PHRI :: PHRI News 2003

PHRI receives $2 million biodefense grant

PHRI has received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to perform biodefense-related research as part of an award to the Northeast Biodefense Center for a Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases. Announced by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, the PHRI award is part of a $350 million NIH initiative to protect the world against the threat of bioterrorism by funding eight regional research centers throughout the USA.

Background
Answering the nation's urgent call for improved bioterrorism preparedness, preeminent biomedical research institutions from New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut have created a regional research consortium known as the Northeast Biodefense Center. After the anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a Blue Ribbon Panel on Bioterrorism and Its Implications for Biomedical Research. In line with the recommendations issued by this panel and the grant award now received, the Northeast Biodefense Center will create a regional research and development infrastructure to make the next generation of therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostics against biological agents most likely to be used in a bioterrorist attack. The focus will be on those pathogens, known as "select agents," that are recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as posing the greatest potential threat of bioterrorism; including anthrax, smallpox, plague, tularemia, botulism, and those that cause viral hemorrhagic fever or encephalitis.

The northeast region of the United States is the appropriate location for a Regional Center of Excellence for biodefense research because it was the epicenter of the 2001 anthrax outbreak and these states continue to be a significant riskfor a bioterror since they are home to over ten per cent of the nation's population and constitute over thirteen per cent of the nation's Gross State Product in 2000 (the state counterpart of the nation's GDP).

The Northeast Biodefense Center draws upon extraordinary scientific resources: medical schools, academic health centers, and other world-renowned research institutions located throughout this tri-state region make it the premiere international center for biomedical research and technology (see below for a list of the member institutions and affiliates). The co-principal investigators for this application are Dr. W. Ian Lipkin and Dr. Lawrence S. Sturman. Dr. Lipkin, professor and director of the Laboratory for Immunopathogenesis and Infectious Diseases at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, is an international leader in the field of emerging infectious diseases. Dr. Sturman, director of the Wadsworth Center, has been heading the most comprehensive state health laboratory in the nation for 11 years.

The lead institution in the Northeast Biodefense Center consortium is the New York State Department of Health. Other member institutions are:

Academic Medicine Development Company (AMDeC), NY
Albany Medical College, NY
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, NY
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, NY
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, NY
Cornell University - College of Veterinary Medicine, NY
Elmhurst Hospital & HHC, NY
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY
New York Medical College, NY
New York Structural Biology Center, NY
New York University, NY
Ordway Research Institute, NY
Public Health Research Institute, NJ
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ
Sandia National Laboratories, NM
Stony Brook, State University of New York, NY
The Rockefeller University, NY
Trudeau Institute, NY
University at Albany, State University of New York, NY
University at Buffalo, State University of New York School of Medicine and Biomedical Science, NY
University of Massachusetts Medical School, MA
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, NJ
University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, NY
Wadsworth Center, NY
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY
Yale University, CT

Affiliate institutions are:

Brookhaven National Laboratory, United States Department of Energy
Consortium for Conservation Medicine, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, NY
National Institute for Virology, South Africa
National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, WI
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, NY
Plum Island Animal Disease Center, United States Department of Agriculture, NY
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The University of Queensland, Australia
University of Puerto Rico, PR
Wildlife Conservation Society/CDC Zoological Surveillance Network, NY

The Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut will create a unique regional partnership that will foster inter-institutional collaboration, expansion of research infrastructure, and strengthening of intellectual capital. The synergies that will result from this important endeavor will greatly advance the nation's biodefense agenda. Progress in biodefense research will also trigger advances in the continuing study of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Through an unprecedented sense of urgency, the region's commitment to the biodefense research agenda creates a model to marshal its scientific resources in a manner that should have many positive consequences for improved public health.

PHRI's portion of the RCE award
PHRI will provide critical support to the entire RCE research community by making available specialized, high quality resources to pursue biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) infection models of category A-C select agents (pathogens considered to be likely agents of bioterrorism) in small animals (rodents).

PHRI's Small Animal Core is the largest and most modern facility of its kind serving the New York Metropolitan region. This new BSL-3 facility is dedicated for pathogen-based studies and was designed by the firm of CUH2A (Princeton, NJ) according to the latest CDC guidelines for safe use of category A-C select agents.

A major feature of the PHRI SAC is the use of custom-designed aerosol chamber devices to facilitate inhalation exposure in small animals that mimics human infection. Standard infection models for pathogens like anthrax and plague will be maintained. The availability of standardized models with skilled technical support will assist researchers address critical areas such as immunity, pathogenicity, rapid diagnostics, and drug and vaccine development. The primary intent of maintaining standardized infection models is to support and encourage novel experimentation with select agents in animals by investigators with diverse background and training.

HHS announcement of the award
Date: September 4, 2003

HHS ANNOUNCES NEW REGIONAL CENTERS FOR BIODEFENSE RESEARCH

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced grants totaling approximately $350 million spread over five years to establish eight Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCE). This nationwide group of multidisciplinary centers is a key element in HHS' strategic plan for biodefense research.

"We have moved with unprecedented speed and determination to prepare for a bioterror attack or any other public health crisis since the terrorist attacks of 2001," Secretary Thompson said. "These new grants add to this effort and will not only better prepare us for a bioterrorism attack, but will also enhance our ability to deal with any public health crisis, such as SARS and West Nile virus."

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of HHS' National Institutes of Health, is providing the grants and will administer the RCE program.

"Since the terrorist attacks on American soil in 2001, NIAID has moved rapidly to bolster basic biomedical research and the development of countermeasures to defend the United States against deliberately released agents of bioterrorism as well as naturally occurring infectious diseases," said Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., NIAID director. "The new RCE program provides a coordinated and comprehensive mechanism to support the interdisciplinary research that will lead to new and improved therapies, vaccines, diagnostics and other tools to protect the citizens of our country and the world against the threat of bioterrorism and other emerging and re-emerging diseases."

The RCE program's primary role is to foster the physical and intellectual environments in which wide-ranging research on infectious diseases can proceed productively and safely. All RCEs 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 the RCEs and other researchers in the region
Emphasize research focused on development and testing of vaccine, therapeutic and diagnostic concepts
Make available core facilities to approved investigators from academia, government, biotech companies and the pharmaceutical industry
Provide facilities and scientific support to first responders in the event of a national biodefense emergency

Each center comprises a lead institution and affiliated institutions located primarily in the same geographical region. The eight institutions receiving an RCE grant are:

Duke University
Harvard Medical School
New York State Department of Health
University of Chicago
University of Maryland, Baltimore
University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston)
University of Washington
Washington University in St. Louis

Research to be conducted in the RCE program includes:

Developing new approaches to blocking the action of anthrax, botulinum and cholera toxins
Developing new vaccines against anthrax, plague, tularemia, smallpox and Ebola (NOTE: Ebola requires BL-4 facilities and will not be studied at PHRI)
Developing new antibiotics and other therapeutic strategies
Studying bacterial and viral disease processes
Designing new advanced diagnostic approaches for biodefense and for emerging diseases
Conducting immunological studies of diseases caused by potential agents of bioterrorism
Developing computational and genomic approaches to combating disease agents
Creating new immunization strategies and delivery systems

Additional information on NIAID's biodefense program is available at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/biodefense/.