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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 7, 2011, more than 100 researchers were awarded new Grand Challenges Explorations grants. Read more about these below. In addition, nine 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.

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Topic

Date and Grant Round

Grant Phase

Showing Grants 1 to 10 of 108

A Household Yeast Biosensor for Cholera

Primary Investigator:

Virginia Cornish , Columbia University , New York , NY , United States - US

Topic:

Apply Synthetic Biology to Global Health Challenges

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Virginia Cornish and Nili Ostrov at Columbia University in the U.S. propose to engineer baker’s yeast to produce the red tomato pigment lycopene when exposed to the cholera pathogen in drinking water. This safe and simple sensor could be inexpensively manufactured and highly effective for household monitoring of cholera in water by communities at risk for infection.

Cell Phone-Based Iris Recognition Biometric Technology

Primary Investigator:

Eldin Wee Chuan Lim , National University of Singapore , Singapore - SG

Topic:

Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Solutions for Improved Uptake and Coverage of Childhood Vaccinations

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Eldin Wee Chuan Lim of the National University of Singapore will work to develop a cell phone application that converts cell phone camera images of irises into a mathematical algorithm that can be used to identify individuals in health care settings. This program could be used to administer and track immunization programs in developing countries.

Cell Phone-Based Vaccination Program for Stateless Children

Primary Investigator:

Jaranit Kaewkungwal , Mahidol University , Bangkok , Thailand - TH

Topic:

Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Solutions for Improved Uptake and Coverage of Childhood Vaccinations

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Jaranit Kaewkungwal of Mahidol University in Thailand proposes to develop a phone-to-phone application that will transmit photo and name pronunciation information among health care workers to help achieve vaccination targets among stateless hill-tribal children in Thailand. The application could be expanded to include maternal healthcare and childhood diseases and nutrition.

Comprehensive Vaccination Service Delivery Model

Primary Investigator:

Rustam Nabiev , Karolinska University Hospital , Stockholm , Sweden - SE

Topic:

Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Solutions for Improved Uptake and Coverage of Childhood Vaccinations

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Rustam Nabiev of the Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden will develop a vaccination delivery model that employs an application tool to be used with cell phones and a clinical decision support system to better coordinate vaccination programs in rural communities in Uganda. The goal is to use mobile devices to increase communication and enable better planning among the vital stakeholders in immunization efforts – which are families, community leaders, and health care workers.

FINGO: Vaccination Coverage Estimation and Outreach using Geolocation and Biometrics

Primary Investigator:

Adithya Vasudevan , CHANGE , Manipal , India - IN

Topic:

Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Solutions for Improved Uptake and Coverage of Childhood Vaccinations

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Adithya Vasudevan of CHANGE in India will develop and test an application that uses low-cost fingerprint identification technology and GPS technology on mobile devices to identify, locate, and immunize children who have not received vaccinations for high-priority preventable diseases.

Footprint Recognition to Support Childhood Vaccination

Primary Investigator:

Stephen Davis , Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology , Melbourne , Australia - AU

Topic:

Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Solutions for Improved Uptake and Coverage of Childhood Vaccinations

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Stephen Davis of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia will collect footprints from infants at 0, 2 and 6 months of age to test whether the spatial patterns produced by ridge lines and creases stay unique and constant despite the physical growth of the footprint. These footprints could be captured using low-tech mobile phone cameras to provide a biometric identification system for use in immunization programs.

ImmuNet: Targeted Immunization for Infants and Children

Primary Investigator:

Elizabeth Belding , University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara , CA , United States - US

Topic:

Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Solutions for Improved Uptake and Coverage of Childhood Vaccinations

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Elizabeth Belding and Amr El Abbadi of the University of California at Santa Barbara in the U.S. will develop and test a low-cost cellular architecture with an integrated information system that can track an individual’s immunization status, disseminate vaccine-related information, and track at-risk populations.

Low Cost Method for Automating Vaccination Records, Patient Identification, and Improving Vaccine Safety

Primary Investigator:

Richard Fletcher , Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge , MA , United States - US

Topic:

Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Solutions for Improved Uptake and Coverage of Childhood Vaccinations

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Richard Fletcher of Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health in the U.S., in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is developing a cell phone system that can aid in vaccination campaigns in developing countries. Cell phone cameras will capture images of hand vein patterns for biometric patient identification, tagging it via GPS to store vaccination location information, and cameras will also scan temperature indicator labels on doses to assess the quality and expiration of the vaccine.

A Human Endogenous Retrovirus Vaccine to Eliminate Latent HIV

Primary Investigator:

Mario Ostrowski , University of Toronto , Toronto , Ontario , Canada - CA

Topic:

Design New Approaches to Cure HIV Infection

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Mario Ostrowski of the University of Toronto in Canada will test the theory that alterations of host cells by HIV might also activate human endogenous retroviruses in the same cells. Ostrowski will express antigens of an endogenous retrovirus to study whether they might also mark HIV infected cells, providing a basis for the development of a new HIV vaccine.

Activation of Latent HIV by Cyclic Analogues of Tat

Primary Investigator:

Russell Poulter , University of Otago , Dunedin , New Zealand - NZ

Topic:

Design New Approaches to Cure HIV Infection

Round:

Round 7 – November 2011

Phase:

Phase I

Russell Poulter of the University of Otago in New Zealand will use a microbial biosynthesis platform to develop cyclic analogues of the viral protein Tat, which is major regulator of HIV transcription, and test their ability to activate latent HIV. The reactivated HIV would be susceptible to retroviral therapies enabling comprehensive killing of HIV infected cells.

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