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. 2009
  4. 2013
  5. 2019
  6. 2012

Print link

Print

Awarded Grants

Filter by Initiative

  • Grand Challenges Explorations Apply Grand Challenges Explorations filter (591)
  • Grand Challenges Apply Grand Challenges filter (48)
  • Grand Challenges for Development Apply Grand Challenges for Development filter (38)
  • Grand Challenges Brazil Apply Grand Challenges Brazil filter (12)
  • Grand Challenges Africa Apply Grand Challenges Africa filter (8)
  • Grand Challenges India Apply Grand Challenges India filter (6)
  • Grand Challenges Canada Apply Grand Challenges Canada filter (3)

Filter by Challenge

Filter by Awarded Year

  • (-) Remove 2019 filter 2019 (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)
  • (-) Remove 2012 filter 2012 (244)
  • 2011 Apply 2011 filter (258)
  • 2010 Apply 2010 filter (142)
  • (-) Remove 2009 filter 2009 (157)
  • 2008 Apply 2008 filter (105)
  • 2006 Apply 2006 filter (1)
  • 2005 Apply 2005 filter (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 (Z-A)
10
25
50
100

"Bulletin Board" For Broadcasting Vaccine Supply/Demand

Arun RamanujapuramLogistimoBangalore, , India
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Systems
5 Apr 2012

Arun Ramanujapuram of Logistimo, Inc. in India proposes to develop a mobile-phone based "bulletin-board" for capturing and broadcasting availability and demand information for vaccines and medicines. By bringing real-time visibility to these essential goods, stock can be appropriately redistributed to areas of need, and waste can be reduced.

"Coffee Ring Stain" Diagnostics for Malaria

David WrightVanderbilt UniversityNashville, Tennessee, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Diagnostics
1 Nov 2009

David Wright of Vanderbilt University in the U.S. will develop a new low-cost diagnostic tool in which a droplet of malaria-infected blood deposited on a glass slide will, based on fluid dynamics, leave a ring-like pattern as the blood evaporates. The slide will be prepared with a solution that will interact with a particular protein of the malaria parasite to visualize this "coffee ring stain," allowing for easy interpretation and ready diagnosis.

0.70%

Jack McPartlandFuture Buro Pty LtdSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Communicating About Aid
3 Oct 2012

Jack McPartland of Future Buro in Australia will work to turn the figure "0.7%" – which is the United Nations target for aid donations from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of developed countries – into a brand that can be communicated to tell the story about the proportionally small amount of financial resources needed to make an impact in the developing world. After branding is created, Future Buro will work to secure partnerships to facilitate donations of 0.7% of incomes, budgets, and media space to expand the reach of targeted communications about the positive impact of foreign aid.

4°C Simple Passive Vaccine Storage Device

Keith BartlettTrue EnergyTywyn Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Systems
8 Oct 2012

Keith Bartlett of True Energy in the United Kingdom will work with stakeholders in the immunization community to create a prototype vaccine storage device that uses the properties of water density to maintain vaccines at 4°C during the "last mile" of the cold chain. A water container that maintains the liquid at a steady temperature of 4°C will be in contact with the vaccine storage area, preventing temperature fluctuations that can damage or destroy vaccines.

S. Typhi and Protozoa in Contaminated Water in Zimbabwe

Robert KingsleyQuadram Institute BioscienceNorwich, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Salmonella Typhi
1 Nov 2019

Robert Kingsley of the Quadram Institute Bioscience in the United Kingdom will locate the typhoid fever-causing bacteria S. Typhi in water reservoirs in Harare, Zimbabwe, and identify any associated protozoa species present in the water that may be supporting disease spread. Typhoid fever is endemic in Zimbabwe, with several major outbreaks reported in the last decade. The bacteria persist in unclean aquatic environments, possibly supported by protozoa, and are transmitted to humans through ingestion of contaminated drinking water. They will detect S. Typhi in sewage effluent and low-quality drinking water in hotspots of typhoid transmission by enrichment culture and PCR, and use whole genome sequencing to establish the phylogenetic relationship between these bacteria and clinical typhoid isolates in the same city. They will also amplify 18S rDNA from the sewage and drinking water samples to characterize the microbial community in water and define the protozoa population. These data will help identify potential synergistic interactions between S. Typhi and other microbes to inform prevention strategies.

S. Typhi in Water and Role of Microbial Partners

France DaigleUniversité de MontréalMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Grand Challenges Explorations
Salmonella Typhi
1 Nov 2019

France Daigle of the University of Montreal in Canada will identify the microorganisms that enable the survival of the typhoid fever-causing bacterium, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, at low levels in water, and thereby enhances disease spread. Typhoid fever spreads through contaminated food and water, and results in over 125,000 deaths annually worldwide. S. Typhi are so-called auxotrophic bacteria because they rely on an external source of the essential amino acids that they need to grow. Microbial interactions may provide nutrients and also increase bacterial fitness and support persistence by protecting them from the environment, thereby increasing the rate of disease transmission. They will assemble a microbial community in water consisting of three components: one protozoan (from a group known to promote bacterial survival); a defined consortium of bacteria representative of the human fecal microbiota; and fluorescently-tagged S. Typhi. They will evaluate the ability of S. Typhi to grow in these microcosms, and how they grow, such as in biofilms or inside the protozoa. They will also determine whether these persistent S. Typhi are better able to infect and survive in human cells. Finally, water samples from an endemic region in East Africa will be analyzed for the presence of S. Typhi and identified beneficial microbial partners using quantitative PCR.

S. Typhi Mechanisms of Temperature- and Microbiota-Dependent Environmental Persistence

Denise MonackStanford UniversityStanford, California, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Salmonella Typhi
1 Nov 2019

Denise Monack of Stanford University in the U.S. will use a genetic approach to identify the molecular mechanisms that enable the typhoid fever-causing bacterium S. Typhi to survive in aquatic environments and to rapidly adapt to transmission to humans. Annually, S. Typhi causes over 20 million infections and 200,000 deaths, mostly among populations that lack access to clean drinking water. Understanding how S. Typhi persists in water and then quickly adapts to its human host is critical for controlling transmission. Bacteria use various mechanisms to adapt to environmental changes, including so-called RNA thermometers (RNATs), which form secondary structures in mRNAs that can rapidly activate gene expression when temperatures change. They will use their established genetic screening approach to identify new RNATs in S. Typhi and validate their ability to promote bacterial persistence within aquatic microbial communities by generating mutants. They will also follow up on past work in which a bioinformatics approach identified new RNATs that may regulate the expression of the chitinase enzyme, which is used by the cholera-causing bacterium to bind to plankton and create a protective environmental niche. They will evaluate whether chitin is also important for S. Typhi persistence and transmission.

S. Typhi Survival and Gene Acquisition in Biofilm Communities

Windy TannerUniversity of UtahSalt Lake City, Utah, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Salmonella Typhi
1 Nov 2019

Windy Tanner and Jim VanDerslice of the University of Utah in the U.S., together with colleagues from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology in Pakistan, will analyze water samples to determine the conditions that promote the survival of the typhoid fever causing bacterium Salmonella Typhi, and they will use metagenomic deconvolution to identify any gene exchange from other microbial species that may produce drug-resistant strains. S. Typhi is responsible for over 100,000 deaths each year, mostly in the developing world where fecal contamination of food and drinking water is common. The emergence of drug-resistant strains has limited the available treatment options. Biofilms are environmental niches with complex microbial communities and are ubiquitous in the environments where S. Typhi is commonly found. They will sample water and biofilms from a variety of these environments along the fecal-drinking water transmission route in the Sindh province of Pakistan and test for the presence of S. Typhi using qPCR and culture methods. They will also evaluate whether specific organisms stabilize and protect S. Typhi in these biofilms and could cause resistance gene exchange.

A Biotic Stress Sensor Printed on Maize Leaves

Hideaki TsutsuiUniversity of California, RiversideRiverside, California, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Protecting Crop Plants
1 May 2012

Hideaki Tsutsui of the University of California, Riverside in the U.S. will develop a low-cost stamp to directly print biosensors on maize leaves for colorimetric detection of biotic stresses. The strategy is to develop an immunochromatographic assay using microneedle probes while printing an easily-read color-change detector.

