$8.1 M in new grants from Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) initiative.

press release

May 21, 2013, SEATTLE –

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced more than US $8.1 million in new grants through its Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) initiative.

GCE is a phased grant program that funds innovative ideas to tackle key global health and development problems, and provides additional resources for projects that demonstrate promise.
Fifty-eight projects from 18 countries will receive $100,000 grants.
These grants allow researchers to begin testing bold global health and development projects that could transform the lives of those most in need. Included in today’s announcement is a group of grantees working to develop “Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers” to find holistic solutions that will boost productivity of smallholder farmers, including:

• Solar-powered Grain Drier:  Vaibhav Tidke of Institute of Chemical Technology in India will work to develop a mobile, solar-powered grain drier that would double the storage life of harvested crops to reduce spoilage and significantly reduce the time women spend working in the fields.
• Multi-crop Thresher: Jodie Wu, D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellow and CEO of Global Cycle Solutions in Tanzania, is working to develop a multi-crop thresher that would enable smallholder farmers to thresh crops in a fast and affordable way, saving hours of manual labor.  The thresher works without electricity and allows smallholder farmers to significantly reduce harvest loss.
• Drip Irrigation Tubes from Recycled Bags: Dr. Joseph Parse of Synovision Solutions in the United States will develop equipment to recycle plastic shopping bags into drip irrigation tubing for smallholder farmers in developing countries.  The design of the manually powered equipment will allow the tubing to be produced in developing countries by relatively low-tech facilities.

“The impressive concepts from around the world that are part of the Grand Challenges Explorations initiative are pushing the envelope when it comes to innovation to tackle ongoing challenges for the poor using approaches ranging from agricultural development to communications for social good,” said Chris Wilson, director of Global Health Discovery &Translational Sciences at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  “We expect this increasing diversity of novel approaches to foster interventions that will save and improve lives.”

In partnership with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a second round of grantees will be funded for research focused on the “Aid is Working. Tell the World” topic. The goal of this topic is to identify revolutionary approaches to communications that could motivate the public in wealthy countries of the world to support foreign aid investments. Projects include:

• BeHere-BeThere Project: Christoph Nann of Serviceplan in Germany will test a simple method for raising awareness of development projects in developing countries using location-based network applications such as Foursquare, in collaboration with local retail partners, to connect consumers to projects.
• Mobileizing the Unheard Voices of Aid Recipients: Arjun Venkatraman of Environics Trust in India and colleagues will use an Interactive Voice Response system to collect 10,000 personal narratives of the impact of aid programs in rural India and share them through social media channels.
• Hactivating Development Aid: Charlotte Obidairo and team from Coxswain Social Investment plus in Tunisia will develop a crowdsourcing program that engages young people around the world to learn about global development challenges through first-person narratives, and offer solutions to real-life challenges identified by their peers

Following promising results from initial GCE grants made earlier, four projects were awarded additional funding. These projects take a variety of approaches that could contribute improved health and development including:

• Vaginal Gel to Inhibit Sperm Mobility: David Clapham of Boston Children’s Hospital in the United States will develop and test a nanoparticle contraceptive that releases sperm tail inhibitors that could be incorporated into a vaginal gel as a low-cost contraceptive.
• Acoustical Newborn Diagnosis Tool:  Chakib Tadj of École de Technologie Supérieure in Canada will design a software-based diagnostic tool using acoustical analysis of newborn cries to detect serious medical conditions such as heart defects and infections.
• Heat Stable Vaccines: Fasséli Coulibaly of Monash University in Australia will design a vaccine platform based on protein crystals (MicroCubes) produced by insect viruses to produce new and more potent vaccines with increased heat stability, reducing the need for refrigerated storage.
• Blood Protein Test for Preeclampsia:  Guiying Nie and colleagues of Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research in Australia will test the utility of measuring blood proteins for the early diagnosis of preeclampsia, which is a serious disorder of human pregnancy. Early diagnosis would help guide interventions to avoid premature delivery and associated risks.

