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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. Initial grants are awarded two times a year, and successful projects have the opportunity to receive additional funding of up to $1 million.

On May 10, 2010, the Gates Foundation announced that 78 new global health projects received Grand Challenges Explorations grants. Learn more about these below. Round 5 grants will be announced in October 2010.

To review all 340 Explorations projects, select "Show All Rounds" in the Round drop-down menu.

 Find Awarded Grants By

Topic
Technologies
Round
Showing Grants 1 to 10 of 30
A Developing Story: HIV Resistance Among African Populations May be Linked to Genotypic Traits of Type 2 Diabetes
Primary Investigator:
Elijah Songok, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya - KE
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008
Elijah Songok at the Kenya Medical Research Institute hopes to better understand preliminary findings from studies of sex workers that natural resistance to HIV may be linked to genetic markers for type 2 diabetes.
A Mutable Vaccine for HIV
Primary Investigator:
Marilia Cascalho, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008

Marilia Cascalho of the University of Michigan will test whether a “mutable”DNA vaccine in which the gene coding for the antigen mutates a million times more frequently than a typical gene will trigger immune response that anticipates the production of new viral variants and produces broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV.

A Novel Approach to Prevent or Cure HIV Infection
Primary Investigator:
Karthikeyan Kandavelou, Pondicherry Biotech Pvt Ltd, Pondicherry, India - IN
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008
People born with a natural resistance to the HIV virus have a genetic mutation in the CCR5 gene. Karthikeyan Kandavelou of Pondicherry Biotech Pvt. Ltd. in India will attempt to achieve targeted disruption of CCR5 genes, making an important first step in a new strategy to make people permanently resistant to HIV.
A Targeted Stealth Weapon of Viral Destruction for HIV
Primary Investigator:
Karen Anderson, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008

HIV has a very high rate of mutation allowing it to very rapidly develop resistance to AIDS therapies. The essential viral enzyme, HIV reverse transcriptase, lacks a "proofreading" or "repair activity" leading to errors or mutations. Karen Anderson of Yale University is working on "stealth" compounds that have a unique anchor specific for HIV. These compounds encourage the virus to make mutations until the virus is annihilated.

Alternative Strategies to Eradicate the Latent HIV-1 Reservoir
Primary Investigator:
Olaf Kutsch, University of Alabama , Birmingham, AL, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008

Olaf Kutsch of the University of Alabama proposes that HIV latency is controlled by host-gene promoter interference, a mechanism that prevents the initiation of viral gene expression. Understanding how host-gene promoter interference controls latent HIV-1 infection may aid development of therapies to deplete latent HIV in patients.

An Innovative Strategy to Induce Potent Mucosal Immune Responses Against HIV
Primary Investigator:
Yue Chen, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008
Yue Chen of the University of Pittsburgh will attempt to develop an oral HIV vaccine based on Clostridium perfringens, a bacteria able to withstand upper GI conditions to deliver large amounts of antigens to gut-associated lymphoid tissue, a major site of HIV activity.
Antibodies to GB Virus C Envelope Glycoprotein E2 Delay HIV Disease Progression
Primary Investigator:
Jinhua Xiang, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008

To test the hypothesis that immunization with a non-HIV antigen will neutralize the virus, Jinhua Xiang of the University of Iowa will determine if immunization with an envelope protein of the GB Virus C elicits antibodies that block HIV replication.

Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity Targeted Against HIV-1 Env Glycans
Primary Investigator:
Pandelakis Koni, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008

Pandelakis Koni of the Medical College of Georgia will study the complex sugar coating that surrounds and protects HIV to see if parts of this shield can serve as targets for a vaccine, to generate antibodies that bind to and accelerate the killing of HIV-infected cells.

Autoantibody Protection Against HIV Infection
Primary Investigator:
Benjamin Chain, University College London, London, United Kingdom - GB
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008

Benjamin Chain of University College London will attempt to stimulate an antibody response against CCR5, a protein found in the body which is used by HIV to infect cells. By combining a small portion of the molecule with part of the tetanus bacterium, Chain hopes to overcome natural tolerance of CCR5 to deplete the presence of the protein and prevent a way for HIV to enter cells.

Autophagy as a Cell-Autonomous Mechanism of HIV Control
Primary Investigator:
Vojo Deretic, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States - US
Topic:
Round:
Round 1 – October 2008

Vojo Deretic of the University of New Mexico proposes that authophagy, the process by which cells destroy cellular components and intracellular pathogens, can be induced through drug therapy to not only destroy the HIV virus in infected cells, but to also block its transmission from dendritic to T cells.

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