Grand Challenges Explorations
Innovative ideas to improve health in the developing world come from everywhere. Since 2008, hundreds of researchers have been awarded $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grants to test their creative ideas. Learn more in this video. |
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| | |  Hongyue Dang, of China University of Petroleum (East China) will research whether early-stage pneumonia infection produces specific biomarkers that can be detected in a breath analysis. If so, Dang will produce and test a prototype breath sensor device that can be used in low-resource settings to capture and analyze these signature chemical compounds as a method to diagnose pneumonia. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Carol Holm-Hansen of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Norway, along with an international consortium of partners, seeks to develop a simple saliva-based assay test for the diagnosis of Tuberculosis. Serum samples from around the world will be collected to identify and select antigens that characterize the many strains of the bacteria for use in this new diagnostic method. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Quan Liu of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore proposes to use magnetic nanoparticles with blood samples to attract and amplify hemozoin, a byproduct of malaria parasites found in infected red blood cells. Liu will use resonance Raman scattering (RSS) to observe and quantify the hemozoin for a simplified, rapid diagnosis of malaria. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Keith Dunning of the Millennium Health Microscope Foundation in the United Kingdom will develop a fluorescent variation of a new hand-held, low-cost microscope. Specimens such as Malaria parasites or Tuberculosis bacterium will become fluorescent at specific wavelengths thus easy to detect at low magnifications using this new palm-sized microscope. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Joseph Brown of the University of Alabama seeks to develop a low-cost, rapid method to detect pathogenic microbes present in drinking water. Using a filtration system to concentrate bacteria, a tester would add a engineered particles covered in antibodies to detect the presence of pathogens through visual agglutination. The proposed method would take less than 15 minutes to yield a visual result. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Eugene Chan of the DNA Medicine Institute in the U.S. proposes to develop a battery-powered non-invasive finger scanner to detect and measure hemozoin, a byproduct formed by malaria parasites, through the finger’s capillaries. If successful, mass manufacturing of the scanner should be possible due to basic components. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | |  Liaohai Chen of Rush University Medical Center in the U.S. will develop nanoparticles which react to the presence of pathogenic microbes by releasing encapsulated substances that quickly amplify the binding signals. These nanoparticles can be placed on the tip of a litmus strip as a colorimetric assay to indicate the presence and concentration of pathogens. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Sang-Yeon Cho and Immo Hansen of New Mexico State University in the U.S. seeks to develop a malaria test that measures antibody-antigen reactions through a nanohole to indicate the presence of malaria parasites. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | |  Consuelo De Moraes, Mark Mescher and Andrew Read of Pennsylvania State University in the U.S. will test the theory that malaria infection induces characteristic odor cues, even in asymptomatic individuals. By identifying these chemical cues with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, De Moraes will determine if there are biomarkers for diagnosis of infection. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley in the U.S. test the ability of newly discovered RNA restriction enzymes to bind to specific RNA sequences inherent in a wide range of pathogens. If successful, this test could potentially be embedded on wickable paper to test human urine samples and produce a colormetric readout diagnostic like a pregnancy test. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Robert Dunn and colleagues at the University of Kansas in the U.S. will develop a diagnostic tool for the early detection of disease that employs writable compact discs that can be read in conventional computer disc drives. Microfluidic structures and immobilized antibodies will be fabricated onto small sections of a compact disc, along with enzymes that produce a reflective “silvering” surface upon recognition of target biomarkers. These changes in reflection can be read by any conventional CD drive, allowing for diagnosis using laptops in low resource settings. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | John Fisk of Colorado State University in the U.S. will develop a phage particle that can detect a protein found in urine of active Tuberculosis patients. The two-sided phage particle will detect the presence of the TB protein and also trigger a signal that can be easily detectable. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Roozbeh Ghaffari, Patrick Beattie, Jason Rolland and Jeff Carbeck of Diagnostics For All & MC10 Inc. will develop disposable paper-based diagnostics devices embedded with optoelectronics, allowing quantitative colorimetric analysis for HIV viral load monitoring. This platform addresses practical limitations of current image capture methodologies and eliminates the need for external readers. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Vineet Gupta of the University of Miami in the U.S. will develop a computational model to identify new DNA sequences in the Tuberculosis bacterium that can be used as biomarkers, and then employ zinc-finger tags to detect the identified DNA sequence in a diagnostic test. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | James Heath of the California Institute of Technology in the U.S. will build stable, low-cost protein capture agents to target proteins. If successful, these agents could replace expensive and unstable monoclonal antibodies that are currently needed for diagnostic tests. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Ethan Lerner of Massachusetts General Hospital in the U.S. will attempt to reverse engineer in vitro G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which usually are used by the human body to sense light, odors, tastes and hormones, to detect selected parasite biomarkers. If successful, these engineered receptors could be used to develop a diagnostic sensor for infectious agents. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Aydogan Ozcan of the University of California, Los Angeles in the U.S. will test the feasibility of a lens-free cell phone microscope for rapid, automated and accurate diagnosis of malaria in field settings. This on-chip cell phone microscope is based on digital holography and does not require any lenses, lasers or other bulky components making it extremely cost-effective and compact. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Gilbert Pacey of Miami University in the U.S. will develop a novel diagnostic platform to capture biomarkers in nanoholes. The goal is to produce a simple diagnostic device that reads non-invasive samples and requires no reagents or additional equipment. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Kevin Plaxco of the University of California, Santa Barbara, United States seeks to develop a diagnostics platform based upon measuring the electric current produced by the binding of antibodies to DNA molecules. If successful, this method will provide a rapid, single-step reagent free measurement of immune antibodies which could significantly augment disease detection and vaccine validation efforts. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Mark Schnitzer of Stanford University in the U.S. aims to develop miniature microscopes for reliable, low-cost point-of-care diagnosis of tuberculosis. These microscopes will be stand alone, digital diagnostic devices small enough to be carried in a health care provider’s pocket or purse and will also be producible in large numbers. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Vyas Sharma and David Lawrence of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in the U.S. will develop a diagnostic platform based on seed germination by integrating DNA amplification with the expression of reporter proteins in plant seeds to aid in the detection of infectious diseases. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Simon Spivack, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the U.S. will test the theory that DNA of the Tuberculosis bacterium can be detected in exhaled breath. The team will capture exhaled breath condensate samples via a non-invasive device and use nucleic acid amplification to detect the presence of mycobacteria. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Shan Wang of Stanford University in the U.S. will refine a prototype diagnostic platform which uses GMR sensors, commonly used in hard disk drives, to detect proteins labeled with magnetic nanoparticles. By employing GMR sensors on disposable “NanoLab” sticks, Wang and his team hope to produce an easy to use, ultraportable diagnostic device for rapid point-of-care HIV screening in the developing world. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | George Whitesides of Harvard College in the U.S. will develop a novel low-cost device that can detect the presence of malaria-infected red blood cells in a drop of blood using an egg beater as a centrifuge. The blood drop is added to a short polyethylene tube filled with three polymer solutions, each of which have different densities and do not mix. The tube is connected to an egg beater and rotated for five minutes, allowing the blood to separate into layers of healthy erythrocytes, infected erythrocytes and white blood cells, detectable in the spaces between the polymer layers. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Guigen Zhang of Clemson University in the US will exploit the capacitive effect of the electrical double layer as an analytical principle to develop low-cost diagnostic tools. This work will lead to highly sensitive and specific and direct-molecule-interfacing biosensors that are inexpensive to build, simple to use, and rugged to deploy. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | |  John Aitken of the University of Newcastle in Australia will study the mechanisms by which organic compounds called quinones may provide simultaneous protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Aitken will test the capability of quinones to react to enzymes in semen and not only immobilize sperm, but also disrupt the infective nature of pathogenic microbes found in STD infections such as Chlamydia. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Guiying Nie of Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research in Australia will test whether a peptide inhibitor that has been shown to inhibit protein processing critical to HIV transmission can also be used to prevent embryo implantation in the uterus. If successful, the peptide could be used as a non-hormonal contraceptive delivered as a vaginal application, which also protects against HIV. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Rachel Teitelbaum of Hervana, Ltd. in Israel will develop and test a vaginal formulation that secretes an agent which inhibits sperm motility thus interfering with fertilization. It is hoped that this non-hormonal contraceptive will need only infrequent administration to maintain its effectiveness. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Benson Wamalwa of the University of Nairobi in Kenya will develop and test a vaginal gel that contains zeolite nanoparticles which soak up the fructose present in semen. By “mopping” up the fructose, this gel will rob sperm of the energy needed for motility. If successful, the gel could be used as an inexpensive, non-hormonal contraceptive. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | John Ngai and Scott Laughlin of the University of California, Berkeley in the U.S. seek to identify chemical compounds in the female reproductive system that guide sperm cells to the egg. By characterizing these “odorants,” synthetic versions can be produced and administered to disrupt this navigation system thus inhibiting fertilization. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Gautam Pangu of Vindico NanoBioTechnology Inc. in the U.S. seeks to develop a vaginal gel that uses nano-sacs called polymersomes, which can control the delivery of spermicides as a contraceptive and other sexually transmitted agents. