In 2017, Ventria Bioscience received a $4.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund development of efficient biomanufacturing for new therapeutics targeting Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), a leading bacterial cause of diarrhea in the developing world. ETEC accounts for an estimated 280 million to 400 million cases of diarrhea a year in children under five and an estimated 157,000 deaths per year. The bacterial infection also is implicated in travelers’ diarrhea. Ventria will develop potential ETEC treatments using Ventria’s cost-effective, scalable and safe ExpressTec technology.