"Nobody's going to get their Ph.D. in gene splicing because of this method," Lissner said.

While research on ultrasound for birth control brought conflicting results and remained largely dormant after Dr. Fahim's death in 1995, a few of the faithful, including Dr. Fahim's widow, kept the project alive.

Eventually, they got enough funding from the Parsemus Foundation, a small organization that donates money to neglected medical research (and which Lissner is affiliated with), for the UNC scientists to complete proof-of-concept work that would eventually help them win the Gates grant.

"It's something that is inexpensive, fairly low-tech and already available," said Lissner about the ultrasound technique. Generally, it involves a therapeutic ultrasound device, often used in physical therapy to ease muscle pain. The devices run for about $1,300 each, Lissner said.

"It sounds like a lot of money, but do 1,300 people with one, and you've gotten a $1 contraceptive," said Lissner.

The treatment being developed by the UNC researchers is close to what Dr. Fahim was doing, although the group has refined the technique a bit, Lissner said.

It's too early to say what, if any, side effects there would be. Studies, some half a century old, on heat sterilization in rats suggested temporary slight shrinkage of the testes, but that was for permanent sterilization involving extreme heat. "There were no reported side effects in the temporary contraception work in the '70s," Lissner said. Other concerns, that heat could degrade sperm DNA leading to reproductive problems, also don't appear to be a problem from earlier research, but Lissner said more research is needed to be sure.

"Guys want to know this is thoroughly tested before they're going to use it," she said.

ANOTHER GO AT THE PILL

Another Gates grant winner, Michael Skinner, professor of the school of molecular biosciences at Washington State University in Pullman, is pursuing a new twist on the long-sought male birth control pill.

The project seeks a long-lasting oral contraceptive taken once every three or four months and not every day, which could be difficult to expect in a poor country, Skinner said.

The new pill would work by interfering with a sperm-nurturing cell in the testes called the Sertoli cell, causing the developing sperm to die. "It takes months for them to recover," Skinner said.

The male oral contraceptive has been the subject of decades of research, with little to show so far. That's because most contraceptive approaches focused on the hormone system in men, Skinner said. This system has evolved to be resilient. Even if a compound knocks testosterone levels down by almost 90 percent, the testis will still function, Skinner said.

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