Help save the world and get $100,000 seed grant to do it

Just got this email and thought I would share since it does relate to some of the themes of my blog. I note that the Gates Foundation is VERY supportive of Open Access publishing as one of their previous grants helped support the journal "PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases." I am hoping that at some point the Gatges Foundation will require OA publishing for all of the projects they fund.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is now accepting grant proposals for Round 2 of Grand Challenges Explorations, a US$100 million initiative to encourage unconventional global health solutions.

Based on your feedback, we have made changes for Round 2 of Grand Challenges Explorations. We modified the topics from Round 1 and added two additional topics. We will no longer require applicants to register for a topic in advance of submitting their proposals. We also updated the application form in response to feedback from the initial round.

Grant proposals are being accepted online at http://www.gcgh.org/explorations until November 2, 2008, on the following topics:

New! -- Create new vaccines for diarrhea, HIV, malaria, pneumonia, and tuberculosis
New! -- Create new tools to accelerate the eradication of malaria
-- Create new ways to protect against infectious diseases
-- Create drugs or delivery systems that limit the emergence of resistance
-- Create new ways to prevent or cure HIV infection
-- Explore the basis for latency in tuberculosis

Initial grants will be $100,000 each, and projects showing promise will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of $1 million or more. Full descriptions of the new topics and application instructions are available at http://www.gcgh.org/explorations.

We are looking forward to receiving innovative ideas from scientists around the world and from all scientific disciplines. Anyone can apply, regardless of education or experience level. If you don't submit a proposal yourself, we hope you will forward this message to someone else who might be interested.

Thank you for your commitment to solving the world's greatest health challenges.