The Barcelona Institute for Global Health is a consolidated hub of excellence in research with the overall mission to improve global health and promote health equity through excellence in research and the translation and application of knowledge.

ISGlobal is the coordinator of the MultiplexAI consortium leading the activities performed in collaboration with the partners with closer involvement in the clinical, health impact and social sciences aspects of the project.

SpotLab is a European AI model factory founded in 2018, specializing in the application of artificial intelligence to diagnostics and biopharma research. Recognized as an industrial partner for its global leadership in AI for haematology, infectious diseases, and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), SpotLab combines cutting-edge technology with scientific rigor.

Its multidisciplinary team of 25 professionals includes computer and biomedical engineers, mathematicians, and researchers with backgrounds in medicine, biology, and biotechnology. The company is committed to gender parity across both its team and Board of Directors.

SpotLab has developed a proprietary multimodal AI platform that identifies biomarkers in complex clinical data. It holds an In Vitro Medical Device Manufacturer’s License granted by the Spanish Medicines Agency, and its Quality Management System complies with ISO 13485. The company has already completed the regulatory process for two AI-based medical products.

Spotlab leads the technological development of the MultiplexAI system through Technology Development and Regulatory & Exploitation. It is responsible for designing and evaluating a trustworthy AI system and its integration in a smartphone app and cloud platform, developing a Data Management Plan and Information Security Framework, sponsoring the clinical performance evaluation study and leading its quality assurance, and implementing the regulatory roadmap, CE compliance, and commercialization strategy for SSA.

Ahmadu Bello University (A.B.U) is one of the largest and most prestigious universities in Sub-Saharan Africa, located in Zaria, Nigeria. It is recognized for its strong focus on research, innovation, and capacity building across diverse academic fields, particularly in biomedical sciences and global health.

Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) plays a central role in the MultiplexAI project, serving as the Scientific Pillar lead and coordinating two major work packages: WP2 (Scientific Leadership & Dissemination) and WP6 (Clinical Performance Evaluation). ABU is responsible for overseeing clinical validation activities across partner sites, ensuring scientific integrity, and contributing to the development of evaluation frameworks for AI-assisted diagnostics. The institution also actively participates in WP3 (Ethics & Trustworthy AI), WP7 (Social Science and Economics), and WP8 (Health Impact Assessment). ABU’s leadership brings strong regional expertise in diagnostics, parasitology, and implementation science, to help bridge technical innovation with real-world application.

The Fundação Manhiça - Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça is a biomedical research center with focus on infectious diseases research, from surveillance, diagnostics, clinical trials and assessment of public health intervention strategies such as vaccine impact.

Overall study site coordination and implementation in Mozambique. Work package leader of the social sciences and economics as being responsible for coordinating all related activities.

Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB) is the oldest and largest in Côte d'Ivoire. The UFHB, has been founded in September 11th, 1959. To date, the UFHB has 13 Training and Research Units. Through our Training and Research Unit namely “UFR Biosciences”, the UFHB has been working for many years in collaboration with national and international partners including the national control programs for NTDs. We are extending our partnership with new partners coming in such us Spotlab.

UFHB has conducted together with KEMRI of Kenya, phase 2 and 3 clinical trials on pediatric formulation of praziquantel, jointly funded by GITH and EDCTP 2. The medicine is currently on the WHO list of prequalified medicines. The new AI project will provide great opportunities of collaboration with various partners across the World.

Collecting field-based images from a range of parasitological samples to be transferred to SpotLab’s telemedicine platform via mobile networks to contribute improving the generalization capability of the AI algorithms.

Jimma University is one of the public academic institutions situated to the southwest of Ethiopia. It was founded in the 1980’s by the amalgamation of the Jimma Institute of Health Science and the Jimma College of Agriculture. The university is committed to engaging in the core functions of innovative teaching, research and community services through its unique educational philosophy, Community-Based Education (CBE). It is one of the first-generation research universities in the nation, where research and innovation are one of its core focus areas, besides others. There are more than ten centers and institutions chiefly dedicated to research activities. JU also has a good history of attracting national and international partners from research/academic institutions in Africa, Europe, Asia, America and Australia through its collaborative research and publications, staff exchange and knowledge and technology transfer, community services and capacity-building training in diverse areas including health, agriculture, engineering, and education. In addition, the university is organized into six colleges, two institutions, and four campuses where more than 30,000 students and more than 2,000 faculty members are engaged in teaching, research, mentoring, supervision and community service activities. Furthermore, the university has the only referral hospital (Jimma University Medical Center) in the Southwest of Ethiopia with a capacity of around 800 beds and catering to a catchment population of more than 15 million.

