Research Roundup: What we’re reading this week

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and partners recently announced nominees for the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development initiative.

In related news, plans are “taking shape to merge two offices” at USAID to create an institute that would test and scale up “technologies and innovations to spark major development breakthroughs,” Devex reports.

The Treatment Action Group and HIV-iBase have released the 2013 Pipeline report, which calls on leaders in global health, government, and research to commit to and coordinate efforts that will expedite access to effective diagnostic, treatment, and prevention tools.

The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) and Zydus, India’s fourth largest healthcare group, will partner to develop IDRI’s visceral leishmaniasis vaccine candidate.

An op-ed in The Guardian by Dr. Anurag Mairal, global program leader of Technology Solutions at PATH, examines the importance of public-private partnerships for global health.

“Our nation’s research ecosystem is now in a precarious state as a result of federal policies and proposals that continue to undermine medical innovation,” John Edward Porter, chair of Research!America’s Board of Directions, writes about sequestration in a new op-ed.