Skip to main content

Grand Challenges

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Main menu

  • About
  • Challenges
  • Awarded Grants
  • News
  • Grant Opportunities
  • Search

You are here

  1. Home
  2. Awarded Grants
  3. Grand Challenges
  4. 2011
  5. 2015

Print link

Print

Awarded Grants

Filter by Initiative

  • (-) Remove Grand Challenges filter Grand Challenges (44)

Filter by Challenge

Filter by Awarded Year

  • 2019 Apply 2019 filter (23)
  • 2018 Apply 2018 filter (16)
  • 2016 Apply 2016 filter (26)
  • (-) Remove 2015 filter 2015 (19)
  • 2014 Apply 2014 filter (1)
  • 2013 Apply 2013 filter (3)
  • 2012 Apply 2012 filter (22)
  • (-) Remove 2011 filter 2011 (25)
  • 2006 Apply 2006 filter (1)
  • 2005 Apply 2005 filter (43)

Filter by Country

Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems. Each initiative is an experiment in the use of challenges to focus innovation on making an impact. Individual challenges address some of the same problems, but from differing perspectives.

Sort by:
Date Awarded
Title (Z-A)
10
25
50
100

A Disposable Sub-system for Nucleic Acid Sample Preparation Without Instrumentation or User Intervention

Robert CaryMesa Tech International, Inc.Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Point-of-Care Diagnostics
20 Jun 2011

Robert (Bruce) Cary of Mesa Tech International, Inc. in the U.S. proposes to develop nucleic acid purification systems that use a novel configuration of lateral flow materials to bind and wash nucleic acids to yield amplification-­ready samples. These devices could provide purified samples from clinical specimens within minutes without user intervention, instrumentation, electricity or costly materials.

A New Target for Mosquitocides

Jeffrey BloomquistUniversity of FloridaGainesville, Florida, United States
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Chemical Vector Control
1 Aug 2011

Jeffrey R. Bloomquist of the University of Florida in the U.S. will investigate a voltage-sensitive potassium channel as a new target for mosquitocides.

A Novel Nano-Iron Supplement (IHAT) to Safely Combat Iron Deficiency and Anemia (IDA)

Andrew PrenticeMedical Research CouncilSwindon, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges
Global Health Interventions
30 Nov 2015

Andrew Prentice of the Medical Research Council in the United Kingdom will conduct a phase II clinical trial to test the ability of a unique nano iron compound to safely and more effectively treat iron-deficiency anemia in children. Iron-deficiency anemia is a common condition particularly in women and children in resource-poor settings and can be deadly. Current iron supplements have limited effects in these settings and undesirable side effects including increasing the risk of infectious diarrhea in children which causes severe morbidity and mortality. They previously developed a compound iron hydroxide adipate tartrate that acts like dietary iron as it can be directly absorbed in humans keeping it away from any resident intestinal pathogens that also use it as a nutrient source. They will perform an intervention study with 600 iron-deficient anemic children in The Gambia and compare their compound with the current supplement to see if it can normalize iron levels without the side effects.

A Synthetic Biology Platform for Rapid Generation of Highly Diverse Natural Product-Like Compounds Active Against Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Mike TyersUniversité de MontréalMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Grand Challenges
Global Health Interventions
18 Nov 2015

Michael Tyers of the University of Montreal in Canada will develop a synthetic biology platform to generate vast libraries of natural product-like compounds and use them to identify new drugs for tuberculosis. Traditional drug discovery screens require expensive chemical libraries that are limited in size and scope. Many existing drugs are derived from the natural products of microbes which perform a wide variety of biological functions. This functional diversity is reflected by their structural diversity which is generated by the combinatorial action of hundreds of thousands of different enzymes. They will exploit this natural manufacturing process for the relatively simple and low-cost production of millions to billions of chemically-diverse natural product-like compounds. This will be achieved by expressing different combinations of the enzymes in yeast artificial chromosomes which then allows screening directly in the yeast without the need for costly and time-consuming chemical extraction and purification. Using this approach they will perform a pilot screen to identify new compounds that inhibit the growth of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.

