Gates Foundation Awards Multiple Dx, Omics Grants in Q4

Original from: 360dx

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded more than 500 new grants in the fourth quarter of 2024, many of which are related to diagnostic and omics projects. The following is a selection of notable grants:

Detact Diagnostics of Groningen, The Netherlands, was awarded four grants totaling approximately $5.9 million to support the development of its infrared light-based point-of-care system and assays to detect protein biomarkers of infectious disease.

The Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases (CRID) of Yaoundé, Cameroon, was awarded approximately $5.6 million over 36 months to build whole-genome sequencing and analysis capacity in Cameroon for malaria vector control research.

The Africa Health Research Institute NPC of Durban, South Africa, was awarded $4.7 million over 34 months to evaluate immunology endpoints and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) expression in participants in the C114 trial. The institute was also awarded approximately $3.2 million over 36 months to identify biomarkers across the spectrum of subclinical tuberculosis in humans to help understand how to deploy interventions to most effectively achieve sustained TB control.

Bigtec Labs of Bengaluru, India, a subsidiary and R&D arm of MolBio Diagnostics, was awarded approximately $3.9 million over 36 months to reduce mortality from sepsis in low- and middle- income countries through the development of a diagnostic tool for rapid detection of sepsis.

Heidelberg University Hospital was awarded approximately $3.8 million over 49 months to validate high-throughput TB tests for diagnosis and screening.

Ghana Health Service was awarded approximately $3.8 million over 36 months to implement wastewater surveillance of priority pathogens as part of integrated disease surveillance in Ghana.

The Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration of Kampala, Uganda, was awarded approximately $3.2 million over 36 months to scale up malaria molecular surveillance for biological threats and build sustainable laboratory and analytic capacity in Uganda.

The University of Oxford was awarded approximately $2.5 million over 23 months to develop biosensors of infectious diseases that impact individuals in developing countries.

Aptitude Medical Systems of Goleta, California, was awarded approximately $2.4 million over eight months to reduce the COGS of the Aptitude Metrix platform to enable greater accessibility for molecular tests of global public health need for use in low- and middle-income countries.

The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard was awarded $2.2 million over 24 months to identify cellular genes important for the immortalization/transformation of cells by human papillomavirus (HPV) as potential targets for novel small molecule therapeutics for HPV-caused disease.

The University of Hong Kong was awarded approximately $2 million over 49 months to evaluate new diagnostic products for high-priority global health pathogens/conditions and work with manufacturers to accelerate the development and introduction through reference lab support.

Columbia University was awarded approximately $2 million over 25 months to develop computational approaches for optimization of biologics and biosensors for infectious diseases that impact individuals in low-and-middle income countries.

The National University of Singapore was awarded approximately $2 million over 37 months to strengthen IVD (In-Vitro Diagnostics) company's regulatory capacity and facilitate regulatory dialogue in the Asia-Pacific region to accelerate market access of essential IVD for LMICs.

Harvard University was awarded approximately $1.8 million over 26 months to directly impact patient care by developing a diagnostic workflow that enables timely intervention and better management of HIV treatment in the case of treatment interruption.

Wits Health Consortium of Johannesburg was awarded approximately $1.8 million over 31 months to improve diagnosis of advanced HIV disease (AHD) and improve understanding and management of infectious diseases among inpatients with AHD. The consortium was also awarded $928,738 over 24 months to validate enzymatic lysis, amplification and library preparation methods for simple, low cost and rapid TB sequencing. The consortium was also awarded $337,046 over 19 months to assess the utility of two pooling strategies of sputum specimens to reduce the total number of TB molecular tests that are done, without compromising testing coverage or performance of tests while assessing optimal laboratory workflows.

PATH of Seattle was awarded $1.8 million over 26 months to assess the regulatory requirements for in vitro diagnostics in China and to strengthen the capacity of local IVD developers to meet regulatory and market access requirements for new markets in low- and middle-income countries. PATH was also awarded $550,000 over 12 months to develop internal quality control and external quality assurance panels to support accurate wastewater surveillance activities.

Johns Hopkins University was awarded approximately $1.7 million over 23 months to develop a non-invasive tool to measure hemoglobin at an affordable price to diagnose anemia in low- and middle-income countries. The university was also awarded $802,520 over 25 months to validate filter paper for diarrhea etiology studies using molecular diagnostics.

Washington University in St. Louis was awarded approximately $1.7 million over 24 months to investigate the cellular and molecular determinants that dictate durability of immune responses to vaccination in humans.

Guangzhou Pluslife Technology of China was awarded approximately $1.7 million over 19 months to develop a next-generation molecular point-of-care test for detecting rifampicin-resistant TB to enable rapid diagnosis of drug-resistant TB, particularly in low-resource settings with high disease burden.

The Clinton Health Access Initiative of Boston was awarded approximately $1.6 million over 18 months to identify and implement supply-side and demand-side procurement and supply chain solutions for pathogen genomic sequencing in Africa. The initiative was also awarded $1.5 million over 38 months to improve cost-effectiveness of TB screening with new tools in China; and $250,208 over seven months to assess the impact of foundation catalytic support for the African Pathogen Genomics Initiative.

The CDC Foundation of Atlanta was awarded approximately $1.5 million over 24 months to develop and validate nanopore amplicon sequencing assay (NOMADS) to accelerate antimalarial resistance surveillance in Africa. The foundation was also awarded $800,000 over 29 months to facilitate efficient and sustainable integrated disease surveillance within Nigeria and the West African sub-region through a multiplex bead assay serosurveillance regional hub project and south-to-south technology transfer. The Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention was also awarded $800,000 over 29 months for this project.

Sherlock Biosciences of Watertown, Massachusetts was awarded approximately $1.5 million over 10 months to develop a low-cost instrument- and battery-free rapid point-of-care test platform to detect infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries.

ChemBio Diagnostics Systems of Medford, NY, was awarded approximately $1.5 million over 12 months to improve detection of active and congenital syphilis detection in low- and middle-income countries.

Variant Bio of Seattle was awarded approximately $1.5 million over 24 months to map and publicly share information on global germline variation frequencies of known human leukocyte antigen and Fc receptor alleles.

Massachusetts General Hospital was awarded approximately $1.3 million over 24 months to develop a low-cost noninvasive tool to screen for infection in low- and middle-income countries.

The University of California, San Francisco was awarded approximately $1.3 million over 35 months to scale up malaria molecular surveillance for biological threats and build sustainable laboratory and analytic capacity in Uganda.

The University of Birmingham, UK, was awarded approximately $1.2 million over 23 months to develop enzymatic lysis, amplification, and library preparation methods for simple, low-cost, and rapid TB sequencing.

Stanford University was awarded $1.1 million over 23 months to develop a field-friendly molecular point-of-care device for detection of Schistosoma haematobium from urine for deployment in endemic areas.

The University of Virginia was awarded approximately $1.1 million over 23 months to support molecular diagnostic testing and analyses of diarrhea etiologies across multiple studies.

The University of Cape Town was awarded approximately $1 million over 24 months to develop AI tools for pathogen genomics skills development.

Accubio Limited of Alva, UK, was awarded approximately $1 million over 19 months to improve the usability of an advanced HIV disease point-of-care diagnostic test.

Source: Gates Foundation Awards Multiple Dx, Omics Grants in Q4