Awarded Grants

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.

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Acousta - A Doppler for Fetal Monitoring

Balaji TeegalaBRUN Health Pvt. Ltd.Hyderabad, , India
Grand Challenges India
India-GCE
28 Nov 2017

Balaji Teegala from BRUN Health Pvt. Ltd. in India will develop a Doppler stethoscope - Acousta - that acts both as a standard annular Y-shaped stethoscope and as a Doppler stethoscope. The problem in auscultating the fetal heart to identify birth asphyxia among other fetal morbidities is the difficulty, skill, and training needed while using a regular stethoscope. This is mitigated by active sensing systems like the fetal Doppler systems or cardiotocographs. However, these systems are burdensome to carry in addition to a stethoscope. Alternatively, electronic stethoscopes give clarity during auscultation but are predominantly targeted at specialties like cardiology, while still being passive systems in their approach to sensing physiology. Acousta is a combinatorial approach using both these systems.

Glucometer Used by Diabetics for Economical HIV Viral Loading Testing in Resource Limited Settings

Pratap MukhopadhyayaWobble Base Bioresearch Pvt. LtdSurat, , India
Grand Challenges India
India-GCE
27 Nov 2017

Pratap Mukhopadhyaya from Wobble Base Bioresearch Pvt. Ltd. in India will develop a glucometer to detect HIV RNA. The existing major methodologies for viral load quantitation require sophisticated infrastructure and reagents that generate high priced tests (>50 USD per test) that are often not feasible for use in resource limited settings. The new assay involves making an HIV cDNA-DNA-invertase complex, which is added to sucrose solution to generate glucose through hydrolysis by the invertase enzyme that is detected using the glucometer. The amount of glucose detected is a function of HIV copy number.

Achieving Optimal Growth and Development Among Infants and Children in Low-Resource Settings

Nita BhandariSociety for Applied StudiesNew Delhi, , India
Grand Challenges India
All Children Thriving
21 Apr 2017

The project intends to identify challenges to accelerate linear growth among infants/children in low-income settings and strategies to overcome them. The study proposes delivery of an integrated package of interventions (nutritional, environmental, WASH and care) during pregnancy and early childhood in a community-based model. Using stratified randomization, the proposal has been designed in a manner that permits the assessment of the impact of these intervention packages when delivered synergistically or independently on the growth and development of the young child.

Novel Tool for Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance among Urinary Tract Care Infections Seen in Primary Care Settings

Sudeshna AdakOmiX Research and Diagnostics Laboratories Pvt Ltd.Bangalore, , India
Grand Challenges India
India-GCE
21 Apr 2017

Sudeshna Adak from OmiX Research and Diagnostics Laboratories Pvt Ltd. In India will develop a point-of-care AMR test and polymer card combined with a phone based surveillance system to detect and track AMR molecular signatures in primary care settings or in settings where access to AMR testing is currently unavailable. They will demonstrate a proof-of-concept for detection of AMR in urinary tract infections (UTI), establish and validate a 5-gene AMR signature assay in the proposed AMR test.

miRNAs as Evaluation Biomarker of Tuberculosis Treatment Response

Asif MohammedInternational Centre for Genetic Engineering and BiotechnologyNew Delhi, , India
Grand Challenges India
India-GCE
21 Apr 2017

Asif Mohammed from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in India will identify miRNA patterns as potential biomarkers as per Receiver Operating Characteristics, to identify quantitative patterns of circulating human miRNAs which can be used as early biomarkers to predict outcome of the anti-TB drug therapy. They will follow-up patients during their course of treatment with first line anti-TB drugs, and will isolate, sequence, identify and quantitate circulating miRNAs in sputum and plasma of these individuals at one month, two month and 6/9 months of treatment.

Enhancing Nutritional Security of Pregnant Women, Infants and Young Children in Rural Households of Tamil Nadu, India Through Agricultural Intervention

Chandrababu RanganathanCentre for Plant Molecular Biology and BiotechnologyCoimbatore, , India
Grand Challenges India
All Children Thriving
31 Mar 2017

The project study proposes the development of nutrient rich genotypes in rice possessing the key nutraceuticals and therapeutic clues through which required nutrients such as iron and zinc for pregnant women and infants of rural households will be supplemented sustainably. Any improved line of rice will be compared with the traditional parents and other popularly eaten white rice varieties for its nutritional content and therapeutic values. The improved lines of rice having nutritive, anti-diabetic and therapeutic characters may be registered.

An Intergenerational Prebiotic Approach to Establishment of a Healthy Colonic Microbiome in Infants

Balakrishnan RamakrishnaSRM Institutes for Medical ScienceChennai, , India
Grand Challenges India
All Children Thriving
21 Nov 2016

The study intends to develop an inter-generational intervention to ameliorate neonatal gut microbiota. It is based on the hypothesis that consuming prebiotic starches such as high amylose maize starch (HAMS) by mothers during the third trimester of pregnancy will modify their fecal microbiota and will subsequently lead to a beneficial variation in the fecal microbiota of the newborn infant. This will consequently guide favorable intestinal activity, thus enhancing growth, and intellectual competence of the infant in the intermediate and long term.

Low-cost Salivary Progesterone Testing for Detecting the Risk of Preterm Births in Rural Community Settings of India

Poonam ShivkumarMahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical SciencesWardha, , India
Grand Challenges India
All Children Thriving
28 Sep 2016

The study is aimed at developing a novel, low-cost test for pre-term birth (PTB). The proposal is intended to test and validate the low-cost salivary progesterone as a point-of-care (POC) test for detecting risk of PTBs in rural community settings of India. Offering non-invasive sampling of biological fluid that is easy to collect, the study allows validation of saliva from a large cohort of pregnant women residing in low-resource community settings. It is planned to obtain single saliva sample from each participant and determine its predictive characteristics against gestation at delivery and other obstetrics and neonatal outcomes.

Stress Outcomes on Pregnancy, Fetal Growth and Birth Weight: Development of Methods to Identify Mothers at Risk of Preterm Birth and Intrauterine Growth Restriction Resulting from Maternal Stress

Arindam MaitraNational Institute of Biomedical GenomicsKalyani, , India
Grand Challenges India
All Children Thriving
29 Mar 2016

The study aims to assess the effect of depression on pregnancy and develop biomarkers for adverse pregnancy outcomes. It plans to analyze stress outcomes on pregnancy, fetal growth and birth weight. The overall aim of the study is to determine stress biomarkers for early detection of mothers at risk of preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and to develop interventions to reduce stress and reduce adverse birth outcomes.

The Simple Absolute Neutrophil Count as a Measure of Mucosal Inflammation and as a Predictor of Linear Growth in Indian Infants

Uma NatchuTranslational Health Science and Technology InstituteFaridabad, , India
Grand Challenges India
All Children Thriving
14 Mar 2016

The proposal attempts to address the lack of a simple, low-cost, prospective biomarker for future short stature or stunting. It aims to validate the use of absolute neutrophil count as a predictor/biomarker for stunting in infants. It has been hypothesized that infants in settings with poor sanitation conditions and associated abnormal inflammation of the gut from infections subsequently have poor absorptions of nutrients and loss of supplements which eventually leads to stunting. Neutrophils are drawn to these sites of microbial colonization or are exhausted during the clearing of microbes from circulation. The study tries to establish the low absolute neutrophil count as a measure of mucosal inflammation and as predictor of linear growth in Indian infants.

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