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news.SRI International has received Grand Challenges Explorations grant of $100,000 from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to support a research project conducted by Douglas Watson, protein biochemist at Center for Advanced Drug Research (CADRE) of SRI International, titled 'Vitamin A-Secreting Probiotics to Activate Mucosal Immunity.'
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SRI International said that to facilitate delivery of vitamin A to children who may not otherwise receive enough of it, its researchers are expected to plan to engineer a probiotic bacterium that produces vitamin A for direct delivery to mucosal immune cells in the gastrointestinal tract.
If successful, the therapy could restore protective mucosal immunity while simultaneously combating other consequences of vitamin A deficiency, including blindness and susceptibility to measles and malaria.
The new therapy, which should reduce the duration of symptoms while also reducing the impact of future infections, could be developed for distribution during clinic visits for the treatment of diarrhea, said SRI International.
Krishna Kodukula, executive director of CADRE at SRI, said: “Creative new approaches are urgently needed to combat many health issues, including deadly diarrheal diseases.
“We are hopeful that our idea to use metabolically engineered probiotics will lead to a treatment that is also expected to restore the body’s immunity and combat the consequences of vitamin A deficiency. Approaches such as these may also be useful for the development of new remedies against other diarrheal diseases.”
Tachi Yamada, president of global health program for Gates Foundation, said: “I am excited about these ideas and look forward to seeing some of these projects turn into life-saving breakthroughs.”