Pacific Southwest RCE for Biodefense & Emerging Infectious Diseases Research

太平洋西南地区生物防御和新兴疾病卓越中心(“中心”)是一个研究联盟，由7个项目中的34个项目组成。该中心还拥有五个不同的核心设施，服务于整个地区。在该中心的27个教育、研究、商业和政府机构中，第九区域的所有四个州(AZ、CA、HI和NV)都有代表。该中心的总体目标是杰出的科学，通过多学科和协作的方法以及平衡基础研究和翻译研究的组合来实现。该中心的主要主题是美国西部、环太平洋地区和拉丁美洲的感染，这些感染与生物防御或新出现的疾病相关。这七个项目是：(1)登革热，(2)病毒性人畜共患病，包括阿雷纳病毒和尼帕病毒，(3)肉毒杆菌神经毒素，(4)B类伯克霍尔德氏菌，(5)图拉热病，(6)球孢子菌病，(7)预防人类感染的水库靶向疫苗。这项研究的应用包括改进的诊断、新型治疗剂和疫苗平台。该中心的其他主要职能是：(A)与公共卫生机构合作，利用其集体的专业知识、资源和设施应对传染病突发事件；(B)培养有才华的年轻研究人员和新进入这一研究领域的更成熟的研究人员的职业生涯；以及(C)为调查人员和工作人员提供区域培训设施，以学习在生物遏制条件下的安全操作。

Pacific-Southwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Diseases ("the Center") is a research consortium comprising 34 projects clustered within seven programs. The Center also features five differentiated core facilities that serve the entire region. All four states (AZ, CA, HI, and NV) of Region IX are represented among the 27 educational, research, commercial, and governmental institutions of the Center. The overall goal of the Center is outstanding science, achieved with a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach and a portfolio that balances basic and translational research. The Center's major theme is infections of the western United States, the Pacific Rim, and Latin America of relevance for biodefense or as emerging diseases. The seven programs are: (1) dengue, (2) viral zoonoses, including arenaviruses and Nipah virus, (3) botulinum neurotoxin, (4) Category B Burkholderia species, (5) tularemia, (6) coccidioidomycosis, and (7) reservoir-targeted vaccines for prevention of human infections. Applications of the research include improved diagnostics, novel therapeutic agents, and vaccine platforms. Other key functions of the Center are: (a) responding, in cooperation with public health agencies, to infectious diseases emergencies with its collective expertise, resources, and facilities; (b) fostering the careers of talented young investigators and more established investigators newly-entering this research field; and (c) providing a region-wide training facility for investigators and staff to learn safe operations under biocontainment conditions.