6 July 2016

Why important innovations stall; Understanding obstacles to change key to timely adoption of technologies needed to address global problems

Cambridge, MA – Disruptive, transformative technologies are being introduced at an accelerating pace, fuelling opposition that impedes forms of innovation needed to meet profound challenges such as climate change, poverty and world hunger, says a new study from Harvard University.

Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technology, by Prof. Calestous Juma of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, chronicles the history of opposition to change — from tractors and certain uses of the printing press to coffee and margarine — and its underlying reasons.

Such understanding is critical, he argues, to the successful introduction and adoption of technological innovations needed to cope with humanity’s most serious economic and environmental challenges.

Published as a book by Oxford University Press, the 16-year study says fear and perceptions of lost employment, identity, and power drive impediment to innovation, and describes the widening gap between the pace of technological advancement and slow rate at which society adjusts.

Says Dr. Juma:”To meet the needs of a growing world population on a warming planet, humanity’s hopes are pinned on the introduction of transformative technologies but progress can be impeded by unreasonable obstruction to change.”

The study acknowledges the need to address legitimate health and environmental concerns related to new products and technologies and underlines that transparency, inclusiveness and caution in the handling of scientific uncertainty as critical elements of public trust.

The study chronicles the extraordinary measures taken by opponents to change, and the tenacity of entrepreneurs and technologists who overcame it.

Drawing on nearly 600 years of controversies, the study presents in-depth case studies of opposition to innovation, including printing of the Koran by the Ottomans, alternating current, refrigeration, recorded music, and, more recently, robotics, artificial intelligence and agricultural biotechnology.

Both coffee and tractors, for instance, were the targets of smear campaigns. Other tactics included demonization, rumours, slander, efforts to restrict use through legislation, and outright bans.

Parallels through history are striking. Transgenic crops have been dubbed “Frankenfoods.” In 17th century Italy, coffee was called “Satan’s Drink” and “Junior Alcohol” in 20th century southern India. In England, France, and Germany, coffee was said to cause sterility.

Calling refrigerated products “Embalmed Foods” had a chilling effect on consumers. Swedes dubbed the early telephone the “Devil’s Instrument.” Margarine was derided as “Bull Butter” in America and accused of causing sterility, male baldness, and stunting.

“Common to all these cases is fear and opponents excluded from the benefits of new technology,” says Dr. Juma.

Launch of the study takes place Wednesday July 6 at the 16th International Joseph A. Schumpeter Society Conference in Montreal. Dr. Schumpeter, an early 20th Century Austrian economist introduced the idea of “creative destruction” and was equally concerned about resistance to change.

The study says that in many cases objections and social responses to innovation fall into in one or more of four categories: intuition, vested interests, intellectual arguments, and psychological factors.

• Intuitive responses, often expressed as disgust, reflect patterns of behaviour that rely on deeper evolutionary roots of our fears and phobias. New foods, for example, may be seen as a threat to human health.
• Vested interests are illustrated with a well-known example of Luddites, early 19th century British textile workers, popularly portrayed as machine breakers who were simply opposed to change. But the reality was a clash of competing economic world views and moral values.
• Intellectual challenges to new technologies include philosophical objections to the manipulation of nature or the use of robotics in manufacturing, considered by some as “dehumanizing” and changing how we see ourselves as humans.
• Finally, business models that aim to alter the psychology of health and nutrition choices face strong opposition.

Innovation and Its Enemies advocates more timely scientific assessments of the benefits and risks of new technologies, swift adjustment of social institutions to keep pace with technological advancement, and greater public awareness and citizen engagement.

Inclusive innovation is critical for acceptance of new controversial technologies, Dr. Juma says.

This entails greater involvement of public institutions to provide training in the emerging fields, creation of joint ventures, equitable management of intellectual property rights, segmentation of markets to enable a technology to be used for noncompetitive products, and improvement of the policy environment to support long-term technology partnerships.

Building local capabilities and fostering public engagement in technology development are critical. The absence of inclusive strategies leads to intense debates over questions of justice, equity, corporate control and challenges to intellectual property system.

Also needed: strong, entrepreneurial decision-makers and leaders who can use available knowledge to assess a situation, take informed executive action in a timely manner, and monitor technological advances and their impacts. Leaders must be able to rely on advice from both scientific academies as well as complementary advisory institutions in executive offices.

Finally, says Dr. Juma, public education is critical in determining the pace and patterns of technological adoption. Many programs alienate the public by assuming that the root cause of social concern over new technology is ignorance. To the contrary, concerns commonly come from well-informed sections of the population. Public education should aim to enhance the legitimacy and quality of risk assessment processes. Ultimately, the goal is to manage risk perception and foster trust.

“People are more likely to accept the risks of new technologies if they have been part of the process of deciding on their use,” says Dr. Juma.

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Calestous Juma is Professor of the Practice of International Development at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He directs the School’s Science, Technology, and Globalization Project. He is author of The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2011, 2015). His next book is tentatively entitled How Economies Succeed: Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Twitter @Calestous

Comments on the study

“It takes one of the leading lights on innovation — Calestous Juma — to truly understand the forces that oppose it. Just as technologic change is reaching peak velocity, this extraordinary work provides a systematic, scholarly, and surgical dissection of what can hold us back.”

Professor Eric Topol, MD, Director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, La Jolla, California, and author of The Patient Will See You Now

“Innovation and its Enemies is a wonderful read. The style is lucid. The tone is lively. Professor Juma examines why people resist innovation, and argues that controversies result from the tension between the need to innovate and the pressure to maintain order. Although he discusses a profound socio-historical issue, his titles are very creative and eye-catching, and his use of case studies from history brings the information closer to the general reader. This is truly a great book and a fascinating read!”

Professor. Ismail Serageldin, Librarian of Alexandria, Director of the New Library of Alexandria, Egypt

“A must read to anyone holding public office. Having overcome obstacles as president of the Dominican Republic in building the metro system of Santo Domingo, I found in Professor Calestous Juma’s book useful theoretical insights into the understanding of why resistance occurs when introducing innovation in the public sphere.”

Dr. Leonel Fernández, Former President of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo

“An insightful book that addresses one of the paradoxes of our time, namely why generations that have benefited so much from innovation are so resistant to it. Drawing on a fascinating diversity of historical examples–coffee, electricity, refrigeration, farm mechanization, genetic modification–Professor Juma discusses how innovation occurs, the role of experts and why skepticism and confusion are often inevitable. A must-read for everyone involved in technology development and policy.”

Professor Louise O. Fresco, President of Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands

“An outstanding treatise on how new technologies are created and why they are so often not initially accepted by society. Innovation and Its Enemies is filled with wonderful stories that go through innovations ranging from cell phones to coffee to the light bulb. I loved reading it.”