A Buddy Program for Immunisation System Managers

Ben GilbertUniversity of CanberraCanberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Systems
24 Oct 2012

Ben Gilbert and Andrew Brown of the University of Canberra in Australia will develop a regional support network for medical supply managers in Pacific Island countries that can help them to better apply the formal training they received to manage vaccine supply systems. By engaging them in a buddy support system, Gilbert and Brown hope to empower these managers to overcome cultural, educational, social and historical factors that hinder effective management styles, and help them operate supply systems that are more responsive to immunization challenges in those developing countries.

A Cell-Based Screen for Discovery of a Macrofilaricide

Kelly JohnstonLiverpool School of Tropical MedicineLiverpool, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
8 Oct 2013

Kelly Johnston and others from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom will develop a cell line from a parasitic filarial nematode worm that can proliferate continuously in vitro to enable high-throughput screening of candidate anti-filarial drugs. Current drug screening efforts are limited by the complex life cycle of the worms and the difficulties of obtaining sufficient numbers of worms. They will isolate worm cells from various life cycle stages and use a high-content screening approach to monitor thousands of cells cultured under different conditions to increase the probability of detecting a stably growing cell line. Once one or more stable cell lines have been produced, they will establish optimal culture conditions for drug screening assays.

A Continuous in vitro Culture System for Cryptosporidium

L. David SibleyWashington University in St. LouisSt. Louis, Missouri, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Human and Animal Health
10 Oct 2013

L. David Sibley at Washington University in St. Louis in the U.S. is developing a long-term in vitro intestinal epithelial culture system for the intracellular parasite Cryptosporidium, which causes severe diarrheal disease in both humans and animals, and is refractory to many anti-parasitic drugs. Currently, Cryptosporidium can only be grown in infected calves or in short-term in vitro cultures, which cannot be used for the high-throughput chemical screens needed to identify new drugs. In Phase I, they optimized the in vitro culture of isolated intestinal stem cells from human and mouse biopsies, and identified factors to control their differentiation into primary epithelial monolayers, which can better support the growth of intestinal pathogens. This led to around a five-fold increase in the rate of asexual replication of Cryptosporidium, which was enough to successfully test a chemical growth inhibitor. In Phase II, they will further improve culture conditions to support longer-term in vitro growth of Cryptosporidium, which will then be tested for stability and infectivity. They will also develop antibodies against specific developmental stages to help identify culture conditions that enable the parasite to undergo a complete life cycle, which will be valuable for culturing and screening efforts.

A Decoy Artificial Snail Host (DASH) to Control S. mansoni

Edwin RoutledgeBrunel UniversityLondon, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
9 Oct 2013

Edwin Routledge of Brunel University in the United Kingdom will work towards developing an artificial snail decoy to attract the parasite Schistosoma mansoni, which causes chronic disease. The parasites first develop inside aquatic snails, which they locate via chemical cues (chemoattractants), before they can infect humans. Routledge will identify the relevant chemoattractants by isolating and fractionating chemicals from the snails, and test the ability of these chemicals to attract the parasites. Effective chemoattractants will be characterized and ultimately incorporated into a biodegradable matrix to generate an artificial snail that is easy to deploy in the field and can trap and destroy the parasites, thereby reducing human transmission.

A Device for Self-Sampling of Blood for Infectious Disease

Ian MatthewsCardiff UniversityCardiff, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
11 Apr 2012

Ian Matthews of Cardiff University in the United Kingdom proposes to develop a self-sampling micro-needle patch device for the collection of small volumes of blood. Micro-needles will be fabricated using Deep Reactive Ion Etching. The device will permit non-refrigerated transport of collected blood for subsequent assays for diagnosis of infectious disease.

A Diagostic Test for Poor Anti-TB Drug Bioavailability

Christopher VinnardDrexel UniversityPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
2 Apr 2012

Christopher Vinnard of Drexel University in the U.S. proposes to develop a low-cost point-of-care urine test that can safely and accurately identify tuberculosis patients who poorly absorb anti-TB drugs. Testing patients for inadequate drug bioavailability could enable better drug dose optimization and decrease transmission rates.

A Fortified School Meal Product to Deworm School Children

Elijah SongokKenya Medical Research InstituteNairobi, Kenya
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
8 Apr 2013

Elijah Songok of the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Kenya will design and test a fortified school meal product with deworming properties for treating soil transmitted helminths (parasitic worms) among schoolchildren in developing countries. Schoolchildren are most at risk of infection-associated morbidities such as stunting and chronic dysentery. However, current mass drug administration strategies are associated with the development of drug resistance, and may not be sustainable long term. They will fortify cornflour with seed extracts of the tropical fruit, Carica papaya (pawpaw), which can significantly increase clearance of the parasite, and use it to make porridge, which is cheap and a common school meal snack in developing countries. They will test its efficacy in a randomized pilot study in six elementary schools in rural Kenya.

A High Throughput Mosquito Assay

Koen DecheringTropIQ Health SciencesNijmegen, Netherlands
Grand Challenges Explorations
Malaria Drugs
12 Oct 2012

Koen Dechering of TropIQ Health Sciences in the Netherlands is developing a high-throughput functional assay to identify new compounds that specifically block transmission of the malaria parasites to their vector hosts, which is a difficult stage to target, and to test candidate drugs. The assay incorporates luciferase- expressing parasites, which emit light as they develop in the mosquito midgut, along with barcoded chemical libraries. In Phase I, they tested several barcoding strategies and identified a bacterium that could be genetically modified to carry a unique barcode for identifying hit compounds selected in the screen. They also developed the luminescent reporter parasite to track transmission. In Phase II, they will further develop the assay for higher throughput, and screen compounds from the Tres Cantos Antimalarial Set and the MMV Validation, Malaria and Pathogen boxes. They will also use the assay to characterize the mechanisms of action of other candidate transmission-blocking compounds.

A Human Powered Precision Seeder

Ricardo Capúcio de ResendeUniversidade Federal de ViçosaViçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
17 Oct 2013

Ricardo Capúcio de Resende of Universidade Federal de Viçosa in Brazil will design and test a new machine to enable women smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to more efficiently and effectively plant seeds. He has designed a new seeder concept using only two rotating parts, which is light, easy to use and maintain, and can simultaneously plant two crops. He will query local manufacturers and users to further develop the design, and then produce prototypes that will be bench- and field-tested for manufacturability and performance. The results will be used to produce the final seeder design, and this design concept could be applied to other agricultural machines.

A Lab-on-Mobile-Device Platform for Seed Testing

Donald CooperMobile Assay IncBoulder, Colorado, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Protecting Crop Plants
15 Oct 2012

Donald Cooper of Mobile Assay Inc. in the U.S. will develop a low-cost, highly sensitive smartphone-based platform that employs phone cameras to image and amplify signals from immunoassay rapid test strips to detect Botrytis and aflatoxin infection in seeds or soil. Connecting phone data to a cloud server would allow farmers to monitor seed and crop quality and enable the development of regional preventative strategies.

A Lexicon of HIV-RNA Interactions

Alice TelesnitskyUniversity of MichiganAnn Arbor, Michigan, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Drug Resistance
1 May 2009

Alice Telesnitsky of the University of Michigan in the U.S. seeks to define and characterize HIV interactions with host RNA. The team will attempt to determine whether disrupting or mimicking essential interactions with host RNAs may lead to antiviral strategies to which HIV cannot readily develop resistance.

A Low-Cost Cooling Device in Neonatal Encephalopathy

Sudhin ThayyilUniversity College LondonLondon, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
9 Oct 2012

Sudhin Thayyil of the University College London in the United Kingdom, along with Seetha Shankaran of Wayne State University in the U.S. and Balraj Guhan of Calicut Medical College in India, will develop and validate a low-cost, low-technology whole body cooling device that operates on a proven servo-controlled algorithm with minimal supervision. This device could reduce death and disability resulting from neonatal encephalopathy in developing countries where expensive cooling equipment and trained healthcare providers are scarce.

