{"340551":{"#nid":"340551","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Institute of Technology receives Grand Challenges Explorations grant from Bill \u0026 Melinda Gates Foundation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EATLANTA\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Georgia Tech announced today that it is a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.grandchallenges.org\/Explorations\/Pages\/Introduction.aspx\u0022\u003EGrand Challenges Explorations\u003C\/a\u003E winner, an initiative funded by the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatesfoundation.org\/Pages\/home.aspx\u0022\u003EBill \u0026amp; Melinda Gates Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E. J. Carson Meredith, professor in the School of Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled \u201cPollen-Based Assays of Intestinal Mucus Water Content and Rheology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGrand Challenges Explorations (GCE) funds individuals worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. Dr. Meredith\u2019s project is one of more than 60 Grand Challenges Explorations grants announced today by the Bill \u0026amp; Melinda Gates Foundation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo receive funding, Dr. Meredith and other Grand Challenges Explorations winners demonstrated in a two-page online application a bold idea in one of five critical global heath and development topic areas. The foundation is accepting applications for the current GCE round until \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gcgh.grandchallenges.org\/Explorations\/Pages\/ApplicationInstructions.aspx\u0022\u003ENovember 12, 2014\u003C\/a\u003E 11:30 AM PDT.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Meredith\u2019s work will focus on developing a rapid and low-cost diagnostic for childhood enteric disease, such as diarrhea. These diseases are a worldwide problem and leading cause of childhood mortality. Treating these diseases is difficult because predicting how the intestinal mucus layer of children will behave under stress is a challenge for researchers because intestinal tracts of children are quite different from adults. That mucus layer is critical to absorbing nutrients. If it\u2019s damaged by disease, it won\u2019t function as well, and can lead to endemic gastrointestinal disease. Meredith has proposed a novel, low-cost method to test the health of the mucus lining in children, by using both natural and synthetic pollen particles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNature provides great sources of complex microparticles that can be adapted for engineering applications,\u201d Meredith said. \u201cPollen grains are covered with unique nanoscale spines that I believe will make them excellent, but inexpensive sensors of mucus function.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPollen is sticky, edible, can survive in harsh environments, and has a wide variety of spiny appendages, sizes and shapes. The first step of Meredith\u2019s work will be to characterize how fast different synthetic pollen shells travel through viscous liquids that simulate what\u2019s inside the inside of the gut. This part of the work will involve collaboration with Dr. Victor Breedveld, also a ChBE faculty member. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout Grand Challenges Explorations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.grandchallenges.org\/Explorations\/Pages\/Introduction.aspx\u0022\u003EGrand Challenges Explorations\u003C\/a\u003E is a US$100 million initiative funded by the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatesfoundation.org\/Pages\/home.aspx\u0022\u003EBill \u0026amp; Melinda Gates Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E. Launched in 2008, over 1070 projects in more than 60 countries have received Grand Challenges Explorations grants. 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 US$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.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E177 North Avenue\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAtlanta, Georgia\u0026nbsp; 30332-0181\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts: \u003C\/strong\u003EBrett Israel (404-385-1933) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebrett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon (404-894-6986) (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u003C\/strong\u003E Brett Israel\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech announced today that it is a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.grandchallenges.org\/Explorations\/Pages\/Introduction.aspx\u0022\u003EGrand Challenges Explorations\u003C\/a\u003E winner, an initiative funded by the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatesfoundation.org\/Pages\/home.aspx\u0022\u003EBill \u0026amp; Melinda Gates Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E. J. Carson Meredith, professor in the School of Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled \u201cPollen-Based Assays of Intestinal Mucus Water Content and Rheology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"J. Carson Meredith, professor in the School of Chemical \u0026 Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled \u201cPollen-Based Assays of Intestinal Mucus Water Content and Rheology.\u201d"}],"uid":"27902","created_gmt":"2014-11-04 14:01:06","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:23","author":"Brett Israel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-11-04T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2014-11-04T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"340531":{"id":"340531","type":"image","title":"J. Carson Meredith","body":null,"created":"1449245585","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:13:05","changed":"1475895055","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:55","alt":"J. Carson Meredith","file":{"fid":"201917","name":"meredith_image.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/meredith_image_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/meredith_image_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1867220,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/meredith_image_0.jpg?itok=RFTuw04r"}},"340541":{"id":"340541","type":"image","title":"Sunflower pollen","body":null,"created":"1449245585","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:13:05","changed":"1475895055","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:55","alt":"Sunflower pollen","file":{"fid":"201918","name":"sunflower_pollen_blue.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sunflower_pollen_blue_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/sunflower_pollen_blue_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":894372,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/sunflower_pollen_blue_0.jpg?itok=5fVZJ5ZJ"}}},"media_ids":["340531","340541"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"105671","name":"Carson Meredith"},{"id":"9315","name":"Gates Foundation"},{"id":"66571","name":"Grand Challenges Explorations"},{"id":"80651","name":"pollen"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBrett Israel\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-385-1933\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/btiatl\u0022\u003E@btiatl\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}