Professor Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

“Calestous Juma’s book provides a very enjoyable insight into the attitudes of society and individuals to innovation over the centuries. It’s highly accessible style provides the reader with great historical nuggets arising from the introduction of coffee and printing through to reactions invoked when margarine and transgenic crops were launched. The conclusions are supported by amazing facts and details.”

Sir Christopher Snowden, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Southampton, UK

“We all know how difficult it can be to accept truly revolutionary innovations. Professor Juma illustrates the difficulties faced by the innovators with a few case histories and provides some guidelines for avoiding many of the difficulties. One strong lesson is that engaging with the consumers, usually the general public, at an early stage is a very good idea. Another clear lesson is that different stakeholders react very differently to innovation, especially when it seems it might seriously disrupt existing businesses or traditional social structures. A must read for anyone who wishes to engage in such disruption themselves.”

Dr. Richard J. Roberts, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and Chief Scientific Officer, New England Biolabs, Massachusetts, USA

“This is a good read and an invaluable reference work for those working on new technologies, especially those needed to meet the grand challenges of the 21st century. Calestous Juma’s detailed analysis of how innovations have been accepted or resisted is complete and fascinating. Many view resistance to advances such as GM foods and mobile phones as a modern phenomenon related to recent advances in science. Calestous explains that innovations have in fact been resisted for centuries but goes on to explain how this resistance can, and has been, overcome.”

Lord Alec Broers, British House of Lords, Former Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University, and Former President of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering

“Calestous Juma’s Innovations and Its Enemies is a great read that uniquely outlines the history of society resisting new technologies and innovative ideas that caused social and economic distribution. We have dwindling resources on our planet and continue to do irrevocable harm to our climate. Add the ever growing population demanding the benefits of wealth including health and food excess and it is clear we are heading for disaster. Rapidly evolving scientific advances are labeled as disruptive because they might radically alter the production of food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fuel, into much more sustainable processes which will clearly require social change. Appling new genomic science can shift medicine to a preventative life and cost saving enterprise and computer-based knowledge can lead to democratization but not without social disruptions. Juma discusses how laws, business and social institutions and scientific communication need to adapt as ‘the risk of doing nothing may outweigh the risks of innovating.'”

Dr. J. Craig Venter, President, J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, California

* * * * *

Media coverage highlights

Washington Post

Forbes

El Pais

BBC Brasil

Die Welt

The Conversation

El Confidencial

Project Syndicate

Coverage summary, click here

News release in full, click here

Paris

9 July 2015

UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board calls for advisor, not observer seat for science at leaders’ policy-making table; recommends science test for pending policy decisions

Investing up to 3.5% of a nation’s GDP in science, technology and innovation – including basic science and education – is a key benchmark for advancing sustainable development effectively, leading experts say.

In papers released July 9 in New York, international scientists advising UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon say closing the gap between developed and developing countries depends on first closing international science, technology and innovation (STI) investment gaps.

According to the UN SG’s 26-member Scientific Advisory Board: “While a target of 1% of (Gross Domestic Product) for (research and development) is perceived high by many governments, countries with strong and effective STI systems invest up to 3.5% of their GPD in R&D.”

“If countries wish to break the poverty cycle and achieve (post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals), they will have to set up ambitious national minimum target investments for STI, including special allotments for the promotion of basic science and science education and literacy.”

The Board also recommends specific investment areas, including “novel alternative energy solutions, water filters that remove pathogens at the point-of-use, new robust building materials from locally available materials, nanotechnology for health and agriculture, and biological approaches to industrial production, environmental remediation and management.”

Instituted by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on behalf of the Secretary-General, the Board is comprised of experts from a range of scientific disciplines relevant to sustainable development, including its social and ethical dimensions.

The Board contributes to a process concluding this fall to replace the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, agreed by nations in 2000 for achievement in 2015, with a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through which progress in improving quality of life around the world will be tracked through 2030.

Among other highlights of the papers presented at UN Headquarters:

The Board recommends a dedicated seat for science at an influential new world leaders’ forum created to promote and monitor sustainable development – the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development – saying science needs to be engaged “formally in the HLPF as an advisor rather than an observer.”

“This could be accomplished by creating a formal seat for science on the HLPF, and/or by involving the UNSG’s Scientific Advisory Board and organizations such as the National Academies of Sciences, UNESCO, ICSU, Future Earth, regional scientific bodies, and others.”

The High-level Political Forum meets every four years at the level of Heads of State and Government under the auspices of the General Assembly, and annually under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council. The Forum adopts negotiated declarations.

The Board also suggests engaging scientific bodies in reviews of pending policy decisions against scientific evidence.

“The UN Scientific Advisory Board, ICSU (the International Council for Science), National Academies of Science, and other bodies and networks, in collaboration with UNESCO and the UN system, would run a rigorous process of scientific review and assessment identifying possible risks and opportunities related to key political decisions.”

In addition, the Board calls for an annual Global Sustainable Development Report – a flagship UN publication like the Human Development Report – that monitors progress, identifies critical issues and root causes of challenges, and offers potential ways forward.

The report would synthesize and integrate findings from a wide range of scientific fields and institutions, developed with strong inter-agency support involving a suggested consortium of UN agencies working on sustainable development.

Needed to support long-term thinking: A better educated, informed world

Creating and engaging a better informed and educated public, it adds, would help establish policies that serve humanity’s long-term wellbeing over decisions that favour short-term economic and political interests.

The success of STI “will depend on the efficiency of the science-policy-society interface,” involving stakeholders from governments, civil society, indigenous peoples and local communities, industry and business, academia and research organizations.

“Such an active cooperation of multiple stakeholders will need more than the occasional by-chance interaction of different groups of society. It will require institutionalized architecture that brings together all affected actors to ensure linking scientific information and data as well as findings, scientific assessments and evidence-based advice with both policy and society.”

“Broader societal understanding and support of key scientific findings would make it more likely for science-based actions and evidence-based solutions to also be supported and promoted by decision-makers at all levels.”

The Board underlines that science, technology and innovation can be “the game changer” for the future development efforts.

“It can contribute to alleviating poverty, creating jobs, reducing inequalities, increasing income and enhancing health and well-being. It can assist in solving critical problems such as access to energy, food and water security, climate change and biodiversity loss.”

