Administrative Supplements for NIAID Regional Biocontainment Laboratories (RBL)

项目概要/摘要： 持续的COVID大流行表明需要最先进的设施和基础设施， 改进我们对随后的流行病和/或大流行病的准备。乔治梅森大学（GMU）， 利用被指定为生物医学研究实验室的区域生物防护实验室 (BRL)，已建立了一个生物医学研究计划，重点是新兴和重新， 新出现的病毒和细菌病原体有可能导致严重的人类和动物疾病。的 目前在BRL中调查的最大流行病关注的特定病毒病原体家族是： 披膜病毒科、布尼亚病毒科、冠状病毒科和黄病毒科。五个系的几名教员在 GMU（系统生物学，生物学，生物工程，生物化学，全球和社区健康）以及 外部合作者开展基础和应用研究，包括致病性、感染 机制以及诊断、疫苗和治疗方法的开发。 GMU的传染病投资组合在2021财年为880万美元，预计在2020年将增长至少3倍。 未来五年为了实现这一目标，GMU领导层正在对新教师进行积极的战略投资 招聘和种子资金，以及创造更广泛的访问BRL。超过244篇同行评审文章 自2010年以来，GMU研究人员发表了关于传染病研究的报告。 BRL的工作人员致力于支持GMU教师，学生和他们的合作者开发新的 大流行病防范的转化解决方案。具有翻译前景的研究包括1） 开发另外的候选疫苗，提供针对多个菌株的广谱保护， 甲病毒或冠状病毒，2）评价基于宿主的治疗剂，这些治疗剂已在体外证明具有广泛的 抗甲病毒（VEEV、EEEV、WEEV、CHIKV）、布尼亚病毒（RVFV）和 冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）在啮齿动物和非啮齿动物模型（包括雪貂）中的发展，以及3） 新的平台技术，包括基于细胞外囊泡（EV）的免疫调节剂和报告病毒 其可以促进用于中和抗体的临床和非临床样品的快速筛选。 我们的高密封设施由运营和技术人员团队提供支持， 广泛的内部和外部研究人员基础，可进行体外和体内研究和开发， 新出现和重新出现的病毒和细菌病原体。GMU正在申请资金，以补充 资助的G20家长奖，“设施和建筑系统升级支持梅森生物医学 研究实验室”，以解决额外的具体仪器和设施的差距，将支持 创建一个现代化的，全面的，灵活的和有弹性的临床前生物医学研究管道，以解决 国家和全球大流行病的准备工作。

Project Summary/Abstract: The ongoing COVID pandemic has demonstrated the need for state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure to improve our preparedness for subsequent epidemics and/or pandemics. George Mason University (GMU), leveraging the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, designated as the Biomedical Research Laboratory (BRL), has established a biomedical research program with a strong emphasis on newly emerging and re- emerging viral and bacterial pathogens with the potential to cause severe human and animal diseases. The specific viral pathogen families of greatest pandemic concern currently investigated in the BRL are: Togaviridae, Bunyaviridae, Coronaviridae, and Flaviviridae. Several faculty members in five departments at GMU (Systems Biology, Biology, Bioengineering, Biochemistry, and Global and Community Health) as well as external collaborators conduct research on basic and applied research to include pathogenicity, infection mechanisms, and development of diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics. The infectious disease portfolio at GMU was $8.8 million in FY21 and is expected to grow by at least 3X in the next five years. To realize this goal, GMU leadership is making aggressive, strategic investments in new faculty hires and seed funding, as well as creating broader access to the BRL. More than 244 peer-reviewed articles on infectious diseases research have been published by GMU investigators since 2010. The BRL staff is dedicated to supporting GMU faculty, students, and their collaborators to develop new translational solutions for pandemic preparedness. Research with translational promise includes 1) development of additional vaccine candidates that confer broad-spectrum protection against multiple strains of alphaviruses or coronaviruses, 2) evaluation of host-based therapeutics that have demonstrated in vitro broad- spectrum efficacy against alphaviruses (VEEV, EEEV, WEEV, CHIKV), bunyaviruses (RVFV) and coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2) in rodent and nonrodent animal models including ferrets, and 3) development of new platform technologies including extracellular vesicle (EV)-based immunomodulators and reporter viruses that can facilitate rapid screening of clinical and nonclinical samples for neutralizing antibodies. Our high containment facility supported by a team of operations and technical staff, creates opportunities for a broad base of internal and external investigators to conduct in vitro and in vivo research and development on newly emerging and re-emerging viral and bacterial pathogens. GMU is requesting funds to supplement the funded G20 parent award, “Facility and Building System Upgrades Support for the Mason Biomedical Research Laboratory” to resolve additional specific instrumentation and facility gaps that will support the creation of a modern, comprehensive, agile and resilient preclinical biomedical research pipeline to address national and global pandemic preparedness.