Gates Foundation Seeks Out Nontypical Research to Fund

On Wednesday, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced it is granting 104 researchers in 22 countries $100,000 each to explore unusual approaches for tackling diseases -- including HIV/AIDS and TB -- as well as other global health issues. The $100 million earmarked for the program, called Grand Challenges Explorations, will be distributed over a five-year period. The grantees were selected from 4,000 applicants who completed a two-page Web-based application. The selection committee will review each scientist's project in one year; those that look most promising can apply for $1 million grants. The foundation expects about six grantees will evidence enough progress to be considered for the larger grants. "We recognize that most of these things are not going to pan out," said Tachi Yamada, president of global health at the foundation. The grants are a small fraction of the approximately $3 billion the foundation disburses annually from its $35 billion endowment.

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