Chibuzo Opara of DrugStoc E Hub Ltd. in Nigeria will equip vaccine storage and transport sites with calibrated weighing mats (Digimats) that automatically transmit vaccine quantities in real time to better monitor delivery chains in the community and improve supply. Monitoring the movement of vaccines at the national and district level is currently performed by the Nigerian immunization program. However, accurate monitoring at the local level requires alternative, more automated approaches to avoid human error. They will calibrate their Digimats to recognize the weight of specific vaccines, and identify 20 sites across three states, including storage warehouses and trucks, where they will be positioned to automatically transmit data over a period of six months. These data will be collected by mobile tablets and interfaced with the national vaccine delivery dashboard to provide real-time stock counts and resupply alerts.

Babak Javid of the Harvard School of Public Health in the U.S. will explore the hypothesis that latent bacteria are metabolically active during latency. The physiology of the tuberculosis bacteria during latency is not well understood. The team will use novel genetic probes to determine whether transcription and translation occur in the population of cells that are responsible for re-activation of TB from models of latency.

Victor Nussenzweig of the New York University School of Medicine in the U.S. seeks to develop a small molecule drugs to inhibit key kinase enzymes in the malaria parasite that are thought to control latency in parasite infections. Such fundamental knowledge may enable new tools to clear the latent forms of P. vivax parasites or block transmission of the disease by targeting sporozoites.

Timothy Geary at McGill University in Canada proposed screening chemicals derived from the biological diversity found in Africa to identify lead compounds for the development of drugs to treat infections caused by parasitic nematode worms. In this project’s Phase I research, Dr. Geary established drug discovery centers at the Universities of Botswana and Cape Town, South Africa to screen for compounds that target a nematode family of peptidergic G Protein-coupled receptors. In Phase II, the team is expanding the screening efforts.

Philana Ling Lin of the University of Pittsburgh in the U.S. will use imaging technologies such as PET and CT scans to study the biological mechanisms related to the reactivation of latent tuberculosis to better understand the fundamental characteristics of reactivation, as well as provide insight about new ways to induce or limit reactivation of latent tuberculosis. This project's Phase I research demonstrated that a variety of tuberculosis lesions types (with both high and low metabolic activity) are seen during latent infection and lesions with higher levels of metabolic activity were more likely to reactivate under immune suppression. In Phase II, Lin will study how these lesions evolve during early infection to determine what factors may be responsible for the development of active disease and latent infection.

Muthupandian Ashokkumar at the University of Melbourne in Australia, along with Francesca Cavalieri, Meifang Zhou, and Srinvas Mettu, will produce edible microballoons made from protein that contain essential nutrients for adding to common foods to combat malnutrition in mothers and infants. Encapsulating the nutrients, rather than adding them directly to food, helps keep them stable and promotes their absorption in the body. It can also mask unpleasant tastes, and control the timing and location of nutrient release, which can increase their performance. They have developed a method that uses ultrasound waves to encapsulate oil- and water-soluble vitamins and minerals within edible shells made from a range of proteins including milk and pea proteins. They will analyze the stability and strength of microballoons made from different materials that contain the recommended daily doses of nutrients for mothers and infants. They will also develop methods to encapsulate water, which could be used to reduce the fat content of fat-rich products.

Nur Alam of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh will test whether adding L-isoleucine and Vitamin D to food served to hospitalized children will induce secretion of antimicrobial peptides that can aid recovery from acute diarrhea and pneumonia.

Ali Turab of IRD Global Ltd. in Singapore will develop a decision support tool that can be integrated with digital immunization registries to automatically construct optimal appointment schedules for every child that can adjust for missed immunizations and the introduction of new vaccines. A large majority of children, in both developing and developed countries, are not immunized at the recommended times, which can increase the risk of severe diseases. When a vaccination is missed, it is left to the health care professional to work out the best alternative schedule, which is often inaccurate. To help with this, they will design software that incorporates a child's vaccination history and age to automatically construct a new immunization schedule after every appointment, and that can also identify opportunities to vaccinate children even when they are at a clinic for other reasons. The software will integrate with existing health systems in several developing countries. They will conduct a mixed methods study at the Indus Hospital Korangi Campus in Pakistan to validate their approach for generating optimal schedules and assess usability by health workers.

