Gates Foundation and Grand Challenges Canada Announce over $31 Million for Point-of-Care Diagnostics in the Developing
World
Seattle, 16 December, 2011: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Grand Challenges Canada today announced over USD $31 million in new grants through the
Grand Challenges in Global Health program to fund innovative ideas for point-of-care diagnostics in the developing
world. Grand Challenges in Global Health is an initiative that seeks to engage creative minds across scientific
disciplines to work on solutions that could lead to breakthrough advances for those in the world’s poorest countries.
The grants announced today are part of the Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POC Dx) Initiative, a research and development
program with the goal of creating new diagnostic platforms that enable high-quality, low-cost diagnosis of disease, and
also facilitate sustainable markets for diagnostic products, a key challenge in the developing world. This first phase
of the POC Dx Initiative is focused on developing new technologies and identifying implementation issues to address the
key barriers for clinical diagnostics in the developing world.
“New and improved diagnostics to use at the point-of-care can help health workers around the world save countless
lives,” said Chris Wilson, Director of Global Health Discovery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Our hope is that these bold ideas lead to affordable, easy-to-use tools that can rapidly
diagnose diseases, trigger timelier treatment and thereby reduce death, disability and transmission of infections in
resource-poor communities.”
Diagnostic tests that are robust, inexpensive, and simple to use in point-of-care settings have the ability to greatly
improve the quality and efficacy of healthcare available to people living in developing countries, where the burden of
disease is highest. The grants announced today will fund the development of technologies that could allow health workers
to rapidly diagnose diseases at the point-of-care in remote and impoverished settings.
Examples of projects receiving funding:
• Seventh Sense Biosystems, a company located in Cambridge MA, is developing TAP—a painless, low-cost blood
collection device which aims to allow easy, push-button sampling of blood. This simple collection process would reduce
training requirements and enable diagnostics closer to the point-of-need.
• David Beebe and researchers at the University of Wisconsin are developing a sample purification system that
seeks to better filter and concentrate biomarkers from patient samples. This system will be designed for use in
impoverished settings.
Axel Scherer of the California Institute of Technology, along with collaborators at Dartmouth College, will develop a
prototype quantitative PCR (qPCR) amplification/detection component module—a low cost, easy-to-use technology that can
rapidly detect a wide range of diseases.
In addition to the technology development and implementation efforts, the POC Dx Initiative aims to catalyze a
“diagnostics revolution” for the developing world. By defining standards for point-of-care diagnostics, including a
flexible modular design, a user could potentially run numerous diagnostic tests on a single instrument, reducing cost
and complexity within the healthcare system.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
12 grantees, USD $21.1 million
Grand Challenges Canada:
10 grantees, CAD $10.8 million
Further details on grant awardees can be found here - http://www.grandchallenges.org/Pages/GCGHGrantsAwarded.aspx
Grand Challenges
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recognizes that solving our greatest global health and development issues is a long-term
effort. Through Grand Challenges, the foundation is committed to seeking out and rewarding not only established researchers in science and technology,
but also young investigators, entrepreneurs and innovators to help expand the pipeline of ideas to fight diseases that
claim millions of lives each year. We anticipate that additional grants will be awarded through the Grand Challenges
program in the future.
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.
ENDS