A full list [with descriptions] of GCE projects and grant recipients can be found here. [List of 58 without details is provided below] Applications for the next round of Grand Challenges Explorations will be accepted beginning in September 2013. For email updates with the latest grant opportunities for Grand Challenges in Global Health and for Grand Challenges Explorations, sign-up here.

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About Grand Challenges Explorations

is a US$100 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Launched in 2008, more than 850 projects in more than 50 countries have received Grand Challenges Explorations grants. The grant program is open to anyone from any discipline and from any organization. The initiative uses an agile, accelerated grant-making process with a two-page online application and no preliminary data required. Initial grants of US$100,000 are awarded two times a year. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to US$1 million.

About Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation  206-709-3400

media@gatesfoundation.org follow @GatesPress

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List of 58 projects

(for descriptions and more …)

 

A Fortified School Meal Product to Deworm School Children
Primary Investigator:
Elijah Songok, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya – KE
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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A Small Animal Model Of Onchocerciasis
Primary Investigator:
Joseph Turner, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom – GB
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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A Small Animal Model to Validate Onchocerca Macrofilaricides
Primary Investigator:
Warwick Grant, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia – AU
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical

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DiseasesAccurate, Accelerated, and Affordable Kit to predict Preterm Birth and Postpartum Recovery
Primary Investigator:
Ashish Ganguly, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India – IN
Topic: Explore New Solutions in Global Health Priority AreasBeHere-BeThere Project
Primary Investigator:
Christoph Nann, Serviceplan, Hamburg, Germany – DE
Topic: Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

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Cause Generation: A Platform to Define a Generation’s Cause
Primary Investigator:
Tony Morain, Ogilvy, San Francisco, CA, United States – US
Topic: Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

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Cheap Yeast-Based Efficient Screens For Antifilarial Drugs
Primary Investigator:
Stephen Oliver, The University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom – GB
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Chimeric Nematode Models for Anthelmintic Discovery
Primary Investigator:
Richard Komuniecki, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Dawadawa Therapy For Intestinal Helminthic Infections
Primary Investigator:
Michael Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China – CN
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Delivery of New Drugs Into Parasitic Nematodes
Primary Investigator:
Stephen Miller, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worchester, MA, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Designing an Agricultural Implement Microfranchise for Women
Primary Investigator:
Patrice Martin, IDEO.org, San Francisco, CA, United States – US
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Evolutionary Learning Laboratory for Labor Saving Innovation
Primary Investigator:
Ockie Bosch, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia – AU
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Farmer-Led 3D Prototyping for New Labor Saving Agri-Tools
Primary Investigator:
Charles Spillane, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland – IE
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Foodborne Disease Treatments
Primary Investigator:
Aaron Maule, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom – GB
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Hactivating Development Aid
Primary Investigator:
Charlotte Obidairo, Coxswain Social Investment plus, Tunis, Tunisia – TN
Topic: Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

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Hand-Operated Seed Cleaner for Ugandan Women Farmer Groups
Primary Investigator:
Margaret Smith, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States – US
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Hand-Powered Millet Processing Suite Viability
Primary Investigator:
Bert Rivers, Compatible Technology International, St. Paul, MN, United States – US
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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HMKD (humankind)
Primary Investigator:
Eric King, Leo Burnett, Chicago, IL, United States – US
Topic: Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

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House Parties: Experiential Marketing for Global Aid
Primary Investigator:
Chip Carter, Plan International USA, Washington, DC, United States – US
Topic: Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

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Improved Lighter and Long-Handle Hoes For Women
Primary Investigator:
Ton Rulkens, Oxfam Solidarité, Brussels, Belgium – BE
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Improving the Livelihood Of Women Smallholder Farmers
Primary Investigator:
Tomás Chiconela, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique – MZ
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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In Vitro Culture of Filariae
Primary Investigator:
Edward Mitre, Uniformed Services University, Rockville, MD, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Increasing Productivity for and by Women Smallholder Farmers
Primary Investigator:
Alice Irene Whittaker-Cumming, African Women Education and Development Forum, Woodbridge, VA, United States – US
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Inhibitors of tRNA-Synthetases as Antimalarials
Primary Investigator:
Ralph Mazitschek, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-malarial Compounds

