Center for Zoonotic and Emerging Infectious Diseases

人畜共患传染病和新出现的传染病对全球健康构成了日益严重和非常现实的威胁，由于人类人口密度的增加，接触家畜种群的增加，以及野生动物拥挤在人类频繁接触的有限区域，因此我们必须扩大对这些疾病的发病机制和预防的理解。为了满足对传染病研究能力的需求，蒙大拿州立大学(MSU)成立了科布雷卓越中心，目标是将蒙大拿州定位为人畜共患传染病发病机制研究的全国领先者。在过去四年中，该中心非常成功，建立了基础设施，招聘和支持初级调查人员，并形成了一个有凝聚力的调查人员中心。这些组成部分的协同作用为扩大该区域的传染病研究奠定了坚实的基础。有了这些基础设施，我们现在就可以理想地将该中心扩大和加强为一家可扩展和可持续的研究企业。 我们的长期目标是建立一个可持续的卓越中心，专注于了解发病机制、宿主免疫反应以及对具有地区和全球重要性的人畜共患病和新出现的传染病的治疗开发。虽然这一目标的基础是通过在科布雷第一次会议期间取得的成就奠定的，但仍然迫切需要在人畜共患病和新出现的传染病领域进一步发展师资、加强基础设施和招募更多的研究人员，并提出了满足这些需要的三个具体目标。首先，我们建议建立一条管道，促进目前初级调查员的发展，以便在他们职业生涯的关键时刻获得资金和基础设施资源。其次，我们建议通过招聘四名新教师来扩大中心的规模、范围和竞争力。总之，这两个目标的实现将导致建立维持该中心和支持未来传染病研究计划所需的临界数量的调查人员。最后，我们建议通过支持和加强已建立的科布雷核心设施来加强蒙大拿州的传染病研究基础设施。由于Cobre I的成功、中心研究人员经过验证的科学能力、出色的机构支持以及对一个及时且日益重要的研究领域的重视，我们相信Cobre II的支持将导致在人畜共患病和新出现的传染病研究方面完成一个可扩展和可持续的卓越中心。

Zoonotic and emerging infectious diseases represent an increasing and very real threat to global health, and it is essential that we expand our understanding of the pathogenesis and prevention of these diseases because of the increasing density of human populations, the increased exposure to domestic animal populations, and the crowding of wildlife into limited areas with frequent human contact. To address the need for infectious disease research capabilities, a COBRE Center of Excellence was established at Montana State University (MSU), with the goal of positioning Montana as a national leader in research on the pathogenesis of zoonotic infectious diseases. Over the past four years, the Center has been extremely successful, resulting in development of infrastructure, recruitment and support of junior investigators, and formation of a cohesive Center of investigators. The synergism of these components has resulted in the establishment of a solid foundation for expansion of infectious disease research in the region. With this infrastructure in place, we are now ideally poised to expand and strengthen the Center as a scalable and sustainable research enterprise. Our long term goal is to establish a sustainable Center of Excellence that is focused on understanding pathogenesis, host immune responses, and therapeutic development for zoonotic and emerging infectious diseases of regional and worldwide importance. While the foundation for this goal has been established through accomplishments realized during COBRE I, there is still a critical need for further faculty development, infrastructure enhancement, and recruitment of additional researchers in the area of zoonotic and emerging infectious diseases, and three specific aims are proposed to address these needs. First, we propose a pipeline to foster the development of current junior investigators so that funding and infrastructure resources are available at critical junctures in their careers. Secondly, we propose to increase the size, scope, and competitiveness of the Center through four new faculty hires. Together, accomplishment of these two aims will lead to establishment of the critical mass of investigators needed to sustain the Center and support future infectious disease research initiatives. Finally, we propose to strengthen the infectious disease research infrastructure in Montana through support and enhancement of established COBRE core facilities. Because of the success of COBRE I, the proven scientific abilities of the Center investigators, the outstanding institutional support, and the emphasis on a timely and increasingly important area of research, we believe that COBRE II support will lead to completion of a scalable and sustainable Center of Excellence in zoonotic and emerging infectious disease research.