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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Readerless Point of Care Diagnostics for Viral Load

Roozbeh GhaffariDiagnostics For AllCambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Diagnostics
7 Apr 2010

Roozbeh Ghaffari, Patrick Beattie, Jason Rolland, and Jeff Carbeck of Diagnostics For All & MC10 Inc. in the U.S. sought to develop disposable paper-based diagnostics devices embedded with optoelectronics, allowing quantitative colorimetric analysis for HIV viral load monitoring. This platform addresses practical limitations of current image capture methodologies and eliminates the need for external readers. In Phase I, they built a point-of-care detection device by incorporating ultrathin, flexible electronics onto a paper substrate, and tested its ability to quantify viral load by measuring levels of HIV p24 antigen. Having improved the sensitivity of their colorimetric assay, in Phase II Christina Swanson and her team will develop and test a new class of multiplexed, paper-microfluidic devices called electronics-enabled-Point of Care (E-POC) that can quantitate micronutrient markers from whole blood and transmit the data wirelessly to existing mobile phones equipped with near-field communication.

Defeating Insect-Borne Diseases Using Atomic-Level Structure

Filippo ManciaColumbia UniversityNew York, New York, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Infectious Diseases
5 Apr 2010

Filippo Mancia of Columbia University in the U.S. will perform crystallization experiments on a key olfactory receptor used by mosquitoes to detect humans. The aim of these studies is to determine at an atomic level the conserved regions on the olfactory receptor in order to develop drug therapies to block these receptors. This project's Phase I research generated diffraction quality crystals of this targeted mosquito olfactory receptor, and in Phase II, the team will optimize the crystal to determine the structure of the receptor and how it binds to small molecule anti-malarial compounds. Visualizing this interaction in atomic detail will aid in the optimization of these compounds as highly effective insect repellents.

Safe, Cost-effective, and Functional Strategy for Immune Intervention

Sunil JoshiUniversity of Oklahoma Health Sciences CenterOklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Infectious Diseases
2 Apr 2010

Sunil Joshi of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in the U.S. will study the efficacy of delivering a non-invasive low-voltage electric wave pulse in the vicinity of lymphoid tissues to stimulate the activation and maturation of dendritic cells. If successful, this would be a method of boost long-term immunity.

Detecting Pathogenic Microbes by a "Microbial Litmus Strip"

Liaohai ChenRush University Medical CenterChicago, Illinois, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Diagnostics
1 Apr 2010

Liaohai Chen of Rush University Medical Center in the U.S. will develop nanoparticles which react to the presence of pathogenic microbes by releasing encapsulated substances that quickly amplify the binding signals. These nanoparticles can be placed on the tip of a litmus strip as a colorimetric assay to indicate the presence and concentration of pathogens.

Compact Disc Diagnostics for Early Disease Detection

Robert DunnUniversity of Kansas Center for ResearchLawrence, Kansas, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Diagnostics
1 Apr 2010

Robert Dunn and colleagues at the University of Kansas in the U.S. will develop a diagnostic tool for the early detection of disease that employs writable compact discs that can be read in conventional computer disc drives. Microfluidic structures and immobilized antibodies will be fabricated onto small sections of a compact disc, along with enzymes that produce a reflective “silvering” surface upon recognition of target biomarkers. These changes in reflection can be read by any conventional CD drive, allowing for diagnosis using laptops in low resource settings.

Complement-Based Antibiotic Microbeads

Todd SulcheckGeorgia Tech Research CorporationAtlanta, Georgia, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Infectious Diseases
31 Mar 2010

Todd Sulchek of Georgia Tech and David White of the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. will develop and test the ability of a bi-functional microbead to stimulate the innate immune response. On one hemisphere, the microbead will display targeting antibodies that will bind to pathogens, and on the other hemisphere the microbead will feature Fc fragments that activate the complement system and recruit immune cells to destroy the captured pathogen.

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