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Innovative 3D In Vitro Culturing System for Filarial Worms
Primary Investigator:
Sara Lustigman, New York Blood Center, New York, NY, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Interrogating AntiMalarials Using Optogenetics Technology
Primary Investigator:
Choukri Ben Mamoun, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-malarial Compounds

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Liver-Stage Antimalarials to Drive Sterile Immunity
Primary Investigator:
Kirsten Hanson, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisboa, Portugal – PT
Topic: New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-malarial Compounds

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Local Multi-Crop Thresher to Improve Productivity for All
Primary Investigator:
Jodie Wu, GCS Tanzania Limited, Arusha, Tanzania, United Republic of – TZ
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Locally Produced Drip Irrigation Tubing from Recycled Waste
Primary Investigator:
Joseph Parse, Synovision Solutions, LLC, Burke, VA, United States – US
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Locally Produced, Labor Saving Groundnut Sheller Promotion
Primary Investigator:
Setegn Gebeyehu, Oxfam America, Boston, MA, United States – US
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Lymphatic on a Chip as a Model Host for Lymphatic Filariasis Parasites
Primary Investigator:
J. Brandon Dixon, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Malaria Box Target and Mechanism Characterization
Primary Investigator:
Gregory Goldgof, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-malarial Compounds

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Media Trust: Global360
Primary Investigator:
Caroline Diehl, Media Trust, London, United Kingdom – GB
Topic: Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

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MicroRNA Biomarkers for Parasite Macrofilariae
Primary Investigator:
Paul McVeigh, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom – GB
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Mobilizing the Unheard Voices of Aid Recipients
Primary Investigator:
Arjun Venkatraman, Environics Trust, New Delhi, India – IN
Topic: Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

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Neobreathe
Primary Investigator:
Avijit Bansal, Windmill Health Technologies, New Delhi, India – IN
Topic: Explore New Solutions in Global Health Priority Areas

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Neurophysiology-Based Platform for Soil-Transmitted Helminth Drug Discovery
Primary Investigator:
Janis Weeks, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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No-Till Rotary Punch Planter For Women
Primary Investigator:
August Basson, KEL Growing Nations Trust, Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho – LS
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Participatory Neglected Tropical Disease Detection and Response System
Primary Investigator:
Bebe Sylla, American Friends of Guinea, Houston, TX, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Pay As You Go Biogas: Labor Saving and Affordable for Women
Primary Investigator:
Kyle Schutter, Schutter Energy Ltd., Nairobi, Kenya – KE
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Piloting Sustainable Mechanisms for Fuel Efficient Stoves
Primary Investigator:
John Gilliland, Vita, Dublin, Ireland – IE
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Profiling Anti-Malarials for Loss of Efficacy in Endemic Regions
Primary Investigator:
Sangeeta Bhatia, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-malarial Compounds

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Programmed Killing of Parasite Eggs by Probiotic Organisms
Primary Investigator:
Tae Seok Moon, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Radio8
Primary Investigator:
Mark Bashore, Digital Kitchen, Seattle, WA, United States – US
Topic: Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

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Rapid, Low-Cost, Point-of-Care Diagnosis of Loa loa Microfilaremia by Handheld Fluorescence Photodetection
Primary Investigator:
Jason Andrews, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases
Round:

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Reducing Women’s Labor In Parboiled Rice Transformation
Primary Investigator:
Karime Séré, Fundación Intermon Oxfam, Barcelona, Spain – ES
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Rural Mobility and Agro-Products Collection Centers
Primary Investigator:
Richard Seshie, Vivus Ltd., Accra, Ghana – GH
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Single Dose Cocktail Anti-Filarial Therapies Using AmPa
Primary Investigator:
Bryan Bellaire, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Smart Cities: An Interactive Multi-Media and Mapping Platform
Primary Investigator:
Jamie Lundine, Spatial Collective, Nairobi, Kenya – KE
Topic: Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

