Description of Research Program
Modern technology now allows the analysis of immune responses and host-pathogen interactions at a global level, across scales ranging from intracellular signaling networks, to individual cell behavior, to the functioning of a tissue, organ, and even the whole organism. The challenge is not only to collect the large amounts of data such methods permit, but also to organize the information in a manner that enhances our understanding of how the immune system operates or pathogens affect their hosts.
To do this, it is necessary to develop detailed quantitative models that can be used to predict the behavior of a complex biological system, whose properties help explain the mechanistic basis for physiological and pathological responses to infection or vaccination, and that can be employed to design better therapies or vaccines.
Achieving this goal requires an interdisciplinary effort, and the Program in Systems Immunology and Infectious Disease Modeling (PSIIM) is designed to address this challenge. It will be organized as an integrated team of scientists and support staff, rather than as a group of independent laboratories. Within the PSIIM, there will be groups with expertise in the areas of computational biology, bioinformatics, proteomics, cell biology, immunology, and infectious diseases. These teams will have access to the latest technology for gene expression profiling, high content screening of RNAi libraries for the discovery of pathway components, imaging tools, cores for the genetic manipulation of animals and for proteomic analysis, and computer infrastructure. They will also have access to BSL-3 facilities for working with infectious agents of high priority for human health and biodefense.
Although the PSIIM has been established within NIAID and has an immune / infectious disease focus, it is also expected to play a major role in fostering the growth of systems biology efforts across the range of NIH Institutes, in large measure through its development of new software tools for complex systems modeling and high throughput screening. Thus, PSIIM team members are expected to become involved in an extensive web of formal and informal interactions with other intramural NIH scientists and also with extramural groups in the U.S. and abroad with a common interest in a systems approach to biology.
PSIIM Scientific Teams
Computational Biology
Molecular / Cell Biology
Infectious Diseases
Immunology
Proteomics
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