Money will allow the consortium to continue research on emerging infectious diseases.
The Northeast Biodefense Center (NBC) received a $46 million NIAID grant, which will allow the continuation of research activities in emerging infectious diseases. Ian Lipkin, M.D., John Snow professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Mailman School of Public Health, will support research and training initiatives throughout the consortium.
Arturo Casadevall, M.D., Ph.D., Leo and Julia Forchheimer professor and chair of microbiology and immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will serve as deputy director of the consortium. NBC comprises 350 scientists and 28 institutions in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Established in 2002, it is reportedly the largest of NIH’s 11 Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases in the nation.
“The NBC was established by the local scientific community in response to the vulnerability we recognized acutely in the aftermath of 9/11 and the anthrax attacks that followed,” Dr. Lipkin notes. “We have worked together across disciplines and institutions to develop diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines to address the challenges of emerging infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. These collaborations have enabled insights into lethal organisms as well as tools to detect, prevent, and treat infectious diseases. With globalization, the need for this type of research has never been greater.”
Highlights of NBC’s work over the past few years include creation of SARS diagnostics, insights into pandemic influenza enabled by resurrection of the 1918 influenza virus, and new vaccines and drugs for emerging infectious diseases.
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