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Solar Grain Dryer
Primary Investigator:
Vaibhav Tidke, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India – IN
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Supporting Uptake of Time and Energy-Saving Technologies
Primary Investigator:
Michelle Winthrop, Farm Africa (Food & Agricultural Research Management), London, United Kingdom – GB
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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TB Nanodots: Transdermal Controlled Release of TB Drugs
Primary Investigator:
Rohit Srivastava, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, India – IN
Topic: Explore New Solutions in Global Health Priority Areas

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The Development of Periphyton Biofilm Fertilizer
Primary Investigator:
Yonghong Wu, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China – CN
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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The Hand-Pulled Small Seeds Planter
Primary Investigator:
Alfred Alumai, Muni University, Arua, Uganda – UG
Topic: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

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Turning the Worm Against its Symbiont
Primary Investigator:
Denis Voronin, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom – GB
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Ultra-Low-Cost Loa Loa Paper Diagnostic Device
Primary Investigator:
Andrew Steckl, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States – US
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

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Virosomes Producing Virus-Like Particles in situ for Dengue Prophylaxis
Primary Investigator:
Vishwas Joshi, Seagull BioSolutions, Pune, India – IN
Topic: Explore New Solutions in Global Health Priority Areas

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Widespread Monitoring of Soil-Transmitted Helminths
Primary Investigator:
Stephen Sowerby, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand – NZ
Topic: New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases

Brian Arbogast to Lead Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Program: Announcement by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

press release 206-709-3400  media@gatesfoundation.org 

SEATTLE — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced that Brian Arbogast has been named director of the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene program. He will start work at the foundation on May 13, 2013.

“Brian has more than 20 years of experience leading teams around the world. He is well equipped to drive an innovative program that is helping bring sanitation services to people in developing countries,” said Chris Elias, president of Global Development at the foundation.

Arbogast was previously with Microsoft Corporation. Most recently, he concentrated in cleantech and international development to drive market solutions that address the world’s most pressing challenges. He served as a Senior Advisor with The Boston Consulting Group and as a board member of the Northwest Energy Angels. He is a founding board member of Progress Alliance of Washington. He has served on the board of Water1st International and as a senior advisor to Upaya Social Ventures.

Arbogast received his Bachelor of Mathematics in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and a Certificate in Sustainable Business from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute.

Linkedin profile

About  The Water, Sanitation & Hygiene program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Water, Sanitation & Hygiene program focuses on the development of tools and technologies that can lead to radical and sustainable improvements in sanitation in the developing world. Although we support some clean water and hygiene projects, sanitation is our top priority because we have identified it as a neglected area in which we can spur significant change.

A sanitation facility in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, that was built by a public-private partnership to improve urban sanitation.

Because the innovations we support can be most immediately valuable in densely populated areas, our main focus is on urban sanitation and the public policies that can support new sanitation delivery models in cities. Our priorities include identifying and testing delivery models that governments and the private sector can use to extend quality service to all residents of a city, not just those in wealthier neighborhoods. Ultimately, improved sanitation will be a key to ensuring healthy, sustainable cities in the developing world, and the approaches that prove successful can then be adapted and extended to rural communities.

Our strategy to build global demand for better sanitation also includes efforts to end open defecation in rural areas and to implement improved measures for collecting waste, removing pathogens from waste streams, and recovering valuable resources and energy.”   source / more…

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people-especially those with the fewest resources-have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

source : press release  & foundation site. Photo is from Northwest Energy Angels site

Revolutionizing Sanitation in Developing Nations: Yu-Ling Cheng at TEDxYouth@Toronto

Dr. Yu-Ling Cheng delivers a great overview of the current state of sanitatio and gives an over of her current efforts.  She speaks of how she came to understand  it to be essential to be part of the sanitation solution.   She is addressing a group of student  on the cusp of pick paths to travel starting colleges.  She delivers a message that will ring true many regardless of age and path now traveling.