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The papers in full:

• Science, Technology and Innovation: Critical Means of Implementation for the SDGs
  http://bit.ly/1HfvAz6

and

• Strengthening the High-Level Political Forum and the UN Global Sustainable Development Report
  http://bit.ly/1eFxuPG

Scientific Advisory Board of the United Nations Secretary-General

The Scientific Advisory Board was created in 2013 at the request of the UN Secretary-General to further inform the debate on sustainable development. The Board is composed of 26 eminent scientists representing all regions and many scientific disciplines relevant for sustainable development: the engineering, political and natural sciences are represented as well as for example oceanic, climate and biodiversity research. In addition, all members of the SAB have extensive and manifold experience with international scientific cooperation as well as the science-policy-society interface.

Board members are appointed in their personal capacity, and not as representatives of their respective States or of any other entities with which they may be affiliated. They will serve on a pro bono basis for a period of two years, with the possibility of renewal for one subsequent two-year term at the discretion of the UN Secretary-General.

Members of the Board

The SAB held its 3rd meeting in Malaysia on 25-26 May, co-chaired by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and Zakri Abdul Hamid, Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The meeting was hosted by the Malaysian Government and the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT).

Example coverage:

Reuters / Thomson Reuters, UK “Investing in science can be ‘the game changer’ for development: experts,” click here
InterPress News Service, Italy, “Science and Technology a Game Changer for Post-2015 Development Agenda,” click here, German, click here
SciDev.net, UK, “Developing nations urged to spend big on science,” click here
Bernama, Malaysia, “UN Secretary-General Thanks PM Najib For Successful UN-SAB Meeting In May,” click here

Coverage summary, click here

News release in full, click here

25 May 2015

Innovative ‘flocked swab’ improves diagnosis, treatment of deadly childhood diarrheal diseases; results could prompt rethink of how to manage second leading cause of death among children under 5

With Canadian government funding, medical scientists have created and demonstrated a new tool that could dramatically lower the tragic annual toll of 760,000 infants and children killed, and millions more stunted, due to severe diarrhea.

Using an inexpensive innovation in specimen collection, the Canadian-led team diagnosed previously unrecognized pathogens that had caused the severe diarrhea of over one-third of children in a group of southern Africa hospitals.

With a grant from federally-funded Grand Challenges Canada, McMaster University researchers designed and tested in Botswana a specially-designed “flocked swab” for collecting samples from children admitted to hospitals with severe diarrheal disease — the second-leading cause of death of children under five in developing countries.

The flocked rectal swab eliminates the wait and biohazard involved in obtaining and transporting a bulk stool (feces) sample from an infant or child. This efficiency enabled implementation of a randomized clinical trial evaluating same-day diagnosis and treatment for a broad number of pathogens — the first study of its kind anywhere.

Published by the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society, the study documented that over one-third of 671 babies hospitalized with severe diarrhea – including 17 of 26 (65%) who ultimately died – were infected with a treatable pathogen, infections that had gone unrecognized at the hospital and therefore generally went untreated.

Because so many of these severely ill children had treatable conditions, the researchers clinically tested whether same-day rapid diagnosis followed by timely, appropriate therapy would lead to improved outcomes.

Children randomly chosen for rapid testing using the flocked swab and appropriate treatment were 55% less likely to have diarrhoea recur, compared with children not chosen, and they had a clinically significant height gain after 60 days. This measure of growth is an important indicator of children’s ability to reach their full developmental potential.

Led by David Goldfarb, MD (formerly of McMaster University, now at the University of British Columbia), along with Jeff Pernica, MD (McMaster) and collaborators Isaac Quaye, PhD (University of Namibia) and Margaret Mokomane (University of Botswana), the researchers witnessed dramatic health changes as a result of the rapid test-and-treat strategy.

And the ‘treatment gap’ revealed in their Botswana research uncovers a major opportunity to make a big long-term impact in child health worldwide, they say.

“The simple fact is: Diagnostics save lives,” says Dr. Peter A. Singer, CEO of Grand Challenges Canada. “If health workers can quickly and accurately pinpoint the cause of a child’s illness, timely help can be administered, preventing many deaths and improving many lives.”

“The flocked swab offers a shining example of the sort of ‘Bold Idea with Big Impact’ in global health to which Grand Challenges Canada has been devoted since 2010. These are early days and results from an innovation are fully seen only in the long term but we believe the global health potential of this innovation could be very large over time.”

* 1.7 billion cases of diarrhoeal disease worldwide each year; 760,000 child deaths *

According to the WHO, nearly 1.7 billion cases of diarrhoeal disease occur worldwide every year, illnesses that kill about 760,000 children under five years old. Other profound health consequences for children include physical and cognitive stunting and severe malnutrition.

Says Dr. Pernica: “For many of the leading causes of severe diarrhea in children, there are effective low-cost treatments available. The issue, however, is that up until recently it was not possible to determine the specific pathogen causing illness in a timely manner.”

“For this reason, the standard of care for child diarrhea across the developing world has been to ignore what might be the specific pathogen and only provide antibiotics if blood is present in the stool. This may well be contributing to the high mortality observed in African children with severe diarrhea; in Botswana, 4% of such children died in hospital, and in other sub-Saharan countries, the death rate is over 7%. Furthermore, most of those who survive will experience some degree of growth faltering and the possibility of cognitive developmental delay.”

Phase two of the work in Africa involves quantifying more precisely the difference this diagnostic breakthrough achieves.

Says Dr. Goldfarb: “Further demonstrating significant improvements in outcomes would necessitate an entire rethinking of how this very common condition is managed around the world.”

* Data inspires Botswana to fast-track Rotavirus vaccination programme *

Thanks to the group’s research, valuable information acquired at a national level about the specific germs causing child diarrheal disease facilitated Botswana’s fast-tracking an immunization programme and the development of rapid antibiotic treatment protocols.

Botswana’s anti-Rotavirus programme, addressing the leading cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children, has vaccinated over 100,000 children and is credited with an overall 55% decrease in the mortality rate among infants at four hospitals during the first Rotavirus season after the vaccine roll-out.

Further analysis two years after the vaccine introduction shows a 32% decrease in all-cause infant diarrhea mortality, and a 26% decrease in all-cause infant diarrhea hospitalizations.

* Simple new device helps save kids *

Resembling an oversized Q-tip® but with a furry 3.2-cm (1.25-inch) tip of nylon fibers attached perpendicularly to the end of a plastic stem, the flocked swab designed in Canada for this new diagnostic purpose and manufactured by Copan Italia, began with a proof-of-concept grant in 2011 from Grand Challenges Canada. (Download photo at http://bit.ly/1KcKAB5; credit: David Goldfarb, Jeff Pernica; video (2011): http://bit.ly/1Ag6KPn)

Unlike cotton swabs common in many homes, the flocked swab is like a soft brush with no absorbent core so the entire biological sample stays close to the surface, facilitating diagnostic tests. (Download photo at: http://bit.ly/1bWwIMt, credit: Copan Italia)

Produced at scale, a swab costs as little as 25 cents.

