Indian researchers receive grant worth $100,000
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 22 October 2009, 22:21 IST   |    1 Comments
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Indian researchers receive grant worth $100,000
New Delhi: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced 76 grants for bold and innovative ideas to improve global health and three of them have been bagged by Indian researchers. Ranjan Nanda, K.V.S. Rao and Virander Chauhan of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Delhi have got the grant for their idea of a hand-held electronic nose, which can 'smell' tuberculosis. Deepak Gaur, Chetan Chitnis and Virander Chauhan of the same institute are the second Indian team to have been given the grant. Their work involves development of a malaria vaccine that will block invasion pathways used by a wide diversity of malaria parasites. The third team - that of Abani Nag and Amiya Hati of the Vivekananda International Health Centre in Kolkata - will test whether liver ultrasounds and functional liver enzyme tests can help doctors differentiate between relapse and re-infection of malaria. If successful, this initiative will lead to better treatment in the malaria endemic areas. Each of the grants are of $100,000 U.S. dollars and the time period is of five years. This is the third time that these grants are being awarded. According to Tachi Yamada, President of the Gates Foundation's Global Health programme, the 76 ideas were picked from a wide range of 3,000 proposals from across the world through the Grand Challenges Explorations. "Some of the biggest stumbling blocks in global health are now being overcome with promising new vaccines and treatments. This initiative aims at hopefully producing a breakthrough idea that could save untold numbers of lives," Yamada said. Some of the other projects that have been selected include a paper cup that turns TB-positive sputum samples a bright orange, use of a certain protein found in scorpions to block development of the malaria parasite, and adaptation of a protein that parasites use to seal their egg cases as a "sticky coating" for intranasal vaccines. Yamada said that among those who have been selected for the grant are scientists, young post graduate researchers and veteran researchers from 16 countries. Applications for the next round of Grand Challenges Explorations will be accepted until Nov 2.

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