The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced the latest Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) grant recipients. Grand Challenges Explorations grant program funds early-stage discovery, awarding initial grants of US $100,000 and potential follow-on grants of up to US $1 million. Grants target an expanding set of topics.
The 59 winners from 16 countries were selected in a blinded and champion-based review process from an applicant pool of over 1,100 applicants from 91 countries. The awarded projects were selected for their creative and innovative approach and clear relevance to the challenge.
The projects have received $100,000 USD and 18 months to achieve proof of concept with their idea. Successful projects may apply for up to $1 million USD over two years to continue to refine and test their ideas.
- Anika Kinkhabwala of EpiBiome in the U.S. will use bacteriophage that target virulence structures on pathogenic bacteria such as enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC). This will test the hypothesis that bacteria would need to mutate their virulence structures to avoid bacteriophage predation, resulting in decreased virulence factors and making them less harmful to their human hosts.
- Chris Locke of Caribou Digital (UK) Ltd. in the United Kingdom will develop applications for smart phone users in developing countries to allow them to provide anonymous data to donors and governments for use in understanding phone-based activities, including digital financial transactions.
- Pavan Dadlani of Phillips Research in The Netherlands will create a handheld three-dimensional scanner that can automatically analyze body shape and assess malnutrition in young children, a strong risk factor for mortality associated with a variety of common diseases.
- Heverton Dutra of Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, FIOCRUZ in Brazil will develop an artificial diet based on protein and fat to replace the animal blood currently used to feed mosquitoes bred in large numbers for use in insect replacement technologies, such as those infected with the Wolbachia bacteria.
- Brandyce St. Laurent of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. will test whether tents baited with cows, a preferred feeding source for Anopheles mosquitos, can be used to monitor and control disease-causing mosquitoes in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
- Geraldine O’Keeffe of Software Group KE Ltd. in Kenya will work to standardize mobile money acceptance by developing a smartphone application that serves as a single system for smaller merchants to receive mobile money from customers with different providers.
Grand Challenges Explorations is a $100 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Launched in 2008, over 1,160 projects in more than 60 countries have received GCE grants. The program is open to anyone from any discipline or organization. The initiative uses an agile, accelerated grant-making process with short two-page online applications and no preliminary data required. Initial grants of $100,000 are awarded twice a year. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million
