Bold Idea: Using Algae to Fight Malaria
Mosquito larvae feeding on algae near the surface.
As part of their goal of pursing innovative ideas and transforming health in developing countries, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given the Danforth Center a $100,000 Grand Challenges Exploration grant. The grant will support a novel global health research project to engineer microalgae to kill specifically only mosquito larvae that transmit malaria. The research is being led by Dr. Richard Sayre, member and principal investigator at the Danforth Center and his team of researchers, including Center graduate student Anil Kumar and Dr. Brenda Beerntsen from the University of Missouri- Columbia.
The project is one of 76 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the third funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries. The grants were provided to scientists in 16 countries on five continents. The initiative is highly competitive, receiving almost 3,000 proposals in this round. “This is a program that funds really innovative, cutting-edge strategies that are sort of outside the norm,” said Sayre.
Sayre and his colleagues at the Danforth Center have proposed a novel strategy to kill mosquitoes that transmit malaria at the larval stage, before they mature into adult (blood-sucking) mosquitoes. This will be achieved by inoculating the ponds where mosquito larvae grow with algae that have been engineered to destroy them. “Our strategy selectively eradicates only those mosquito species that transmit malaria and so is anticipated to have limited environmental impact” said Sayre.
Malaria is a leading cause of death and morbidity worldwide. As many as 600 million people are infected with malaria each year, resulting in more than one million deaths. Approximately 90 percent of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, primarily among children. Unfortunately, the number of malarial cases is increasing due to the development of insecticide-resistant mosquitoes and drug-resistant parasites.
“The winners of these grants show the bold thinking we need to tackle some of the world’s greatest health challenges,” said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program. “I’m excited about their ideas and look forward to seeing some of these exploratory projects turn into life-saving breakthroughs.”
Developing our Discoveries 17
MALARIA IS A LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH AND MORBIDITY WORLDWIDE. AS MANY AS 600 MILLION PEOPLE ARE INFECTED WITH MALARIA EACH YEAR.
CDC/James Gathany
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