Giving Compass' Take:

• Bloomberg reports on Bill Gates' interest in emerging vaccine technologies to fight diseases, while also finding encouragement in microbiome studies to discover causes of malnutrition.

• Speedier development of vaccines will be essential as drug resistance rises, and all donors in this field should look at the research gaining traction.

• Here's how Bill Gates plans to win the fight against malaria.

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates sees emerging vaccine technologies as one of the most promising realms in the pursuit of new medicines amid the rising threat of drug-resistant strains of deadly diseases.

Vaccines that use a mirror image of DNA to halt the growth of bacteria and viruses appear capable of speeding development of the prevention tools dramatically, Gates said in an interview. Moderna Therapeutics Inc. and CureVac GmbH are two companies developing the approach, Gates said, which is based on a genetic messenger called mRNA.

“Even if a new pandemic broke out of something you’d never seen before, you might be able to get a new vaccine developed in months,” as opposed to years, he said on the sidelines of a meeting in London focused on malaria.

Gates, whose foundation focuses on illnesses such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, is funding a global fight against an array of infections as their ability to evade current treatments mounts, raising concerns about the response to new outbreaks. The co-founder of Microsoft Corp. also sees a threat from weaponized pathogens, warning last year that countries should raise their defenses against potential bioterrorism attacks.

Read the full article about the promise of new vaccine technology by James Paton at Bloomberg.com