Grand Challenges and Grand Challenges Global Call-to-Action grants were announced for requests for proposals launched at the 2021 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, to date encompassing awards for 36 principal investigators in 21 different countries.

Grand Challenges and Grand Challenges Global Call-to-Action grants were announced for requests for proposals launched at the 2021 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, to date encompassing awards for 36 principal investigators in 21 different countries.

Grand Challenges Initiatives Highlights - November 2022

Metagenomic Next Generation Sequencing to Detect, Identify, and Characterize Pathogens

Volga Ana Iñiguez Rojas of the Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Ecología in Bolivia will use metagenomic next generation sequencing to determine the diversity of viruses circulating in wild and domestic mammals and humans in two highly contrasting regions in Bolivia: The Amazon and the Andean Highlands.

Detection and Characterization of Potential Zoonotic Viruses in the Amazon and the Andeans of Bolivia

Pathogen Identification

Grand Challenges Annual Meeting

Grand Challenges

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Photo Gallery

2021 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting Call-to-Action

Nitin Baliga of the Institute for Systems Biology in the U.S. together with Google Applied Science will combine systems biology with machine learning and artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of more effective and affordable treatments for tuberculosis.

Systems Biology-Enabled Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence to Accelerate TB Drug Discovery

Annual Meeting Call-to-Action: 2021

Strengthening Data Science Capacity and the Ecosystem: Enabling Data-Centered Public Health Interventions

Damazo Kadengye of the African Population and Health Research Center in Kenya will establish a functional Learning Health System to promote the exploration of population health data from multiple sources to improve public health responses to infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.

A Learning Health System for Improved Data Use for HIV/AIDS Response

Data Science Approaches

Penny Moore of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa together with Adriana Bonomo of FIOCRUZ in Brazil will identify solutions for combating new SARS-CoV-2 variants by developing an in vitro assay to predict new variants and generating broad specificity antibodies for use as new drugs and diagnostics.

Multi-Pronged Targeting of Conserved SARS-CoV-2 Cleavage Site

Victor Tunje Jeza of the Technical University of Mombasa in Kenya will apply metagenomic next generation sequencing to identify the etiology of febrile illness not associated with malaria, chikungunya or dengue in coastal and Western Kenya, to help design more effective interventions for prevention and treatment.

Characterization of Febrile Illness-Causing Pathogens Among Children in the Coast and Western Regions of Kenya Using Metagenomics Next Generation Sequencing

Seth Bloom of Massachusetts General Hospital in the U.S. together with Sinaye Ngcapu of the Center for the AIDS Programme of Research (CAPRISA) in South Africa will investigate how bacterial vaginosis (BV) and non-Lactobacillus-dominated vaginal microbiota elevate the risk of contracting HIV-1 to help develop preventative therapies.

Identifying Inhibitors of HIV Risk Due to Vaginal Microbiota-Derived Putrescine

Kanny Diallo of the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire will use metagenomic sequencing to investigate the etiological diversity of meningitis in Mali, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire, three countries in the so-called African meningitis belt, to improve diagnosis and public health responses.

Metagenomic Tools to Redefine the Etiology of Pediatric Meningitis in the African Meningitis Belt

Vincent Cubaka of Partners In Health in the U.S. will build robust data governance structures to enable the utilization of electronic medical records from multiple countries for research purposes to improve health.

FAIR and CARE Principles for a Multi-Country Electronic Medical Record Cohort

Jennifer Fitzpatrick of Zambart in Zambia will design and implement a one-step multiplex whole genome sequencing platform for the diagnosis of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS), sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and vaginal microbiome analysis in Zambia.