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HHS ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR NORTHEAST
BIODEFENSE Columbia University, NYS Health Department’s Wadsworth Center Laboratories, and AMDeC to Lead Regional Consortium Project New York, NY, September 4, 2003-- The Northeast Biodefense Center (NBC), a consortium of academic and governmental biomedical research organizations and public health agencies led by Columbia University, the Academic Medicine Development Corporation (AMDeC) and the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health, has been awarded a multi-year federal grant in excess of $9 million per year to focus on biodefense research. The award is to establish one of eight Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCE). These multidisciplinary centers are key elements of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease's strategic plan for biodefense research and will be an important adjunct to National Biodefense Laboratories (NBL)—such as the one proposed for the Griffiss Technology Park in Rome, New York. Scientists associated with the Regional Centers of Excellence will utilize NBL facilities to safely conduct research on select microbial agents. 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 securely. The Centers will support investigator-directed research with an emphasis on the development and testing of vaccine, therapeutic and diagnostic concepts. In addition, the RCEs will offer specialized training in biodefense research activities for investigators and other personnel; maintain scientific core facilities available to approved investigators from academia, government, biotech companies and the pharmaceutical industry; and provide facilities and support to first responders in the event of a national biodefense emergency. The NBC's principal investigator and scientific director is Ian Lipkin, M.D., director of the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, who holds a joint appointment at the Wadsworth Center. Lawrence S. Sturman, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Department of Health's Wadsworth Center laboratories, is the administrative director of the consortium, which encompasses 86 researchers from 29 institutions. Neal Cohen, M.D., former New York City Health Commissioner who directs the Center for Biodefense of the AMDeC Foundation, a consortium of 39 academic medical and research institutions in New York, will play a key role in guiding the collaborative aspects of the NBC. Lee C. Bollinger, president, Columbia University stated, “In a time when new infectious diseases appear with increasing frequency, and terrorism is a persistent looming threat, collaborative efforts that unite research and expertise across institutional and geographic boundaries are essential to human welfare. The Northeast Biodefense Center, born in the aftermath of 9/11, is one such effort and, hopefully, a paradigm for others as well.” The NBC will capitalize on the northeast's rich biomedical research resources and experience in dealing with the World Trade Center tragedy, the subsequent anthrax attacks, and the first appearance of West Nile virus in the Western Hemisphere. Lead institutions are Rockefeller University; Yale University; Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Public Health Research Institute; Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Cornell University; SUNY Stony Brook; New York University; University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; SUNY Buffalo; and University of Massachusetts Medical School. Other participants in the consortium include: Albany Medical College; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons; Department of Energy (DoE) – Brookhaven; New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; New York Medical College; New York Presbyterian Hospital; New York Structural Biology Center; Ordway Research Institute; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Sandia National Laboratories, NM; Trudeau Institute; United States Department of Agriculture; SUNY Albany; and University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Additional information on NIAID's biodefense program
is available at:
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| CONTACTS: | Randee Sacks, Columbia’s
Mailman School of Public Health,
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