Grand Challenges Initiatives Highlights - December 2020

Leo Han of Oregon Health and Science University in the U.S. and colleagues at the University of North Carolina and the Marsico Lung Institute will build a hydration-based drug discovery platform for the cervix to screen drug libraries for long-lasting non-hormonal contraceptives that alter mucus hydration.

Mark Adams of Population Services International in the U.S. will develop a "Digital Gateway" that provides health campaign managers easy access to a range of datasets to improve the planning and performance, and lower the cost, of health campaigns.

Soo Downe of the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom will develop a multi-media program for lawyers and judges who work on medical litigation related to childbirth to help ensure that they understand the evidence on risks and benefits of the procedure as well as legal rights of patients.

Jeffrey Lee of the University of Toronto in Canada will engineer single-domain camelid antibodies (nanobodies) to block the interaction between two proteins exclusive to the sperm and egg that mediate their fusion and thereby fertilization, as affordable, non-hormonal contraceptives with fewer side effects.

Anna Winters of Akros Inc. in the U.S. will adapt an existing web-based mapping tool currently in use in several low-middle income countries that guides and maps the progress of health-related campaigns, to incorporate human movement and thereby improve campaign coverage.

Darryl Russell of the University of Adelaide in Australia will use genomics approaches to identify the molecular pathways that control ovulation for developing more non-hormonal contraceptives with fewer side effects.

Jody Lori of the University of Michigan in the U.S. will implement a WhatsApp platform for medical staff and community health workers in rural areas in Liberia to communicate with staff at larger hospitals to accelerate the referral and treatment of obstetric emergencies.