A Universal One-Step Device to Safely and Painlessly Collect Blood

Donald ChickeringSeventh Sense BiosystemsCambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Point-of-Care Diagnostics
17 Jun 2011

Donald Chickering and a team at Seventh Sense Biosystems in the U.S. are developing its Touch Activated Phlebotomy (TAP) platform to enable one­-step blood collection in a safe, painless, and convenient manner. The device uses an integrated system of microneedles and vacuum capture of a blood sample for downstream analysis. TAP has the potential to expand access to diagnostic testing into underserved and hard-­to-­sample populations, while also improving safety and ease of collection.

A Win-Win for Gender, Agriculture and Nutrition: Testing a Gender-Transformative Approach from Asia in Africa

Laurent UwumuremyiCAREAtlanta, Georgia, United States
Grand Challenges
Women and Girls
10 Nov 2015

Laurent Uwumuremyi and team at CARE in Burundi will evaluate the impact of an intensive gender transformative approach among women smallholder farmers relative to a current “gender-light” approach for delivering income, food security and women’s empowerment outcomes through agricultural development interventions. Their transformative approach focuses more deeply on gender by generating awareness of the issues, building personal skills, and directly challenging underlying inequalities through dialogue and collective action involving male relatives and the wider community. They will train facilitators and recruit a total of 7,500 women in two provinces in Burundi for a four-year study. The research will provide essential evidence-based policy recommendations for the agricultural sector to help improve global food security and well-being.

Ambient Stable X-aptamer Affinity Agents

Ross DurlandAM Biotechnologies, LLCHouston, Texas, United States
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Point-of-Care Diagnostics
15 Jun 2011

Ross Durland and colleagues at AM Biotechnologies, LLC in the U.S. propose to develop X-­aptamers for detecting and quantifying protein biomarkers for neglected diseases. X­-aptamers are modified nucleic acids that tightly bind to specific targets and remain stable at high temperature and humidity. AM Biotech will enhance its process for rapidly identifying X-­aptamers that will be integrated into a point­-of-­care platform for diagnosing many diseases.

Develop Synthetic Chemical Mimics of Selectively Insecticidal Natural Peptides

Robert KennedyVestaron CorporationKalamazoo, Michigan, United States
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Chemical Vector Control
1 Aug 2011

Robert M. Kennedy of the Vestaron Corporation in the U.S. will develop synthetic chemical mimics of selectively insecticidal natural peptides.

Digital Sub-Wallets for Increased Financial Empowerment of Women

Lauren HendricksCAREAtlanta, Georgia, United States
Grand Challenges
Women and Girls
19 Nov 2015

Lauren Hendricks and team at CARE in Uganda will analyze whether motivating women to use mobile financial technology increases their involvement in making household financial decisions, and subsequently improves family health and education. They will develop mobile money subwallets for specific purposes such as school fees and pregnancy so that women can more securely manage their savings. They will also work with influential members of a subset of households to help promote gender equality and develop a consensus towards a household financial action plan.

Disposable Sampling Plate and Breath Test to Identify Patients with Active Tuberculosis

James GrahamUniversity of LouisvilleLouisville, Kentucky, United States
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Tuberculosis Biomarkers
13 Oct 2011

James E. Graham, Xiao-­An Fu, Michael H. Nantz, and Richard M. Higashi of the University of Louisville in the U.S. will investigate the use of adsorptive sample plates with chemically reactive coatings to capture, identify, and validate unique volatile organic compounds found in breath samples of TB patients. This approach can establish the basis for a simple point of care test to identify active disease.

Pages

  • Currently on page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Next page
  • Last page
Sort by:
Date Awarded
Title (Z-A)
10
25
50
100

Contact us

Contact us

  • General Inquiries
  • Media Inquiries

Footer - Receive Updates

Receive updates

  • Sign up for email updates

Footer

  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
© 2003-2019. Grand Challenges. All Rights Reserved.

PLEASE REVIEW OUR UPDATED PRIVACY & COOKIES NOTICE

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to store information on your computer or device. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the placement of these cookies and similar technologies. Read our updated Privacy & Cookies Notice to learn more.