MARCUS DEANS
CANADA & UNITED KINGDOM, 16
Project: Deans' Development
Basic Human Needs: Health, Safety, Water
Moved by a photo of a girl in West Africa drinking contaminated water, Marcus decided to research possible solutions to the water crisis. After learning that advanced water filtration technologies used in North America were too expensive to distribute in developing nations, he created his own water filtration system called NOGOS. NOGOS is a low-cost integrated water filtration solution made from easily sourced materials that completely removes contaminants from highly saturated water. The success of NOGOS led to further innovative ideas and projects, and Deans’ Development was born. Deans’ Development is a research and development company seeking to better the lives of people through low cost, novel technology that can be easily adopted anywhere in the world. Marcus’ second project is unprecedented research into the Zika virus, an increasing health threat worldwide with no vaccine. Using advanced computational models of inhibitors of a virus related to Zika, Marcus has identified new compounds with the potential to stop the virus in its tracks. He is currently working at the University of Windsor and plans to collaborate with additional universities to conduct field-testing to further improve his projects and create more solutions that are accessible to the communities who benefit from them.