NERCE BEID

1
New England Regional Center of Excellence for
Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases
Research
2
NIAID Strategic Plan

• Category A, B, and C Priority Pathogens
• Biology of the Microbe
• Host Response
• Diagnostics
• Vaccines
• Therapeutics
• Research Resources
• Regional Centers of Excellence
• National Biocontainment Laboratories
• Regional Biocontainment Laboratories

3
NIAID Priority Pathogens
4
Academic / Industry Partnership
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New England Regional Center of Excellence

• All medical schools in New England contribute to
  governance and strategic planning
• Institutions currently with active major research
  projects
• Boston University Medical Center
• Center for Blood Research
• Harvard Medical School
• University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
• University of Massachusetts Medical School
• Brigham and Womans Hospital
• Dartmouth Medical School

6
NERCE Strategic Plan

• -NERCE will provide the nation, as quickly and
  efficiently as possible, with vaccine and
  therapeutic interventions against infections
  caused by organisms used as weapons of
  bioterrorism
• -NERCE is using a genomics, proteomics, and
  high-throughput approach to biodefense development

7
NERCE Components

• 6 Research Programs
• 5 Developmental Projects Program
• 4 Core Laboratories / Programs
• 2 Career Development Programs
• Emergency Response Plan
• Regional and National Governance Committees

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NERCE Research Programs

• Multiple Approaches to Blocking Toxin Action
• Direct Inhibition of Anthrax Toxin Action
• John Collier, PI
• Direct Blocking of Botulinium Toxin Action
• Bal Ram Singh, PI
• Disruption by Small Molecules of Intracellular
  Toxin Transport
• Tomas Kirchhausen, PI
• Mechanism(s) of Endocytic Vesicle Membrane
  Translocation by Diptheria Toxin, Anthrax Toxin,
  and Botulinium Neurotoxins
• Jack Murphy, PI

9
NERCE Research Programs

• Mediators and Inhibitors of Immunity to Yersinia
  pestis
• Michael Starnbach and John Goguen, PIs
• Microbial Vectors for Antigen Delivery
• John Mekalanos, David Knipe, and Darren Higgins,
  PIs
• Development of a Conjugate Vaccine for the
  Prevention of Tularemia
• Arthur Tzianabos and Dennis Kasper, PIs

10
NERCE Research Programs

• Discovery of Small Molecules to Block Fusion by
  Envelope Proteins of Dengue and Ebola Viruses
• Stephen Harrison, PI
• Innate Immunity to Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses
• Robert Finberg and Douglas Golenbock, PIs

11
NERCE Developmental Projects

• Studies of the SARS Receptor ACE2
• Michael R. Frazan, PI
• Structure of Anthrax Spore Polysaccharide
• Julia Wang, PI
• SARS Coronavirus Pathogenesis in African Green
  Monkeys
• Keith G. Mansfield, PI
• Development of a Multi-gene Subunit-based
  smallpox vaccine
• Shan Lu, PI
• Novel Ways to Optimize CTL Response to Vaccinia
  Virus
• William R. Green, PI

12
NERCE Core Laboratories

• BSL-3 Animal and Tissue Culture
• Andrew Onderdonk, PI
• Proteomics
• Leonardo Brizuela, PI
• Harvard Institute of Proteomics
• Small Molecule Screening
• Steven Lory, PI
• Institute for Chemistry and Cell Biology
• Clinical Studies
• Raphael Dolin, PI

13
Career Development Program

• Career Development Program
• RFP Issued October 14
• Applications due December 1
• Funding Start March 1

14
Emergency Response Plan

• Provide facilities and scientific support to
  first-line responders in the event of a
  biodefense or naturally occurring biological
  emergency
• Independent local confirmatory testing of a
  positive test result derived from Project
  BioWatch
• Scientific expert resource
• Laboratory testing consulting services, auxiliary
  sample testing, and sample storage and archiving

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Regional Centers of Excellence

• Duke University
• Harvard Medical School
• New York State Department of Health
• University of Chicago
• University of Maryland
• University of Texas Medical Branch
• University of Washington
• Washington University in St. Louis

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NBLs and RBLs

• National Biocontainment Laboratories
• Boston University
• University of Texas Medical Branch
• Regional Biocontainment Laboratories
• Colorado State University
• Duke University
• Tulane University
• University of Alabama at Birmingham
• University of Chicago
• University of Medicine and Dentistry of New
  Jersey
• University of Missouri
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Tennessee

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Assembly and Action of Anthrax Toxin
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Screening for chemicals that protect cells from
anthrax toxin
Cell Viability