Dr. Yu-Ling Cheng is the Director of the Centre for Global Engineering  (CGEN) and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University  Of  Toronto. CGEN was established in 2009 to be the focal point and major driver in preparing engineering graduates to meet challenges, responsibilities and opportunities in a globally sustainable future. Under her leadership, CGEN is developing new courses and academic programs in global engineering. She also leads new global engineering research initiatives, most notably a project under the “Re-invent the Toilet” challenge posed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Aside from her interests in global engineering, Professor Cheng’s research interests have centered around drug delivery, and the understanding of transport processes in polymeric and physiologic systems. She is a member the Teaching Academy, the highest honour for teaching at the University of Toronto. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Academics Without Borders, an NGO whose mission is to enhance higher education capacity in developing countries.

source for text is directly from : about Yu-Ling 

additional source about Yu-Ling

Related Links

• Professor Yu-Ling Cheng Discusses the Toilet Challenge (on Vimeo)
• A look at the prototype of the device Yu-Ling team is working on (youtube)
• University of Toronto awarded $2.2 million grant for toilet research
• TEDxAmsterdamWomen Anjali Sarker – Toilet+ overcoming my childhood fear TEDX event (washlink.wordpress.com)
• Canadian engineer helping reinvent the toilet (sunnewsnetwork.ca)

For all things SWASH: a great new site: WASH in School (WATER SANITATION HYGIENE)

There is a new site one should add to your collection of WATSAN SWASH WASH resources.

http://www.washinschools.info/

The purpose

“It serves as a discussion forum and an information exchange platform for sector professionals working in the field of WASH in Schools. The web site also aims to provide the opportunity for WASH in Schools Partnership members to share information on their events and programme activities linked to the Call to Action Campaign -which started in 2010- or beyond.”

Partnership behind SWASH+consortium

The partners that form the SWASH+ consortium are CARE, Emory University, the Great Lakes University of Kisumu, the Government of Kenya, and Water.org. SWASH+ is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Water Challenge.

SITE overview

(hover over items for description)

• SWASH+
• Call to Action
• Question & Answer Service
• Search the WASH Library
• Resources
• Case studies
• Participating
• Events
• Notes and News
• About WASH in Schools

Related articles

• SWASH+ Website Launch – 6 Years of School WASH Research Have Come Together! (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
• 6 years of school WASH research have come together! (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
• Kenya – WASH in Schools Lessons Learned (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)

Bill Gates Names Winners of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge

Loughbourough Portotype (Photo credit: Gates Foundation)

Bill Gates with a researcher from California Institute of Technology at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle on August 14, 2012. (Photo credit: Gates Foundation)

Bill Gates with a researcher from the University of Toronto at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair (Photo credit: Gates Foundation)

“Next-generation” toilets showcased at Gates Foundation offer innovative sanitation solutions that can save and improve lives around the world

SEATTLE, (August 14, 2012) /PRNewswire/ — Bill Gates today announced the winners of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge—an effort to develop “next-generation” toilets that will deliver safe and sustainable sanitation to the 2.5 billion people worldwide who don’t have it. The awards recognize researchers from leading universities who are developing innovative ways to manage human waste, which will help improve the health and lives of people around the world.

California Institute of Technology in the United States received the $100,000 first prize for designing a solar-powered toilet that generates hydrogen and electricity. Loughborough University in the United Kingdom won the $60,000 second place prize for a toilet that produces biological charcoal, minerals, and clean water. University of Toronto in Canada won the third place prize of $40,000 for a toilet that sanitizes feces and urine and recovers resources and clean water. Special recognition and $40,000 went to Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) and EOOS for their outstanding design of a toilet user interface.

