The Gates Foundation announced a new round of winners as part of its Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) initiative. GCE grants associated with vaccines included those in the category: The ‘One Health’ Concept: Bringing Together Human and Animal Health for New Solutions – “Over the last century, both human and veterinary medicine have made great advancements. In spite of the many overlaps between the two disciplines, they have become distinctly separate, limiting cross-disciplinary sharing of knowledge. These projects are exploring innovative ideas within the concept of ‘One Health’ to address human and livestock diseases, human nutrition, health service delivery, and measurement of impact. Projects include:
:: Milosz Faber of Thomas Jefferson University in the U.S. will develop a rabies vaccine that both protects dogs against rabies and reduces their population levels to control the incidence of human rabies. Human rabies causes 70,000 deaths annually and is mostly spread by dogs.
:: George Warimwe of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom will develop a vaccine to protect a variety of species, including humans, sheep, and cattle, against Rift Valley fever, which can cause serious illness….”
Full media release: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2013/11/Gates-Foundation-Awards-Grants-to-Test-Ideas-2

PATH said it will receive two US$1 million grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges Explorations initiative “to advance a new category of cold chain equipment and expand access to donated breast milk by simplifying human milk banking.” The two-year, follow-on grants recognize successful projects with additional funding, allowing PATH and collaborators to build on work already under way. The first grant will support PATH work with equipment manufacturers to design novel approaches that catalyze the introduction of low-cost, durable, freeze-safe cold chain solutions into country immunization programs. PATH aims to advance “fail-safe” innovations in cold boxes and vaccine carriers that allow vaccines to remain cold for longer periods of time without damaging freeze-sensitive vaccines. PATH will work with manufacturing partners to overcome technical hurdles through design optimization, laboratory testing, and field evaluations in country immunization supply chains. In addition, PATH will engage with key stakeholders and country decision-makers to raise awareness of the need to prevent vaccine freezing and assess demand for cold chain equipment that meets this need.
Full media release: http://www.path.org/news/press-room/660/