A Low-Cost Phonogram Device for Screening Fetal Wellbeing

Ahsan KhandokerKhalifa UniversityAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
11 Oct 2012

Ahsan Khandoker of Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates will build a low-cost, non-invasive abdominal phonogram device that can be used on a mobile phone to assess sounds that indicate fetal well being such as heart rate and body movement. The device will employ a software algorithm to extract fetal noises in an acoustic signal from maternal and environmental noises, allowing health care workers in remote locations to conduct obstetric assessments without expensive or invasive equipment.

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.

A Low-Cost, Highly Scalable Continuous Culture System for Rapid Optimization and Precise Tuning of Gut Microbial Formulations

Ahmad KhalilBoston UniversityBoston, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Microbial Biotherapeutics
1 May 2019

Ahmad Khalil of Boston University in the U.S. will develop a low-cost bioreactor platform to simultaneously optimize growth conditions of multiple bacterial species for large scale production of biotherapeutics. The human gut microbiome plays an essential role in health and development and living microbial biotherapeutics could be an effective treatment in the case of damage by illness or malnutrition. Commercial production is limited by the capacity of bioreactors, which are costly and challenging to scale and relatively inflexible. Using their eVOLVER continuous culture system, which is modular, inexpensive, and highly scalable, they will adapt the set-up and optimize protocols to allow for the management of unique growth conditions for individual species in parallel, and dynamic mixing of cultures from individual pools to precisely tune multi-species formulations. They will conduct full-scale tests to evaluate their approach for optimizing production of human gut microbiota.

A Malaria Mosquito Gut On-a-Chip

Pietro AlanoIstituto Superiore di SanitàRome, Italy
Grand Challenges Explorations
EmergingTechnologies
1 Nov 2019

Pietro Alano of the Instituto Superiore de Sanità in Italy will develop a biochip that mimics the midgut of the Anopheles mosquito and can be used to more easily and quickly test candidate anti-malarial compounds for blocking transmission of the causative Plasmodium parasite. Malaria is a potentially fatal infection caused by parasites transmitted between humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes. When a mosquito bites an infected person, immature Plasmodium gametocytes enter the mosquito and transform into an invasive ookinete stage in its midgut. They then traverse the gut wall to the external gut lumen, where they enter their parasite stage. To eliminate malaria, compounds are needed that block the transmission of Plasmodium. However, current methods to evaluate the candidate transmission-blocking drugs or vaccines that are under development are slow and involve feeding malaria-infected blood to mosquitoes, which is potentially dangerous. As an alternative, they will create a biochip to reproduce the mosquito midgut environment that can support the development of parasites, and develop a bioluminescent antibody-based technique to count successfully traversing ookinetes. They will test the performance of the biochip using known anti-transmission drugs.

A Microbial Platform for the Biosynthesis of New Drugs

Christina SmolkeStanford UniversityStanford, California, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Synthetic Biology
30 Mar 2012

Christina Smolke of Stanford University in the U.S. will develop synthetic biology platforms to improve the scale and efficiency of microbial systems used to discover, develop, and produce drugs based on natural products. Such new biosynthesis approaches could lead to new and less expensive drugs for global health.

A Microencapsulation Technique to Target Desert Locust

Ravi DurvasulaBiomedical Research Institute of New MexicoAlbuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Protecting Crop Plants
1 Oct 2012

Ravi Durvasula of the Biomedical Research Institute of New Mexico in the U.S. is developing biopolymers to encapsulate and protect fungal biopesticides, which are used to kill desert locusts that destroy crops in Africa. The polymer will not only shield the biopesticides from harsh environmental conditions such as UV radiation and heat but will also be formulated to release its contents upon contact with the insect.

A Mobile Cloud System to Achieve Universal Vaccination

Alain LabriqueJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, Maryland, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Systems
18 Apr 2012

Alain Labrique of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the U.S. will develop and field test in rural Bangladesh a cloud-based mobile phone system that will allow for universal access to vaccination records, send vaccine reminders and messaging, and provide incentives to parents and health care workers via a phone application. This new strategy could increase the reach, coverage, and public acceptance of immunization.

A New Strategy for Resistant and More Nutritious Rice

Aymeric GoyerOregon State UniversityCorvallis, Oregon, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Protecting Crop Plants
17 Oct 2012

Aymeric Goyer of Oregon State University and Pamela Ronald of the University of California, Davis in the U.S. will develop rice plants that accumulate higher levels of thiamine (vitamin B1) to test the theory that boosting thiamine enhances the plant's resistance to disease. This strategy could lead to crops that can not only resist two devastating pathogens, Xanthomonas oryzae and Magnaporthe grisea, and lead to higher yields, but also produce rice of higher nutritional value.

A New Tool for Anti-Malarial Target Gene Validation

Philip ShawNational Center for Genetic Engineering and BiotechnologyPathumthani, Thailand
Grand Challenges Explorations
Malaria Eradication
5 Oct 2009

Philip J. Shaw of Thailand's National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology will seek to identify potential drug targets and vaccine antigens in the malaria parasite using a novel technology to reduce specific gene expression. By fusing a natural genetic “riboswitch” onto gene targets, the team will attempt to attenuate gene expression and thereby determine gene function.

A New Tool for Harvesting Cassava

Samuel OkurutNational Agricultural Research OrganizationKampala, Uganda
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
11 Oct 2013

Samuel Okurut and a team from the National Agricultural Research Organization in Uganda will develop a simple low-cost tool for women smallholder farmers to more easily and efficiently harvest cassava, which is a major staple food in the developing world. The classical, manual method for harvesting cassava is labor and cost intensive, involving hoeing and digging in a bent posture. The new tool will be developed with input from women farmers and key stakeholders, and designed to be operated in a more upright posture. The cost-benefit of the tool will be tested in the field, and the feasibility of training and local fabrication will be explored.

A New Way to Prevent HIV Infection During Breastfeeding

David SokalFamily Health InternationalDurham, North Carolina, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
HIV Infection
1 May 2009

David Sokal of Family Health International in the U.S., with colleagues at Cambridge and Drexel Universities, will develop and test low-cost filters coated with safe microbicides that can be inserted into tips of nipple shields to prevent HIV transmission during breastfeeding.

A Non-Pathogenic Chimeric THLV-1/HIV-1 Viral Genome as a Model to Study Superinfection Restriction

Kuan-Teh JeangNational Institutes of HealthBethesda, Maryland, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
HIV Infection
1 May 2009

Kuan-Teh Jeang of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. will investigate whether cells infected by one virus become resistant to infection from other viruses, and if this viral interference can confer protection against HIV. The team will develop an attenuated virus to test whether over-expression of viral envelope proteins within cells can confer resistance to further HIV infection.

A Novel Agent for Management of Postpartum Hemorrhage: Adaptation of the Xstat Mini-Sponge Applicator for Obstetric Use

Maria RodriguezOregon Health and Science UniversityPortland, Oregon, United States
Grand Challenges for Development
Saving Lives at Birth
1 Jan 2013

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal mortality in low-income countries. The majority of these deaths occur outside the health care system, and so an intervention that could be used in any setting and with minimal training could save lives. We will use an animal model to demonstrate appropriate uterine fill, and a proof-of-concept study to show stoppage of post-delivery bleeding and test ease of removal. Standard care for treating PPH consists of massage, uterotonics, and tamponade (i.e., "holding pressure"). Devices used to treat PPH via tamponade are not easily adaptable to low-resource settings with diverse climates and providers. A novel agent, the XSTAT mini sponge dressing, has proven successful in the acute cessation of traumatic non-compressible bleeding analogous to PPH. This device utilizes pre-packaged, environmentally stable, compressed medical sponges soaked with a hemostatic agent and administered by a light-weight applicator. The sponges, once deployed, exert uniform pressure to address multiple sources of bleeding and are easily removable.

A Novel Approach of Creating an Attenuated Pneumonia Vaccine

Vijay PancholiOhio State University Research FoundationColumbus, Ohio, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Vaccines
1 Nov 2009

Vijay Pancholi of The Ohio State University Research Foundation in the U.S. will attempt to attenuate the S. pneumonia bacteria by altering export of the GAPDH enzyme, a function thought to be essential to the bacteria's survival. Preventing export of this key enzyme will decrease bacterial virulence, allowing the attenuated strain to be used for development an affordable live vaccine for pneumococcal pneumonia.