In a study, published in November in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, the innovators showed that a specimen obtained using the specially-designed flocked swab was 16% more likely than matched stool samples to reveal two leading, treatable bacterial pathogens causing diarrhea – Shigella and Campylobacter.

The flocked swab, the researchers add, will benefit health care systems worldwide but especially in low-resource settings where incorrectly and ineffectively treated diarrheal disease wastes precious medical resources.

The device will be used in Canada for the first time in the Gastroenteritis Surveillance Project in Nunavut, where acute gastrointestinal infections are at least two to four times higher than other Canadian regions.

Says Dr. Pernica: “Stool collection and transport generally would be unfeasible in such a setting. Flocked swabs, therefore, will be crucial to enabling this surveillance. Enrolment has begun in five communities and is planned for seven remote communities in all across the territory.”

* Celebration: Grand Challenges Canada turns five *

The Flocked Swab is one of 20 innovations being showcased at a Grand Challenges Canada 5th anniversary event: “Celebrating Legacy, Celebrating Partnerships & Results, Celebrating the Future,” (Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Thursday 28 May, 6 – 9 pm).

The May 28 event will feature presentations by innovators in mental health, early childhood development, maternal, newborn and child health and many other areas.

GCC is funded by the Canadian government, which has designated maternal newborn and child health as the nation’s top international development priority.

Says Dr. Singer: “Thanks to the Government of Canada’s support, we have grown to an organization that has supported this and roughly 700 other innovations in 70 countries, all helping to reinforce Canada’s leadership in the area of global health.”

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For more information, visit grandchallenges.ca and look for us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact® in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada and we support innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas we support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation to find sustainable solutions to health challenges – we call this Integrated Innovation®. Grand Challenges Canada focuses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health program and on targeted challenges in its Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. We have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives.

http://www.grandchallenges.ca

Example coverage by:

Toronto Star, New swab could curb deadly diarrhea problem, click here

United Press International, USA,  New swab reveals treatable infection in one third of babies, click here

Agencia EFE, Spain, Bastoncillo médico reducirá mortalidad infantil por diarrea, click here

Hamilton Spectator, Canada  Mac researchers develop diarrhea diagnostic technique; Taking samples with ‘flocked swab’ could save kids’ lives, click here

EuropaPress newswire, Spain, Un tercio de bebés con diarrea severa tiene una infección tratable sin diagnosticar, click here

Africa Science News Service, Kenya, New medical tool to save infants, children, click here

Xinhua, China, Diagnostic tool unveiled to boost war against cholera in Africa, click here

BBC World Service to Africa

South Africa Broadcasting Corp., Channel Africa

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full: click here

22-Sep-2014

On the eve of United Nations General Assembly events focussed on ways to save and improve the lives of mothers, newborns and children, Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, today announced $2.4 million in grants for 22 bold ideas to address this challenge.

The novel approaches include:

• A program for Bangladeshi mothers working in garment factories to express, pasteurize and store breast milk — thereby improving infant nutrition, reducing absenteeism due to child illnesses, and lowering baby formula expense
• Using a 3D printer in Uganda to produce a low-cost plastic case that, together with a microscope, enables the use of mobile phone cameras for medical lab microphotography, the images read by remote experts if and as required for more accurate malaria diagnosis
• A new hand-pump device in Peru to help struggling newborns take a first breath
• A low-cost, portable system for diagnosing child pneumonia in high-altitude Peru
• A program to train traditional midwives in the Peruvian Amazon to use smart phones to collect information from pregnant women and to schedule antenatal care delivered by medical river ships
• A snack produced from rice bran waste in the Philippines to combat child iron deficiency
• Using chicken feathers in Tanzania to make a universally-affordable, effective mosquito net
• A technique for safely storing vaccines at room temperature — considered a holy grail of global health — by applying a novel polymer coating
• A portable ultrasound imaging device to help medical professionals oversee childbirths in remote areas via cellular telecommunications.

Seed funding of $112,000 is offered to each of eight projects based in Canada (Edmonton, Hamilton, Toronto and Sudbury) that will be implemented in the developing world, and to 11 projects from innovators based in low- and middle-income countries (Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). Also announced today; the first three award nominees of 22 projects based in Peru that are funded with Peru’s National Council for Science, Technology, & Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC) under a collaboration announced January 6.

The funding announcement comes as world leaders prepare for the annual United Nations General Assembly where, this year, women’s and children’s health will be at the heart of discussions. In September 2010, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched ‘Every Woman, Every Child,’ an unprecedented global movement that aims to save the lives of millions of women and children by 2015.

Through the “Muskoka Initiative” agreed at the G8 meeting in 2010, Canada assumed a leading role in promoting the health of women and children in developing countries. In May of this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper convened ‘Saving Every Woman Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach’, a high-level summit on maternal, newborn and child health, where Canada has committed another $3.5 billion for 2015 – 2020 towards its top development priority: saving the lives of millions of mothers and children. Prime Minister Harper will also be addressing the United Nations General Assembly.

“Under Canada’s leadership, many more women are surviving pregnancy and childbirth, and millions more children are celebrating their fifth birthday,” said the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie.

“Canada has led efforts to provide developing countries with proven, inexpensive and reliable approaches, such as improving nutrition and access to immunization, so that the poorest and most vulnerable no longer suffer deaths that are easily prevented.”

Said Dr. Gisella Orjeda, President of CONCYTEC: “We are excited to see that our partnership with Grand Challenges Canada to support global health innovators in Peru is helping to improve the health of women and children in Peru through the implementation of bold ideas.”

Dr. Peter A. Singer, Chief Executive Officer at Grand Challenges Canada, noted: “More and more children can celebrate their fifth birthday as a result of Canada’s commitment and leadership. Through supporting these innovative projects, and by working in partnership with the Government of Peru, we are further strengthening the global pipeline of maternal, newborn and child health innovations.”

Local project contacts : http://bit.ly/1p5XHEm

		IMAGE: During the first 60 seconds of life, neonatal resuscitation procedures are highly effective in reducing complications and increasing survival of newborn babies. However, an additional intervention may be needed when… Click here for more information.

CANADIAN-BASED PROJECTS

A new rice bran snack to combat iron deficiency in children
Impact Centre, Toronto (Implementation: Philippines) (#0622-01-10)

Is there a chance kids could snack their way to good health? This project is developing snacks fortified with iron-rich rice bran, an abundant by-product of rice processing typically discarded, burned, fed to animals or turned into cooking oil. The project will engage local expertise in food and chemistry, and capitalize on the “culture of snacking” in the Philippines, a country where iron deficiency affects 70% of children, leading to anemia and other debilitating conditions.

