IITRI Scientists Join Biodefense Research Team

IITRI is joining scientists throughout the country in answering the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases' (NIAID) call to step up biodefense research.

NIAID is funding the construction of biosafety laboratories throughout the country to conduct research on biodefense and emerging infectious diseases. The organization also has developed and expanded contracts to screen new drugs, develop new animal models, establish a reagent and specimen repository and provide researchers with genomic, proteomic and bioinformatics resources.

	"I think what they're hoping is to see innovative ideas that would solve some of the more challenging biodefense problems that are troubling politicians and our country's leadership today." Dr. Robert Sherwood Manager, Microbiology/Molecular Biology and REC executive committee member

These grants, totaling approximately $350 million spread over five years, are being used to establish eight Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCE). The University of Chicago (U. of C.) received $35 million of the NIAID funds to establish the Great Lakes RCE. The U. of C. also received $17 million for the construction of a biosafety level 3 laboratory (BSL-3) at Argonne National Laboratory.

Scientists from IITRI, among other leading institutions throughout the Midwest, are working with U. of C. to set the regional program in motion.

IITRI Brings Experience to the Table

Dr. Robert Sherwood, manager of IITRI's Microbiology and Molecular Biology Division, serves on the RCE executive committee to establish specific goals for the center, oversee the disbursement of funds, and review proposals. A core group of IITRI scientists also will conduct research at the new BSL-3 facility at Argonne. Dubbed the Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory, named for the U. of C. pathologist who discovered the bacterial genus Rickettsia, the facility at Argonne is expected to be completed in 2005.

"We were asked to participate in the program primarily for our experience in running a biosafety level 3 facility, which very few places have," Dr. Sherwood says. "Our role in this points out how valuable the RCE views our experience in animal disease testing and our large number of staff trained to work with hazardous agents."

Program Facilitates Cooperative Efforts

More than just a funding mechanism, the objective of the RCE program is to create a series of regional multidisciplinary hubs where progress is enhanced by the ability of researchers to work together.

"I think what they're hoping is to see innovative ideas that would solve some of the more challenging biodefense problems that are troubling politicians and our country's leadership today," Dr. Sherwood says. "Some of the ideas we're seeing from the researchers are quite promising."

Research Targets Disease Control

According to NIAID, 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
  
• 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 for bioterrorism
  
• Developing computational and genomic approaches to combating disease agents
  
• Creating new immunization strategies and delivery systems.

"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," says Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, as quoted in a NIAID news release. "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."