NIAID Renews Funding for National Emerging
Infectious Diseases Research Network
ARRA Provides Two-Year Supplementary Funding
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),
part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced renewed
funding for 10 previously established Regional Centers of Excellence
for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCE).
NIAID also awarded funds to Oregon Health & Science University
to establish a new RCE to be based in the Pacific Northwest. NIAID
funding for the 11 RCEs totals up to approximately $455 million
over five years.
NIAID also intends to augment research in the RCEs with funds
from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The institute
expects to award up to an additional $20 million in the next two
years to worthy RCE-based projects. Projects receiving Recovery
Act funds must be completed within two years and must demonstrate
a high likelihood of delivering significant advances in that time
period.
"The Regional Centers of Excellence are a critical component
of our national research infrastructure for infectious diseases,
and are designed to respond flexibly to changing scientific needs
and priorities, says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "Research
studies conducted by the RCEs are central to our efforts to develop
countermeasures against both endemic and emergent diseases."
Among many projects, RCE researchers are developing new or improved
ways to treat, diagnose or prevent illnesses including anthrax,
West Nile fever, plague, dengue fever and other emerging infectious
diseases. The RCEs also are prepared to provide scientific expertise
to first responders in an infectious-disease-related emergency,
whether such an emergency arises naturally or through an act of
bioterrorism.
An interim evaluation of the RCEs during the first five years
of their existence found that the institutions were meeting the
goals of the program. "The research accomplishments of RCE-based
scientists have been excellent," says Carole Heilman, Ph.D.,
director of NIAID’s Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. "Importantly,
RCE researchers are collaborating extensively and are bringing
new investigators into the field of biodefense and emerging infectious
disease research."
As measured by publications in highly cited scientific journals,
the recent evaluation showed that the centers are achieving their
goals of increasing basic knowledge about NIAID-designated Category
A, B and C priority pathogens. Priority pathogens include disease
organisms, such as plague-causing bacteria, that could be used
agents of bioterror as well as microbes such as dengue virus, which
pose a large public health burden. The evaluation also showed the
centers are contributing to the development of countermeasures
such as diagnostics, therapies and vaccines.
"A hallmark of the RCE system is its capacity to tailor research
efforts to emerging health issues," notes Dr. Heilman. For
example, in 2008, scientists used RCE research resources to develop
a new method for rapidly producing human monoclonal antibodies
targeted against seasonal influenza virus strains. Monoclonal antibodies
could serve as therapy for influenza infections, including, perhaps,
newly emerging strains of influenza. RCE-based scientists also
assisted the international health community in responding to an
outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in Angola by quickly adapting
an existing technology for use in diagnosing Marburg virus infection.
During an outbreak of E. coli (a food-borne infection) in the United
States in 2006 researchers at an RCE institution assisted in the
response by rapidly redirecting funds and personnel to sequence
genes of the E. coli strains believed responsible for the outbreak.
The 11 RCEs are distributed across 10 regions of the United States.
The first eight RCEs were established in 2003; two more were added
in 2005. Each center comprises a lead institution and affiliated
academic institutions.
|
U.S. map of all RCE institutions and
regions. |
Region I
Harvard Medical School
New England Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging
Infectious Diseases
http://nerce.med.harvard.edu/
Principal Investigator: Dr. Dennis Kasper
Region II
Columbia University
Northeast Biodefense Center
http://www.nbc.columbia.edu/
Principal Investigator: Dr. W. Ian Lipkin
Region III
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Mid-Atlantic Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging
Infectious Diseases
http://marce.vbi.vt.edu/
Principal Investigator: Dr. Myron Levine
Region IV
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Southeast Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging
Infectious Diseases
http://www.serceb.org/
Principal Investigator: Dr. Fred Sparling
Region V
University of Chicago
Great Lakes Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging
Infectious Diseases
http://www.glrce.org/
Principal Investigator: Dr. Olaf Schneewind
Region VI
University of Texas Medical Branch
Western Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging
Infectious Diseases
http://www.rcebiodefense.org/rce6/rce6pub.htm
Principal Investigator: Dr. David Walker
Region VII
Washington University
Midwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging
Infectious Diseases
http://mrce.wustl.edu/
Principal Investigator: Dr. Samuel Stanley
Region VIII
Colorado State University (Fort Collins)
Rocky Mountain Regional Center of Excellence
http://www.rmrce.colostate.edu/
Principal Investigator: Dr. John Belisle
Region IX
University of California, Irvine
Pacific-Southwest Regional Center of Excellence
http://www.pswrce.uci.edu/
Principal Investigator: Dr. Alan G. Barbour
Region X
Oregon Health & Science University
Pacific Northwest Regional Center of Excellence
http://www.ohsu.edu/vgti/pnwrce/
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jay Nelson
Region X
University of Washington
Northwest Regional Center of Excellence
for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious
Diseases Research
http://nwrce.org/
Principal Investigator: Dr. Samuel Miller
In addition to supporting investigator-directed research and
providing scientific expertise when called upon in an emergency,
all the RCEs also
- 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 the region and network
- Make available core facilities to approved investigators from
academia, government, biotech companies and the pharmaceutical
industry
NIAID conducts and supports research — at NIH, throughout
the United States, and worldwide — to study the causes of
infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better
means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News
releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available
on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers
and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic,
clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates
the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.
For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
References:
NIAID Press Release, Researchers Find Quick Way to Make Human Monoclonal
Antibodies against Flu. April 30, 2008 http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2008/humanMonoclonal.htm
Concept Systems, Inc. RCE Program Interim Evaluation: Report on the
First Five Years of the Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense
and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCE) Program. Feb. 2008
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/BiodefenseRelated/Biodefense/PDF/RCEIR.pdf
Some activities described in this release are being funded through
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). More information
about NIH’s ARRA grant funding opportunities can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/.
To track the progress of HHS activities funded through the ARRA,
visit www.hhs.gov/recovery. To track all federal funds provided through
the ARRA, visit www.recovery.gov. |