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Media contact:
Tom Hughes, (919) 966-6047, tahughes@unch.unc.edu
UNC researchers receive
$100,000 Grand Challenges Exploration Grant to develop male contraceptive
CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The grant will support an innovative global health research project
conducted by James Tsuruta, PhD, and Paul Dayton, PhD, titled “Ultrasound as a
long-term, reversible contraceptive.”
Tsuruta is an assistant
professor in the Laboratories
for Reproductive Biology in UNC’s Department
of Pediatrics. Dayton
is associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, which
is jointly housed at UNC and N.C.
State University.
Tsuruta and Dayton’s
project is one of 78 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the fourth
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
18 countries on six continents.
To receive funding, Tsuruta and Dayton
showed in a two-page application how their idea falls outside current
scientific paradigms and might lead to significant advances in global health.
The initiative is highly competitive, receiving almost 2,700 proposals in this
round.
“Our long-term goal is to use ultrasound from therapeutic instruments that are
commonly found in sports medicine or physical therapy clinics as an
inexpensive, long-term, reversible male contraceptive suitable for use in
developing to first world countries,” said Tsuruta.
“We think this could provide men with up to six months of reliable, low-cost,
non-hormonal contraception from a single round of treatment,” Tsuruta
said. Tsuruta
notes that the initial idea to re-examine the effects of ultrasound on sperm
production came from another private foundation. “The financial support
of the Parsemus Foundation was instrumental in forming a team to study
ultrasound’s effect on the testis. Our
pilot studies would not have been possible without the support of Elaine
Lissner (Parsemus), David Sokal (Family Health International), Michael
Streicker (Integrated Laboratory Systems) and Michael O'Rand (UNC-CH).”
Tsuruta and Dayton have successfully depleted testicular sperm using
therapeutic ultrasound instruments. Once the testis has stopped producing sperm
and all “sperm reserves” have been depleted, it is impossible to be fertile. Their Grand Challenges Exploration Grant
project is aimed at fine-tuning this technique for maximum effect and safety.
“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.”
About Grand Challenges Explorations
Grand Challenges Explorations is a five-year, $100 million initiative of the
Gates Foundation to promote innovation in global health. The program uses
an agile, streamlined grant process – applications are limited to two pages,
and preliminary data are not required. Proposals are reviewed and
selected by a committee of foundation staff and external experts, and grant
decisions are made within approximately three months of the close of the
funding round.
Applications for the current round of Grand Challenges Explorations are being
accepted through May 19, 2010. Grant application instructions, including
the list of topics for which proposals are currently being accepted, are
available at http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations.