'Flying syringe' mosquitos, other ideas get Gates funding

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http://news./s/afp/20081022/hl_afp/ushealthmicrosoftgatesfoundation_081022162821

 

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded 100,000

dollars each on Wednesday to scientists in 22 countries including funding

for a Japanese proposal to turn mosquitos into " flying

syringes " delivering vaccines.

The charitable foundation created by the founder of software giant

Microsoft said in a statement that the grants were designed to

" explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve global

health. "

The grants were awarded for research into preventing or curing infectious

diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and limiting the emergence of

drug resistance.

They are the first round of funding for the Gates Foundation's

" Grand Challenges Explorations, " a five-year 100-million-dollar

initiative to " promote innovative ideas in global

health. "

The funding was directed to projects that " fall outside current

scientific paradigms and could lead to significant advances if

successful, " the Gates Foundation statement said.

" We were hoping this program would level the playing field so anyone

with a transformational idea could more quickly assess its potential for

the benefit of global health, " said Tachi Yamada, president of

global health at the Gates Foundation.

The Gates Foundation said 104 grants were awarded from nearly 4,000

proposals. The recipients included universities, nonprofit organizations,

government agencies, and six private companies.

" It was so hard for reviewers to champion just one great idea that

we selected almost twice as many projects for funding as we had initially

planned, " Yamada said.

Among the proposals receiving funding was one from Hiroyuki Matsuoka at

Jichi Medical University in Japan.

" (Matsuoka) thinks it may be possible to turn mosquitoes that

normally transmit disease into 'flying syringes,' so that when they bite

humans they deliver vaccines, " the Gates Foundation said.

It said Pattamaporn Kittayapong at Mahidol University in Thailand

received a grant to " explore new approaches for controlling dengue

fever by studying bacteria with natural abilities to limit the

disease. "

Founded in 1994, the Seattle, Washington-based Gates Foundation is the

largest private philanthropical organization in the world.

 

 

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