Ralph Albrecht of the University of Wisconsin in the U.S. seeks to develop magnetite nanoparticles conjugated to antibodies that will selectively bind to HIV-infected cells. Once bound to the infected cells, the magnetite is heated using an externally applied magnetic field; melting holes in the membrane of the infected cell and killing it.

Martin Blaser of the New York University School of Medicine in the U.S. proposes to engineer a harmless modification of H. pylori, a bacteria commonly found in the human stomach, to deliver antigens to protect against intestinal pathogens such as cholera and campylobacter. This modified H. pylori can only survive in the presence of an enzyme supplied in special drinking water, allowing those administering the vaccine to regulate its colonization.

Marilyn Fernandez of Altor Bioscience Corporation in the U.S. will engineer single chain T cell receptors (TCR) to deliver immunotherapies to HIV-infected cells. These TCRs will be engineered to recognize known viral variants to linked to the emergence of drug-resistant HIV mutations.

The project proposes to use an aerobic granular sludge (AGS) - a technology based on microbial community - to remove antibiotics and antimicrobial resistant genes from hospital wastewater. AGS is one of the latest innovations and it has not yet been applied for the treatment of hospital wastewater.

Lucy Kathuri-Ogola of Kenyatta University in Kenya will train young people to be outreach youth champions to support local smallholder farming households with low food security in Kenya by teaching them new agricultural practices and building financial and social support networks. They will develop a mobile phone application and training platform and test their approach in selected rural and urban areas in Kenya where many smallholder farming families rely heavily on food relief. Sixteen young people who are leaving university will be recruited as outreach youth champions and intensively trained over three weeks on best agricultural practices, and financial and support services such as farmer saving groups. The trained youths will then each go back into their own communities and work with ten households to improve overall social and economic status. They will use surveys to evaluate the effect of their approach on food security.

Irina Caminschi of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia will test whether a prototype malaria vaccine which targets a newly identified dendritic cell molecule will produce a strong antibody response without the use of adjuvants.

Johnny He of Indiana University proposes to engineer biodegradable nanoparticles that target active and latent HIV-infected cells by binding to the carbohydrate portion of the protein gp120, which the virus uses to seek out host cells. The “sticky” nanoparticles would then bind HIV, either in the blood, or within cells, killing the virus.

Evaluation of an Infusion Monitoring Device as a cost-effective way to increase safe access to oxytocin and magesium sulfate

Edward Dolk of Utrecht University in the Netherlands proposes using two-sided antibodies, which bind to HIV and to transport receptors in the epithelium. Binding these receptors will cause excretion of the HIV particles outside of the body, thereby reducing viral load.

Because human carriage of pneumococcus usually results in improved immunity to future infections without any development of disease, Stephen Gordon of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom will use an intranasal inoculation with a safe strain of the bacteria to study the mechanisms of mucosal immunity in the lungs and to explore the potential for a vaccine based on his findings. In this project's Phase I research, Gordon successfully demonstrated that human carriage of pneumococcus provides improved immunity to future infections, and that nasal inoculation immunizes the lungs against the pathogen. In Phase II, Gordon will work to assess the reproducibility of his model to ensure its robustness as a candidate for a pneumococcal vaccine.

Peter Lubega Yiga of AdhocWorks Foundation in South Africa will test the efficacy of small household containers in which a non-toxic formulation is mixed with water, releasing carbon dioxide and alcohol vapors as a way to repel mosquitos. The investigators will test the device in independent field trials to optimize its usefulness as an alternative to insecticides.

