With cash and a call for new ideas, Bill Gates tries to boost the campaign for a universal flu vaccine

Bill Gates is putting his shoulder into the push to develop a universal flu vaccine.

The billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder announced Friday that his charity — the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — is offering $12 million in seed money to spur innovative thinking on a scientific challenge that has stumped the influenza research community for decades and is considered the holy grail of flu research.

The science Gates is hoping to unleash would revolutionize influenza vaccination and render the virus a much less potent threat, both year to year and during flu pandemics. But the figure on offer is