Got a great idea? Submit yours to Grand Challenges Explorations

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is accepting applications for Round 9 of its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, a USD$100 million grant initiative encouraging innovation in global health and development research. Anyone - students, scientists, entrepreneurs - with a transformative idea is invited to submit an easy, online, two-page application. Proposals are being accepted at www.grandchallenges.org/explorations through May 15, 2012.

Grand Challenges Explorations is excited to announce a new kind of topic this round, which challenges people to find new ways to tell the story of development aid and the powerful impact it can have around the world. Because we know that aid works, Grand Challenges Explorations is partnering with Cannes Lions to uncover new ways to find and distribute stories that will inspire people to support development aid.

Topics for Grand Challenges Explorations Round 9:

  • Aid is Working. Tell the World (new!) - in partnership with Cannes Lions
  • New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-malarial Compounds (new!)
  • Protect Crop Plants From Biotic Stresses From Field to Market
  • Design New Approaches to Optimize Immunization Systems
  • Explore New Solutions for Global Health Priority Areas

"We are on the hunt for dynamic, transformative ideas that address our greatest health and development challenges, including protecting crops from pests and pathogens and discovering anti-malarial compounds for the development of next generation malaria drugs," said Chris Wilson, Director of Global Health Discovery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "This type of bold innovation has the potential to make a tremendous impact on the lives of millions of people living in the world's poorest countries."

The Gates Foundation and an independent group of reviewers will select the most innovative proposals, and grants will be awarded within approximately four months from the proposal submission deadline. Initial grants will be USD$100,000 each. Projects demonstrating potential will have the opportunity to receive additional funding up to USD$1 million.

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.

Most Popular Now

Pfizer receives positive FDA Advisory Committee vo…

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted that avail...

Engineered bacteria find tumors, then alert the au…

Combining discoveries in cancer immunology with sophisticated genetic engineering, Columbia University researchers have created a sort of "bacterial suicide squad" that ...

First nasal monoclonal antibody treatment for COVI…

A pilot trial by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, tested the nasal administration of the ...

US FDA Advisory Committee votes to support effecti…

GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted that the avail...

"Semantic similarity" leads to novel dru…

The words that researchers use to describe their results can be harnessed to discover potential new treatments for Parkinson's disease, according to a new study published...

Tumour cells' response to chemotherapy is driven b…

Cancer cells have an innate randomness in their ability to respond to chemotherapy, which is another tool in their arsenal of resisting treatment, new research led by the...

Pfizer's ZAVZPRET™ (zavegepant) migraine nasal spr…

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ZAVZPRET™ (zavegepant), the first and only calcitonin gene-related peptid...

Pfizer invests $43 billion to battle cancer

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Seagen Inc. (Nasdaq: SGEN) today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Pfizer will acquire Seagen, a...

Nanosatellite shows the way to RNA medicine of the…

The RNA molecule is commonly recognized as messenger between DNA and protein, but it can also be folded into intricate molecular machines. An example of a naturally occur...

Gene and cell therapies to combat pancreatic cance…

Pancreatic cancer is an incurable form of cancer, and gene therapies are currently in clinical testing to treat this deadly disease. A comprehensive review of the gene an...

Scientists reveal a potential new approach to trea…

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have uncovered a potential new approach against liver cancer that could lead ...

Normalizing tumor blood vessels may improve immuno…

A type of immune therapy called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has revolutionized the treatment of multiple types of blood cancers but has shown limited e...