One year ago, the foundation issued a challenge to universities to design toilets that can capture and process human waste without piped water, sewer or electrical connections, and transform human waste into useful resources, such as energy and water, at an affordable price.

The first, second, and third place winning prototypes were recognized for most closely matching the criteria presented in the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge.

Teams are showcasing their prototypes and projects at a two-day event held at the foundation’s headquarters in Seattle on August 14 and 15. The Reinvent the Toilet Fair is bringing together participants from 29 countries, including researchers, designers, investors, advocates, and representatives of the communities who will ultimately adopt these new inventions.

“Innovative solutions change people’s lives for the better,” said foundation Co-chair Bill Gates. “If we apply creative thinking to everyday challenges, such as dealing with human waste, we can fix some of the world’s toughest problems.”

Unsafe methods to capture and treat human waste result in serious health problems and death. Food and water tainted with fecal matter result in 1.5 million child deaths every year. Most of these deaths could be prevented with the introduction of proper sanitation, along with safe drinking water and improved hygiene.

Improving access to sanitation can also bring substantial economic benefits. According to the World Health Organization, improved sanitation delivers up to $9 in social and economic benefits for every $1 invested because it increases productivity, reduces healthcare costs, and prevents illness, disability, and early death.

Other projects featured at the fair include better ways to empty latrines, user-centered designs for public toilet facilities, and insect-based latrines that decompose feces faster.

“Imagine what’s possible if we continue to collaborate, stimulate new investment in this sector, and apply our ingenuity in the years ahead,” said Gates. “Many of these innovations will not only revolutionize sanitation in the developing world, but also help transform our dependence on traditional flush toilets in wealthy nations.”

Gates added: “All the participants are united by a common desire to create a better world – a world where no child dies needlessly from a lack of safe sanitation and where all people can live healthy, dignified lives.”

The Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WSH) initiative is part of the foundation’s Global Development Program, which addresses issues such as agricultural development and financial services—problems that affect the world’s poorest people but do not receive adequate attention. WSH has committed more than $370 million to this area, with a focus on developing sustainable sanitation services that work for everyone, including the poor.

The foundation also announced a second round of Reinvent the Toilet Challenge grants totaling nearly $3.4 million. The grants were awarded to: Cranfield University (United Kingdom); Eram Scientific Solutions Private Limited (India); Research Triangle Institute (United States); and the University of Colorado Boulder (United States).

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Editor’s Notes:

Reinvent the Toilet Challenge Round 2 Winners

Cranfield University
This nearly $810,000 grant will help develop a prototype toilet that removes water from human waste and vaporizes it using a hand-operated vacuum pump and a unique membrane system. The remaining solids are turned into fuel that can also be used as fertilizer. The water vapor is condensed and can be used for washing, or irrigation.
Contact: Fiona Siebrits/ +44 (0) 1234 758040 / f.c.siebrits@cranfield.ac.uk

Eram Scientific Solutions Private Limited
A grant of more than $450,000 will make public toilets more accessible to the urban poor via the eco-friendly and hygienic “eToilet.”
Contact: Miss Ria John / +0471 4062125 / riajohn@eramscientific.com

Research Triangle Institute
This $1.3 million grant will fund the development of a self-contained toilet system that disinfects liquid waste and turns solid waste into fuel or electricity through a revolutionary new biomass energy conversion unit.
Contact: Lisa Bistreich-Wolfe / +1 919.316.3596 / lbistreich@rti.org

Universcity of Colorado Boulder
A nearly $780,000 grant will help develop a solar toilet that uses concentrated sunlight, directed and focused with a solar dish and concentrator, to disinfect liquid-solid waste and produce biological charcoal (biochar) that can be used as a replacement for wood charcoal or chemical fertilizers.
Contact: Karl Linden / +1 303 302 0188/ Carol Rowe / +1 303 492 7426 / Carol.Rowe@colorado.edu

For photos, b-roll, and additional information, please visit our Newsmarket site.

