On May 21, 2013, the foundation announced the Grand Challenges Explorations Round 10 winners. Almost 60 innovators were awarded grants for projects focusing on one of five categories. Some of the winners are featured here.

On May 21, 2013, the foundation announced the Grand Challenges Explorations Round 10 winners. Almost 60 innovators were awarded grants for projects focusing on one of five categories. Some of the winners are featured here.

Grand Challenges Explorations Round 10 Highlights

New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-Malarial Compounds (Round 10)

Ralph Mazitschek of the Massachusetts General Hospital in the U.S. is testing whether inhibitors of tRNA-synthetases, which are enzymes that are essential for survival of the malaria parasite, can be used as anti-malarial drugs. These inhibitors will be used to screen compounds in the Malaria Box to identify ones that are candidates for further testing.

Inhibitors of tRNA-Synthetases as Antimalarials

Testing Anti-malarial Compounds: Screening Enzymes as New Anti-malarial Drugs

Grand Challenges Explorations

Photo Galleries

Photo Gallery

Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers (Round 10)

Karime Séré of Intermon Oxfam of Spain is working with the National Research Institute for Technology and Science in Burkina Faso to develop more efficient and durable rice husk furnaces and lower-cost rice sorting equipment. These could reduce the labor involved in parboiled rice production, the principal livelihood of thousands of Burkinabe women.

Reducing Women's Labor In Parboiled Rice Transformation

Innovations for Women Farmers: Transforming Parboiled Rice Production in Burkina Faso

Aid is Working. Tell the World. (Round 10)

Jamie Lundine and a team from Spatial Collective in Kenya will create and test a new multi-media interactive community platform that is accessible via SMS and can be used by community members to identify local development challenges and suggest possible solutions. Service providers and potential donors can then monitor the platform to become aware of opportunities to help develop and evaluate solutions.

Smart Cities: An Interactive Multi-Media and Mapping Platform

Communicating About Aid: Testing a Multi-Media Platform to Aid Community Development

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

Tae Seok Moon from Washington University in the U.S. is developing probiotic bacteria for human consumption that will release a substance when they are excreted from the body to kill any parasitic eggs present in feces. Killing these eggs will prevent disease transmission.

Programmed Killing of Parasite Eggs by Probiotic Organisms

New Approaches to Neglected Tropical Diseases: Using Probiotics to Kill Parasite Eggs

Gregory Goldgof and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego in the U.S. have developed a modified yeast strain that they will use to test drug candidates in the Malaria Box. By treating these yeasts with the drug candidates, the team can determine their activity and identify resistance mechanisms that will aid the development of these candidates into new drugs.

Malaria Box Target and Mechanism Characterization

Testing Anti-malarial Compounds: Using Yeast to Test New Drug Candidates

Ton Rulkens and his team from Oxfam-Solidarité in Belgium are working in Northern Mozambique with women farmers, local blacksmiths, and scientists to design new hoes for women that reflect their preferences, accessibility constraints, social systems, and cultural beliefs.

Improved Lighter and Long-Handle Hoes For Women

Innovations for Women Farmers: Designing New Hoes for Women

Chip Carter and colleagues of Plan International USA in the U.S. will evaluate a proven marketing model, the House Party, as a way to increase participation in international development causes. Supporters of child-focused programs will host parties that use literature, short films, and other materials to engage supporters, and Carter and his team will measure the effectiveness of this approach and its potential for replication.

House Parties: Experiential Marketing for Global Aid

Communicating About Aid: Evaluating House Parties As a Way to Promote Global Aid

Stephen Sowerby of the University of Otago in New Zealand has developed a cell-phone diagnostic tool for transmitting digital images of processed stool samples for remote diagnosis and monitoring of soil-transmitted infections from intestinal worms.

Widespread Monitoring of Soil-Transmitted Helminths

New Approaches to Neglected Tropical Diseases: Testing a Cell Phone Tool to Monitor Soil-Transmitted Parasitic Worms

Patrice Martin of IDEO.org in the U.S. and Devi Prasad Rao from the Arohana Seva Foundation in India are designing a micro-franchise system that will rent small and mid-sized timesaving agricultural implements to Indian women smallholder farmers to improve their productivity and incomes.

Designing an Agricultural Implement Microfranchise for Women

Innovations for Women Farmers: Designing An Agricultural Tools Microfranchise for Women

Kirsten Hanson and colleagues from the Instituto de Medicina Molecular in Portugal have developed a liver-stage screening strategy that they will use to screen for compounds that block the final maturation stage of the Plasmodium parasite, which causes malaria. Identifying drugs that specifically kill these liver-stage parasites will prevent the establishment of the disease in the host and block transmission.

Liver-Stage Antimalarials to Drive Sterile Immunity

Testing Anti-malarial Compounds: Screening for Drugs that Kill Liver-Stage Malaria Parasites

August Basson of the KEL Growing Nations Trust in Lesotho and collaborator Adriaan Jacobs (pictured) are developing and field-testing a downsized rotary seed planter that is adapted specifically for small-scale women farmers planting maize and other grain crops.

No-Till Rotary Punch Planter For Women

Innovations for Women Farmers: Adapting A Rotary Punch Planter for Women

Janis Weeks and Shawn Lockery of the University of Oregon and NemaMetrix in the U.S. are developing a drug discovery platform that uses microfluidics and electrophysiological methods to record electrical signals in parasitic nematodes, information which will be used to identify new drugs that kill the worms by disrupting their neuromuscular function.

Neurophysiology-Based Platform for Soil-Transmitted Helminth Drug Discovery

New Approaches to Neglected Tropical Diseases: Capturing Electrical Signals in Parasitic Worms for Drug Discovery

Charlotte Obidairo and team from Coxswain Social Investment plus in Tunisia will develop an open digital platform to solicit or offer solutions to development challenges from young people around the world. They will present inspiring community-based success stories in multimedia format, and then evaluate the project for impact and possible expansion on a global scale.

Hactivating Development Aid

Communicating About Aid: Hactivating Development Aid

J. Brandon Dixon of the Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. is developing a model of a human lymphatic vessel to support adult-stage lymphatic filariasis parasites in vitro. Recreating the host environment where the parasites normally reside can keep them alive for longer periods of time, which is crucial for developing new drugs.

Lymphatic on a Chip as a Model Host for Lymphatic Filariasis Parasites

New Approaches to Neglected Tropical Diseases: Creating a Model Host To Test New Drugs on Parasites

Alfred Alumai of Muni University in Uganda, along with Ronald Avutia and Yasin Angua of NilePro Trust, is field-testing a new small seeds planter that facilitates row cultivation of millet, sorghum, and groundnuts, saves time and labor associated with weeding and harvesting, and increases production and yield.