to improve on Life Cell
with designers in Paris at the Le Laboratoire, partner to the Idea
Translation Lab. Following this first summer, in Year 2, we will
consider indigenous materials for our Life Cell, including the
filtration material, and develop a manufacturing procedure that will
permit manufacturing and distribution in Year 3 in Africa. In this
three year time frame we plan also to create our own nonprofit, or to
work closely with another nonprofit, such as MEND or Lebone, and to
sell, through Le Laboratoire, Life Cells in developed world locations
to generate revenues for the Charitable Goal. In the long term, after
successful implementation and tests of Life Cell, we will forecast and
aggregate product demand to reduce production costs.

Explain your initiative in more depth and its stage of development.

The Life Cell provides a comprehensive solution to the many problems that prevent developing world communities from accessing clean water, from the energetic and temporal costs of traversing treacherous topography to the hazardous contamination of water sources and containers. Simple yet versatile, the Life Cell anticipates and invites alternative uses—from seed storage to recreation to education. Its tensegrity technology is ubiquitous in architecture, and its filter sterilization system requisite in today’s laboratories, making its design feasible and affordable on a communitywide scale. Like a living cell, replication of the Life Cell incites novel adaptations, and rigorous experimentation will only maximize its effectiveness across different cultures and landscapes. Potentially made from recycled plastics and tire rubber, the Life Cell is ecologically and environmentally friendly, and the tensile forces that cooperate to shape it illustrate the powerful impact that small unified efforts can have on preventing and solving global health crises.

How does your strategy and approach respond creatively and comprehensively to key issues?

As a team of four undergraduates at Harvard University, we developed
the idea of Project Life Cell in the context of the Idea Translation
Lab at Harvard University, other nonprofit innovations targeting the developing world have resulted including Medicine in Need (MEND) (www.medicineinneed.org) and Lebone (www.lebone.org). With a diverse background from science to design to economics, our team covers a range of academic knowledge necessary for the broad scope and impact of our project. We have developed mentor relationships with Professor Donald Ingber (HMS) and David Edwards, our instructor and the institutional representative of our grant application. Harvard organizations consisting of the Idea Translation Lab, Harvard Initiative for Global Health, and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering will provide funding and any additional resources to launch preliminary field tests. The nonprofit MEND, based in Pretoria will offer on-the-ground support for our various implementation phases. Throughout the process, designers from the Paris-based Le Laboratoire, partner to the Idea Translation Lab, will assist our team to improve our design.