Researchers at Dartmouth Medical School received an 18-month $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant to examine the way polio vaccines work in resource-limited countries with high population densities and poor sanitation, according to DMS pediatrics professor Peter Wright. The DMS team, led by Wright, received the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-sponsored grant for a project titled "Mucosal Immunity in Polio" on Thursday.
Out of over 2,500 applications submitted to the Grand Challenges Explorations initiative this year, 88 projects from around the world were selected to receive funding, according to Katie Harris from the communications department of the Gates Foundation. Winners are announced twice a year, and the number of selected teams ranges from 70 to 88, Harris said.
Wright will work with Wendy Wieland-Alter, a research assistant in DMS's medicine department; Natalia Ilyushina, from the pediatrics department; Molly Housman, a research assistant in the microbiology and immunology department and pediatrics professor John Modlin, who has worked with Wright on previous initiatives addressing global health, according to an April 29 DMS press release.
"I have a long-standing interest in polio, and we're in the middle of a long a difficult effort to eradicate polio," Wright said. "One of the key questions is how one is protected against polio, getting polio and spreading polio to others in areas with a high risk of infection."
The first of two types of vaccines will study is the inactivated polio vaccine, which was the first form ever created and is still used in the United States. Inactivated polio vaccine "works primarily by stimulating antibodies in the blood that prevent you from getting sick with polio," Wright said.
The second type of vaccine, Sabin, is administered as oral drops and is used throughout the world. Sabin works by spreading into the gastrointestinal tract and stimulating immunity, according to Wright.
Wright's team plans to use stool samples from children who were given the Sabin polio vaccine and examine the antibodies present, according to Wright. The samples were collected by a team from the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment two to three years ago from studies conducted in Egypt and Oman, Wright said.
"Other researchers may have to start from scratch to look at these questions, but we're several years ahead," he said. "I think we can contribute to what [other researchers] do and how they will examine the future trials."
The project will answer a very important question about the effectiveness of the polio vaccine in countries other than the United States, an issue that few other researchers have investigated, Ilyushina said.
Both Ilyushina and Wright expressed surprise at having received the grant due to the competitive nature of the program. Applicants were directed to complete a two-page, online application and present an original idea for solving pressing world health issues. Selected projects may be awarded a follow-up grant of up to $1 million, according to the press release.
"The follow-up grants are very competitive," Wright said. "I think less than 10 percent of the people who have gotten the initial grants get the follow-up grants."
The initial $100,000 is actually a "relatively small" amount, as it is only able to pay for the supplies and one technician to carry out the work, Wright said. The project's head start, however, will allow for its success, according to Wright.
"Depending on what we have and how useful the assays [on the stool samples] we develop might be, we might re-apply," he said. "I hope we get close to an answer on the limited objectives we've set forth in the 18 months that we have to work on the grant."
The initiative seeks applicants who will find innovative ways to address health problems facing the world's poorest countries, according to a Gates Foundation press release. Grand Challenges Explorations, which was launched in 2008, offers grants for teams pursuing research to create new sanitation technologies, develop a cure for HIV and expedite the eradication of polio, among other areas of interest, according to the press release.
