Grand Challenges Canada and the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative of the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation are partnering on an initiative, directed primarily at researchers in
low- and middle-income countries, that seeks to create a new class of point-of-care (POC)
diagnostics that will be easy to use, low cost, multiplexed and able to assess disease stage and
provide information on prognosis.

In addition to the $30 million USD announced in December 2009 by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, this RFP adds up to $12 million CAD to be awarded over three years in this
Phase I. The topic areas are 1) Sample collection, concentration, and preparation; 2)
Amplification and detection technologies; 3) Readout and signal transduction; 4) Enabling
technologies for diagnostics; and 5) Implementation research for POC diagnostics.

For more information, including the complete Request for Proposals and the Letter of Intent form, please click here.

To learn about OGI-funded projects addressing the application of genomics in global health issues, please see: Strengthening the Role of Genomics and Global Health, Bridging the Emerging Genomics Divide, Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, and Quantum Dot Diagnostics: Simultaneous Genomic and Proteomic Profiling of Multiple Pathogens at Point-of-care