Product/Service Development

Miguel Soares of Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia in Portugal will test the theory that antibodies directed against a specific carbohydrate produced by gut pathogens play a role in immunity against severe forms of malaria. Newborns and young children, who are most susceptible to these severe forms of the disease, have not yet built up antibodies to this carbohydrate. Soares will assess whether stimulating production of this antibody in young children can offer them increased protection.

Bart Knols of K&S Consulting in the Netherlands will develop and test a surface coating that slowly releases mosquito attractants and a pesticide that female mosquitoes take back to breeding sites to kill emerging larvae. If successful, the coating can be used as a household paint to induce birth control in vector populations, thus reducing transmission.

Yutaka Terao of the Osaka University in Japan will construct and test synthetic immunoglobulin derived from the human immune system. If successful, these molecules could provide protection against a broad range of bacteria, including multiple-antibiotic resistant pathogens.

Ashley Styczynski of the University of Illinois in the U.S. is investigating the use of a copper-based compound as a microbicide to prevent HIV infection through sexual transmission. A ring will be made with the organic molecule CuPCS to maintain the efficacy of the copper anti-HIV properties without disturbing beneficial vaginal bacteria.

Rosemarie Hartman and Seth Rose of Arizona State University in the U.S. will develop and test novel skin-binding insect repellents that slowly release the repellent over a period of weeks. The reduced need for repeated application could increase usage to provide sustained protection against mosquitoes that transmit malaria.

Guiyun Yan of the University of California, Irvine in the U.S. will develop and field test in Africa new formulations of biological larvicides which utilize plaster matrix materials for the slow release of the insecticide in an aquatic environment, as well as chemical lures that attract and stimulate feeding by the mosquito larvae.

Shelley McGuire of Washington State University, along with Mark McGuire of the University of Idaho in the U.S, will study whether commensal bacteria in human milk is related to maternal consumption of probiotic foods, and whether these microorganisms in breast milk can help prevent infectious diarrhea in infants. If possible, development of low-cost probiotic foods and breast creams could lead to a decrease in diarrheal illness and deaths among infants.

David Herrin and colleagues at the University of Texas propose to develop a green-algal food source for mosquito larvae into a biological control agent by engineering their chloroplasts to produce larvacidal proteins. The chloroplast genome has significant advantages for genetic modification, including stability and containment.

Elizabeth Huttinger of the Manobi Development Foundation in the U.S. proposes to launch free-range freshwater prawn farming in rivers and canals where the parasitic disease schistosomiasis is endemic among children. Prawns are natural predators of snails, the intermediate host of the parasite, and reintroducing the prawn as part of a biological approach called Integrated Infectious Disease Control can not only interrupt the life cycle of the parasite, but also provide an income- generating activity for village women who can harvest and sell the prawns.

David Sintasath of Malaria Consortium in the United Kingdom proposes to treat the traditional scarves worn by migrant workers along the Thai-Cambodia border with insecticides to reduce the overall malaria disease burden. Sintasath will then monitor subsequent infection rates reported by area health facilities, and survey participants to learn more about their knowledge, attitude and use of the treated scarves.