A Novel Bactericidal Protein Found in Milk

Anders HakanssonThe Research Foundation of the State University of New YorkAlbany, New York, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Drug Resistance
1 May 2009

Anders Hakansson of the University of Buffalo in the U.S. has identified a protein from human breast milk (Human Alpha Lactalbumin Made Lethal to Tumor cell, or HAMLET), that kills respiratory tract bacteria. Hakansson will attempt to understand the mechanism by which HAMLET binds to and kills pheumococci without the bacteria developing resistance.

A Novel Effective Vaccine Against Cholera

Michael LebensUniversity of Gothenburg Institute for Vaccine ResearchGothenburg, Sweden
Grand Challenges Explorations
Vaccines
5 Oct 2009

Michael Lebens of the University of Gothenburg Institute for Vaccine Research in Sweden proposes to develop a new oral cholera vaccine using a single cholera strain that expresses antigens for both the Inaba and Ogawa serotypes and produces cholera toxin subunits that act as an adjuvant to stimulate mucosal immune activity. In this project’s Phase I research, Lebens and his team successfully generated potential vaccine candidate strains that express both Ogawa and Inaba type antigens simultaneously. They also demonstrated in an animal model that oral immunization with these bacteria in a killed formulation elicited immune responses similar to those obtained by vaccination with currently licensed oral killed whole-cell cholera vaccines. In Phase II, he will further improve these strains by inducing them to express an accompanying adjuvant and conduct immunogenicity analyses and other work to prepare for a Phase I trial.

A Novel Vaccination Strategy for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Jesus ValenzuelaNational Institutes of HealthBethesda, Maryland, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Infectious Diseases
1 May 2009

Because Leishmania is transmitted to humans when sand flies feed on humans, Jesus Valenzuela of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. proposes to develop a novel vaccine against salivary proteins of sand flies with the aim to induce a strong immune response against the parasite.

A Novel Virulence-Associated Malaria Drug Target

Paul GilsonBurnet InstituteMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Malaria Eradication
1 Nov 2009

Paul Gilson of Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health in Australia will study the function of a newly discovered malaria parasite mechanism that exports proteins into host red blood cells in an effort to develop compounds that block this transfer and inhibit parasite growth.

A Novel Way of Targeting TB using Aptamers and Nanotechnology

Boitumelo SemeteCouncil for Scientific and Industrial ResearchPretoria, South Africa
Grand Challenges Explorations
Drug Resistance
1 May 2009

To optimize the effectiveness of current anti-tuberculosis drugs, Boitumelo Semete of the CSIR in South Africa will work with collaborators to develop “sticky nanoparticles” that specifically attach to TB-infected cells. Once taken in by these cells, the nanoparticles will slowly degrade, releasing the anti-TB drugs and killing the bacteria. With this novel drug delivery system, the team aims to improve the bioavailability of the current therapies, with the possibility of shortening the treatment period for TB as well as reduce drug side effects.

A Passive Solar Thermal Standard for Vaccine Storage Rooms

Loriana DembeleEau et Vie - Ji DumaBamako, Mali
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Systems
18 Oct 2012

Loriana Dembele of Eau et Vie Ji-Duma in Mali proposes to develop new architectural and construction guidelines for vaccine storage rooms in hot climates that incorporate passive solar thermal technologies to keep vaccines at recommended temperatures. The team will construct and test prototype storage facilities to determine new standards that prevent vaccine spoilage, reduce operating costs, and improve refrigeration capabilities.

A Predictive Model for Vaccine Testing Based on Aptamers

Alexander DouglasJenner InstituteOxford, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Synthetic Biology
2 Apr 2012

Alexander Douglas of the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom will use synthetic nucleic acid molecules known as aptamers to develop a model that can be used to predict the success or failure of new vaccines in clinical trials. This work could help to remove some of the uncertainty in the early-stage development of new vaccines.

A Probiotic-based Approach To Improve Child Nutrition

Alip BorthakurUniversity of Illinois at ChicagoChicago, Illinois, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Nutrition
10 Apr 2012

Alip Borthakur of the University of Illinois at Chicago in the U.S. will characterize the effects of probiotics on epithelial uptake of the fatty acid butyrate in vitro and in a mouse model to inform therapeutic strategies to cure and prevent acute diarrhea and malnutrition in children.

A Quantum Physics Search for Liver-Stage Antimalarials

David SullivanJohns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, Maryland, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Malaria Drugs
18 Oct 2012

David Sullivan of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the U.S., along with Martin N. Martinov of Gradient Biomodeling LLC, will create a quantum physics computer model of liver-stage malaria parasite infection to screen existing commercial drug and compound databases to identify molecules that possess liver-stage specific anti-malarial activity. Those molecules will then be tested in vivo and in vitro, and the ones that are effective will be optimized via computer modeling for future pre-clinical development.

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.

A Rapid and Portable Assay for Detecting Neonatal Sepsis

Douglas WeibelUniversity of WisconsinMadison, Wisconsin, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
9 Oct 2012

Douglas Weibel of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the U.S. proposes to develop a portable diagnostic system that uses inexpensive plastic assay cartridges that wick samples into chambers loaded with reagents to detect bacteria associated with neonatal sepsis. The cartridges will be attached to a smart phone loaded with an application that collects data and transmits results to a clinical lab for further treatment instructions.

A Rift Valley Fever Vaccine for Use in Humans and Animals

George WarimweJenner InstituteOxford, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Human and Animal Health
23 Oct 2013

George Warimwe of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom will develop a vaccine to protect a variety of species, including humans, sheep and cattle, against Rift Valley fever, which can cause serious illness. Current vaccines that are in development have safety concerns for use in humans. They have developed a Rift Valley fever vaccine using a replication-deficient simian adenovirus as a safe vector that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, and have tested its safety and immunogenicity in mice, and begun field-testing in sheep in Kenya. They will test safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine and the effect of an adjuvant in calves and goats, and compare this with the data from mice and sheep.

A Scalable, Inhaled Drug Delivery System for Alveolar-Macrophage Targeted Tuberculosis Chemotherapy

Feng QuianTsinghua UniversityBeijing, China
Grand Challenges Explorations
China Tsinghua-GCE
1 Jan 2013

Feng Qian of Tsinghua University in China will work to develop an inhaled drug particle using a scalable formulation process to deliver tuberculosis drugs directly into the lungs. They will develop micro-particles containing current TB drugs and will test their utility when inhaled.

A Self-Adjuvanting Vaccine for ST-ETEC

Roy Robins-BrowneUniversity of MelbourneMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Vaccines
1 May 2009

Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) is the leading cause of diarrhea in the developing world. Roy Robins-Browne, of the University of Melbourne, in Australia will evaluate the effectiveness of a prototype vaccine that combines enterotoxin of E. coli (which lacks immunogenicity by itself) with another epitope to attract helper T cells and a lipid adjuvant to ensure delivery of the antigen directly into the cell.

A Single Strategy to Attack Insect Vector and Transmitted Virus

Stéphane BlancInstitut National de la Recherche AgronomiqueParis (cedex 07), France
Grand Challenges Explorations
Protecting Crop Plants
1 May 2012

Stéphane Blanc of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in France will minimize the destructive effects of aphids on crop plants by studying a newly described structure, the acrostyle, which is found at the tip of the piercing mouthparts of the insects and thought to be important for feeding and for transmitting disease-causing viruses between plants. Aphids spread an array of different plant viruses to many crop species including banana, chickpea, and sweet potato. Work during Phase I involved developing tools including acrostyle-targeting antibodies and methods to genetically manipulate aphids, which led to the identification of one protein in the acrostyle that is likely to be a receptor for the cauliflower mosaic virus. Consistent with this, binding of this virus to the insect could be blocked with an antibody targeting that specific protein. In Phase II, they will complete their cataloguing of peptides at the acrostyle using mass spectrometry to identify more candidate receptors that are important for virus binding and transmission, and potentially also for insect feeding. These peptides will be further analyzed using newly developed genetic tools to determine their precise function. They will also use structural methods including nuclear magnetic resonance to identify key amino acid residues in the peptides that could be exploited to block both virus transmission and insect feeding, and thereby weaken the aphids.

