KATHMANDU: The 2024 UNESCO OWSD Early Career Fellowship was awarded to 15 women from poor countries, including Dr. Sunita Ghimire Gautam, a molecular biologist from Nepal. Helping women scientists launch research teams and take the lead in their own universities is the aim of this prestigious fellowship.

Funding of up to $50,000 will be provided to each participant to support their research activities. Enhancing research standards in developing nations worldwide is the goal of this fellowship, which is supported by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Recipients will receive specialized training to improve their management and leadership abilities throughout the two-year fellowship. In order to assist turn their research into economically viable solutions and guarantee a wider impact, they will also build relationships with a variety of public and private sector partners.

In order to effectively communicate their findings to a variety of audiences, fellows will also concentrate on honing their outreach and communication abilities. This training will keep their research programs sustainable and attract new funding and partners.

The 2024 fellowship recipients are working on important projects like developing antivenom for snakebites in Nepal, protecting significant oak forests in Guatemala, and using artificial intelligence to identify vulnerabilities in Tanzania's health and energy sectors.

According to a March 2022 article in The Lancet, snakebites are a serious health issue in Nepal, killing over 2,700 people year, mostly women and children in the Tarai region. However, many incidents remain undetected.

Dr. Gautam expressed her excitement upon receiving the fellowship, saying, "I am thrilled to have been awarded this year's UNESCO OWSD Early Career Fellowship," With this grant, I will be able to complete my education.

The goal of her research is to create antivenom antibodies that precisely target the venom of common snakes in Nepal. In many underdeveloped countries, snakebite is frequently disregarded as a tropical disease that affects rural populations, especially women, children, and farmers from low-income backgrounds.

Since Nepal currently imports its antivenom from India, therapy is expensive and frequently unavailable. Indian antivenom might not be the best choice for local snake venoms, as evidenced by the differences in venom composition among Nepalese snakes.

Interestingly, antivenom is not yet available in Nepal to treat pit viper envenomations. Dr. Gautam's initiative intends to develop a focused antivenom solution that tackles the problems of snakebite treatment's ineffectiveness, expense, and scarcity of supplies.

In order to produce certain antibodies for the synthesis of antivenom, the initiative will entail vaccinating goats with snake venom. These antibodies will be used by Dr. Gautam and Shikhar Biotech, a Nepali business, to create polyclonal goat antivenom.

The initiative will produce an in vitro snake venom detection tool in addition to antivenom. Based on the particular venom used in snakebite situations, this kit will help medical professionals choose the best antivenom treatment.