HYDERABAD: Ella Foundation on Thursday said it won a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) grant, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to foster innovation in global health research.According to the foundation, the grant would aid the foundation to pursue development of a ‘disabled’ virus, as part of an innovative global health research project, to ‘check-mate’ polio following the phasing out of oral poliovirus (OPV) vaccine.The project could result in a live polio vaccine. "Such a vaccine could carry all the beneficial effects of an oral polio vaccine-- efficacy, ease of manufacture, distribution and administration along with the safety profile of an injectable vaccine-- by eliminating vaccine derived polio virus (VDPV)," Ella Foundation said in a statement.“The GCE encourages individuals worldwide to expand the pipeline of ideas where creative, unorthodox thinking is most urgently needed,” said Chris Wilson, director, Global Health Discovery and Translational Sciences, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation adding, “We’re excited to provide additional funding for select grantees so that they can continue to advance their idea towards global impact.”The GCE funds individuals worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mould in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Ella Foundation’s project is one of over 100 Grand Challenges Explorations Round-8 grants announced on Thursday.To receive the funding, Ella Foundation and other GCE Round-8 winners demonstrated a bold idea on one of the five critical global heath and development issues.
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