{"55897":{"#nid":"55897","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Gates Foundation Grant Awarded for Innovative Global Health Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill \u0026amp; Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project led by Todd Sulchek, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Mechanical Engineering, titled \u0022Complement-based antibiotic microbeads.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESulchek\u0027s project is one of 78 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the fourth funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries. The grants were provided to scientists in 18 countries on six continents. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo receive funding, Sulchek and David White, a microbiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), showed in a two-page application how their idea falls outside current scientific paradigms and might lead to significant advances in global health. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor their project, Sulchek and White plan to design multi-functional microparticles that can fight infectious diseases. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022If we are successful, this technique may eventually be useful for battling many hard-to-treat diseases, like malaria and tuberculosis, which evade the immune system,\u0022 said Sulchek. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe microparticles will be engineered to simultaneously accomplish two goals: target and bind infectious disease microorganisms, and activate the localized immune system. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The ultimate goal is to activate the immune system so that it can fight the microbe itself,\u0022 said White. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech graduate student Patricia Pacheco and several undergraduate students will also be involved in this project. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe initiative is highly competitive, receiving almost 2,700 proposals in this round. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The winners of these grants show the bold thinking we need to tackle some of the world\u0027s greatest health challenges,\u0022 said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation\u0027s Global Health Program. \u0022I\u0027m excited about their ideas and look forward to seeing some of these exploratory projects turn into life-saving breakthroughs.\u0022 \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGrand Challenges Explorations is a five-year, $100 million initiative of the Gates Foundation to promote innovation in global health. The program uses an agile, streamlined grant process \u2013 applications are limited to two pages, and preliminary data are not required. Proposals are reviewed and selected by a committee of foundation staff and external experts, and grant decisions are made within approximately three months of the close of the funding round. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003EAtlanta, Georgia 30308 USA\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Abby Vogel (avogel@gatech.edu; 404-385-3364) or John Toon (jtoon@gatech.edu; 404-894-6986)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Abby Vogel\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"$100,000 Grant to Design Multi-functional Microparticles Awarded to Todd Sulchek"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETodd Sulcheck, a Georgia Tech mechanical engineering assistant professor, has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill \u0026amp; Melinda Gates Foundation to design multi-functional microparticles that can fight infectious diseases.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Todd Sulchek has been awarded a Gates Foundation grant."}],"uid":"27206","created_gmt":"2010-05-18 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:04:08","author":"Abby Vogel Robinson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-05-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-05-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"55898":{"id":"55898","type":"image","title":"Microbeads","body":null,"created":"1449175598","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:46:38","changed":"1475894496","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:36","alt":"Microbeads","file":{"fid":"190410","name":"tqf30665.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tqf30665_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tqf30665_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":104474,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tqf30665_1.jpg?itok=hfjq7qed"}}},"media_ids":["55898"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/sulchek.shtml","title":"Todd Sulchek"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/","title":"George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/","title":"The U.S. Centers for Disease Control"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.grandchallenges.org\/explorations","title":"Grand Challenges Explorations"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"9315","name":"Gates Foundation"},{"id":"9316","name":"immune system"},{"id":"3334","name":"infectious disease"},{"id":"9314","name":"multi-functional microparticles"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbby Vogel\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News and Publications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=avogel6\u0022\u003EContact Abby Vogel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-3364\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["avogel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}