The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have decided to give out 76 grants of $100,000 each to researchers in 16 countries for unconventional approaches to world problems.

One of them will help a UCLA doctoral candidate to delve deeper into the idea of using chewing gum to detect malaria biomarkers in saliva. Another idea will provide funds to a researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York to test chocolate for combating the malaria parasite.

The UCLA student, Andrew Fung, admits that his idea came about as an intellectual exercise designed to express his creativity for a potential post-doctorate employer. He was not aiming to get a research grant although he might get both these.

His idea originated from the need to bring about a malaria test which did not need a blood draw but would use the saliva for detecting other diseases. Saliva is much easier to collect and it is a painless process and the gum test doesn't require a battery or computer to run.

On the other there are certain drawbacks since there more biomarkers in blood than in saliva and the primary target of this test will be children who might swallow the gum or hide it away.

Fung said that he is delighted that the Gates Foundation thought that his unconventional idea was worth exploring further.

This announcement followed the two previous ones of the Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges Exploration program to support innovative, unconventional global health research.

This program of five years is designed to encourage scientists to carry forward bold ideas which could lead to breakthroughs, specifically finding out ways to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.