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. 2013
  4. 2005
  5. 2006

Print link

Print

Awarded Grants

Filter by Initiative

  • Grand Challenges Explorations Apply Grand Challenges Explorations filter (141)
  • Grand Challenges Apply Grand Challenges filter (47)
  • Grand Challenges for Development Apply Grand Challenges for Development filter (24)
  • Grand Challenges Brazil Apply Grand Challenges Brazil filter (12)
  • Grand Challenges India Apply Grand Challenges India filter (4)

Filter by Challenge

Filter by Awarded Year

  • 2019 Apply 2019 filter (121)
  • 2018 Apply 2018 filter (129)
  • 2017 Apply 2017 filter (98)
  • 2016 Apply 2016 filter (162)
  • 2015 Apply 2015 filter (171)
  • 2014 Apply 2014 filter (152)
  • (-) Remove 2013 filter 2013 (184)
  • 2012 Apply 2012 filter (244)
  • 2011 Apply 2011 filter (258)
  • 2010 Apply 2010 filter (142)
  • 2009 Apply 2009 filter (157)
  • 2008 Apply 2008 filter (105)
  • (-) Remove 2006 filter 2006 (1)
  • (-) Remove 2005 filter 2005 (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 (A-Z)
10
25
50
100

Prevention of Maternal Death by Improving Iron Status of Women Through Iron Fortification of Tea

Levente DiosadyUniversity of TorontoToronto, Ontario, Canada
Grand Challenges for Development
Saving Lives at Birth
16 Dec 2013

Iron deficiency is a major contributor to maternal death. Improving the health of women through iron fortification of a universally consumed food vehicle will result in significant saving of lives at birth. Tea is universally consumed in South Asia; however, iron forms complexes in tea, reducing bioavailability, and thus thwarting earlier fortification attempts. Our approach will make tea viable as an iron fortification vehicle. We will develop spray-encapsulated iron premix that will be attached to tea leaves, and released into hot water during brewing, without altering the tea's sensory attributes. Iron will be encapsulated in enteric coating to prevent formation of non-bioavailable tannin complex in the stomach, the coating will dissolve in the small intestines to expose a high bioavailability self-emulsifying iron delivery system. Our innovations are: (1) the encapsulation/microemulsion approach which protects iron in the stomach and enhances absorption in the lower GI, and (2) using tea as the fortification vehicle which will ease adoption because no user behavior change will be required.

Augmented Infant Resuscitator (AIR)

Data SantorinoMbarara University of Science and TechnologyMbarara, Uganda
Grand Challenges for Development
Saving Lives at Birth
16 Dec 2013

Effective resuscitation could reduce intrapartum related neonatal deaths by 30%, and deaths from prematurity by 10%, creating the potential to save 347,200 babies annually. However, one in five trained healthcare professionals (HCPs) fail to perform the resuscitation technique correctly, and those that do, often experience a rapid decline in proficiency. Our Augmented Infant Resuscitator's advanced training capabilities, instant feedback mechanism, and objective self-audit and retraining abilities will maximize and sustain gains from effective resuscitation. The AIR prototype provides instant feedback to users about effective ventilation. This is measured using inexpensive instrumentation that calculates ventilation rate, air volume and air pressure delivered by the bag-valve-mask (BVM) across the resuscitation face-mask. These parameters correlate with the four most common mistakes that result in ineffective resuscitation: 1) Failed seal at the face-mask interface resulting in failure to inflate the lungs; 2) Blocked airways; and 3) Wrong ventilation frequency 4) Insufficient/shallow lung inflation. Each of these mistakes can cause death or brain damage. AIR also records performance on an internal memory card for future feedback, improving HCPs training by identifying persistent gaps in technique.

HIST-BIRTH: Innovative and Rapid Point-of-Care Histone Test Strips for Early Diagnosis of Sepsis in Pregnancy and Childbirth.