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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health with vaccines and other lifesaving tools and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to significantly improve education so that all young people have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. To learn more, visit www.gatesfoundation.org. You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and our blog www.impatientoptimists.org.

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source of all materials http://www.multivu.com/mnr/49395-bill-gates-names-winners-of-the-reinvent-the-toilet-challenge

 

 

Louis Boorstin, deputy director of water, sanitation & hygiene at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks about lessons learned in tackling the global sanitation crisis.

2.5 billion people need toilets. Louis Boorstin, Stanford MBA’87 , deputy director of water, sanitation and hygiene at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,  speaks about lessons learned in tackling the global sanitation crisis. This includes the ideas: “work at scale – don’t scale up”

Related Links:
Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:

• Impatient Optimist posts by Louis Boorstin

Stanford Center for Social Innovation
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Louis Boorstin Responds to Acumen Fund’s Lesson #8 – Governments rarely invent solutions, but they can scale what works

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YouTube page is source for most details

The Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation supports joint project by Swiss aquatic research institute and South African water utility

Urine as a Commercial Fertilizer?

14 October 2010 – press release reprint

In Eawag’s laboratory, process engineer Kai Udert carries out research on various reactors to separate nutrients and contaminants out of urine

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supports joint project by Swiss aquatic research institute and South African water utility

The separate collection of urine provides innovative opportunities for the improvement of sanitation and the recycling of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Urine separation is an excellent sanitation solution, particularly in places where classic sewer-based sanitation is not sustainable. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is providing a grant of 3.0 million US dollars to support a joint project by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) and the eThekwini Water and Sanitation utility (EWS) in South Africa to continue developing practical, community-scale nutrient recovery systems.

The project, covering a period of four years, focuses on the further development of technical solutions for urine processing for nutrient recovery. In addition, project participants, together with experts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, will study the logistics of collection and transport of urine from toilets to processing facilities. The Swiss aquatic research scientists and their partners in South Africa will also examine ways in which sanitation can be paid for by the production and sale of urine-based fertiliser, thus enabling a cheap, efficient and widely-accepted sanitation system to be set up.

Alternatives are urgently needed

There is a growing awareness that in many parts of the world an alternative is needed for the conventional sewer-based sanitation and central wastewater treatment system – if only for the reason that not enough water is available for drinking, let alone to be used for flushing. There is a pressing need to reduce the number of people with no access to basic sanitary facilities and safe drinking water, as required by the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As well as endangering people’s health, inadequate disposal of faecal material poses a risk to the drinking water supply and contaminates the natural environment. Last but not least, the global demand for fertiliser is so great that interest in local sources of nutrients is growing.

Successful preparatory work in Nepal

Eawag has many years of experience in the research of urine separation, also known as NoMix technology, and in 2007 completed the transdisciplinary Novaquatis project. Since then, Eawag’s project in Siddhipur near Kathmandu, Nepal, has demonstrated that urine processed to make the phosphorus-based fertiliser struvite can help to close regional nutrient cycles and promote awareness of the value of the nutrients contained in urine. Farmers participating in the scheme also benefit since they do not need to buy as much imported chemical fertiliser (www.eawag.ch/stun). «This experience plus the collaboration with an extremely progressive administrative department in Durban were important reasons for developing our project in South Africa for the next four years», says process engineer Kai Udert, who is the Eawag researcher in charge of the South Africa project.

Collaboration with an innovative water authority

Eawag can count on a forward-looking partner in the South African eThekwini region around Durban, since they have already carried out important pioneering work in the field of sanitation. EWS has been promoting urine-diverting dry toilets since 2002 and there are already around 90,000 such toilets in use. However, urine is simply soaked into the ground, which could create new problems in the longer term. A simple, combined system for nutrient recycling from urine will be developed . This will reduce the costs of sanitation, prevent pollution of water resources and produce fertiliser for the local market. «That’s a completely new way of thinking and not just a small step on an already well-trodden path», says Kai Udert.