A Single Vaccine Against Pneumococcus and Typhoid Fever

Yingjie LuChildren's Hospital BostonBoston, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Vaccines
1 Nov 2009

Yingjie Lu and Richard Malley of Children's Hospital Boston in the U.S. will develop a bivalent pneumococcal and typhoid vaccine by using a new technology to include three highly conserved pneumococcal antigens and the well-established Vi polysaccharide antigen that provides protection against typhoid fever. The team will test the ability of this vaccine to induce strong humoral and cellular immune responses against both pneumococcus and the causative agent of typhoid fever, Salmonella Typhi. In this project’s Phase I research, the team successfully developed the bivalent vaccine and in initial research was able to demonstrate dual immunity to both pneumococcus and S. Typhi. In Phase II, they will perform further proof-of-concept experiments in animal models that will provide support for the clinical development of this bivalent vaccine candidate.

A Small Animal Model of Onchocerciasis

Joseph TurnerLiverpool School of Tropical MedicineLiverpool, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
10 Apr 2013

Joseph Turner of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom will develop a small animal model of the parasitic disease onchocerciasis, also called river blindness, which is the second leading infectious cause of blindness. Treatment options for filarial infections are currently limited and lack effectiveness. Thus, small animal models of filarial infections are invaluable for preclinical testing of candidate drugs. In Phase I, they established the mouse model by infecting mice lacking an adaptive immune system with Onchocerca parasites isolated from infected cows, and tested its feasibility for screening drugs. In Phase II, they will expand their model, and use it for preclinically testing the safety and efficacy of several candidate drugs currently under development.

A Small Animal Model to Validate Onchocerca Macrofilaricides

Warwick GrantLa Trobe UniversityBundoora, Victoria, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
12 Apr 2013

Warwick Grant of La Trobe University in Australia will develop a small animal parasite model to test candidate drugs for treating the parasitic nematode Onchocerca volvulus, which causes river blindness in humans. They will establish infection of the related parasite Cercopithifilaria johnstoni in rats and evaluate the pathology for similarity to the human disease. The model will then be validated for testing human anti-onchocercal drug candidates by analyzing the effect of drugs with proven success in patients. Once the model has been fully validated, they aim to perform routine assessments of candidate drugs.

A Small Molecule That Blocks Male-to-Female Sexual Transmission of HIV

David EisenbergUniversity of California, Los AngelesLos Angeles, California, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
HIV Infection
1 May 2009

Recent evidence suggests that HIV infection may be drastically enhanced when a specific protein found in human semen is present in fibril form. David Eisenberg of UCLA in the U.S. will design and test a small peptide that can effectively block formation of fibrils on this protein. If successful, the therapy could be administered via spray or liquid drops to inhibit transmission of HIV.

A Strategy for Control of Plant Virus Diseases

Amitava MitraUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnLincoln, Nebraska, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Protecting Crop Plants
9 Oct 2012

Amitava Mitra of the University of Nebraska in the U.S. will investigate direct repeat- induced gene silencing, a phenomenon of RNA interference in which genes adjacent to a target gene are also silenced. This "transitive silencing" will be tested for its ability to target multiple crop viruses at once, allowing the development of a transgenic wheat strain that is resistant to multiple major diseases.

A Synthetic Biosensor to Find Drugs Targeting TB Persistence

Robert AbramovitchMichigan State UniversityEast Lansing, Michigan, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Synthetic Biology
2 Apr 2012

Robert Abramovitch of Michigan State University in the U.S. will use their high-throughput drug discovery platform to identify new drugs for treating chronic tuberculosis and for potentially shortening the current treatment time of six to nine months. Their platform exploits a genetic region known as the DosR regulon thought to underlie the behavior of the causative bacteria in humans under low oxygen conditions, when they become dormant and thereby resistant to current drugs. In Phase I, they screened over 250,000 compounds and identified around 170 candidates that could either stop bacterial persistence under low oxygen conditions or could potently inhibit bacterial growth. In Phase II they will optimize one of the candidate DosR regulon inhibitors and test the ability of this class to block chronic infection, as well as characterizing the compounds that inhibit bacterial growth.

A Systems Level Approach to Crop Health

David HughesPennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park, Pennsylvania, United States
Grand Challenges
Annual Meeting Call-to-Action
23 May 2019

David Hughes of Pennsylvania State University, John Corbett of aWhere, and Rhiannan Price of DigitalGlobe, in the U.S. will develop a software platform comprising prediction algorithms that leverage artificial intelligence to predict where and when plant diseases and pests will occur from weather and satellite data to alert farmers to check their crops. Pests and diseases are moving targets, however most current surveillance methods monitor only their presence or absence. Predicting when and where they are likely to occur would be more valuable for preventing them. This has recently been made possible by studies on how environmental factors influence the emergence and behaviour of crop pests and diseases. They will use a systems approach that incorporates these new predictors along with historical data and couples them with an artificial intelligence component that learns from ground observations recorded using smartphones to improve accuracy. They will combine their existing agricultural intelligence platform and smartphone application with their prototype predictive model and test their approach with maize and cassava crops on farms across seven different counties in Kenya. The platform will produce location-specific forecasts that can be acted upon immediately by farmers.

A Therapeutic Strategy to Control HIV-1 Infection

Qigui YuIndiana UniversityBloomington, Indiana, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
HIV Infection
1 May 2009

Antibodies and the complement system work together to specifically detect and clear viruses, but they are circumvented by HIV, which hides itself and the cells it infects by hijacking host proteins such as CD59. Qigui Yu of Indiana University School of Medicine in U.S. will attempt to unmask HIV and HIV-infected cells and render them susceptible to antibody-complement attack. In this project's Phase I research, Yu and his team identified a potent, specific, and non-toxic inhibitor of human CD59, which is used by HIV to escape destruction by antibody-complement attack. In Phase II, Yu will continue to research how this inhibitor might allow antibodies to regain their complement-mediated activity to destroy the virus and HIV-infected cells, and will also research how HIV-1 incorporates human CD59 onto viral particles to escape antibody-complement immunity.

A Time-Saving Tool for Stripping Groundnut Pods

Tobias OkerNational Agricultural Research OrganizationKampala, Uganda
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
2 Oct 2013

Tobias Oker and a team from the National Agricultural Research Organization in Uganda will develop a simple plucking tool to more efficiently remove the pods from groundnuts, which is currently done by hand and is labor-intensive and time-consuming for women. They will query farming communities on current harvesting methods to refine their design, and evaluate performance, labor cost, and perceptions in the field using prototypes compared to traditional methods. They will also train users and local manufacturers to fabricate the tools and encourage their use.

A Tissue-Engineered Mosquito Midgut Assay

Thomas NeumannNortis BioSeattle, Washington, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
9 Oct 2012

Thomas Neumann of Nortis, Inc. in the U.S. will develop a tissue-engineered model of the mosquito midgut for use in an in vitro assay on a disposable, chip-like microfluidic device. This device could be developed into a standardized and automated platform to screen anti-malarial compounds that target the parasite in the mosquito before transmission to human hosts.

A Totally New Approach to Discover Malaria Combination Drugs

Melvin ReichmanLIMR Chemical Genomics Center IncWynnewood, Pennsylvania, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Malaria Drugs
8 Oct 2012

Melvin Reichman of the LIMR Chemical Genomics Center Inc. in the U.S., working with Vicky Avery of the Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies in Australia, will develop and validate a new drug screening approach called Ultra-High Throughput Screening for Synergy (uHTSS) to discover new drug combinations from the Tres Cantos anti-malarial set for the treatment of malaria.

A Transformational Vaccine Platform for Rotavirus

Anton MiddelbergUniversity of QueenslandBrisbane, Queensland, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
11 Apr 2012

Anton Middelberg of the University of Queensland in Australia proposes to develop a new vaccine for rotavirus by the directed self-assembly of a safe virus-like particle in industrial reactors. The approach uses low-technology engineering methods suitable for the developing world, ensuring relevance to the communities most in need of vaccine.

