Media

OTTAWA, April 29, 2011  —  The University of Ottawa announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Professor Marc-André Langlois of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled Destruction of HIV-infected cells by death-inducing molecular nano-switches.

Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) funds scientists and researchers worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Professor Langlois’ project is one of over 85 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 6 grants announced today by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“GCE winners are expanding the pipeline of ideas for serious global health and development challenges where creative thinking is most urgently needed. These grants are meant to spur on new discoveries that could ultimately save millions of lives,” said Chris Wilson, director of Global Health Discovery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

To receive funding, Professor Langlois and other Grand Challenges Explorations Round 6 winners demonstrated in a two-page online application a bold idea in one of five critical global heath and development topic areas: polio eradication, HIV, sanitation and family health technologies, and mobile health. Applications for the current open round, Grand Challenges Explorations Round 7, will be accepted through May 19, 2011.

Along with a team of dedicated scientists, Marc-André Langlois, who is also the Canada Research Chair in Molecular Virology and Intrinsic Immunity, will develop small molecules that combine to form a toxic compound when they enter an HIV infected cell. Current antiretroviral drugs mainly target the virus and leave HIV-infected cells intact. The molecules to be developed in this project will act in these infected cells and destroy them. Because the molecules used in Professor Langlois’ research are non-toxic for healthy cells, they could constitute promising candidates for a vaccine-based delivery system aimed at specifically eliminating HIV-infected cells.

About Grand Challenges Explorations
Grand Challenges Explorations is a US$100 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Launched in 2008, Grand Challenge Explorations grants have already been awarded to nearly 500 researchers from over 40 countries. The grant program is open to anyone from any discipline and from any organization. The initiative uses an agile, accelerated grant-making process with short two-page online applications and no preliminary data required. Initial grants of $100,000 are awarded two times a year. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to US$1 million.

About the University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa, one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities, is working to improve the health of all Canadians through research. We are committed to excellence and encourage an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge creation, which attracts the best academic talent from across Canada and around the world.