Thousands vie for Gates grants

Written byBob Grant

| 2 min read

Biologists have been submitting research proposals in droves hoping to receive money from a new linkurl:Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation;http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm grant program aimed at improving linkurl:global health.;http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/3/1/42/1/ As Yiwu He, Gates foundation senior program officer in global health, told me at a biomarker linkurl:meeting;http://www.biomarkerworldcongress.com/ in Philadelphia on Monday (May 19), the Gates Foundation has gotten about 5,000 proposals for the linkurl:Grand Challenges Explorations;http://www.gcgh.org/Explorations/Pages/Introduction.aspx program since registration opened at the end of March. The program seeks to encourage and support research ideas that could lead to new vaccines, diagnostics, drugs, and other technologies targeting diseases that kill millions of people in the developing world. In this first round of the program, funds will be awarded to research projects falling under four topics set out by the Gates Foundation: Explore the Basis of Latency In linkurl:Tuberculosis,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/15477/ Create New Ways to Prevent or Cure linkurl:HIV;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/53516/ Infection, Create New Ways of Protecting Against Infectious Disease, Create New Drugs and Delivery Systems To Limit the Emergence of linkurl:Resistance.;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/15763/ The program's funding structure is similar to the federal government's linkurl:Small Business Innovation Research;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54608/ program, which supports research-based start-ups by providing progressively larger infusions of cash based on the success of programs. The Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges Explorations grants award successful researchers $100,000 at the start of their projects, then grant one million dollars at the end of 12 months if the research is showing continued promise. Registrations are still being accepted online for the first round of funding, and final proposals are due by May 30. A second round of awards, which will focus on four different topics addressing global health, will begin sometime later this year, and He told me that approximately 100 round one awardees will be announced this September. He expects the program to include two rounds of funding per year for the next several years.

Meet the Author

Bob Grant

From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.

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