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Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems. Each initiative is an experiment in the use of challenges to focus innovation on making an impact. Individual challenges address some of the same problems, but from differing perspectives.

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Generate a Mouse Model of Environmental Enteropathy

Sean MooreCincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterCincinnati, Ohio, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Nutrition
13 Oct 2011

Sean Moore and colleagues at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in the U.S. will generate a mouse model of human environmental enteropathy, which is characterized by stunted growth and physiological defects in the gut, and is caused by malnutrition and repeated infections. The model will be used to test whether environmental enteropathy is affected by diet and contaminated water, and whether it reduces the effect of oral vaccines. In Phase I, they proved that feeding mice a nutritionally deficient diet mimicked at least some of the features of the human disease. To improve on this, in Phase II they will also modify DNA methylation in intestinal stem cells and induce inflammation. They will also test whether a rotavirus vaccine is less effective in these mice.

Use of Low Technology for Donor Breast Milk Banking

Kiersten Israel-BallardProgram for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH)Seattle, Washington, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Nutrition
11 Oct 2011

Kiersten Israel-Ballard of PATH in the U.S., in partnership with University of Washington and Human Milk Banking (HMB) Association of South Africa, will work to develop and test a low-cost, cell-phone-based networked sensing system to provide safety monitoring of low-technology flash- heating pasteurization of breast milk designated for donation. The goal is to scale-up human milk banking for vulnerable infants in resource-limited settings. In Phase I, in collaboration with users, they designed a device to pasteurize milk that could also monitor the process and wirelessly connect to an Android application, which could store donor information and print reports and bottle labels. Its performance was tested in human milk banks in South Africa, and training was provided to mothers to promote the acceptance of community-based milk banks. In Phase II, they will expand implementation of their device to establish ten, new, small-scale human milk banks in South Africa, and assess whether it enhances the pasteurization process by retaining valuable immune properties in the milk. They will also develop a related diagnostic tool to test for donor milk contamination onsite by untrained staff, and begin technology commercialization for long-term production.

Power Auger Modification to Empty Cess Pits

Robert BordenNorth Carolina State UniversityRaleigh, North Carolina, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Sanitation Technologies
10 Oct 2011

Robert Borden of North Carolina State University in the U.S. will develop an inexpensive method to efficiently and hygienically remove human waste from cesspits. Borden will modify readily available gasoline powered augers and PVC pipes to operate as a progressive cavity pump for filling drums or other easily transported containers. In Phase I, Borden produced and tested an inexpensive machine that could effectively remove medium- to high-viscosity waste from a range of pits with different accessibilities in South Africa. In Phase II, he will further optimize the design to enable emptying of a wider range of pits containing waste with higher solid or liquid compositions. He will also develop a method to determine the amount of waste in pits and its composition prior to emptying, and incorporate a disinfection step during waste removal. The aim is to develop a comprehensive pit emptying system involving training in pit assessments, equipment maintenance, and use, which will be tested in at least four developing regions.

Urine-tricity: Electricity from Urine and Sludge

Ioannis IeropoulosUniversity of the West of England, BristolBristol, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Sanitation Technologies
6 Oct 2011

Ioannis Ieropoulos of the University of the West of England, Bristol in the United Kingdom will test the ability of microbial fuel cells to convert urine and sludge into electrical energy while also purifying water by killing disease-causing pathogens in the waste. This technology could enable energy recovery from urine and other waste streams in developing countries. In Phase I, he provided proof of concept that the technology could be used with urine by testing power performance, clean water output, and pathogen kill rates of different types of microbial fuel cells, as well as identifying ceramic as a promising material for construction. In Phase II, he will ready the technology for implementation in developing countries by further developing the ceramic designs for low-cost mass manufacturing and servicing, and testing their ability to destroy a wide range of pathogens and generate energy for lighting or mobile phone charging. They will also analyze water production quality. The final prototype integrated into a real toilet or urinal will be field tested initially in Durban.

Malnutrition and Body Composition Assessment for Under $1

Alistair McEwanThe University of SydneySydney, New South Wales, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Nutrition
4 Oct 2011

Alistair McEwan of The University of Sydney in Australia will develop a simple, low-cost electronic device built from recycled LEDs and microcontrollers to measure subcutaneous fat levels and thereby determine nutritional status in infants. Current methods are expensive or require a trained health worker, and as such are unsuitable for use particularly in developing countries. In Phase I, they performed several design iterations leading to the production of a low-cost prototype that was used for a small trial in newborns. The results revealed a good correlation with the gold standard method for measuring body fat percentage. In Phase II they will expand this trial and further optimize the device design. In addition, they will develop an algorithm to display the result using simple colored lights for use by untrained individuals.