Federico Pallardo CalatayudUniversidad de ValenciaValencia, Spain
Grand Challenges for Development
Saving Lives at Birth
16 Dec 2013

We propose to develop a rapid, low-cost and effective method for detecting sepsis in early stages. We will take advantage of the potential of histones to be sensitive and effective biomarkers for sepsis, and of the versatility, simplicity and low-cost of test strips. The diagnostic test will be simple, comfortable, easy to interpret and low-cost for prognosis/early diagnosis of sepsis based on histone expression. The test can be used by non-technical experts in any hospital or health center worldwide, though it has been designed intentionally for low-resource countries. Proof-of-concept of this diagnostic test will be performed in Uganda, in order to analyze benefits and reduction in mortality of pregnant women and infants in that country. The innovative combination of histones and strips make this diagnostic test a significant improvement over the inefficient methods currently used for sepsis diagnosis, such serum lactate measurement, microbiological sampling, etc.

JustMilk - Development of an Infant Nipple Shield Drug Delivery System Used During Breastfeeding

Nigel SlaterUniversity of CambridgeCambridge, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges for Development
Saving Lives at Birth
16 Dec 2013

We propose to develop a low-cost Nipple Shield Delivery System (NSDS) to administer drugs or nutrients to breastfeeding infants via easily disintegrating tablets within a modified nipple shield. A wide-range of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) could be delivered to infants using the NSDS such as antibiotics, antimalarials, antiretrovirals, vitamins, nutrients, and probiotics. Use of the NSDS would empower a breastfeeding mother during the early postnatal period by allowing her to personally administer medicines in a natural setting. This system can provide a novel method for accurately administering drugs and nutrients to breastfeeding infants.

A Low-Cost, Electricity-Free Oxygen Concentrator

Bryn SobottUniversity of MelbourneMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
Grand Challenges for Development
Saving Lives at Birth
16 Dec 2013

Our proposal will provide this life-saving treatment to isolated, extremely resource poor people by obviating the need for electricity. This will be achieved by applying recently developed hydrological engineering approaches to extract the pressure differential required for the adsorption process exploited by Oxygen concentrators. This project aims to develop and test an electricity free Oxygen concentrator suitable for a developing world health facility. This represents a major paradigm shift, as to-date the problem has been interpreted as how to supply electricity to an Oxygen concentrator. In comparison with solar and generator based approaches the prototype will require significantly less capital cost and maintenance. Further, construction out of locally available components will empower the community to independently and sustainably access this life-saving treatment.

Que Vivan Las Madres: Scaling Up an Integrated Approach to Reduce Maternal and Perinatal Mortality in Northern Guatemala

Edgar KestlerCentro de Investigación Epidemiológica en Salud Sexual y Reproductiva (CIESAR)Guatemala City, Guatemala
Grand Challenges for Development
Saving Lives at Birth
16 Dec 2013

Guatemala has one of the highest national maternal mortality ratios in Latin America at 149 per 100,000 live births, and up to 260 per 100,000 in some northern departments. Only 31% of deliveries are attended by a skilled birth attendant. We propose to scale up an already tested innovative strategy, combining technology, service delivery, and demand creation approaches. Our collaborative effort integrates: 1) a low cost, simulation-based training program (PRONTO) using a low-tech birth simulator (PartoPants) to teach provider teams emergency management during childbirth, 2) a research-driven social marketing campaign encouraging women in the target communities to give birth in clinics rather than at home, and 3) professional midwife liaisons charged with connecting traditional birth attendants to the formal health care system. We expect that this effort will catalyze critical practice changes in maternity care, increase the proportion of births attended in clinics, improve maternal outcomes, and decrease perinatal death in indigenous Guatemalan communities.