Video: http://youtu.be/kt7JcHcueNw / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyK1Cs / Website: http://bit.ly/ZmbxxL

Stable vaccines without refrigeration
McMaster University, Hamilton (Implementation: India) (#0627-01-10)

Stable vaccines without refrigeration is a holy grail of medical science. In resource-poor locations, vaccine refrigeration is difficult and expensive, contributing to 2.5 million deaths each year that could be prevented with diphtheria, tetanus, measles and other immunizations. Innovators behind this project have found that entrapping vaccines with a polymer allows vaccine viruses to be kept stable at room temperature for months. The polymer, pullulan, is a safe, food-grade polysaccharide (used in Listerine breath strips) with a unique ability to provide a good oxygen barrier while readily dissolving in water. The project will evaluate the technology’s potential use in stabilizing a wide range of vaccines and develop a package for transporting dry, pullulan-coated vaccine and sterile water. At the point of use, the vaccine will be dissolved in water within a sterile package before injection. The approach is easily scalable, as all the materials needed are available at industrial scale.

Video: http://youtu.be/tz6L_ymfFZM / Images: http://bit.ly/1u43EIu / Website: http://bit.ly/1AP8xWd

Disinfecting harvested rainwater with the sun
University of Toronto (Implementation: Bangladesh) (#0634-01-10)

In coastal Bangladesh, as in many other places, rainwater is collected from rooftops and stored in large cisterns for use during the dry season (four to six months). It is often contaminated during collection and microbes proliferate during storage, causing health problems for millions. This Enhanced Solar Disinfection (eSODIS) project combines interventions in a novel way to minimize microbial growth during storage using sunlight, as well as treating the water using a small “just-in-time” solar-activated disinfection/dispensing module. Longer-term, the method may also offer a low-cost way to treat water that is contaminated with arsenic and select pesticides, both challenges that affect millions more in the developing world.

Video: http://youtu.be/J7p1YJB5LQY / Website: http://bit.ly/1qCFmFD

A quick water test to help conquer deadly diseases
University of Toronto (Implementation: Canada, Philippines) (#0636-01-10)

This project in the Philippines is developing a biosensor system for the rapid and accurate identification of Cryptosporidium microbes in water, a cause of diarrhea that leads to half of all deaths of children under five. Working closely with the Puerto Princesa Water District, provincial health offices and non-profit organizations, the project will help oversee the manufacture and distribution of the Cryptosporidium screening systems, and conduct training to ensure their effective deployment, with aims of introducing the systems in other Asian countries.

Video: http://youtu.be/eJXvEO2s9js / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyAVWq / Website: http://bit.ly/1D9pFtF

Water purifier powers itself
H2O4ALL, Toronto (Implementation: Uganda) (#0620-01-10)

A groundbreaking water purification device that powers itself by producing electricity from any source of flowing water has been created through a partnership between H2O4ALL and Formarum, a Canadian engineering company. Based on conventional copper-silver ionization, the technology needs no external power source and can automatically adjust the disinfection rate required – both features being of great importance in regions lacking reliable electricity sources and technical expertise. The technology can also develop economic growth within communities by creating power for other essential needs.

Video: http://youtu.be/eBN67GITp0I / Images: http://bit.ly/1wfYlba / Website: http://bit.ly/XlNehT

Kenya’s CeraMaji water filter uses clay and sawdust, sugar cane
ICChange, Edmonton (Implementation: Kenya) (#0623-01-10)

For many people in rural Kenya, purifying water by boiling it is prohibitively expensive and is limited by the availability of raw materials. Innovators behind this project have developed the CeraMaji Ceramic water filter that uses clay and sawdust or sugar cane to remove 99.97% of Giardia and coliform bacteria from local stream water. The CeraMaji filters will be manufactured at a large, new factory in Kenya.

Video: http://youtu.be/aH4egN1_70g / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxQ / Website: http://bit.ly/X4M61G

Maternal tele-ultrasounds in rural Philippines
Sonola Inc. with Impact Centre, Toronto (Implementation: Philippines) (#0621-01-10)

In the Philippines, some 44% of mothers give birth without a doctor. In this project, an affordable ultrasonic obstetric care solution will be developed to improve maternal healthcare for the rural Philippines. In partnership with the Provincial Health Office of Palawan, nurses and midwives will be trained to use portable ultrasound devices to screen for obstetric complications, and get access to medical professionals when diagnostic information is transmitted through cellular telecommunications.

Video: http://youtu.be/PEh9v3MmfjU / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyAVWp / Website: http://bit.ly/1sUSrK5

Destroying the eggs of disease-spreading mosquitoes in Guatemala’s jungles
Laurentian University, Sudbury (Implementation: Guatemala) (#0624-01-10)

This project will empower indigenous people in Sayaxche, Guatemala with knowledge and tools to use a modified “ovitrap” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovitrap) that effectively destroys mosquito eggs, thereby reducing malaria, dengue fever and other diseases. In a pilot study last year in Mexico that used only 50 modified ovitraps, more than 350,000 mosquito eggs were destroyed during one year, representing a reduction of 70-80% of mosquito eggs compared to unmodified traps.

Video: http://youtu.be/qT3UJzaE0Zg / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyAVWs / Website: http://bit.ly/1APdzSt

PROJECTS FROM LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES

AFRICA

Using chicken feathers to make mosquito nets
Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania (implementation: Tanzania) (#0681-01-10)

This innovative project combines two facts of life in Tanzania: the abundance of unused chicken feathers (a waste by-product of food production and not typically recycled) and the prevalence of malaria, a major health burden. Mosquito nets have proven effective against malaria transmission, but are not readily accessible and affordable to every family. The innovators will recycle chicken feathers from markets and people’s homes to produce mosquito nets from keratin fibers (found in hair). Keratin fibers are lightweight and strong, and resistant to mechanical and thermal stress, features that will make these novel nets far more durable and reusable. This approach will not only contribute to malaria control, but will have a positive impact on the environment and create many business opportunities.