Software to Identify and Quantify Pathogenic Helminth Eggs

Blanca Jimenez CisnerosNational University of MexicoCuernavaca, Mexico
Grand Challenges Explorations
Sanitation Technologies
4 Oct 2011

Blanca Jimenez Cisneros of Mexican Autonomous National University in Mexico will develop software to automatically identify and quantify parasitic helminth eggs in wastewater. The software could provide a rapid and low-cost method for untrained personnel to test wastewater before its reuse in agriculture, thereby reducing parasitic infections in local populations. In Phase I, Cisneros generated an image database of a variety of common helminth species and developed an algorithm that could effectively identify helminth eggs from seven different species in two different water quality conditions. In Phase II, she will expand the image database to cover more species, and upgrade the software protocol to identify eggs in water with higher solid contents, such as fecal sludge and excreta. Cisneros will also develop a simple software platform and a strategy for worldwide distribution to both low- and high-income countries.

Highly-Parallel PCR Analysis of Latently-Infected Reservoirs

R. Paul JohnsonHarvard UniversityCambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
HIV Infection
30 Sep 2011

R. Paul Johnson of Emory University in the U.S. is using single-cell transcriptional profiling to identify unique biomarkers expressed in CD4+ T cells latently infected with HIV or the simian equivalent SIV. Latent infection of long-lived cells enables the viruses to survive current drug treatments, and makes the disease very difficult to cure. In Phase I, while working at Harvard Medical School in the U.S., they developed a robust high-throughput technique to identify viral genes expressed in single cells and tested it on SIV-infected macaques. In Phase II, they will use their approach to identify biomarkers on clinically relevant latently infected cell populations, which they will isolate from SIV-infected macaques treated with newly-developed antiretroviral regimens. These biomarkers could be used to design therapeutics that selectively target latently-infected cells to fully eradicate the virus.

Surveillance and Characterizations of VDPV in China

Yong ZhangNational Institute for Viral Disease Control & PreventionBeijing, China
Grand Challenges Explorations
Poliovirus Eradication
29 Sep 2011

Yong Zhang of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention in China will characterize vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPV), which emerge from the widely used oral polio vaccine and can cause disease outbreaks, to aid surveillance and eradication efforts. Polio has been largely eradicated from many countries by vaccination. However, the vaccine itself is an attenuated form of the poliovirus that can revert back to a virulent form. In Phase I, they sequenced and compared the genomes of different types of VDPVs that have emerged in China to determine how the virus arises and circulates in the population. In Phase II, they will sequence more VDPVs and look for so-called mutation hotspots in the genome, which could lead to a safer and more effective vaccine.

Fecal Sludge Extraction and Disposal System in situ

Jing NingShijiazhuang University of EconomicsShijiazhuang, China
Grand Challenges Explorations
Sanitation Technologies
27 Sep 2011

Jing Ning of Beijing Sunnybreeze Technology Inc. in China will develop a human fecal waste disposal system that uses wind or solar power to load waste from septic tanks or cesspools into a column, where the waste dehydrates via solar energy, and then is combusted to kill remaining pathogens and reduce its volume. This system is designed to be affordable, durable, and low-maintenance, allowing for rapid, onsite waste disposal. In Phase I, while at Shijiazhuang University of Economics in China, Ning provided proof of principle that human raw sewage waste could be loaded into the facility and dried by solar evaporation. In Phase II, Ning, now with Beijing Sunnybreeze Technology Inc., will refine the design to better transport the heat generated by the solar collector using a thermal air blower, and develop a mini waste processor that uses a ball and screw mechanism to automatically transport, dry and sterilize the human waste. These components will be incorporated into a safe and affordable waterless toilet, which will be tested and further refined.

Vortex Bioreactors for the Processing of Fecal Sludge and Waste Water

Mike AllenPlymouth Marine LaboratoryPlymouth, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Sanitation Technologies
27 Sep 2011

Mike Allen of Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the United Kingdom proposes to develop a low cost, vortex-based bioreactor that is driven by hand or a bicycle to separate fecal matter from waste water and at the same time introduce bactericidal agents to decontaminate the waste for recycling or safe disposal. In Phase I they designed and built a desk-top vortex bioreactor to test different biocidal agents for their ability to kill bacteria, and to be physically immobilized to enable long term use. Copper embedded onto alginate beads was the most effective and robust combination, and glass beads were shown to bind helminth eggs to enable their separation. They also characterized material flow through the vortex bioreactor to optimize performance. In Phase II, they will work to effectively incorporate the biocidal agent, which requires a high level of mixing, with a method for separating and removing helminth eggs, which requires low turbulence, into one vortex bioreactor by testing different methods of binding helminth eggs. They will also perform field testing with experienced partners, and further optimize the reactor design to reduce costs and promote easy use.

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