Lorraine Weatherspoon of Michigan State University in the U.S. will develop a blended instant bean sauce in an edible pouch that provides a culturally-acceptable iron and folic acid supplement for low-income pregnant women in Uganda. Iron and folic acid are particularly important during pregnancy as they reduce the risk of low birth weight and neural tube defects amongst many other morbidities and mortalities also for the mothers. Supplements provided as tablets are available, but have not been widely accepted. They are developing a more appealing iron and folic acid supplement by combining it with a commonly used product: a bean and silver fish sauce that can be made with local ingredients. They are using dried namulonge beans as they have high yields and a desirable taste, mixed with roasted, milled silver fish and micronutrients, packaged in an edible film to protect the food during storage and transport. The food is cooked in hot water and eaten with traditional foods such as cooking banana or rice. They will assess the nutritional composite of the product and acceptability by the target group. Their product will then be tested in a randomized controlled trial with teenage women at different stages of pregnancy at an antenatal clinic in Kampala to determine its effect on nutrition during pregnancy and the overall health of the mother and child at birth.

FREO2 Solar: Battery-free solar-powered oxygen system for small health facilities

Manipulation of skin cells can now create pluripotent cells which can proliferate and differentiate into many human cell types. This new technology will be employed by Jeanne Loring of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research to generate pluripotent cell lines for ethnically diverse populations to be used a genetically appropriate model to develop more specific and appropriate therapies against infectious disease.

Because HIV infection activates naturally-dormant endogenous retroviruses (ERV) in human cells, Jonah Sacha will target T cells against these ERV antigens. Such targeting to eliminate HIV infected cells could be the basis for new host-directed vaccines. In this project’s Phase I research, Sacha and collaborators demonstrated that ERV-specific antibodies are specifically triggered by infection with an exogenous retrovirus like SIV or HIV. In Phase II, Sacha, now at the Oregon Health & Science University in the U.S., will investigate whether ERV-specific antibodies can block transmission of AIDS viruses in animal models, leading to their potential use as a therapeutic and prophylactic vaccine.

Using genome scans, Alfred Roca of the University of Illinois will test the possibility that isolated African populations have been repeatedly exposed to chimpanzee immunodeficiency viruses, and have evolved resistance to HIV. Ascertaining whether they display resistance to HIV could lead to new ways to fight HIV in other populations.

Christina Smolke proposes to develop synthetic RNA devices that can process and transmit molecular input signals in hopes that this technology will result in more effective, targeted strategies for detecting and protecting against infectious disease.

Thomas Baker, Matt Thomas and Andrew Read of Pennsylvania State University in the U.S. will infect malaria mosquitoes with an insect-specific fungus to determine if the infected mosquitoes' sense of smell is suppressed and their ability to find human hosts and transmit malaria is reduced.

Matyas Sandor of the University of Wisconsin will graft granulomas, nodules that form as a result of long-term inflammation, to study the role they play in TB latency and reactivation.

Lyndon Paul of Vissot Co Ltd in Cambodia will reduce production costs for their nutritional wafer biscuits, which are made from a micronutrient-fortified fish powder, to help treat severe acute malnutrition in children and prevent malnutrition in young children and pregnant women in Cambodia. Acute and chronic malnutrition are a major public health concern in Cambodia. They previously developed a fortified fish powder and showed that it could replace milk in food for infants and was effective at reducing malnutrition. However, unstable supply and variable quality of the inland fish used to make the wafers have led to fluctuating prices. To address this, they will set up an optimized supply chain to reduce production costs by 60%. They will train workers in five communities where the fish are caught to sort, clean and pack the fish for transport to their factory in Phnom Penh. There, the fish will be processed into fish meal with acceptable taste and texture. They will evaluate the supply chain by collecting data from the fishers to the final product and evaluate quality and food safety.

Scott Phillips, of Pennsylvania State University in the U.S. proposes to develop a polymer reagent to be deposited at the bottom of a small paper cup used to collect a sputum sample, where it will detect proteins secreted by tuberculosis and turn indicate TB-positive samples by changing color.

Christopher Pilcher of the University of California, San Francisco in the U.S. will test the theory that HIV proteins, nucleic acids and antibodies to HIV can be detected in shafts of hair. This possible approach may provide a low-cost tool to determine the timing of HIV infection, which is essential to establish incidence rates in populations.

