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 Grand Challenges Explorations Grants

Grand Challenges Explorations fosters creative projects that show great promise to improve the health of people in the developing world. Grants target an expanding set of global health topics, and there are two award rounds per year. Projects with demonstrated success in their initial phase of research have the opportunity to receive Phase II funding of up to $1 million.

On November 1, 2012, 94 researchers were awarded new Grand Challenges Explorations grants. Read more about these below. In addition, 15 Explorations projects were awarded Phase II funding. To read more about these new Phase II grants, select "Phase II" in the Grant Phase drop-down menu, while showing all topics and all rounds.

To review all Explorations projects, select “Show All Topics” in the Topic drop-down menu, "Show All Rounds" in the Date and Grant Round drop-down menu, and “Show All Phases” in the Grant Phase drop-down menu.
Topic
Technologies
Date and Grant Round
Grant Phase
Showing Grants 1 to 10 of 94
0.70%
Primary Investigator:
Jack McPartland, Future Buro, Sydney, Australia - AU
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
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
Primary Investigator:
Keith Bartlett, True Energy, Tywyn, United Kingdom - GB
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
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.
A Buddy Program for Immunisation System Managers
Primary Investigator:
Ben Gilbert, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia - AU
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
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 High Throughput Mosquito Assay
Primary Investigator:
Koen Dechering, TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, Netherlands - NL
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
Koen Dechering of TropIQ Health Sciences in the Netherlands proposes to develop a high throughput assay that uses luciferase‐expressing parasites, which emit light as they develop in the mosquito midgut after ingestion, along with microsphere-barcoded compound libraries, to allow easy identification of compounds that block malaria transmission. Anti-malarial compounds from the Malaria Box will be screened using this assay.
A Lab-on-Mobile-Device Platform for Seed Testing
Primary Investigator:
Donald Cooper, Mobile Assay Inc., Boulder, CO, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
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 Low-Cost Cooling Device in Neonatal Encephalopathy
Primary Investigator:
Sudhin Thayyil, University College London, London, United Kingdom - GB
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
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
Primary Investigator:
Ahsan Khandoker, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - AE
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
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 Microencapsulation Technique to Target Desert Locust
Primary Investigator:
Ravi Durvasula, Biomedical Research Institute of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
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 New Strategy for Resistant and More Nutritious Rice
Primary Investigator:
Aymeric Goyer, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
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 System for Dual Bacterial/Insecticidal Crop Protection
Primary Investigator:
Michael Chan, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 9 – November 2012
Phase:
Phase I
Michael Chan and colleagues at The Ohio State University in the U.S. propose to genetically engineer crops to produce insecticidal Cry protein crystals that encapsulate the antibacterial protein lysozyme and only release it when a plant’s defense mechanisms indicate biotic stress. The Cry-lysozyme fusion construct could provide a new approach to protect crops against both insect and bacterial damage.
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