A Transmission-Blocking Vaccine Against Dengue Virus Dissemination

Gong ChengTsinghua UniversityBeijing, China
Grand Challenges Explorations
China Tsinghua-GCE
1 Jan 2012

Gong Cheng of Tsinghua University in China will develop a transmission-blocking vaccine against dengue virus that takes advantage of blocking mosquito infection by targeting the transmission from human to mosquito.

A Vaccine Against Salmonella

Wendy PickingOklahoma State UniversityStillwater, Oklahoma, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
16 Oct 2012

Wendy Picking and a team at Oklahoma State University in the U.S. will work to develop a new vaccine for Salmonella that uses a serotype-independent Salmonella antigen combined with an adjuvant to deliver immunity against all serotypes of the bacteria. This vaccine, when administered intradermally, could be a cost-effective way to reduce the overall incidence and severity of diarrhea in children in the developing world.

A VLP-Based Phage Display System for HIV Vaccine Discovery

Bryce ChackerianUniversity of New MexicoAlbuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Vaccines
1 May 2009

Bryce Chackerian and David Peabody at the University of New Mexico in the U.S. have developed a new phage display system based on highly immunogenic virus- like particles (VLPs), and will utilize this new system as a platform to identify new vaccines that induce broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV.

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.

Accelerating Vaccine Development Against P.vivax Malaria

James BeesonBurnet InstituteMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
30 Mar 2012

James Beeson and Damien Drew of the Burnet Institute in Australia propose to generate chimeric Plasmodium falciparum that expresses the antigens of another malaria parasite, P. vivax, allowing them to be evaluated as vaccine candidates. Because laboratory culturing of P. vivax is costly and technically difficult, this new method could help accelerate the development of vaccines against malaria caused by P. vivax.

Accurate, Accelerated, and Affordable Kit to Predict Preterm Birth and Postpartum Recovery

Ashish GangulyCSIR-Institute of Microbial TechnologyChandigarh, Punjab, India
Grand Challenges India
India-GCE
5 Apr 2013

Ashish Ganguly and colleagues from the CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology in India will make an affordable paper-based diagnostic to quickly and precisely measure plasma gelsolin levels in expectant mothers to help predict premature delivery and postpartum recovery, thereby reducing new mother and child mortality rates. They will determine the value of plasma gelsolin levels for predicting postpartum-related problems using patient sampling and an animal model of preterm birth. They will also develop the diagnostic by identifying a plasma gelsolin binding peptide that will be used to coat an optimized paper strip, along with a cell phone based read-out to enable remote analysis by a centralized unit. This grant was selected through India's IKP Knowledge Park and their IKP-GCE program.

Addressing Preeclampsia with Nanomedicine and Bioengineering

Marnie WinterUniversity of South AustraliaAdelaide,, South Australia, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
EmergingTechnologies
1 Nov 2019

Marnie Winter of the University of South Australia, together with Tina Bianco-Miotto, Claire Roberts, and Clare Whitehead of the University of Adelaide in Australia and the University of Toronto in Canada, will develop and test short-interfering RNAs (siRNA) high-density lipoprotein (HDL) nanocarriers for the treatment of preeclampsia. Globally, ten million women develop preeclampsia during pregnancy each year, which results in the deaths of 76,000 women and 500,000 babies; 99% of these are in developing countries. Most current treatments focus on treating the symptoms (high blood pressure and proteinuria) rather than the molecular causes. Some of the causative molecules, such as the angiogenesis inhibitor sFlt1, can be blocked by specific siRNAs, but the challenge is targeting the siRNAs to the right cells in the body. HDL delivery systems for this purpose are effective and safe, and both siRNAs and HDLs are stable at room temperature, important for therapies in resource-poor areas. They will optimize the formulation of their HDL nanocarrier manufacturing platform, and characterize siRNA loading, carrier stability, size, cellular uptake, and silencing ability in 2D culture. Further, they will bioengineer an ex-vivo placenta model that fully recapitulates the structural and phenotypic complexity of a preeclamptic placenta and use it to evaluate tissue penetration and silencing abilities of the siRNA-nanocarrier complex.

Adjuvant Effects of a Special Light

Mei WuGeneral Hospital CorporationBoston, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Infectious Diseases
1 May 2009

Laser light at a specific setting can activate antigen presenting cells in the skin and temporarily make cellular membranes permeable. Mei X. Wu and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in the U.S. will test whether injection of a vaccine into laser-exposed skin can significantly enhance immune responses stimulated by the vaccine.

Advanced Pathogen Detection in an Urban 'Hot Spot' for Global Emergence

Federico CostaFiocruzRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Explorations
Pathogen Identification
1 May 2019

Federico Costa of the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, Mitermayer Galvão dos Reis of Fiocruz, Brazil, and Nathan Grubaugh and Albert I Ko of Yale University in the U.S. will establish metagenomic next generation sequencing in clinical settings in an urban region of Brazil classified as an infectious disease ‘hot spot’ to help develop new diagnostics and identify emerging pathogens. Rapid urbanization in Salvador, a metropolitan of 2.9 million inhabitants in Northeast Brazil, has produced a favorable environment for the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, and was the founding site for the recent Zika epidemic. Early detection is critical for preventing disease spread, particularly in Salvador, which is a transport hub and popular holiday destination. However, diagnosis can be challenging in low-resource settings, especially when the causative pathogen is unknown, the disease has diverse symptoms, or a known pathogen starts causing new symptoms. They will collect around 160 clinical samples from patients with suspected infections at a local infectious disease reference hospital and a maternity unit and apply a next generation sequencing approach together with the IDseq analysis platform to identify pathogens from the sequencing data.

Aerosol Delivery of Synthetic Lung Surfactant

Frans WaltherLos Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical CenterTorrance, California, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
2 Apr 2012

Frans Walther of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute in the U.S. will adapt a low-cost synthetic lung surfactant for aerosol delivery as a non-invasive and simple method to support breathing in premature infants. Surfactant is composed of lipids and proteins, and keeps the lungs open during expiration. It is normally administered to premature infants with breathing difficulties by tracheal intubation, which can be problematic in low-resource settings and cause side effects. In Phase I, they produced the surfactant aerosol and found that it improved oxygenation and lung function in a small animal model. In Phase II, they will continue preclinical development by analyzing different application methods, dosing levels, and safety, and evaluate dry surfactant formulations that would not require refrigeration.

Affordable Transport to Access Immunization

Rozina Feroz AliInteractive Research and Development Global LimitedSingapore, Singapore
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Demand
1 May 2019

Rozina Feroz Ali of Interactive Research and Development Global Limited in Singapore along with Subhash Chandir and Danya Arif will establish a subsidized carpool for Pakistani women in rural areas and urban slums to improve access to immunization centers and increase vaccination coverage. Poor vaccine coverage in Pakistan is a result of the combined effects of poverty, lack of education, poor access to transportation, and distantly located vaccination centers; populations in rural areas and urban slums are vulnerable to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease and an increased childhood mortality rate. They will develop a system to provide women with transport to vaccine centers at affordable rates, educate them on the importance of vaccination through short videos played during the ride, and promote the service in the community by branding the commuting vehicles with vaccine and schedule information. Dedicated vehicles will offer fixed-price, round trip transportation to vaccination centers along specific routes with designated pick-up and drop-off times. In addition to improving access to vaccination, this system will work to improve gender equality in Pakistan; the ability to travel independently decreases female dependence on male family members. They will test it in a rural setting or urban slum in Pakistan and evaluate the number of users, number of children vaccinated, and estimated impact on vaccine coverage.

AI and InfraRed Spectroscopy to Accelerate Malaria Control

Fredros OkumuIfakara Health InstituteIfakara, Tanzania
Grand Challenges Explorations
EmergingTechnologies
1 Nov 2019

Fredos Okumu of the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania will develop technology to evaluate mosquito control interventions using a combination of artificial intelligence, infrared spectroscopy, and entomology. Malaria caused over 400,000 deaths in 2017, the majority in the developing world, and an effective way to control the disease is to target the mosquitoes that transmit it. Current tools cannot precisely measure mosquito age or life-expectancy, and are therefore unable to predict the impact of mosquito control interventions. The biochemical composition of the mosquito exoskeleton varies with species and age; as the types of chemical bonds change so does the amount of light absorbed in the mid-infrared region. This can be measured with mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIRS), and they will combine this with machine learning to measure the age of mosquito populations. Using a dataset collected from over 25,000 lab-raised mosquitoes, they have developed a supervised machine learning model that accurately predicts mosquito age and species. They will optimize this model to work also on wild mosquito populations, develop an online platform for real-time analysis of mosquito MIRS data, and test its ability to measure the effectiveness of malaria control interventions.