More information: Dr. Kai Udert, Telephone +41 44 823 5360

Yale School of Medicine gets $1.8 million from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for oral rehydration solution ( ORS) study

New Haven, Conn. —  http://media-newswire.com/release_1100879.html

To improve treatment of acute diarrhea, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently gave a two-year, $1.8 million grant to the Yale School of Medicine to design clinical trials to test the effectiveness of a major modification of oral rehydration solution ( ORS ) in the treatment of acute diarrhea in children in developing countries.

After working together on various aspects of this project for more than 15 years, a team of scientists — Dr. Henry J. Binder, professor of medicine and of cellular and molecular physiology at Yale, and his two collaborators Dr. B.S. Ramakrishna, professor of gastroenterology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, India, and Professor Graeme P. Young, head of the Flinders Centre for Cancer Prevention and Control, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia — have proposed a modified ORS, based on the addition of a starch that reduces fluid loss.

“The development of ORS to treat diarrhea more than three decades ago has been considered one of the most important milestones in therapeutics during the last century,” says Binder. But although oral rehydration therapy has been responsible for a substantial reduction in infant mortality in the developing world, Binder says, “It is not used as much as it should be for many reasons, including the failure of mothers and caregivers to appreciate its effectiveness. Although ORS corrects dehydration, it does not reduce diarrhea.”

Since diarrhea can be caused by bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, an improvement in current therapies will have far-reaching impact, say the scientists. The primary objectives of this two-year planning grant are to establish a network of sites to collaborate in a series of clinical trials in developing countries, and to identify the most effective starch to be used in these trials.

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London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine wins 2009 annual Gates Award for Global Health

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine wins 2009 annual Gates Award for Global HealthTV footage and radio feed available to download – please see notes at end of this release The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has won the Gates Award for Global Health, and will receive $1 million in prize money.The award was established by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to recognise organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to improving global health, especially in resource-poor settings. The winners are chosen by a jury of international health leaders from more than 100 nominations from around the world, and the award is administered by the Global Health Council. The School is both the first academic institution to win the award and the first British winner.

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

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More at source: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/news/2009/gatesaward.html

source for all content:  London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

‘For more than a century, the London School has trained the some of the world’s most outstanding public health leaders’, said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation’s global health program. ‘The School’s commitment to leadership and cutting-edge research has made an immeasurable contribution to health in developing countries’.

Professor Sir Andrew Haines, Director of LSHTM, comments: ‘This award is excellent news for the School and a testament to the hard work, commitment and expertise of our staff and students.

‘We are delighted and proud to be honoured for the work we do which includes researching diseases that particularly afflict disadvantaged people around the world – such as malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS but also increasingly cancer, cardiovascular disease and mental disorders. Equally important is our work to build health systems and train health personnel in low income and post-conflict countries.

‘This award could not have come at a better time for us as it coincides with plans to expand the School’s popular distance learning programme. This programme has helped many talented people around the world to acquire the skills and expertise they need to improve public health. The prize money will enable us to extend that opportunity to many more through development of new courses and provision of scholarships’.

With its outstanding performance in the universities’ 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (a national exercise to evaluate the quality of research in all UK higher education institutions) and its flourishing teaching programmes, the School is a leading institution in the United Kingdom and worldwide for research and postgraduate education in global health. There are 3,500 postgraduate students from around 120 countries studying in London or by distance learning. Staff are involved in research collaborations in more than 100 countries. The School has a strong commitment to supporting the development of teaching and research capacity in low-income countries, with staff currently based at sites in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Sir Andrew will receive the award on behalf of the School in Washington, D.C., United States, at a special ceremony during the Global Health Council’s Annual International Conference on Global Health on 28 May 2009.

Ends.

For further information, or to interview Sir Andrew Haines, please contact Lindsay Wright or Gemma Howe at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Press Office on lindsay.wright@lshtm.ac.uk or gemma.howe@lshtm.ac.uk or +44 (0) 207 927 2073/2802