Video: http://youtu.be/pD9Qf5Bea60 / Images: http://bit.ly/1u43CQY / Website: http://bit.ly/1DbTj1s

Integrating biolarvicides with fertilizer in rice fields to control malaria vectors
Catholic University of Health & Allied Sciences, Tanzania (Implementation:Tanzania) (#0677-01-10)

The majority of all 243 million reported cases of malaria worldwide occur in children under five in Africa. While effective treatment has lowered the mortality rate, current malaria interventions are unlikely to halt the actual transmission of the disease, showing the need for supplementary intervention measures. This project aims to introduce biolarvicides in rice farming practices in rural Tanzania, as an innovative approach in malaria control. By offering larvicides in the form of pellets that can be mixed with fertilizers, local skills are put to use, creating a double impact: the reduction of malaria transmission and increased rice yields. The integrated application of biolarvicides is a safe, effective and environmentally sustainable component of a successfully integrated vector management strategy.

Video: http://youtu.be/KBGfkccs0VU / Website: http://bit.ly/1tXcZ6g

Treating water bodies to control mosquito larvae with the help of Pastoralists
Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania (Implementation: Tanzania) (#0678-01-10)

Malaria is responsible for 21,000 deaths in Tanzania each year. In the dry season, controlling mosquito larvae (which live in water) is not workable because water bodies are hard to locate. Pastoralists (nomads who raise livestock on natural pasture) know where these water bodies are, since they rely on them to water their cattle. Ifakara Health Institute will recruit pastoralists to find and then treat mosquito breeding sites with the eco-friendly and human-safe insecticide pyriproxyfen (PPF). Livestock nutrient supplements will be an added incentive to pastoralists. This social innovation of integrating pastoralists into a malaria control strategy will enable the efficient treatment of larval hotspots in rural Africa, while improving livestock health and the economic situation of pastoralist tribes.

Video: http://youtu.be/nN48eys6GTE / Website: http://bit.ly/1uPeccY

Baited traps to control houseflies and reduce diarrhea in urban slums and rural areas
Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania (Implementation: Tanzania) (#0680-01-10)

Diarrhea is a leading cause of death among children in most low-income countries. Outbreaks of diarrhea are closely related to an abundance of houseflies and research has shown that control of houseflies may have a substantial impact on diarrhea incidences. Innovators at Ifakara Health Institute will introduce a baited fly-trap as a sustainable and effective tool to reduce the transmission of related infections by controlling houseflies in slums and rural areas. The traps will be combined with increasing community awareness of houseflies to optimally locate fly-traps. To self-sustain, the fly-trap boxes will show paid ads by mobile phone companies.

Video: http://youtu.be/17JyBWoU9IE / Website: http://bit.ly/1uPeocn

Subscription-based delivery of improved sanitation to low-income households
MSABI, Tanzania (Implementation: Tanzania) (#0682-01-10)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to improved sanitation, resulting in 1.6 million deaths every year. The vast majority of that burden is borne by children under five. Affordability is considered a major barrier. A high-quality and environmentally safe toilet will be delivered and maintained for a nominal fee and a regular premium. Customers can pay the premium through mobile money solutions, thus making the service available to users without access to conventional banking systems. This integrated approach combines a personalized and affordable waste collection service with an attractive, comfortable and safe hardware product, and novel financing solutions as an added bonus.

Video: http://youtu.be/765tFEoM4n4 / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyAVWr / Website: http://bit.ly/1qFVpCs

Combining mobile phones with microscope adapters to diagnose infectious diseases remotely
Makerere University, Uganda (Implementation: Uganda) (#0684-01-10)

Misdiagnosis of diseases due to the lack of microscopical examination capacity has taken its toll: high mortality rates, drug resistance, economic burden and distrust in local medical practitioners. While microscopes are available to most clinics, there is a lack of trained lab technicians who can process the images. Leveraging recent advances in mobile phone camera-based microscopy, automated lab testing to be carried out with existing microscopes and ubiquitous smartphones would be available. Using 3D printers to produce a hardware adapter for virtually any model of smartphone will enable clinics to easily capture and transmit images using a mobile phone and available microscopes. The appropriate software would automate diagnostic tasks (not focusing on a single pathology), leading to either a local automated diagnosis (lab-on-the-phone) or the transmission of images to a central server where a human expert would review the data.

Video: http://youtu.be/nrcCR-NFCJ0 / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxR / Website: http://bit.ly/1q8EFxB

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Peepoo: a biodegradable toilet turning human waste into valuable fertiliser
Peepoople, Kenya (Implementation: Kenya) (#0659-01-10-01-10)

Poor sanitation poses a major health threat. Human excreta released into the environment without treatment causes illness and death. Every 15 seconds, a child dies due to contaminated water from human feces, with the situation being the worst in urban slums. Peepoople is rethinking sanitation with the design of a personal, self-sanitising and fully biodegradable toilet that prevents feces from contaminating the immediate area, as well as the surrounding ecosystem. After use, Peepoo turns human waste into valuable fertiliser that can improve livelihoods and increase food security. This ecological and economically sustainable toilet will be available for those who need it the most and who can least afford it.

Video: http://youtu.be/CJeFzdlKkbc / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxO / Website: http://bit.ly/ZneOg5

ASIA

Mothers’ milk pasteurization for Bangladesh garment workers
ICDDR,B, Bangladesh (Implementation: Bangladesh) (Grant # 0612-01-10)

Mothers working in Bangladesh garment factories will receive access to breast pumps and a low-cost way to extend the shelf life of expressed breast milk. The technique uses an alternative heating medium, minimizing the amount of water and energy normally needed for pasteurization but effectively killing bacteria and viruses while leaving nutrient content largely intact and extending shelf life. The results offer major benefits for the workers, their babies and employers alike, among them improved infant nutrition, reduced absenteeism due to child illnesses and less expense for baby formula. Using existing factory clinics to promote long-term sustainability, the project can be scaled up in Bangladesh and other low- and middle-income countries.

Video: http://youtu.be/2eOknFLRtVg / Images: http://bit.ly/1u43CQZ / Website: http://bit.ly/1uEacNi

Counselling moms on infant feeding, psychosocial stimulation in Bangladeshi slums
ICDDR,B, Bangladesh (Implementation: Bangladesh) (Grant # 0610-01-10)

A combination of poverty, malnutrition, illness and a lack of stimulation at home puts at risk the cognitive development of millions of children in the developing world. Operating in an urban slum of Bangladesh, women trained within this project will make 13 home visits in a child’s first year of life to counsel parents on infant feeding and psychosocial stimulation – an integrated, sustainable, cost-effective approach potentially able to be implemented through the existing health system in Bangladesh. In the scale-up phase, the project will promote integrating such counselling into mainstream government nutrition programs provided through newly-established community clinics.

