Maternal, Newborn, and Adolescent Health

Todd Coleman of the University of California, San Diego in the U.S. along with John Rogers of the University of Illinois will develop wireless tattoo-like electronics to continuously monitor vital signs of the pregnant mother and fetus. The devices have the potential to be inexpensively mass produced, which could advance epidemiological studies of preterm birth.

Chetan Patil of Temple University in the U.S. is adapting camera mobile phones for the simple and low cost measurement of bilirubin levels to identify jaundice in newborns by photographing the skin. Jaundice is a common disorder in newborns and can often be easily treated with sunlight. In developed countries, bilirubin measurements are standard-of-care, but in low resource settings, detection can be prohibitively expensive. If jaundice is not treated, it can lead to long-term disabilities.

Mark Styczynski of the Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. proposes to create portable, low-cost, bacteria-based genetic circuits to measure blood micronutrient levels without requiring sophisticated instrumentation to perform or read the test. This would provide an inexpensive, rapid method to diagnose nutrition status in the field.

James Tsuruta and Paul Dayton of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill will study the ability of therapeutic ultrasound to deplete testicular sperm counts. Characterizing the most beneficial timing and dosage could lead to the development of a low-cost, non-hormonal and reversible method of contraception for men.

Gautam Pangu of Vindico NanoBioTechnology Inc. in the U.S. seeks to develop a vaginal gel that uses nano-sacs called polymersomes, which can control the delivery of spermicides as a contraceptive and other sexually transmitted agents. Peter Ghoroghchian will direct project development and will guide the transition to eventual clinical testing.

Erick Wolf of Innolytics, LLC in the U.S. will test a modified version of a drug currently approved as an anti-protozoal and contraceptive for avians for its ability to alter sperm receptor proteins in mammals. If successful, this drug might be used as an oral, non-hormonal and reversible contraceptive.

Benson Wamalwa of the University of Nairobi in Kenya will develop and test a vaginal gel that contains zeolite nanoparticles which soak up the fructose present in semen. By "mopping" up the fructose, this gel will rob sperm of the energy needed for motility. If successful, the gel could be used as an inexpensive, non-hormonal contraceptive.

Rachel Teitelbaum of Hervana, Ltd. in Israel will develop and test a biological vaginal formulation that produces a sperm-binding agent, which interferes with sperm motility or fertilization or both. It is hoped that this non-hormonal contraceptive will need only infrequent administration to maintain its effectiveness. In this project's Phase I research, Teitelbaum developed a lead formulation and demonstrated initial proof-of-principle that such an approach can provide effective contraception.

John Aitken of the University of Newcastle in Australia will study the mechanisms by which organic compounds called quinones may provide simultaneous protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Aitken will test the capability of quinones to react to enzymes in semen and not only immobilize sperm, but also disrupt the infective nature of pathogenic microbes found in STD infections such as Chlamydia

Guiying Nie of Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research in Australia will test whether a peptide inhibitor that has been shown to inhibit protein processing critical to HIV transmission can also be used to prevent embryo implantation in the uterus. If successful, the peptide could be used as a non-hormonal contraceptive delivered as a vaginal application, which also protects against HIV.