Use of Metabolomics for the Identification and Validation of Clinical Biomarkers for Preterm Birth

José Guilherme CecattiUniversidade Estadual de CampinasCampinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

José Guilherme Cecatti from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil will develop a predictive algorithm to identify early in pregnancy those at increased risk of preterm birth so that if possible they can be treated. There are likely to be many causes of preterm birth, and it is a major cause of both short and long term life-threatening complications for infants. They will use existing data from 6,000 pregnancies that resulted in both term and preterm births, and perform three complementary mass spectrometry-based methods on blood taken early (around 15 weeks) in those pregnancies to identify a panel of biomarkers that can predict preterm birth. This will be combined with sociodemographic and physical data including economic status and age to generate a predictive algorithm. They will then evaluate this algorithm in a cohort of 1,150 low risk pregnant Brazilian women for its ability to identify those that go on to give birth prematurely.

Pessary Plus Progesterone to Prevent Preterm Delivery in Women With Short Cervical Length

Rodolfo de Carvalho PacagnellaUniversidade Estadual de CampinasCampinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Rodolfo de Carvalho Pacagnella from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil will perform two randomized clinical trials across 15 obstetric clinics in Brazil to evaluate treatment with progesterone in the presence or absence of a cervical pessary for preventing spontaneous preterm birth. Both cervical pessary and progesterone are individually considered to be effective preventative treatments for preterm birth, which is one of the most common complications seen in pregnancy and can cause severe complications for the premature infant. The causes of preterm birth are mostly unknown, although incidence does increase with cervical shortening during the mid stages of pregnancy. They will also analyze the prevalence of a short cervix in Brazilian pregnant women, and determine how well it predicts preterm birth. Their approach to screen for cervix length and then treat high-risk individuals with the combination therapy will also be evaluated for cost-effectiveness.

Influence of the Vaginal Microbiome and Vaginal Metabolites on Cervical Remodeling and Preterm Parturition

Antonio Fernandes MoronUniversidade Federal de São PauloSão Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Antonio Fernandes Moron from the Universidade Federal de São Paulo in Brazil will investigate whether the presence of specific bacterial populations in the vagina can predict preterm birth, which could form part of an inexpensive test suitable for low resource settings. Preterm birth leads to major short- and long-term health problems for the child. The causes are largely unknown, making it hard to identify pregnant women at increased risk who need monitoring and might benefit from treatment. They hypothesize that bacterial infections in the vagina during pregnancy can alter the length, elasticity and/or thickness of the cervix, thereby triggering preterm birth. To test this, they will analyze vaginal samples from 400 pregnant women located at four urban care centers throughout Brazil to identify bacteria and selected proteins that associate with specific cervical alterations detectable by ultrasound, and determine their association with preterm birth.

Senses of Birth: Effects of an Interactive Exhibit in Changing the Perception About Labor and Birth With Community Mobilization for Reducing Excessive Caesarean Sections and Iatrogenic Prematurity In Brazil

Bernardo Jefferson de OliveiraUniversidade Federal de Minas GeraisBelo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Bernardo Jefferson de Oliveira from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil will develop an interactive exhibit including images, audio, games, and theatre to encourage natural childbirth and perform a pilot study to evaluate its effect on changing public perception of labor and birth. They aim to reduce unnecessary cesarean sections in Brazil where the incidence of preterm births, which can cause severe disabilities, has been increasing. This is thought to be due in part to the negative perception of normal birth and the assumption that cesarean sections are safer and more convenient. The exhibit will focus on producing sensations and emotions to teach participants about the experience, risks and benefits of both cesarean section and natural childbirth. They will present the exhibit over 12 months in three major cities, which should reach around 30,000 people, and use interviews and questionnaires before and after participants visit the exhibit to measure its effect on knowledge and attitudes.

Breastfeeding in Premature Infants: Impact of Bfhi in Neonatal Units

Carmen Gracinda Silvan ScochiUniversidade de São PauloSão Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Carmen Gracinda Silvan Scochi from the Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil will encourage mothers of preterm infants in Brazil to exclusively breastfeed them for the first six months to better protect them against infections and optimize their growth and neurodevelopment. The incidence of preterm births in Brazil is increasing, and causes multiple short and long-term complications. Exclusive breastfeeding can limit some of these complications but is particularly challenging with preterm infants due to their incomplete development and the need for hospitalization, as well as there being practical and emotional difficulties for the mother. The existing WHO/UNICEF global program for promoting exclusive breastfeeding has been adapted specifically for preterm infants and involves better educating medical staff so that they provide the practical and emotional support to encourage exclusive breastfeeding. They will establish the program in 10 hospitals/maternity units across Brazil and evaluate its effect on the numbers of preterm infants being exclusively breastfed.