Keith Jerome of the University of Washington in the U.S. will utilize a class of proteins called homing endonucleases, which have the ability to cut DNA sequences, to target the DNA sequences unique to HIV, thus disabling the virus from making any more copies of itself. This project's Phase I research demonstrated that homing endonucleases can find a model virus hidden in the genes of infected cells. In Phase II, Jerome's team is now modifying these proteins in hopes of producing several that can specifically target and destroy HIV within infected cells.

Seeks to understand the impacts of the Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer on birth outcomes (e.g., birth weight, gestational weeks, etc). The proposed design will disentangle the measured effects into two components: one that is associated to the cash transfer; and another related to prenatal care assistance. Moreover, this strategy will allow the researchers to determine the window of opportunity where CCT interventions exhibit highest impacts on birth outcomes, recognizing heterogeneous impacts according to how early in the pregnancy the CCT intervention starts.

Lynda Morrison of St. Louis University in the U.S. will develop a vaccine vector based on a prototype vaccine for herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) that encodes multiple CD8 T cell epitopes from HIV proteins, and test its ability to stimulate a robust CD8 T cell response against HIV.

BK virus is a very common and non-pathogenic virus that persists in specific organs for long periods of time. Simon Lacey of Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in the U.S. proposes using an engineered BK virus as a vaccine vector to introduce HIV polyepitope sequences in hopes of inducing a strong and long- lasting immune response against HIV.

Moriya Tsuji of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in the U.S. will test whether the human malaria parasite can infect mice engineered with humanized livers and red blood cells by producing human erythropoietin. The goal of this project is part of a larger effort to create a mouse model capable of supporting the full malaria life cycle for use in preclinical testing of new anti-malarial therapies and vaccines.

Gloraia Pena of Cooperativa Multiactiva De Madres Del Valle Coomac in Colombia will implement a hybrid value chain business model to leverage collective purchasing power in a community of low-income families in Colombia to reduce the price of nutritious local foods. Current food prices are relatively high for low-income families because they buy in small volumes. They will combine collective purchasing power with a hybrid value chain model, which incorporates the needs and roles of the public and private sectors, to increase access to nutritional foods. They will collect social and economic data from an existing group of 9,000 families in a poor neighbourhood in Colombia to understand how their approach should be implemented. This will include the numbers of participants needed to reduce the cost sufficiently to encourage people to buy the healthier foods and ultimately produce a positive long-term impact.

Pattamaporn Kittayapong of Mahidol University in Thailand will study how Wolbachia, a symbiotic bacteria which infects many species of insects, may to limit dengue virus infection in mosquitoes.

With evidence that RNA interference is a component of virus infection resistance, Andrew Fire of Stanford University will seek to understand how RNAi can function as a natural antiviral mechanism, and how such analysis can enable the design of antiviral interventions.

Matthias Marti of the Harvard School of Public Health in the U.S. will utilize a newly developed transgenic malaria parasite that expresses GFP indicating when the parasites are ready to be transmitted to mosquitoes. He will use this technology to screen for compounds that can prevent the development of these gametocytes.

Douglas Nixon of the University of California at San Francisco will test his hypothesis that APOBEC proteins, which have been found to restrict replication of HIV, can be used to as an immunogen to stimulate a T cell response which would act against HIV infected cells.

Michael Nunan of Beyond Essential Systems in Australia will build on their existing data platform to collect and analyze vaccine data in real-time to provide an early warning of areas or facilities with low immunization coverage. The platform integrates data from various sources, including vaccine supply and healthcare infrastructure such as equipment and staff. They will further develop it to record actual vaccine administrations from health workers entering details on mobile phones, and to produce local estimates of vaccine demand and actual coverage and provide alerts. They will also integrate real-time monitoring of the cold supply chain using sensors. Their system will be evaluated in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu by comparing it with current methods for estimating vaccine demand and coverage.

Michel Gilbert of the National Research Council Canada will use the single-celled microorganism T. acidophilum to produce HIV proteins with unique sugar residues found only in archaebacteria such as T. acidophilum. By modifying these glycan structures to ones not recognized by humans, Gilbert hopes to elicit a stronger immune response against the virus.

