Can tomatoes be taught to make antiviral drugs for people who eat them? Would zapping your skin with a laser make your vaccination work better? Could malaria-carrying mosquitoes be given a teensy head cold that would prevent them from sniffing out a human snack bar?
These are among 81 projects that received $100,000 grants on Monday by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in a bid to support innovative, unconventional global health research on infectious diseases, such as HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrheal diseases.
I think it is wonderful what this foundation does. As a sufferer of Chronic Lyme Disease, I know that we have to look “outside the box” for solutions for many medical mysteries. Here’s hoping that this kind of ‘forward-thinking’ leads to some solutions!