Pacific Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Research

描述(由申请人提供)：夏威夷大学马诺阿分校(UH-Manoa)位于太平洋中部符合IDEA标准的最西部州，距离北美和大洋洲主要岛国约4,000公里，地理位置接近，与亚太地区的机构关系密切，因此在监测新发现和新出现的传染病的出现和传播方面处于战略地位。在最初的五年期间，COBRE的资金使太平洋新发传染病研究中心得以建立，这是一个多学科的卓越中心，旨在研究和培训具有地区和全球重要性的新的、正在出现的和重新出现的微生物威胁。正在申请新的科布雷资金，以加强科布雷中心，并将其转变为一个卓越的翻译科学中心，为新出现的传染病开发改进的诊断、治疗和干预措施。Cobre的活动搬迁到一座新建的、由国家资助的20万平方英尺生物科学大楼内的最先进的实验室空间，通过在UH-Manoa创建了一个传染病研究的学术之家，造成了巨大的变化。在目前的赠款期间，用于非艾滋病毒/艾滋病传染病研究和培训的主流资金约为1750万美元，远远超出最初的预期。 在这次竞争性的续展提交中，四名有前途的初级和职业生涯中期教师被选为Cobre Support，以进行假设驱动的研究项目，这些项目被评为优秀到杰出，有很高的外部资助可能性。重要的是，已经确定了强有力的领导和敬业的导师、合作者和外部顾问，并将加强生物信息学、BSL-3/ABSL-3生物遏制以及分子和细胞免疫学方面的补充技术核心，以确保Cobre研究人员在赠款期间实现研究独立。此外，机构承诺在热带传染病方面再招聘四名终身教职教师，并资助核心设施，这将有助于巩固这一高度优先研究领域的研究人员的数量，并在新的赠款期间和之后维持这一多学科的犹他州马诺阿和夏威夷中心。 公共卫生相关性(由申请者提供)：亚洲通常被认为是许多最近发现的新出现传染病的地理发源地，几乎所有这些传染病都是通过蚊子或从宿主宿主跳下的微生物传播给人类的。关于这些致病病毒和细菌的新知识将导致改进快速诊断测试、更有效的治疗和负担得起的预防性疫苗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Located in the westernmost IDeA-eligible state in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, approximately 4,000 km from North America and the major island nations of Oceania, the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH-Manoa) is strategically positioned to monitor the emergence and spread of newly recognized and reemerging infectious diseases, by virtue of its geographic proximity and strong ties to institutions in the Asia-Pacific region. COBRE funding during the initial five-year period has allowed the establishment of the Pacific Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, a multidisciplinary center of excellence for research and training on new, emerging and re-emerging microbial threats of regional concern and global importance. Renewed COBRE funding is being requested to strengthen and transform the COBRE Center into a translational science center of excellence for developing improved diagnostics, therapeutics and interventions for emerging infectious diseases. The relocation of COBRE activities into state-of-the-art laboratory space in a newly constructed, State-financed 200,000-square-foot BioSciences Building has exacted a sea change by creating an academic home for infectious diseases research at UH-Manoa. The current grant period has witnessed mainstream funding of approximately $17.5 million for non-HIV/AIDS infectious diseases research and training, far exceeding original expectations. In this competitive continuation resubmission, four promising junior and mid-career faculty have been selected for COBRE support to conduct hypothesis-driven research projects that have been rated as excellent to outstanding with a high likelihood of extramural funding. Importantly, strong leadership and dedicated Mentors, Collaborators and External Advisors have been identified, and complementary technical cores in Bioinformatics, BSL-3/ABSL-3 Biocontainment and Molecular and Cellular Immunology will be enhanced, to ensure that the COBRE Investigators achieve research independence during the grant period. Furthermore, an institutional commitment to recruit four additional tenure-track faculty in tropical infectious diseases and to subsidize core facilities will help to solidify the critical mass of investigators for this high-priority research area, as well as to sustain this multidisciplinary center for UH-Manoa and the State of Hawaii during and beyond the new grant period. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): Asia is generally considered as the geographic birthplace of numerous recently identified emerging infectious diseases, nearly all of which are transmitted to humans by either mosquitoes or microbes jumping from their reservoir hosts. New knowledge about these disease-causing viruses and bacteria will lead to improved rapid diagnostic tests, more effective treatments and affordable preventive vaccines.