Ebola researcher looks to the internet for funding
- 10 years ago
Internet crowdfunding has revolutionized financing and now it's proving its usefulness in the fight against the Ebola virus.
At the Scripps Research Institute in Southern California, one immunologist isn't allowing limits in funding to hamper her studies of the lethal disease.
She has taken to the web and set up a crowdfunding site to solicit donations from concerned citizens.
Erica Ollmann Saphire says that her efforts to research the virus were being slowed by outdated equipment.
SOUNDBITE: Ebola researcher Erica Ollmann Saphire, saying (English):
The problem is that our instrumentation is too old and too slow. And I was talking about this with one of my colleagues at Scripps, Elliot Wolf, and he had the idea to try crowd sourcing because it gives the public the opportunity to put their money in what they think is important and it's fast and it can get us where we need to go."
Saphire is now using the website Crowdrise to set up a $100,000 project
At the Scripps Research Institute in Southern California, one immunologist isn't allowing limits in funding to hamper her studies of the lethal disease.
She has taken to the web and set up a crowdfunding site to solicit donations from concerned citizens.
Erica Ollmann Saphire says that her efforts to research the virus were being slowed by outdated equipment.
SOUNDBITE: Ebola researcher Erica Ollmann Saphire, saying (English):
The problem is that our instrumentation is too old and too slow. And I was talking about this with one of my colleagues at Scripps, Elliot Wolf, and he had the idea to try crowd sourcing because it gives the public the opportunity to put their money in what they think is important and it's fast and it can get us where we need to go."
Saphire is now using the website Crowdrise to set up a $100,000 project