Aid is Working. Just Ask G.I. Joe.

Robin McQueenCenter for National PolicyWashington, District of Columbia, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Communicating About Aid
1 Oct 2012

Robin McQueen of the Truman National Security Institute in the U.S. will work to reframe the concept of foreign aid as effective and essential to national security. A short film trailer will be produced featuring trusted voices of military veterans to explain how aid mitigates crises that can cause global instability. The trailer will be presented with innovative methods of visual and mobile communications to prompt viewers to link to a website for more information. Viewer demographics will be tracked to target groups for further education campaigns.

Aligning Data Across Incompatible Geographical Units

H.V. JagadishUniversity of MichiganAnn Arbor, Michigan, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Data Systems
15 Oct 2013

H.V. Jagadish of the University of Michigan in the U.S. will take disparate datasets on diverse topics, including education, health, and the environment, which are often reported using different geographical units such as Zip Code or County, and realign them to a common unit so they can be better compared and used. Jagadish will develop four general techniques for aligning data partitions and apply them to existing datasets in one state in the U.S. so that they can be viewed according to different geographical units. Jagadish will also produce an interface so that policy analysts and NGOs can easily access and query these data, and collect feedback to improve the approach.

Alleviating Human and Animal African Sleeping Sickness

Paul DysonSwansea UniversitySwansea, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Human and Animal Health
14 Oct 2013

Paul Dyson of Swansea University in the United Kingdom will work to control the incidence of sleeping sickness in humans, which is caused by the Trypanosome parasite transmitted by tsetse flies, by genetically modifying a fly gut bacterium to deliver double-stranded (ds) RNAs to block two important parasite proteins. Trypanosomes mature in the flies, thereby gaining the capacity to infect mammals. He will engineer the bacteria and introduce them into tsetse flies, then test the capacity of the dsRNAs to inhibit their target proteins in trypanosomes. This approach could lead to long-term control of this disease as the bacteria are maternally transmitted to the offspring.

Amphistome Flukes to Control Schistosomes in African Snails

Eric LokerUniversity of New MexicoAlbuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
9 Oct 2013

Eric Loker of the University of New Mexico in the U.S., along with colleagues from KEMRI in Kenya, will test whether parasitic flatworms known as amphistome flukes can eradicate the human parasite Schistosoma with the goal of helping prevent human infections. These two types of worms co-inhabit the same snail species. The investigators will harvest large quantities of amphistome eggs from the rumens of routinely slaughtered goats and cattle, and use temperature and light to induce miracidia (larva) to hatch in the laboratory. These will then be tested for their ability to infect schistosome-transmitting snails and to block or prevent schistosome infections in these snails. This low-tech, low-cost approach is more environmentally friendly than current chemical approaches, and its application to transmission sites can be easily halted once infection rates are under control.

An "Oral Contraceptive" For Male Anopheles Mosquitoes

Luna KamauKenya Medical Research InstituteNairobi, Kenya
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
5 Apr 2012

Luna Kamau of the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Kenya will investigate how feeding on selected compounds affects male Anopheles mosquito fertility and subsequently, mating competiveness. The compounds could be presented in sugar meals or introduced into larval breeding sites to control mosquito population densities, thereby reducing malaria transmission.

An Altruistic Vaccine for Mosquito Transmitted Pathogens

Paul YoungUniversity of QueenslandBrisbane, Queensland, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Infectious Diseases
1 May 2009

Mosquito transmitted pathogens such as dengue and malaria are a significant disease burden on the world's population. Paul Young of the University of Queensland in Australia aims to develop a novel vaccine approach that is based on blocking mosquito transmission of these disease agents rather than inducing pathogen- specific immunity.

An Analytical Tool to Transform Genomic Approaches to Nagana

Andrew JacksonUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpool, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Human and Animal Health
11 Oct 2013

Andrew Jackson of the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom will develop a diagnostic tool for Animal African Trypanosomiasis (Nagana), which is caused by unicellular parasites known as trypanosomes and threatens up to 50 million cattle in sub-Saharan countries. To avoid immune detection, the causative trypanosomes change their DNA sequences (genomes), particularly in genes encoding for cell surface glycoproteins, which also affects the symptoms the parasites cause. They will sequence these trypanosome genes from forty parasites spanning diverse countries and hosts to quantify their variation. By associating the variation with disease factors, such as virulence and severity, this profile of variation can be developed as a diagnostic marker to improve disease management and treatment.

An Arabinomannan-Protein Conjugate Vaccine for Tuberculosis

Arturo CasadevallAlbert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva UniversityBronx, New York, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
16 Oct 2012

Arturo Casadevall of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the U.S. will work to develop a new vaccine for tuberculosis that uses an arabinomannan-protein conjugate to elicit strong antibody-mediated immunity. M. tuberculosis has a polysaccharide capsule composed of arabinomannan, which, when used as part of a vaccine, could lead to an immune response that prevents inflammation and disease transmission without impairing clearance of the bacteria.

An Automated Drug Screening Platform for Helminths

Floriano SilvaFiocruzRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
11 Oct 2013

Floriano Silva of Fiocruz in Brazil will develop a drug screening assay using automated microscopy to test new drug candidates for toxicity towards adult helminth parasites, which cause a range of diseases. Current screening approaches cannot easily identify drugs that specifically target adult parasites, which is the most disease-relevant life cycle stage. He will develop and validate imaging and computational methods to automatically monitor physical characteristics of the parasites, and perform proof-of-principle drug screens using an FDA approved and an annotated compound library. This approach could be expanded to other parasites and used for screening larger drug libraries to identify new classes of drugs.

An Endothelial Reservoir for Malaria?

Michael LeibowitzRobert Wood Johnson Medical SchoolPiscataway, New Jersey, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Malaria Eradication
1 Nov 2009

Michael Leibowitz of the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in the U.S. will investigate whether malaria parasites bind to, invade and replicate in the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels to test the theory that endothelial cells play an important role in the development of malaria infection and may serve as undiscovered reservoirs for parasite latency.

An Enhanced Condom Using Nanomaterials

Aravind VijayaraghavanUniversity of ManchesterManchester, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Condom
8 Oct 2013

Aravind Vijayaraghavan and a team from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom propose to develop new elastic composite materials for condoms containing nanomaterials like graphene. This composite material will be tailored to enhance the natural sensation during intercourse while using a condom, which should encourage condom use.

An Enzyme-Embedded Hydrogel Bioreactor System

Paul de FigueiredoTexas A&M University Health Science CenterCollege Station, Texas, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Microbial Biotherapeutics
1 May 2019

Paul de Figueiredo and Daniel Alge of Texas A&M University in the U.S. will develop a portable, disposable bioreactor for the low-cost production of gut microbial biotherapeutics at an estimated $0.09 per dose in low-resource settings. Dysfunction of the human gut microbiome is a common consequence of malnutrition in poor countries. It may be effectively treated with live biotherapeutics, yet current production methods are complicated and expensive. Glucose oxidase consumes oxygen as a co-substrate in glucose oxidation and has been shown to create hypoxic microenvironments in vitro, similar to that in the human gastrointestinal tract. They will engineer an inexpensive bioreactor by immobilizing glucose oxidase in a hydrogel placed in dialysis tubing and incubated in liquid media; the glucose oxidation reaction will deplete the bioreactor of oxygen and create an oxygen gradient to mimic the intestinal lumen. This will enable growth of a consortium of anaerobic bacteria, after which the microparticles will be removed by filtration. They will optimize the system using an artificial consortium of at least ten strains of common gut bacteria.

An Immunity-Enhancing Beverage

Steven MaranzCornell UniversityIthaca, New York, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Malaria Eradication
1 Nov 2009

Steven Maranz of Weill Medical College in the U.S. will test the hypothesis that providing children high levels of flavanols, compounds found in chocolate, green tea, cola and shea nuts, deprives malaria parasites of lipids needed to survive, keeping parasite infection at levels low enough to elicit a strong immune response that builds lifelong immunity.

