SSI-affiliated researchers perform disease diagnostics.

"I'm glad that biotech companies are realizing that supporting health research overseas is a necessary complement to the work they do here."

A Bay Area biotech corporation, Applied Biosystems Group in Foster City, is among the major supporters of Sustainable Sciences Institute (SSI), a local non-profit organization. SSI is awarding $30,000 to infectious disease researchers in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Pakistan.

According to Dr. Eva Harris, President of SSI and an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, "I'm glad that biotech companies are realizing that supporting health research overseas is a necessary complement to the work they do here. Of the $56 billion spent per year on health research, only 5% goes to researching the diseases that affect 90% of the world's population who live in developing countries. Our program takes a first step in addressing this inequity."

Brock M. Siegel, Ph.D., Chairman of the Applied Biosystems Contributions Committee, agrees. "Applied Biosystems recognizes the importance of helping scientists in developing countries gain access to resources needed to successfully address the problems associated with infectious diseases. We are pleased to be working with SSI towards achieving this goal."

The topics of the three grants include linking infections to pre-eclampsia (a major cause of maternal mortality in the Ecuadorian Andes), Typhoid Fever in Pakistan, and Leishmaniasis in Bolivia (a parasitic infection that causes 50,000 deaths per year worldwide).

According to Tina Knight, SSI's Director of Program, "The need for this type of funding is urgent, as infectious diseases disproportionately strike developing countries. Infectious diseases cause approximately one-third of deaths worldwide, the vast majority of which occur among women, children and the poor in developing countries."

SSI assists researchers in developing countries gain access to the resources they need to diagnose, prevent and cure infectious diseases.

For more information, contact Sustainable Sciences Institute at www.ssilink.org, or (415) 431-2410.

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