Video: http://youtu.be/-QuIxHL7RJ8 / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxM / Website: http://bit.ly/1BGWFIb

School health centers in urban India
AddressHealth Solutions India Pvt Ltd. (Implementation: India) (#0646-01-10)

In urban India today, AddressHealth offers primary and first-contact medical care, dental treatment, vision services, health education, nutrition, psychosocial health and chronic disease interventions to 40,000 urban children through its chain of integrated clinics and comprehensive school programs, with a goal of reaching one million children in low-income schools by 2019. The onsite program in schools is delivered by nurses, supported by a multidisciplinary child health team and a technology platform that includes televideo links and electronic school health records. In urban India, 40% of children are undernourished;15 % are overweight; 20% have vision issues (half of which go uncorrected); one in eight have psychosocial issues (almost all of which go unaddressed), while 50% have dental caries.

Video: http://youtu.be/DU-ZnHrIu9Q / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxS / Website: http://bit.ly/1ph4KKE

Worms help revolutionize sanitation in India
Primove Infrastructure Development Consultants, India (Implementation: India) (#0652-01-10)

A new technology, proven in the lab and now in field tests in rural India, uses composting worms to degrade fecal solids and a filtration system to treat the liquid effluent. The technology takes half the space of a twin pit latrine, treats fecal waste effectively, requires less frequent emptying and costs about the same to install. The new system links to a pour-flush toilet with a water seal, thus providing a hygienic environment, free of smells and flies.

Video: http://youtu.be/UBiIxVEY3Ns / Images: http://bit.ly/1u43EIs / Website: http://bit.ly/1oRhwQV

PERU

A maternal and newborn health program for remote communities in the Amazon
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru (Implementation: Peru) (#0674-01-10)

Traditionally, hard-to-reach rural areas show increased maternal and child mortality. In Peru, rural villages of the Amazon basin have the worst health indicators in the country and many are only accessible by medical river vessels. The under-five and maternal mortality rates are well above the national average. The Mama River Program, a maternal and newborn program for remote riverine areas in the Peruvian Amazon, wants to change this. The program will train traditional midwives to use smartphones (widely available in Peru) to collect information from pregnant women at their communities and to schedule antenatal care visits by the medical ship staff. It will alert the medical vessel whenever a high-risk pregnancy is identified and send reports when a birth or death occurs, making civil registration and administrative follow-up more effective.

Video: http://youtu.be/4dTpugju9Rs / Website: http://bit.ly/1uEb58A

FIRST BREATH – A portable device to help breathing during the first seconds of life
Instituto Nacional de Salud, Peru (Implementation: Peru) (#0690-01-10)

During the first 60 seconds of life, neonatal resuscitation procedures are highly effective in reducing complications and increasing survival of newborn babies. However, an additional intervention may be needed when neonates can use a little help with their first breath, often requiring a ventilation device. Such a device is harder to find in low- and middle-income countries. The solution is a manual and portable device for initial respiratory support that allows positive pressure ventilation, acting as a respiratory trigger to improve chances for spontaneous breathing. The device employs a bellows mechanism, a valve and a connector, and will be available for different neonatal size groups. Local production will be encouraged to create business opportunities and it is intended to be available at a cost of at least ten times less than standard devices.

Video: http://youtu.be/waj3PgSnTXo / Website: http://bit.ly/1oRiDjr

The Highapp: Improving pneumonia diagnosis among children living at high altitudes
Instituto Nacional de Salud, Peru (Implementation: Peru)

Every year, pneumonia kills 2.5 million children under five, most of them in developing countries. Peru in particular has above-average mortality numbers. Standard pneumonia diagnosis is based on respiratory rate (RR) or Oxygen Saturation (Sa02). However, the reference values established at sea level cannot be used at high altitudes, which is a problem in the Andean Region where a large number of people reside 1,500 meters above sea level or more. Recognizing the need to improve diagnostic accuracy and prognosis of pneumonia in children under five years in the Andean region, this novel project will determine clinical reference values for pneumonia diagnosis at different higher altitudes. A mobile app integrating a score with appropriate reference values to each altitudinal level will help guide community health workers in the evaluation of children.

Video: http://youtu.be/M5_S_xTIIyk / Website: http://bit.ly/1wxfdKE

About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada; we support innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas we support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation to find sustainable solutions to health challenges – we call this Integrated Innovation. Grand Challenges Canada focuses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health program, and on targeted challenges through its Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) andthe Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. We have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives. http://www.grandchallenges.ca

News release in full, click here

Example coverage

Globe and Mail, click here

CBC, click here

Agencia EFE (Spanish news agency), click here

Hamilton Spectator, click here

Sudbury Star, click here

CBC Sudbury, click here

Coverage summary, click here

3-Jun-2013

The world can only meet its future food needs through innovation, including biotechnology: Kenya-born Harvard prof. Calestous Juma

The world can only meet its future food needs through innovation, including the use of agricultural biotechnology, a Harvard development specialist said today.

Since their commercial debut in the mid-1990s, genetically-designed crops have added about $100 billion to world crop output, avoided massive pesticide use and greenhouse gas emissions, spared vast tracts of land and fed millions of additional people worldwide, said Professor Calestous Juma of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Speaking to graduates of McGill University, Montreal, Juma asked youth to embrace innovative sciences that alone will make it possible to feed the billions who will swell world population in decades ahead, especially in developing countries.

News release in full, click here

Coverage by:

The Independent (UK), news story, click here; related commentary, click here

The Globe and Mail (Canada), op-ed, click here; twitter discussion, click here

Toronto Star (full page), click here

The Standard (Kenya), click here

Reuters (UK), click here

Agencia EFE (Spain), news story, click here 

McGill University convocation address in full: click here

Coverage summary, click here

9-Apr-2013

Raising scientists: Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada celebrates 20 years of inspiring biotechnology studies and careers

Cutting edge research into an experimental therapy that deploys nano-particles of gold in the fight against cancer earned an Alberta high school student, 16, top national honours today in the 2013 “Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada” (SBCC).

India-born Arjun Nair, 16, a Grade 11 student at Webber Academy, Calgary, was awarded the top prize of $5,000 by a panel of eminent Canadian scientists assembled at the Ottawa headquarters of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).

His research project, mentored at the University of Calgary, advances an experimental cancer “photothermal therapy” which involves injecting a patient with gold nanoparticles. The particles accumulate in tumours, forming so-called “nano-bullets” that can be heated to kill cancer cells.

Arjun showed how an antibiotic may overcome the cancer’s defences and make the promising treatment more effective. Arjun’s research, which a panel of expert judges led by Luis Barreto, MD, called “world class Masters or PhD-level quality,” also won a special $1,000 prize awarded to the project with the greatest commercial potential. (See full project description below, and online at http://bit.ly/12i4QIP)

Eleven brilliant students from nine Canadian regions, all just 16 to 18 years old, took part in the national finals. They had placed 1st at earlier regional SBCC competitions, conducted between March 21 and April 4.