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | William Phillips, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio will test the feasibility of developing a vaginal tablet containing adhesive microcapsules that would adhere to the vaginal wall and release spermicidal agents upon contact with semen as a method for contraception. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Michael Skinner of Washington State University in the U.S. will optimize and test a compound that has been shown to impair the functioning of the Sertoli cell, which enables the production and maturation of sperm. Understanding this compound could lead to the development of a reversible, long-lasting male contraceptive pill. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | James Tsuruta and Paul Dayton of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill will study the ability of therapeutic ultrasound to deplete testicular sperm counts. Characterizing the most beneficial timing and dosage could lead to the development of a low-cost, non-hormonal and reversible method of contraception for men. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Erick Wolf of Innolytics, LLC in the U.S. will test a modified version of a drug currently approved as an anti-protozoal and contraceptive for avians for its ability to alter sperm receptor proteins in mammals. If successful, this drug might be used as an oral, non-hormonal and reversible contraceptive. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | |  Juliana Cassataro of Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET in Argentina will research whether a bacterial protein can function as both a protease inhibitor to protect antigens delivered in an oral vaccine from degradation and also as an adjuvant to stimulate an enhanced mucosal immune response. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Charani Ranasinghe of The Australian National University will test a new vaccine technology that modulates a host cytokine response to HIV vaccines. If successful, this “cytokine trap” technology may also enhance T-cell mediated immunity to other vaccine antigens, such as Tuberculosis. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Sylvia van den Hurk and Sidney Hayes of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada proposes that bacteriophage lambda, a virus that invades bacterial cells and uses the host’s genome to replicate, can be used as a vector to deliver DNA vaccines into targeted cells. Van den Hurk will test this lambda delivery platform its ability to induce long-term systemic and mucosal immune responses. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Carlos Alberto Guzman of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany with Claus-Michael Lehr and Steffi Hansen of the Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research will develop and test a vaccine platform that uses a nanoparticle that mimics pollen, which has been shown to be able to penetrate the skin through hair follicles. The nanoparticle will burst upon contact with human sweat, releasing adjuvants and antigens to deliver a vaccine by targeting dendritic cells that surround hair follicles. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Youngnim Choi of Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea will test whether Fusobacterium nucleatum, a common bacteria often found in human mouths, can be used to deliver antigens to the oral mucosa. This bacteria has the ability to invade epithelial tissues, and Choi hopes to engineer a strain to express a vaccine antigen when given under the tongue to induce both antibody production and a strong cell-mediated immune response. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Giulietta Saletti of the International Vaccine Institute in the Republic of Korea will work to develop an assay test that binds to tissue-specific cell markers to not only measure the concentration of anti-body secreting cells, but also identify which of those cells are targeted to mucosal tissues. If successful, this simple test that requires a small blood sample can be used in low-resource settings to measure mucosal immune responses to vaccines in infants and children. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Vincenzo Casolaro of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the United States will test the ability of a novel synthetic peptide, AT1002, to induce the pathways within the mucosa to increase the delivery of antigens. If successful, this peptide could be used as an adjuvant to increase vaccine effectiveness and lower the costs of delivering vaccines. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Harry Greenberg of Stanford University School of Medicine and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in the U.S. will develop a new assay that evaluates the function and phenotype of plasmablasts in peripheral blood after infection or vaccination. By determining how many of these cells have mucosal-homing receptors, Greenberg believes this new test could provide an accurate measurement of mucosal immune response. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Ann Kurth of New York University in the U.S. will test the hypothesis that eliminating intra-vaginal practices such as douching will allow the return of healthy vaginal flora conditions which includes ideal pH and an intact vaginal mucosa. By restoring and maintaining this healthy environment, Kurth proposes that incidences of pelvic inflammatory disease and HIV infection can be reduced. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | |  Elizabeth Ryan of Colorado State University will screen a diverse, global set of rice varieties to identify bioactive components in the bran that augment mucosal immunity against enteric bacterial pathogens. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Alec Sutherland of Arizona State University in the United States will develop and test a vaccine delivery system that uses Norovirus virus-like particles (VLPs) to deliver desired antigens directly to the gut mucosa. The self-replicating RNA in the VLP will not only encode those antigens, it will also act as an adjuvant by activating several signaling pathways for an enhanced and sustained immune response. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Douglas Watson and colleagues of SRI International will engineer probiotic bacteria that produce Vitamin A to test the hypothesis that these bacteria will stimulate healthy immunity in the GI tract and reduce the impact of diarrheal diseases. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Paul Kelly of Barts & The London School of Medicine and a senior lecturer at the University of Zambia School of Medicine will test the theory that a measured dose of vitamin A (retinoic acid) given with an oral vaccine will enhance immunoglobulin secretions in the gut, thus boosting the mucosal immune response. If successful, vitamin A could be used as an effective adjuvant for oral vaccines that target diarrhea, a leading cause of death among children worldwide. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Gregory Moseley, Stephen Rawlinson and David Jans at Monash University in Australia will engineer a live virus with a self-destruct sequence for use in a vaccine. This virus would be identical to a wild-type virus, but contain destabilizing domains fused to key proteins that can be regulated to first allow the virus to replicate and induce an immune response, and then be destroyed. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) cause diarrhea by producing two distinct enterotoxins that attack intestinal cells. Adrienne Paton and colleagues at the University of Adelaide in Australia propose to develop a harmless probiotic bacterium capable of binding and neutralizing both these enterotoxins by mimicking their respective receptors, thereby preventing disease. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Firdausi QadriI of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDR,B) in Bangladesh proposes that the presence of parasites in the guts of people who receive enteric vaccines diminishes the resulting immune response. Qadril hopes that by providing children with antihelminthic and anti-giardiasis drugs prior to administration of an oral typhoid vaccine, a robust immune response can be mounted. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Chang Liu and Xiaohong Kong of Nankai University in China seek to develop a self-destructive virus vector called HIVi, which will express small interfering RNA to silence HIV in infected cells, and also replicate in a controlled manner to outcompete the HIV infection before turning itself off. The efficacy of HIVi in interfering with HIV will be assessed using a number of standard HIV cell-based assays. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | |  Heribert Warzecha of Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany will develop a peptide that can be reproduced in plants that generate nectar on which mosquitoes feed. This peptide, when ingested by the mosquitoes, interrupts the parasite transmission process in the insect gut, reducing the risk of transmission to humans. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Peter Ngure of Daystar University in Kenya seeks to develop a biological control for sandflies using fungi found in the local soil in Kenya. These entomopathogenic fungi, which attach like parasites onto adult insects and larvae and kill them, will be harvested and cultured to isolate virulent strains that can eradicate sandflies, which are responsible for the spread of visceral leishmaniasis. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Theresa Ochoa of Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru will test whether providing newborns with daily oral supplements of a key milk protein can protect them against sepsis during the critical early days in life. Lactoferrin, the most abundant protein in human and bovine milk, has been shown to have broad-spectrum antimicrobial capabilities, and could provide a new tool to fight neonatal infection and mortality in low-resource settings. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Susanne Nylén Spoormaker of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden will test the theory that chronic parasitic worm infections not only increase susceptibility to certain infections, but also impair the ability of the immune system to respond effectively to vaccines. Spoormaker will research whether treatment of worms prior to vaccination will improve the efficacy of vaccination for Tuberculosis and Leishmanasis. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | David Sintasath of Malaria Consortium in Thailand proposes to treat the traditional scarves worn by migrant workers along the Thai-Cambodia border with insecticides to reduce the overall malaria disease burden. Sintasath will then monitor subsequent infection rates reported by area health facilities, and survey participants to learn more about their knowledge, attitude and use of the treated scarves. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Jasper Ogwal-Okeng of Makerere University in Uganda will test whether the insect-eating plants can reduce the population of mosquitoes and their larvae. Ogwal-Okeng will study optimal numbers and placement of such plants and record subsequent impact on mosquito and larvae populations to further refine this vector control method. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Owain Millington and Gail McConnell of University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom seek to adapt existing imaging systems to provide non-invasive in vivo imaging of Leishmania parasites present in macrophages and dendritic cells, and then use a targeted laser to destroy them. They will also test the hypothesis that targeting these cells for destruction will stimulate protective immunity against future Leishmania parasite infections. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Robert H. Broyles of The Sickle Cell Cure Foundation, Inc. in the U.S. will build on the recent discovery that elevated fetal hemoglobin (HbF), which alleviates sickle cell disease, can also confer malaria resistance. Broyles will test the ability of a stable human protein to reactivate a silent gene that encodes for HbF, makings red blood cells inhospitable to malaria parasites. If successful, the idea is to target the therapy in the host to reduce malaria infections. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Jean-Laurent Casanova of The Rockefeller University in the U.S. seeks to identify single gene mutations that are critical to immunity against bacterial infections. By characterizing these mutations, Casanova could provide insight into a genetic basis for the susceptibility of some children to Tuberculosis, that could inform a recombinant IFN-y drug therapy. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Julie Dunning Hotopp of University of Maryland in the U.S. seeks to identify genes that have been laterally transferred into filarial nematode worm genomes from Wolbachia. Identifying these genes, could provide drug targets to cure neglected tropical diseases such as lymphatic filariasis and river blindness. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Rong Fan of Yale University in the U.S. seeks to develop a microchip to assess the functioning of single T cells. If successful, this technology could be used to evaluate HIV-specific T cell response in future HIV vaccine trials. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Christine Hrycyna and Jean Chmielewski of Purdue University in the U.S. will develop novel dimeric drugs designed to block a key protein in the malaria parasite that limits the accumulation of anti-malarials in the parasite’s digestive system. By inhibiting this protein, this new therapy could eliminate drug resistance in malaria parasites. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Sheng He Huang of Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles in the U.S. will use a bioinformatics approach to study how microbial infections, including HIV, use dynamic processes of symbiosis and pathogenesis to thrive in host cells. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | John Jaenike of the University of Rochester in the U.S. will test the hypothesis that infecting blackflies with the bacteria Spiroplasma could impair the ability to transmit the parasite responsible for River Blindness,and also increase fertility of female flies that can pass along this beneficial bacteria to its offspring. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Sunil Joshi of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in the U.S. will study the efficacy of delivering a non-invasive low-voltage electric wave pulse in the vicinity of lymphoid tissues to stimulate the activation and maturation of dendritic cells. If successful, this would be a method of boost long-term immunity. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Cynthia Kenyon of the University of California, San Francisco in the U.S. seeks to identify a natural viral pathogen that can be used to kill nematodes that cause a wide variety of diseases in humans, most of which disproportionately affect the developing world. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Thomas Lietman of the University of California, San Francisco in the U.S. will use mathematical models and cross-sectional survey data to determine the minimum number of people in a community who need to be treated for trachoma in order to halt transmission of the disease. Determining this core group can eliminate the need for mass antibiotic distribution, which results drug resistance in communities severely affected by this disease that is the leading cause of blindness. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Filippo Mancia of Columbia University in the U.S. will perform crystallization experiments on a key olfactory receptor used by mosquitoes to detect humans. The aim of these studies is to determine at an atomic level the common regions on the olfactory receptor in order to develop drug therapies to block these receptors. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Hironori Matsushima of the University of Toledo in the U.S. will test the hypothesis that adding an antimicrobial peptide to powdered milk products can confer protection against enteric diseases. Research will focus on testing the peptide for its ability to kill pathogens in stomach conditions, and on its ability to maintain integrity through the milk pasteurization and drying processes. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | David Mills of the University of California, Davis in the U.S. will test whether oligosaccharides found in cow’s milk can be used to enrich nutritional strategies of children who have been weaned. While human milk contains oligosaccharides that have been shown protect breast-feeding infants, the older children could benefit from enrichment of intestinal microbiota to prevent intestinal diseases. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Jason Rasgon of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the U.S. will engineer a virus to express a scorpion toxin that kills mosquitoes. After infecting mosquito larvae, the virus will express the killer gene when the insect becomes old enough to reproduce, but not old enough to transmit the malaria parasite. By allowing the mosquito to reproduce, the virus not only will be transmitted vertically to the next generation, but will also significantly slow the evolution of resistance to the gene. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | James Shorter of The University of Pennsylvania in the U.S. will engineer enzymes that disassemble protein fibrils found in semen, which are known to allow for the transmission of HIV infection. The ability to reverse fibril formation could block sexual transmission of HIV and provide a new weapon against the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Kathleen Sienko of the University of Michigan in the U.S. has developed a prototype circumcision tool for use in traditional ceremonies in Africa, and seeks to demonstrate the functionality, cultural suitability, and potential for low-cost mass production of the device. Such a tool could increase the circumcision rates leading to lower rates of HIV transmission in the region. | | | Find Out More... |
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| | | | Todd Sulchek of Georgia Tech and David White of the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. will develop and test the ability of a bi-functional microbead to stimulate the innate immune response. On one hemisphere, the microbead will display targeting antibodies that will bind to pathogens, and on the other hemisphere the microbead will feature Fc fragments that activate the complement system and recruit immune cells to destroy the captured pathogen. | | | Find Out More... |
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