NEW YORK – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in October awarded nearly 450 new grants, many of which are related to omics and diagnostic projects. Following is a selection of notable grants, including the project title, awardee, funding amount, and duration:
- Co-Diagnostics of Salt Lake City, Utah, was awarded approximately $9 million over 24 months for a project entitled "To make affordable and accessible point-of-care diagnostics for tuberculosis that will help eliminate the disease worldwide." This grant falls under the topics "Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, and Epidemiology" and "Tuberculosis." In a statement, Co-Diagnostics noted that its diagnostic tests will run on the company's forthcoming Co-Dx PCR platform and that work under the new grant will leverage the existing infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities of Co-Dx's joint venture in India, CoSara Diagnostics.
- Quantigen of Fishers, Indiana, was awarded $5.4 million over 26 months for a project entitled "To further develop tongue swabs as an alternative method for TB specimen collection testing that is simpler and cheaper to use." This grant falls under the topics "Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, and Epidemiology" and "Tuberculosis."
- The African Society for Laboratory Medicine of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was awarded $5 million over 34 months for a project entitled "To strengthen laboratory systems in Africa to improve access to essential diagnostics and improve patient outcomes." This grant falls under the topic "HIV."
- The Broad Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was awarded $4 million over 36 months for a project entitled "Base editing and prime editing for HIV-SCD cures." This grant falls under the topic "Create Novel Technology Platform Capabilities."
- Antibody Solutions of Santa Clara, California, was awarded $1.2 million over 15 months for a project entitled "Discovery of antibodies for detection and differentiation in diagnostics." This grant falls under the topic "Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, and Epidemiology."
- The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of Trieste, Italy, was awarded $998,355 over 12 months for a project entitled "To establish diagnostic technologies in LMICs for the detection of infectious diseases." This grant falls under the topic "Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, and Epidemiology."
- FIND of Geneva, Switzerland, was awarded $931,082 over 24 months for a project entitled "To support Indonesia to conduct diagnostic network optimization analysis exercise[s] for improved primary care diagnostic access for TB and other diseases of importance." This grant falls under the topic "Tuberculosis."
- Polo d'Innovazione Genomica, Genetica, e Biologia of Siena, Italy, was awarded $814,769 over 24 months for a project entitled "To conduct basic research on molecular signaling pathways in malaria mosquitoes, which could be used to develop new genetic control strategies." This grant falls under the topic "Malaria."
- International Point of Care of Toronto was awarded $598,024 over three months for a project entitled "To advance the development of low-cost molecular diagnostics for Mycobacterium tuberculosis in low- and middle-income countries to improve access to diagnosis and treatment services by creating standardized positive and negative control swabs." This grant falls under the topic "Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, and Epidemiology."
- Zymo Research of Irvine, California, was awarded $535,699 over 14 months for a project entitled "To develop a simplified, low-cost, and easy-to-operate sample preparation device to concentrate DNA/RNA and nucleic acid extraction as needed for use in rapid diagnostics for diseases like HIV." This grant falls under the topic "Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, and Epidemiology."
- The National Institute of Malaria Research of New Delhi, India, was awarded $353,306 over 14 months for a project entitled "Feasibility study: GP6D field testing in India." This grant falls under the topic "Global Health and Development Public Awareness and Analysis."
- University College London was awarded $287,490 over 25 months for a project entitled "Development of functional assays to evaluate immunity to Kpn capsules." This grant falls under the topic "Pneumonia and Pandemic Preparedness."
- The University of Sciences, Techniques, and Technologies of Bamako in Mali was awarded $278,750 over 24 months for a project entitled "To identify biomarkers that may be further developed as diagnostic tools to identify patients harboring hypnozoites of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale." This grant falls under the topic "Discovery and Translational Sciences."
- Emory University of Atlanta, Georgia, was awarded $202,915 over 12 months for a project entitled "To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of tongue swabs for diagnosing pulmonary TB in a prison in a high-burden, low-income country." This grant falls under the topic "Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, and Epidemiology."
- FIND was also awarded $150,049 over 11 months for a project entitled "To evaluate and validate a software for genomic characterization of tuberculosis." This grant falls under the topic "Global Health and Development Public Awareness and Analysis."