A Randomized Clinical Trial With Oral Magnesium Supplementation in Pregnancy

Joao Guilherme Bezerra AlvesInstituto de Medicina Integral Professor Fernando FigueiraRecife, Pernambuco, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Joao Guilherme Bezerra Alves from the Instituto de Medicina Integral Professor Fernando Figueira in Brazil will perform a randomized controlled trial to assess whether a daily oral supplement of magnesium citrate can prevent placental vascular disease, which can lead to preterm birth. Placental vascular disease restricts the flow of nutrients to the fetus and can cause growth restriction and maternal hypertensive disorders. Magnesium is known to promote placental vascular flow, and magnesium citrate is safe, inexpensive and easily absorbed in the body. They will perform a clinical trial in two large hospitals in Brazil in which 3,000 pregnant women will be offered a daily magnesium supplement or a placebo control starting from up to 20 weeks of gestation and continuing until birth. The effect on various outcomes including placental function, preterm labor, and mother and child health will be evaluated.

Quarenta Semana: Innovative Intervention in the Prenatal Care for Reduction of Prematurity

Jose Maria de Andrade LopesInstituto Fernandes Figueira - FiocruzRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Jose Maria de Andrade Lopes of the Instituto Fernandes Figueira - Fiocruz in Brazil will conduct a randomized study to evaluate “Quarenta Semana,” which is a program designed to remove risk factors associated with preterm births in Rio de Janeiro. The preterm birth rate in Brazil is amongst the highest globally. Some known risk factors for preterm birth include limited access to healthcare services, maternal social and health factors such as diabetes, and the quality of prenatal care. They will train pregnant women to act as health advocates who encourage women to seek prenatal care in their first trimester. They will also establish social support groups to help reduce stress and offer support throughout pregnancy, and implement a checklist for providers and patients to increase the quality of prenatal care. The effect of these approaches on preterm birth rates will be evaluated.

Elaboration of a Lyophilized Human Milk Concentrate To Be Used To Feed Very Low Birth Weight Preterm Newborns

José Simon CameloUniversidade Federal de São PauloSão Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Jose Simon Camelo Junior from the Universidade Federal de São Paulo in Brazil will test a method for producing a lyophilized human milk concentrate for feeding very low birth weight newborns that can be implemented in developing countries. Very small premature babies of less than 1,500 grams require large quantities of proteins, calories, minerals, micronutrients and electrolytes to survive and thrive. However, breast milk alone is not concentrated enough. Supplements derived from cow’s milk have been used but appear to inhibit particularly the immunological quality of human breast milk, which helps block infection. Human milk additives have now also been tested and show promising results, but they are prohibitively expensive to produce in developing countries. They will use a simple method involving evaporation, centrifugation and lyophilization to produce a concentrated form of human milk that can be implemented in Brazilian milk banks. The milk product will be evaluated for stability and safety and for nutritional content to ensure it contains adequate concentrations of essential nutrients within manageable volumes to support very low weight newborns.

Improved Method of Screening for Preeclampsia

Renato Luis da Silveira XimenesUniversidade Federal de São PauloSão Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Renato Luis da Silveira Ximenes of Universidade Federal de São Paulo in Brazil will conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate whether a daily low dose of aspirin taken from early in pregnancy can prevent preeclampsia and thereby reduce the rate of preterm birth. Preterm birth is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality, and preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal death. The combination of several biomarkers such as serum levels of placental growth factor and biophysical measurements such as mean arterial pressure can now quite well identify women at higher risk of developing preeclampsia already at 11-14 weeks gestation, providing an early window of opportunity to treat them. And a recent meta-analysis suggested that the administration of low dose aspirin before 16 weeks could reduce the rate of preeclampsia by fifty percent. They hypothesize that the earlier treatment is started, the more effective it will be. They will screen pregnant Brazilian women at 11–14 weeks to identify those at risk of developing early preeclampsia and test whether low dose aspirin can prevent it.

