Marcela Pasetti of the University of Maryland in the U.S. will generate an in vitro model of the gut using intestinal stem cells and immune cells to better mimic the damaged and inflamed guts of young children in developing countries for testing new treatments. Current so-called human enteroid models lack additional relevant cell types found in the intestine, particularly immune cells, which are known to play an important role in gut health and function. They will expose their new miniature pediatric gut model to enteric pathogens and test the ability of human breast milk and bovine hyperimmune colostrum to repair the subsequent damage.

Agenor Mafra-Neto of ISCA Technologies, Inc. in the U.S. will test whether an artificial lactic acid treatment (called abate) can trick disease-transmitting insects such as mosquitoes into infecting animals rather than their preferred human hosts, thereby reducing infection rates. Malaria-causing parasites are carried by mosquitoes, which identify the human hosts that help them reproduce by detecting the high levels of lactic acid in human perspiration. Cattle are resistant to malaria and many other human diseases transmitted by insects, and are often treated with deworming medication, which has a toxic effect on mosquitoes and their parasites. They will develop a stable formula of abate and test its effect on altering host choice of several disease-transmitting insects to determine which is most effective.

Mary-Lynne Lasco of INMED Partnerships for Children in the U.S. will evaluate whether on-site sustainable food production and associated education in schools improves child health when combined with semi-annual deworming treatments and a new school feeding program in Peru. Many Peruvian children are malnourished, and soil-transmitted helminth infections are endemic and a significant cause of mortality. They will study two primary schools in Peru's Ucayali region, one of which will receive an aquaponic system, comprising fish farming and growing plants without soil, to produce healthy food and to educate children, teachers and parents on the value of eating healthily. They will analyze the effect of aquaponics and integrated education on nutrition and helminth infection rates at the schools, as well as on the attitudes of parents and the community.

Yan Zhu of the University of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in China will build a system based on electroencephalography to monitor the activity of the fetal brain in utero. Due to technical and practical limitations, current methods for measuring brain activity are limited to newborns. However, analyzing development of the fetal brain would reveal new insight into very early stages of neurodevelopment, and could lead to improved treatments for certain disorders. They will adapt electroencephalography, which measures electrical activity in the brain, to detect the weaker signals of the fetal brain via multiple electrodes on the mother's abdomen, and build analysis software that can differentiate these signals from background noise. Once the prototype has been built, they will test it on humans to further refine the design.