LIAI SCIENTISTS TO PLAY KEY ROLE IN U>S> EFFORTS TO SAFEGUARD AGAINST SMALLPOX AND ARENA VIRUSES
Institute Receives $12 Million in Contracts from National Institutes of Health
SAN DIEGO - November 1, 2004 - As the nation faces the ongoing threat of bioterrorism, researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology (LIAI) are playing a key investigational role in U.S. efforts to fight two potential bioterrorist agents -- smallpox virus and arena viruses.
LIAI has received contracts totaling nearly $12 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to map the immune system?s response to the existing smallpox vaccine as well as to the arena viruses, a family of dangerous viruses responsible for hemorrhagic fevers and meningitis. From this data, researchers believe a new and better smallpox vaccine can be developed along with a first-ever vaccine to safeguard against the arena viruses.
LIAI received the contracts under the NIAID?s Large-Scale Antibody and T Cell Epitope Discovery Program, an initiative aimed at generating research data relating to immunity to infectious disease agents. NIAID today announced the recipients of the 14 discovery program contracts totaling nearly $74 million, which went to LIAI and 12 other leading research institutions. Data generated under the epitope discovery contracts will provide one of the major sources of information to populate the nation?s largest Immune Epitope Database, which is currently being designed by LIAI under a seven-year $25 million NIAID contract. LIAI was awarded the prestigious database contract in a competitive bid process last year.. The database will allow researchers around the world to quickly access key information on the way the body responds to disease-causing agents, especially those that are responsible for emerging infectious diseases, such as SARS and West Nile virus, or that are part of potential bioterrorist threats. By allowing researchers to share and analyze data in this unprecedented manner, the database will provide an important tool for accelerating the development and improvement of vaccines.
"We?re pleased that the NIH has entrusted the Institute not only with creating and hosting this important database, but also with the work of gathering much of the data related to the smallpox and arena viruses," said Mitchell Kronenberg, Ph.D., LIAI President and Scientific Director.
Alessandro Sette, Ph.D., LIAI's lead scientist on the contract, said the five-year project marks the first time scientists will create a map of the body?s response to the smallpox vaccine. The map will detail out literally thousands of biochemical and cellular activities. "Because the vaccine was developed so long ago, before the advent of modern technologies, little is known about exactly how the vaccine works to generate the appropriate immune response," he said. "But with today?s increasingly sophisticated technologies, such as those used in the human genome mapping project, we can now measure very carefully how the immune system responds to the vaccine and then use that information to test how it would respond to another vaccine candidate." Lab testing is being done in mice and in human blood samples donated by health care workers, scientists and military personnel from the San Diego area who recently received the smallpox vaccine.
Sette said no live smallpox or arena viruses will be used in their research. "Our work is based on computer modeling and algorithms and making small synthetic pieces for testing in the lab," he said. "This allows us to work on very dangerous infectious agents without the risk of using the actual viruses."
Because of the scope and complexity of the virus projects, LIAI has expanded beyond its La Jolla headquarters to an additional site in Pacific Beach. "This site is unique in that the computer and the wet lab are integrated under one roof," Kronenberg said. "This creates a single comprehensive center that will expedite our research due to the close collaboration between technology experts and lab scientists." He said the new site will also be home to LIAI?s new emerging infectious disease and biodefense research center. "This exciting new research focus, coupled with our expanded facilities, is an important step in the growth of the Institute that will allow us to continue to attract top-notch scientific talent."
Sette said the research is part of a national drive to develop a safer smallpox vaccine. "People who are immuno-compromised cannot use the current vaccine," he said, adding that the vaccine has also been associated with rare, but serious, side effects. The smallpox virus was eradicated in the U.S. by 1950 and vaccinations for the general public were ended in 1972. But in the aftermath of 9-11, new concerns have arisen that the smallpox virus, arena viruses, along with a number of other infectious diseases, could be used as bioterrorist agents, prompting heightened research activity. No approved vaccine is currently available to prevent or treat arena virus infections.
Michael Buchmeier, Ph.D, a world expert on arena viruses from the Scripps Research Institute, will participate in the arena virus research. LIAI?s Matthias Von Herrath, M.D. will serve as co-investigator on the arena virus contract and Howard Grey, M.D., an LIAI research member, is co-investigator on the smallpox contract.
About LIAI
Founded in 1988, the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology is a
nonprofit medical research center dedicated to increasing knowledge and
improving human health through studies of the immune system. Scientists
at the institute carry out research searching for cures for cancer,
allergy and asthma, infectious diseases, and autoimmune diseases such
as diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis. LIAI's research
staff includes more than 100 Ph.Ds.
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