An Intuitive Multi-Use Intrauterine Device (IUD) Inserter to Expand Access to Contraceptives and Family Planning in Resource-Poor Settings

Suchi KuhranaBioceptive, Inc.New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Grand Challenges for Development
Saving Lives at Birth
1 Jan 2013

Although intrauterine devices (IUDs) are effective long-acting contraceptives, IUD insertion is very complex, so IUDs are often unavailable in resource poor settings. Bioceptive's proposal is to create a reusable IUD inserter for the developing world with the goals that it is intuitive, Cu380A IUD compatible, safer, and low cost. Bioceptive will develop a reusable version of its patent-pending IUD inserter that makes the insertion procedure easier and safer, allowing more women worldwide to take advantage of one of the most effective forms of contraception. The design of this reusable inserter will be based on Bioceptive's disposable inserter, which is prohibitively expensive for use in the developing world. The reusable inserter will expand access to the most common type of intrauterine contraceptive device to millions of women at low cost. Bioceptive's IUD inserter will eliminate the need to use four separate instruments for IUD insertion, making the procedure simpler, safer and intuitive. Bioceptive's inserter replaces these other instruments with one intuitive device, allowing any healthcare worker to insert an IUD with minimal training, even in resource-poor settings. This will have a major impact on maternal health by addressing a major gap in access to IUDs, a most effective contraceptive option.

An Unconventionally MHC-Restricted T Cell Vaccine for Influenza

Jonah SachaOregon Health and Science UniversityPortland, Oregon, United States
Grand Challenges
Influenza Vaccine
20 Aug 2019

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.

Anti-Adhesins With Therapeutic Potential for Enteroaggregative Escherichia Coli Diarrhoea

Iruka OkekeUniversity of IbadanIbadan, Nigeria
Grand Challenges Africa
Drug Discovery
20 May 2019

The project aims to discover molecular scaffolds that could be forerunners of EAEC therapeutics. Following a small molecule library screen, the team is evaluating hits, determining their mechanisms of action and their potential to be progressed as drug candidates. The group will also apply their anti-biofilm screen to other small libraries with a view to increasing the repertoire of promising leads against EAEC and other neglected enteric pathogens.

Anti-Malarial Compounds That Target the Cytostomal Endocytic Pathway

Michael KlembaVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityBlacksburg, Virginia, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Malaria Drugs
22 Oct 2012

Michael Klemba of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the U.S. will identify anti-malarial compounds from the Malaria Box that function as inhibitors of the cytostomal endocytic pathway used by the malaria parasite P. falciparum to internalize host erythrocyte proteins. Characterizing the molecular mechanisms of this process could lead to the discovery of new anti-malarial compounds.

Anti-TB Drugs That Limit Evolution of Resistance

Gerald SmithFred Hutchinson Cancer Research CenterSeattle, Washington, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Drug Resistance
1 May 2009

Gerald R. Smith of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the U.S. seeks to identify inhibitors of a bacterial DNA repair enzyme that allows tuberculosis to mutate. Identifying these inhibitors could lead to therapies that kill bacteria and limit drug resistance.

Antihistamine Use for Enhanced Macrofilaricidal Activity

Edward MitreThe Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military MedicineBethesda, Maryland, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
9 Oct 2013

Edward Mitre and colleagues at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine in the U.S. will develop a short course therapy for clearing adult filarial worms, which cause substantial morbidity and mortality, to enhance eradication efforts. Current antifilarial medications target only larval forms of the worms, requiring repeated administration until the natural death of the adults. Filarial infections are known to induce immune cells to release histamine, which can regulate the immune response. Using mouse models of filarial infections, they will evaluate whether a short course of standard antifilarial treatment combined with an antihistamine can clear adult worms and thereby more quickly cure the disease.

Application of Agent-Based Modeling for Policy Prioritization in Sub-Saharan Africa

Kindie Tesfaye FantayeInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)El Batan Texcoco Edo de Mexico, Mexico
Grand Challenges Explorations
Agricultural Policies
1 May 2019

Kindie Tesfaye-Fantaye of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico will develop a computational model that incorporates the variable characteristics of households and farms to better predict the outcomes of agricultural interventions in Ethiopia in order to inform policy choices. Agriculture is central to the Ethiopian economy; it accounts for almost 50% of the gross domestic product and 80% of total employment, yet the industry struggles with limited infrastructure and environmental challenges. Prioritization of agricultural policies has generally relied on analysis of past observations, which are static and tend to ignore variability. They will build and validate an agent-based model that uses current data to model future outcomes, and input biophysical (e.g., soil, climate) and socioeconomic (e.g., household characteristics, land use, access to market and financing) data. They will test their model by comparing five candidate policy options under consideration by the government in terms of impact, effectiveness, efficiency, and inclusiveness. Once established, the model will be scaled up for policy intervention in other Sub-Saharan countries including Tanzania and Nigeria.

Application of Metagenomic NextGen Sequencing Technology to Identify Etiology of Fatal Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Nepal

Rajeev ShresthaDhulikhel Hospital Kathmandu University HospitalDhulikhel, Nepal
Grand Challenges Explorations
Pathogen Identification
1 May 2019

Rajeev Shrestha and colleagues at Dhulikhel Hospital, Kathmandu University in Nepal will apply metagenomic, next generation sequencing technology to identify causative pathogens of fatal acute encephalitis to improve diagnosis and treatment. Acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) annually affects over 100,000 individuals in low- and middle-income countries, causing substantial morbidity and mortality. It is a diverse disease caused by over 100 different pathogens, including viruses and parasites, making accurate diagnosis difficult, even in high-resource settings. This hinders prevention and treatment efforts, even though several effective vaccines exist. To better characterize the pathogens causing AES, particularly treatable and emerging ones, they will apply metagenomic, next generation sequencing technology to 60 banked cerebral spinal fluid samples collected from fatal acute encephalitis cases in Nepal as part of a nationwide AES surveillance program that covered 189 hospitals. They will validate and refine their technique using previously validated samples.

Arginine Metabolism in Indian, Jamaican and American Women

Farook JahoorBaylor College of MedicineHouston, Texas, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Nutrition
30 Mar 2012

Farook Jahoor of Baylor College of Medicine in the U.S. will conduct studies to test whether healthy women in India produce less arginine, an amino acid critical for a successful pregnancy, than pregnant Jamaican and American women and will research the underlying mechanisms to inform possible interventions to reduce the number of low birth weight babies in India.

Artificial Triggering of Malaria Parasite Relapse

Lena HuldenUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinki, Finland
Grand Challenges Explorations
Malaria Eradication
1 Nov 2009

Lena Hulden of the University of Helsinki in Finland will test the hypothesis that saliva from newly emerging mosquitoes activates dormant P. vivax parasites in the liver. By robust statistical analysis of the timing of P. vivax outbreaks, as well as molecular analysis of mosquito saliva, Hulden hopes to eventually identify the trigger for these relapses in hopes of controlling outbreaks.

Aspergillus-Resistant Aflatoxin-Free Transgenic Groundnuts

Monica SchmidtUniversity of ArizonaTucson, Arizona, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Protecting Crop Plants
16 Oct 2012

Monica Schmidt of the University of Arizona and Dilip Shah of the Danforth Center in the U.S. will work to develop a fungal resistant, aflatoxin-free transgenic groundnut by simultaneously suppressing fungal growth and inhibiting the fungus' ability to biosynthesize the mycotoxin compound. This may eliminate carcinogenic mycotoxin contamination making groundnuts safe for consumption.

Assessing Environmental Impacts of Immunization Technologies

Ruth StringerHealth Care Without HarmReston, Virginia, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Systems
9 Oct 2012

Ruth Stringer and a team at Health Care Without Harm in the U.S., and colleagues at the Health Care Foundation Nepal, will design and test a decision-making tool that compares the costs, benefits, and environmental impacts of centralized autoclaving, recycling, and/or disposing of various types of conventional and safety syringes. This tool will enable decision makers to choose the most economical and sustainable medical waste management strategy.

Pages

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