Celebrating 20 years of inspiring young scientists in Canada, this year’s SBCC involved a total of 208 high school students collaborating on 123 projects, all mentored in professional labs over several months and submitted via the regional competitions.

Since its beginning in Toronto in 1994, some 4,500 young Canadians have competed in the SBCC, an event that has inspired sister BioGENEius competitions in the USA and Australia.

2nd place, $4,000 — British Columbia: Selin Jessa, 17, Grade 12, Dr. Charles Best Secondary School, Coquitlam, won the second place prize with research into how genetic mutations naturally help some HIV patients escape symptoms. Project description: http://bit.ly/16u1zZj

Arjun and Selin will compete for Canada April 22-23 at the International BioGENEius Challenge, conducted at the annual BIO conference, this year in Chicago.

3rd place, $3,000 — Quebec: Eunice Linh You, 17, Grade 11, Laval Liberty High School, Laval, who investigated how to tailor stem cell treatments for Parkinson’s disease (see http://bit.ly/YtJJnq)

4th place, $2,000 — Greater Toronto: Lauren Chan, 17, Grade 12, University of Toronto Schools, who described a potential new therapy to reduce the severity of diabetes (see http://bit.ly/YQKWon)

5th place, $1,000 — Manitoba: Daniel Huang, 16, Grade 11, St. John’s Ravenscourt School, Winnipeg, who discovered a potential new tactic to fight the world’s deadliest brain cancer (seehttp://bit.ly/14LeurK)

Honorable mention, $500:

Jared Trask, 18, Kaitlyn Stockley, 17, Grade 12, Holy Spirit High School, Conception Bay West, Newfoundland, who, for the second consecutive year, won the Atlantic region competition by proving novel ideas for creating biofuels (see http://bit.ly/YZkOVp);

Adamo Young, 16, Grade 11, Lisgar Collegiate Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, who found that altering its nitrogen supply appears to tame a toxic fungus that ruins billions worth of grain worldwide (seehttp://bit.ly/YtJOaB);

Melanie Grondin, 17, Shawn Liu, 18, Vincent Massey Secondary School, Windsor, Ontario, who found a marker in medicine’s quest for the holy grail of leukaemia treatments: limitless supplies of healthy stem cells (see http://bit.ly/XGWICS).

Saruul Uuganbayar, 17, Grade 12, Centennial Collegiate, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who invented a molecular therapy for mutated cells with the dream of curing cancer (see http://bit.ly/XGWBqX); and

Following the presentation ceremony at the NRC, Governor-General David Johnston, a distinguished educator prior to his vice-regal appointment, received the students at Rideau Hall.

News release in full: click here

Coverage highlights:

The Globe and Mail, click here

Agence France Presse, click here

The Canadian Press, click here

QMI news agency, click here

The Vancouver Sun, news story click here,  (op-ed) here

The Calgary Sun, click here

CTV Canada AM, click here

Full coverage summary, click here

20-Feb-2013

Unexpected prizes from a high school biotech science competition, mentored by some of Canada’s top research experts, range from rich university scholarships and commercial patents to peer-reviewed journal citations and international speaking invitations, former teen participants say.

But the reward cited most often by alumni of the Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada (SBCC), this year marking its 20th annual competition, was the eye-opening experience of watching their inventive ideas succeed and being encouraged in a professional lab, creating in many a career-shaping passion for science.

News release in full: click here

Sample coverage: TED2013, click here, Vancouver Sun, click here, Agencia EFE (Spanish), click here

8-May-2012

Powerful anti-oxidant discovered in tree pulp; Grade 12 researcher wins top honors at national biotech science competition

OTTAWA — An Ontario girl, 16, who invented a disease-fighting, anti-aging compound using nano-particles from trees, won top national honours today in the 2012 Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada (SBCC).

Her super anti-oxidant compound could one day help improve health and anti-aging products by neutralizing more of the harmful free-radicals found in the body. Her research is detailed below.

Janelle Tam, a Grade 12 student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, was awarded the $5,000 first prize by an impressed panel of eminent Canadian scientists assembled at the Ottawa headquarters of the National Research Council of Canada.

In all, some 13 brilliant students in Grades 11 or 12, all just 16 to 18 years old, took part in the national finals. They were top prize winners of nine regional SBCC competitions conducted nationwide in March and April, events that showcased youthful Canadian talent in the fast-growing field of biotech science.

News release in full: click here

Sample coverage:

Agence France Presse, click here, in French here

Huffington Post, click here

Montreal Gazette, click here

CBC National Radio (As It Happens), click here

The Record (Kitchener, Waterloo), click here

Maclean’s Magazine, click here and here 

Press Trust of India, click here

Coverage summary: click here

16-Dec-2011

Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invest almost $32 million in the discovery and development of new and improved diagnostics at point-of-care

Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have teamed up on an unprecedented global effort to discover and develop affordable, easy-to-use tools to help developing country health workers rapidly diagnose diseases in rural communities. The expected result: more timely and appropriate treatment of illnesses in poor countries, potentially saving countless lives.

“Imagine a hand-held, battery-powered device that can take a drop of blood and, within minutes, tell a healthcare worker in a remote village whether a feverish child has malaria, dengue or a bacterial infection,” says Peter A. Singer, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada. “More rapid diagnosis of malaria alone could prevent 100,000 deaths a year. We believe this and other life-saving opportunities are within our reach.”

The five research areas of this Grand Challenge break the diagnostic problem down into its component parts: Draw blood (or other biological sample) and prep it for analysis, analyze the sample to identify disease, develop the technologies to obtain and transmit data and receive back results, and ensure the device will work in the field where there is often no electricity or refrigeration.

“The project is analogous to software developers creating new apps for smart phones and tablet computers,” says Rebecca Lackman, PhD, Grand Challenges Canada Program Officer for Diagnostics. “Researchers have accepted the challenge to create novel sampling and testing systems that can be plugged into a standardized analyzer that can test for malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and a variety of tropical diseases. The ‘Integrated Innovation’ approach means they will also investigate the social and business innovations needed for successful product delivery and use.”

“This initiative is unique in many respects: it will allow health workers to identify multiple diseases and pathogens from one patient specimen; plug-and-play platforms will allow best-in-class components to be developed and integrated in a diagnostic device; and we are creating a common application platform; thereby, reducing both commercialization costs and regulatory issues, making it more attractive for industry to invest in diagnostics for global health.”

Example coverage: The Associated Press, click here; Agence France Presse, click here, EFE (Spanish), click here

Coverage summary, click here

Full news release, click here