The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health [NIH] and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation [BMGF] have announced the first 14 scientific challenges that will be the focus of a 'Grand Challenges in Global Health' initiative. Prof. Fotis C. Kafatos, Director-General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL], was one of three European experts to participate on the GCCH scientific board whose task was to identify the challenges to be addressed in the $200-million medical research project.
The initiative was launched in January this year by the BMGF and the Foundation for the NIH in hopes that generous funding and support will help overcome roadblocks and lead to rapid progress against diseases that affect the developing world. Infectious diseases, which account for much of the disparity in health between advanced and developing countries, have emerged as a major theme.
"This initiative is a tremendous move in an area that should be of intense concern to the developed world," Kafatos says. "We were pleased to be able to contribute to its development and that a European scientific perspective has been sought in establishing priorities. It was particularly appropriate for EMBL to be involved because using fundamental research to understand the molecular basis for infectious and other diseases is a major theme at the Laboratory."
Kafatos'
research group played an important role in the recent decoding
of the genome of Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito that transmits
most malaria to humans. The Ensembl Resource led by Ewan Birney
at EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute [EBI], in cooperation
with the Sanger Center, houses some of the world's highest-quality
genome databases including those that support global research
into the DNA sequences of humans, mosquitoes, and disease-causing
parasites. Computational comparisons of the mosquito genome
with that of the heavily-studied fruitfly, led by the group
of Peer Bork at EMBL Heidelberg, promise to reveal fundamental
aspects of insect-borne diseases. Matthias Wilmanns, Head
of the EMBL's Hamburg Outstation, is studying one of the deadliest
threats to public health – tuberculosis – while Winfried Weissenhorn
from the Grenoble Outstation is studying the molecular basis
of viruses such as Ebola and HIV. For more information on the Grand Challenges in Global Health: www.grandchallengesgh.org
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Contact
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Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, D-69117 Heidelberg,
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E-mail: trista.dawson@embl.de |
