Gates experimental grants start to show promise

Associated Press

SEATTLE

A night light that scares away mosquitoes possibly carrying malaria is among nine ideas the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation thinks are worth more research dollars, after giving more than 300 scientists seed money to take an initial look at some far-out notions.

The nine scientists will each get up to an additional $1 million over five years to take their ideas to the next level and see if they have the potential to save lives, said Chris Wilson, director of the foundation’s Global Health Discovery program.

Wilson said they have more promising ideas than money budgeted for the second phase of the program, and are looking for financial partners to help more researchers continue their explorations. Grand Challenges Canada is distributing government money in support of promising ideas from Canadian scientists.

Foundation officials said some of the program’s success so far is due to an unusual approval process that doesn’t eliminate ideas just because peer scientists found them unlikely to succeed.

The foundation initially chose 340 scientists for its Grant Challenges Explorations, worth $100,000 each, saying it would be a calculated risk by giving money for whatever wacky idea the world’s best minds would come up with.

The next round of $100,000 initial grants are aimed at polio, HIV, sanitation technology, cell-phone applications for health, and new technologies to improve the health of mothers and newborns.

More than 18,000 scientists have applied.

Columbia University astrophysicist Szabolcs Marka is getting second-round funding for his idea to create light barriers to stop mosquitoes from reaching humans.

Other scientists getting more money include:

Keith Jerome, a researcher at the University of Washington using proteins to seek and destroy gene mutations created by the AIDS virus.

Dan Feldheim of the University of Colorado, who is testing the possibility of adding small gold particles to the drugs used to treat infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and HIV, to help the treatments withstand drug resistance.

Pradipsinh Rathod of the University of Washington, who is looking at the structure of malaria parasite genes to find ways to block mutations that lead to drug resistance.