Space Renovation for New Research Center for the Neglected Diseases of Poverty

描述(由申请者提供)：乔治华盛顿大学(GW)寻求资金，翻新约25,400平方英尺的废弃空间，为华盛顿特区新的被忽视的贫困疾病研究中心创建一个位于中心的现代研究综合体。该研究中心将为被忽视的热带病(NTDS)、世界上最贫穷的人每天的生活费不到1美元的毁灭性灾难，以及美国一组独特的被忽视的贫困感染(NIP)开发新的疫苗、疗法和诊断方法，这些疾病最近被认为是影响美国非裔美国人和拉美裔美国人的最大健康差距之一。乔治华盛顿大学通过其医学院和公共卫生学院对这两类被忽视的疾病发起了多方面的攻击，教职员工开展了由NIH赞助的钩虫、血吸虫病、钩虫病和弓形虫病的基础研究，以及流行病学和政策工作。GW是人类钩虫疫苗倡议(HHVI)的所在地，该倡议是盖茨基金会资助的产品开发伙伴关系(PDP)，该伙伴关系正在将新的疫苗抗原从发现过渡到第一阶段试验。此外，正在进行广泛的研究，以研究美国主要的NIP，包括弓形虫病、弓形虫病和恰加斯病，目前影响着数百万非裔美国人和西班牙裔美国人。在乔治华盛顿大学，针对非传染性疾病和非传染性疾病的卫生政策倡议也在进行中，我们主办了第一本关于这些疾病的开放获取期刊--《公共科学图书馆·被忽视的热带病》。虽然GW的这项研究计划很强大，但支持这些研究人员的物理植物是如此缺乏，以至于抑制了他们的共处和该计划的发展。这项提议旨在通过建立一个最先进的研究设施来解决这些不足之处，该设施能够容纳目前分散在大学校园内的多学科研究人员。翻新项目将采用绿色/可持续技术和设计方法，并将获得LEED认证。所有空间都将是ADA可访问的。GW完全致力于扩大被忽视的贫困疾病研究计划，并通过分担31%(714万美元)的建设项目成本来证明这一点，并在该领域招聘新的研究密集型终身教职教师，并为研究中心的员工创建专业生物技术路径和证书的教育骨干。该项目将创造或保持至少325个美国就业机会，并有一个密集的计划，优先雇用来自哥伦比亚特区的有才华、代表性不足的少数族裔个人和那些有不利背景的人。该项目将改变和扩大乔治华盛顿大学的生物医学研究，该研究中心将显著帮助解决美国和世界各地一些最大的健康差距--被忽视的贫困感染和被忽视的热带病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The George Washington University ("GW") seeks funding to renovate approximately 25,400 net square feet of obsolete space to create a centrally located modern research complex for the new Research Center for the Neglected Diseases of Poverty in Washington, DC. The Research Center will conduct translational research for the development of new vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for both neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), the devastating scourges of the "bottom billion"-the poorest people in the world who live on less than $1/day, and a unique group of neglected infections of poverty (NIPs) in the U.S. which have been recently recognized as one of the greatest health disparities affecting U.S. African American and Hispanic American populations. GW has launched a multifacted assault on these two groups of neglected diseases through its schools of medicine and public health, with faculty members conducting fundamental NIH-sponsored research on hookworm, schistosomiasis, opisthorchiasis, and toxoplasmosis, as well as epidemiological and policy work. GW is home to the Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative (HHVI), a Gates Foundation-funded product development partnership (PDP) that is transitioning new vaccine antigens from discovery into Phase 1 trials. Also, extensive research is underway to study the major U.S. NIPs including toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, and Chagas disease, currently affecting millions of African Americans and Hispanic Americans. A health policy initiative for both the NTDs and NIPs is also in progress at GW and we host the first open-access journal on these conditions, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. While this research program at GW is strong, the physical plant that supports these investigators is so deficient it inhibits their co-location and growth of the program. This proposal aims to address these deficiencies by creating a state-of-the art research facility capable of housing the multidisciplinary researchers currently scattered across the University campus. The renovation project will employ green/sustainable technologies and design approaches, and will obtain LEED certification. All spaces will be ADA accessible. GW is fully committed to expanding the neglected diseases of poverty research program and demonstrates this through cost sharing 31% ($7.14M) of the building project costs, as well as recruiting new research-intensive tenured-track faculty in this area and creating an educational backbone for specialty biotechnology tracks and certificates for employees of the Research Center. This project will create or maintain at least 325 American jobs, with an intensive program to preferentially hire talented under-represented minority individuals from the District of Columbia and those with disadvantaged backgrounds. This project will transform and expand biomedical research at GW University, and the Research Center will significantly help address some of the greatest health disparities in the U.S. and around the world-the neglected infections of poverty and the neglected tropical diseases.