About

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is seeking proposals for innovative solutions for the early detection, prevention, and treatment of preeclampsia, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where maternal mortality rates are high.

To support this focus, they are looking for collaborations, including those with research institutions, health care providers, and global health organizations, that enable cross-sector insights and ensure that solutions are adaptable and practical.

Objectives

• The objectives of the challenge are:

  • Early prediction and detection of preeclampsia: They seek biomarkers (including other than sFlt1 and PlGF), diagnostic tests, and point-of-care technologies to predict early in pregnancy the risk of preeclampsia and to diagnose it before symptoms become severe. 

  • Understanding the pathophysiology of preeclampsia and its heterogeneity: They seek to understand the biological mechanisms driving the disease and its subtypes so that new interventions can be effectively tailored to the underlying etiology. 

  • Preventive and therapeutic interventions: They seek new approaches to known targets or new targets to reduce the incidence and severity of preeclampsia, mitigate disease progression, and prevent the cardiovascular and metabolic complications that often follow it.

Funding Information

• They will consider proposals for awards of up to $500,000 USD for each project, with a grant term of up to 2 years. 

Ineligibility Criteria

• They will not fund proposals that:

  • Focus on implementation science, health systems integration, or social determinants (although these are all important elements, they are not in the scope of this request for proposals) 

  • Do not have the potential to become affordable and scalable in resource-limited settings 

  • Represent basic research without clear relevance to the objectives of this challenge

  • Lack a clearly articulated and testable hypothesis 

  • Present unacceptable safety risks or detract from or interfere with beneficial practices 

  • Approaches that leverage previously failed biomarker exploration

Eligibility

• This initiative is open to nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, international organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions. 

• They particularly encourage applications involving projects led by women or from women-led organizations and applications from institutions based in low- and middle-income countries.

• They are looking for proposals that:

  • Identify biomarkers that easily, reliably, and affordably predict preeclampsia risk early in pregnancy 

  • Identify biochemical, genetic, epigenetic, or metabolomic signatures that can be translated into point-of-care tests

  • Leverage innovations in mobile health, wearable sensors, or simple clinical algorithms to identify women at risk before symptoms become severe

  • Identify the underlying biological mechanisms driving preeclampsia and its subtypes, including the roles of the placenta, endothelial function, immune response, and gut microbiota

Post Date: February 13, 2025