Zvi Bentwich of Ben Gurion University in Israel will support mass drug eradication efforts against parasitic worm infections in Ethiopia by implementing in parallel a health education campaign run by local students and the provision of clean water and sanitation facilities. They will test their approach on a region in Ethiopia containing 30 schools, which is connected to a wider population of 200,000. Families will be treated with anti-parasitic drugs, and they will mentor local students to provide health education explaining the causes and symptoms of the diseases, and how to avoid contracting them. They will also provide water and latrines to schools. The effect of their approach on infection rates will be evaluated over an 18-month period.

Caitlyn Butler, Mark Henderson and Brad Rogers of Arizona State University in the U.S. will adapt pit latrines to harvest organic substrates and nitrogen compounds in human waste using microbial fuel cells, which will transform the biochemical energy into carbon-neutral electricity.

Rachel Teitelbaum of Hervana, Ltd. in Israel will develop and test a biological vaginal formulation that produces a sperm-binding agent, which interferes with sperm motility or fertilization or both. It is hoped that this non-hormonal contraceptive will need only infrequent administration to maintain its effectiveness. In this project's Phase I research, Teitelbaum developed a lead formulation and demonstrated initial proof-of-principle that such an approach can provide effective contraception. In Phase II, Teitelbaum and her team will expand upon this proof-of-principle in animal models to arrive at a long-acting, safe, and effective contraceptive that is ready for evaluation in human trials.

David Herrin and colleagues at the University of Texas propose to develop a green-algal food source for mosquito larvae into a biological control agent by engineering their chloroplasts to produce larvacidal proteins. The chloroplast genome has significant advantages for genetic modification, including stability and containment.