Premature Births in São Paulo: A Spatial Approach

Silvia Regina Dias Medici SaldivaInstituto de SaúdeSão Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Silvia Regina Dias Medici Saldiva from the Instituto de Saúde in Brazil will determine whether and which physical, social and cultural aspects of urban environments can increase the incidence of preterm birth. Prematurity is a major cause of childhood mortality and disability, and levels are high in Brazil. Preterm birth is likely caused by combinations of factors that, particularly in urban locales, might include environmental factors such as the quality of housing, proximity to health facilities and pollution levels, which then interact with social and cultural factors. They will identify spatial clusters of premature births from 2012 in the city of São Paulo to define suitable regions for performing case-control studies. The studies will involve face-to-face interviews at selected households by trained interviewers to assess environmental and social factors such as income, education, health and sanitation. These data will be supplemented with available or modeled meterological and pollutant data, and data from tree rings, which can provide climate information as well as levels of toxins. They will then perform hierarchical modeling to identify environmental factors associated with preterm births.

ABC Transporters in Pregnancy and Preterm Labor

Tania Maria Ruffoni OrtigaUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Tania Maria Ruffoni Ortiga from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil will measure the levels of so-called ABC transporters throughout pregnancy, and during normal and preterm labor, and how they are influenced by infections such as malaria and influenza, to determine whether they might increase the risk of preterm labor. ABC transporters sit in the outer membranes of cells and actively transport drugs, toxins and immune signaling molecules out of them. In this way, they regulate the immune response, hormonal signaling and the activity of drugs such as antibiotics, which become particularly important during pregnancy and labor. They will collect human intrauterine tissue at different time points during pregnancy and during cesarean delivery from hospitals in Brazil and Canada, and investigate the distribution of ABC transporters and the association with infection. They will also use a mouse model of malaria to evaluate the effect on the levels and activity of the transporters.

Association Among Fetal Microbiota, Prematurity and Preterm Morbidities

Renato Soibelmann ProcianoyUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulPorto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Preterm Birth Burden
6 Dec 2013

Renato Soibelmann Procianoy from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil will analyze the association between bacterial populations in the vagina and gut of mothers in their third trimester and in the meconium of very preterm newborns, with risk of preterm delivery. It was previously assumed that microbes from the mother are first transferred to the fetus during delivery. However, it was recently shown that this could happen already in the uterus, triggering a possible immune response by the fetus that may lead to premature birth, which is a leading cause of infant morbidity and mortality. They will use 16S rRNA-based bacterial sequencing technology on around 600 samples to compare the types of bacteria present in preterm infants with that in healthy term infants in a neonatal unit in the Clinicas Hospital in Porto Alegre. They will also track the changes in bacterial composition in healthy and sick newborns during their hospital stay, to identify types of bacteria associated with specific diseases such as diarrhea. All samples will be stored in a repository for future case-controlled studies.

CassavaTech

Vaibhav TidkeInstitute of Chemical TechnologyMumbai, , India
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
1 Nov 2013

Vaibhav Tidke of the Institute of Chemical Technology in India will design and test a low-cost movable dryer called CassavaTech to easily and quickly dry large quantities of cassava, which is a major staple crop grown by women smallholder farmers. The majority of harvested cassava is dried to form flour and chips, but traditional hand drying methods take between five and fifteen days, which limits time for other activities. CassavaTech will reduce the drying time to only eight hours and will optimize the design and build a prototype to evaluate performance in the laboratory and using women farmers in the field.

