SEATTLE, April 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –The Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation today announced 88 new winners of US$100,000 each
to support innovative research that has the potential to
dramatically improve lives in some of the world’s poorest
countries. The funding, made possible through the Grand Challenges
Exploration (GCE) program, will enable researchers worldwide to
test unorthodox ideas that address persistent health and
development challenges.
“One bold idea is all it takes to catalyze new approaches to
global health and development,” said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of
Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Despite the progress in global health and development, we
vitally need creative ideas to discover and deliver life-saving
vaccines, eradicate the next disease or slow the spread of
preventable diseases,” he continued.
GCE asked researchers to tackle problems such as speeding
progress toward assuring polio eradication; leveraging cell phones
for global health solutions to improve access to life-saving
vaccines; using new technologies to improve maternal and newborn
health; finding ways to eliminate all reservoirs of HIV from a
patient; and, creating next generation sanitation technologies to
help reduce the burden of diarrheal disease.
“GCE winners are expanding the pipeline of ideas to address
serious global health and development challenges where creative
thinking is most urgently needed. This effort is critical if
we are to spur on new discoveries that ultimately could save
millions more lives,” said Chris Wilson, director of Global Health
Discovery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Winners were selected from over 2,500 proposals and
approximately 100 countries. They represent a wide range of
backgrounds and disciplines, including health researchers, computer
and electronic engineers, and entrepreneurs. Research areas
for Round 6 of GCE included:
