• About
  • Partnerships
  • Challenges
  • Awards
  • Grant Opportunities
  • News

Foodborne Disease Treatments

Aaron Maule of Queen's University Belfast in the United Kingdom will develop food crops expressing microRNAs that, upon ingestion by humans, can be used to target and kill parasitic worms and the mosquitos that transmit them. Plant microRNAs can survive the digestion process and are detected in human blood following consumption. Therefore, they may also be encountered by blood-borne parasitic worms and by the blood-eating insects that transmit them, which cause widespread disease. He will select candidate microRNAs and test their activity using rodent infection models. The most effective microRNAs will be tested for toxicity to human cells, and will be used to engineer transgenic plants to analyze efficacy upon ingestion in rodents.

More information about New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases (Round 10)

Great ideas come from everywhere.

Sign up for email updates of the latest grant opportunities and awards.

View the Grand Challenges partnership network

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is part of the Grand Challenges partnership network. Visit www.grandchallenges.org to view the map of awarded grants across this network and grant opportunities from partners.