Anne Marie Chomat of McGill University in Canada will design an intervention to overcome the mental health problems faced by young mothers in Guatemala by engaging them, along with their partners and fathers, elders, and adolescents in their communities, in order to address the complex factors affecting maternal health. Women in Maya indigenous areas of Guatemala, which has recently faced a civil war, experience particularly high rates of poverty, gender inequality, adolescent births, and mental health disorders. This in turn harms their children, with over 50% suffering from severe developmental delays. They recognize that community members are best placed to find solutions to their own problems and can better promote community-level change. So, they will engage community members from multiple generations and positions, including traditional healers and spiritual leaders, to co-develop an intervention. Their project will take place in four communities in two rural regions of Guatemala, and the community groups will work together to define the problems and contribute to designing and implementing the intervention.

Claudia Pastori of Fondazione S. Raffaele del Monte Tabor in Italy seeks to induce mucosal immunity against HIV by using a bacterial adhesive protein to target antigens to specific cells. The goal of this approach is to present conserved epitopes of HIV in their natural form to elicit the production of protective antibodies in the tissues where these antibodies will be effective.

Tycho Speaker of Transderm Inc. in the United States, along with Juvaris Biotherapeutics, will test the efficacy of a dry microneedle skin patch loaded with malaria antigens and a novel adjuvant for its ability to stimulate a robust immune response. If successful, this painless, low-cost, no-refrigeration vaccine delivery system could increase vaccine access to at-risk populations.

Studies show that seasonal influenza in Ceará, in the Northeast region of Brazil, occurs 2 to 3 months earlier than in the South and Southeast, which guides the national calendar of vaccination. By using data science approaches, the study will test if Brazil's current national policy targeting vaccination only during the months of April and May inadequately protects against the harmful maternal-fetal effects of influenza in the Semi-Arid and northern regions of Brazil. If the hypothesis confirms, the study has the potential to change policy and modify the vaccination calendar.

The neurotransmitter octopamine is unique to the invertebrate nervous system and plays a crucial role in invertebrate behavior and fertility. Mark Alkema of the University of Massachusetts in the U.S. will attempt to design drugs to disrupt the biosynthesis of octopamine as a new strategy to interfere with the lifecycle of invertebrate parasites.

Chris de Villiers of Sinapi Biomedical in South Africa will produce an improved sample container that ensures sputum samples are of sufficient quantity and quality to diagnose tuberculosis (TB). South Africa has one of the highest burdens of TB, and has implemented a rapid testing program that diagnoses the disease from sputum. However, over 8% (around 218,000) of sputum samples cannot be tested, largely due to insufficient volumes or leaky sample containers. This causes additional costs and leaves many sufferers undiagnosed. In collaboration with clinical, academic, and commercial partners in South Africa and the U.S, they used an iterative design process to develop a new container. They will finalize this design by testing different versions in the laboratory and clinic, and producing two prototypes along with an instruction manual and other training materials. In collaboration with their clinical partner, they will also produce a protocol ready for a large-scale clinical trial that will evaluate the reliability of sputum collection with their new container and collect user feedback.

Allya Paramita Koesoema of the eHealth and Telemedicine Society in Indonesia will develop a pro-vaccination campaign to counteract the widespread negative views of vaccinations in Indonesia by engaging religious leaders and health workers in local communities to directly address misconceptions. Anti-vaccination narratives, many based on religious misconceptions, have spread through the country, largely via social media, leading to a decrease in child vaccination coverage. Health workers often do not have the knowledge to explain away these misconceptions to mothers when they refuse to have their children vaccinated. To address this, they will engage stakeholders to identify the anti-vaccination messages and build a database of effective reasoning to directly challenge those messages that can be accessed by health workers and other respected, senior community members. They will perform a randomized controlled trial in different districts in Indonesia, and supplement the pro-vaccination messengers with vaccination reminders and schedules sent directly to mothers via mobile phone. They will test the usability of their approach and its effect on the willingness of the mothers to vaccinate.