Water Irrigation Pump Built from Automobile Components

Brian LillyErgo-Tech, IncorporatedItasca, Illinois, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
1 Nov 2013

Brian Lilly of Ergo-Tech Inc. in the U.S. will design and build a water irrigation pump from inexpensive and widely available automobile parts to decrease labor and increase production of women smallholder farmers in Africa. Irrigation is one of the most time-consuming and labor-intensive activities of women farmers. Making an irrigation system from automobile parts is useful because the parts are well tested and mass-produced in Africa, and expertise on their repair and maintenance is readily available. Lilly will build an irrigation system from automobile parts using different designs for the pump and battery charger components, and test the interchangeability of different parts. Once the design is finalized, he will build 10 machines and test them in Africa to evaluate performance.

Anemia and Women Smallholder Farmers

Carmine BozziAkeso, LLCSeattle, Washington, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
25 Oct 2013

Carmine Bozzi of Akeso Associates in the U.S., along with Maurice Masoda of Heal Africa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, will test the effect of treating hookworm infections in women smallholder farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo on disease prevalence, iron status, and capacity for labor over a 12-month period. Hookworm infections are endemic in many regions, and infection rates can reach 50% of the population. Hookworms reside in the intestinal wall where they mediate blood loss causing iron deficiency and anemia, which is exacerbated in women due to menstrual blood loss and iron demands during pregnancy. This anemia in turn leads to reduced aerobic work capacity, therefore successful treatment of these infections could result in significant gains in labor productivity.

The Economic Burden of Human and Animals Diseases

Matthew BondsHarvard UniversityCambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Human and Animal Health
25 Oct 2013

Matthew Bonds of Harvard University in the U.S. will quantify the economic burden of disease using a combined metric to incorporate disease impact on both human and animal health. Current measures of economic burden consider humans and animals independently, yet they are both influenced by disease and by the health of each other. They will develop an integrated model combining epidemiology and economic growth to uncover links between disease impact and income in both human and livestock systems. Their model will be tested in the field using target human and wildlife populations in Madagascar to quantify the overall economic burden of disease.

Detection, Vaccination and Control of Brucellosis

John McGivenAnimal Health and Veterinary Laboratories AgencyAddlestone, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Human and Animal Health
24 Oct 2013

John McGiven of the Animal Health Veterinary Laboratories Agency in the United Kingdom, along with David Bundle of the University of Alberta in Canada, will evaluate a glycoconjugate vaccine for brucellosis that is safe, stable, inexpensive, and efficacious. Complementary diagnostics will allow for the differentiation of vaccinated and infected subjects and assist in the control of this insidious zoonotic disease. They will test both the vaccine and the diagnostic in a standardized mouse model.

Engineering a Biologically Inspired Condom

Patrick KiserNorthwestern UniversityEvanston, Illinois, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Condom
24 Oct 2013

Patrick Kiser of Northwestern University in the U.S. proposes to synthesize new polymeric materials that mimic the properties of mucosal tissue and to use these materials in the development and manufacture of condoms. These technologies could improve sensation and the condoms would be readily manufacturable for deployment across the globe.

Non-Invasive Detection of Viable Adult Filarial Infections Using The "Capaci-Dance Patch"

Judy SakanariUniversity of California San FranciscoSan Francisco, California, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
24 Oct 2013

Judy Sakanari of the University of California, San Francisco, and Manu Prakash from Stanford University in the U.S. will develop a cheap electromagnetic detection device to non-invasively assess the viability of parasitic nematode worms in infected patients to guide treatment duration. Current methods of detecting viable worms in nodules or the lymphatic system are invasive or expensive. Using animal infection models, they will develop an easy-to-use electronic bandage enabling ultrasensitive detection of capacitance changes caused by movement or physical changes in the adult worms following drug treatment. This could greatly improve the ability to perform in vivo drug studies in animals by being able to non-invasively monitor worm viability over the course of drug treatment and dosing. The bandages will ultimately be tested on humans and could be designed to transfer data remotely for real-time monitoring of the effects of drug treatments in the field.

Pages

  • Currently on page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Page 7
  • Page 8
  • Page 9
  • Next page
  • Last page
Sort by:
Date Awarded
Title (A-Z)
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.