New NIAID Grants Strengthen National
Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research
Network
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health,
today announced four-year grants totaling approximately
$80 million for two new Regional Centers of Excellence
for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research
(RCE). The grants to the University of California, Irvine,
and Colorado State University (Fort Collins) mark the
completion of a national network of academic centers
that conducts research to counter threats from bioterror
agents and emerging infectious diseases. Each institution
will receive approximately $10 million per year for
the next four years to head a regional research consortium.
The RCE network was identified as a national priority
in the 2002 NIAID Biodefense Research Agenda.
“Since before the 2001 anthrax attacks, the United
States has been at risk for a bioterror attack. With
these grants, a key element of our strategic plan to
counter bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases
is now complete,” says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director
of NIAID. “Our network is working diligently to uncover
new knowledge and create preventive, therapeutic and
diagnostic tools that will leave us far less vulnerable.”
NIAID established the RCE network in 2003 with grants
to eight institutions. Each institution also leads an
RCE consortium made up of universities and other research
institutions within its geographic region. The network
conducts research that will lead to next-generation
treatments, vaccines and diagnostic tools for diseases
such as anthrax, plague, smallpox, tularemia, botulism
and West Nile fever.
University of California, Irvine, principal investigator
Alan G. Barbour, M.D., will head a consortium whose
members include four additional University of California
campuses and 11 other regional universities and research
institutions.
Colorado State University principal investigator Barry
J. Beaty, Ph.D., will head a consortium whose members
include five other universities plus small business
partners; it also includes substantial collaboration
with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The addition of these two new RCEs expands the network’s
scientific reach to cover some poorly understood diseases
and new research needs. For example, researchers in
the new centers have expertise in equine encephalitis
and other viral diseases that can be transmitted to
people by mosquitoes. The centers also add expertise
in hantaviruses, as well as in the development of diagnostics
and animal models of disease.
Each consortium within the network will
- support investigator-directed research;
- train researchers and other personnel for biodefense
research activities;
- create and maintain supporting resources, including
scientific equipment and trained support personnel,
for use by other researchers within in the region
and network;
- emphasize research focused on development and testing
of vaccines, therapeutic and diagnostic concepts;
- make available core facilities to approved investigators
from academia, government, biotech companies and the
pharmaceutical industry; and
- provide facilities and scientific support to first
responders in the event of a national biodefense emergency.
The previously established RCEs in the network are
led by Duke University, Harvard Medical School, New
York State Department of Health, University of Chicago,
University of Maryland, University of Texas Medical
Branch (Galveston), University of Washington and Washington
University in St. Louis. Additional information on NIAID’s
biodefense program is available online at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/Biodefense/Research/rce.htm.
News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related
materials are available on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
NIAID is a component of the National Institutes
of Health, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. NIAID supports basic and applied
research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious
diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted
infections, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and illness
from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also
supports research on transplantation and immune-related
illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma
and allergies. |