Jimma University, Ethiopia, is a partner institution in sub-Saharan Africa. Its role in the project will be:

• Recruit participants, collect clinical data, and the retrospective data/images of blood smears for malaria parasites: Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax and mixed infections; fecal smears for Ascaris, Hookworm, Trichuris; and urine smears for Schistosoma parasites, and from healthy controls in selected health facilities at Jimma, Ethiopia
• Perform a prospective performance evaluation using microscopy integrating the AI-powered diagnostic system at a local context
• Facilitate the adaptation of the technology into local clinical procedures, and participate in the robust validation of scalable AI systems in the laboratory
• Evaluate the economic/technological, health and social impacts of the AI-powered diagnostic system compared to the standard of care using qualitative data collection tools

IRCCS Sacro Cuore has been recognized as research hospital by the Italian Ministry of Health. The Department of Infectious, Tropical diseases and Microbiology of the hospital is a referral centre in Italy for the diagnosis of parasitic infections, referral centre in Veneto region for tropical diesases, and is the WHO collaborating centre for strongyloidiasis and other neglected tropical diseases.

As WP5 leader, IRCCS Sacro Cuore will coordinate the laboratory research. Specifically, it will contribute to the protocol for lab experiments and image digitalization, to the collection and labelling of parasite images for AI training and to the generation of training material for education purpose. Also, it will be in charge of quality control of diagnostic performance of other institutes.

The National Centre of Microbiology (CNM) is one of the centers belonging to the Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). The CNM-ISCIII is the reference center for infectious diseases in Spain and provides scientific and technical support for the control of infectious diseases, covering viruses, bacteria, fungi, and, of course, parasites.

The mission of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Institute of Health Carlos III), or ISCIII, is to contribute to improving the health of all citizens and to fight diseases through the promotion of research and innovation in Health Sciences and Biomedicine and through the provision of groundbreaking scientific and technical services and educational programmes directed towards the National Health System.
In light of its mission, the objectives of the ISCIII are:

• Promote research aimed at protecting and improving health, financing highly-competitive and excellent research through the State's Health Research and Development Strategy and facilitating greater participation in international R+D+I programmes and projects.
• Conduct research within the National Health System (SNS) through its National Reference Centres, Research Institutes, Foundations, Networks, Consortia and Platforms for Scientific and Technical Services.
• Manage, develop and offer groundbreaking scientific and technical services throughout the country for the prevention and control of transmissible and non-transmissible diseases, environmental health, bio-products and others that may be harmful to public health.
• Offer scientific and technical advisory services to support decision-making on healthcare technologies and services in the National Health System.
• Develop educational programmes aimed at the entire National Health System and provide health information and scientific documentation services.

The ISCIII plays a key role in the development, validation, and implementation of AI-based diagnostic systems. Its responsibilities include acquiring and annotating parasitological samples for AI training; developing and finalizing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for sample image digitization and labelling, including protocols for image collection, tagging, and quality control; conducting quality control during multisite clinical validations in Africa; contributing to exploratory research on non-blood samples; and developing clinical protocols and educational resources to support local capacity in digital parasitology.

Hutzpa is an innovation platform dedicated to cultivating bold leadership in Africa, empowering individuals, organizations, and communities to achieve extraordinary growth and impact. Hutzpa specializes in delivering innovative solutions across various sectors, combining deep industry knowledge with technology to drive transformative change and sustainable growth. It provides end-to-end innovation management and venture consulting services. This includes guiding organizations through the innovation process, from ideation to execution, and helping startups and established businesses navigate venture creation, scaling, and market entry.

We are working with other partners to design and implement a go-to-market strategy and regulatory roadmap for MultiplexAI Systems. In this role, we are to ensure successful adoption, regulatory compliance, and sustainable distribution of the technology in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).