Cupron Receives $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations Grant for Innovative Global Health Research

Media Contact: Yonah Lloyd +1-336-609-7038

Greensboro, NC (PRWEB) May 5, 2009 -- Cupron (http://www.cupron.com) announced today that it has received a US$100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by Dr. Gadi Borkow, Chief Medical Scientist of Cupron, titled "The Cupron Breastmilk Shield to Prevent HIV Transmission."

Dr. Borkow's project is one of 81 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the second funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations (http://www.grandchallenges.org), 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 17 countries on six continents.

To receive funding, Dr. Borkow showed in a two-page application how his idea falls outside current scientific paradigms and might lead to significant advances in global health. The initiative is highly competitive, receiving more than 3,000 proposals in this round.

It has been found that HIV is transmitted to newborn babies through their mother's milk. The project being funded will allow for the development and completion of a breast shield that easily and inexpensively deactivates the HIV in the milk of nursing mothers during the actual feeding itself. The development of this shield is a non-profit project which Cupron hopes will significantly reduce the spread of AIDS, especially in parts of the world where it is needed most. The anti-HIV properties of the shield will utilize Cupron's multi-patented technology, in which the broad-spectrum anti-viral properties of copper oxide are used to eliminate a wide range of viruses, including HIV.

Dr. Borkow served as a senior scientist in the Institute of Clinical Immunology and AIDS Center at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Israel before joining Cupron. Dr. Borkow will work together with Prof. Arthur Eidelman and Prof. Chandice Covington in the development of the breast shield. Prof. Eidelman is the Chief Medical Advisor of Cupron, served as the Chief Pediatrician at Sha'are Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem, and is considered to be one of the world's foremost experts on neo-natal care. Prof. Covington is Professor and Florence Thelma Hall Endowed Chair for Nursing Excellence in Women's Health at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and is involved in several health-related projects in Africa.

"We are proud to be associated with the Gates Foundation on a project of this magnitude. The receipt of the Gates Foundation grant is positive recognition of Cupron's work in the area of viral deactivation for preventing the spread of disease and promoting public health," said Mr. Jeff Gabbay, CEO and founder of Cupron. "In addition to developing the nursing shield that specifically addresses HIV, we are already using the same technology in medical device products around the world that are designed to eliminate other dangerous viruses that plague our planet, such as H1N1 influenza A and avian influenza (Bird Flu)."

"The winners of these grants are doing truly exciting and innovative work," said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation's Global Health Program (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/global-health/Pages/overview.aspx). "I'm optimistic that some of these exploratory projects will lead to life-saving breakthroughs for people in the world's poorest countries."

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 next round of Grand Challenges Explorations are being accepted through May 28, 2009. Grant application instructions, including the list of topic areas in which proposals are currently being accepted, are available at the Grand Challenges Explorations (http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations) website.

About Cupron

Cupron, Inc. has patented the use of the natural form of copper, copper oxide, as the core ingredient of a broad-spectrum platform technology which offers anti-microbial protection in fabrics and polymers, as well as cosmetic benefits such as reduction in the appearance of wrinkles and related skin appearance conditions. Learn more at http://www.cupron.com.

For further information about Cupron please contact Yonah Lloyd: yonah (at) cupron (dot) com, +1-336-609-7038

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