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

描述（由申请人提供）：乔治华盛顿大学（“GW”）寻求资金翻新约25,400净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市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）、“底层十亿人”（世界上每天生活费不足1美元的最贫穷的人）和美国被忽视的贫困感染（NIPs）的独特群体进行新疫苗、治疗和诊断的开发转化研究，NIPs最近被认为是影响美国非洲裔美国人和西班牙裔美国人的最大健康差距之一。乔治华盛顿大学通过医学院和公共卫生学院对这两组被忽视的疾病发起了多方面的攻击，教师们进行了美国国立卫生研究院资助的关于钩虫、血吸虫病、蛇吸虫病和弓形虫病的基础研究，以及流行病学和政策工作。乔治华盛顿大学是人类钩虫疫苗倡议（HHVI）的所在地，这是盖茨基金会资助的产品开发合作伙伴关系（PDP），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，以研究美国主要的传染病，包括弓形虫病、弓形虫病和恰加斯病，这些疾病目前影响着数百万非洲裔美国人和西班牙裔美国人。一项针对被忽视热带病和被忽视热带病的卫生政策倡议也在乔治华盛顿大学进行，我们主办了关于这些疾病的第一本开放获取期刊《公共科学图书馆被忽视热带病》。虽然乔治华盛顿大学的这个研究项目很强大，但支持这些研究人员的物理设施非常缺乏，这抑制了他们的共同定位和项目的发展。该提案旨在通过创建一个最先进的研究设施来解决这些不足，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。改造项目将采用绿色/可持续的技术和设计方法，并将获得LEED认证。所有空间都将是ADA无障碍的。乔治华盛顿大学完全致力于扩大贫困被忽视疾病的研究项目，并通过成本分担31%（714万美元）的建设项目成本，以及在该领域招募新的研究密集型终身教职员工，并为研究中心的员工创建专业生物技术课程和证书的教育骨干来证明这一点。该项目将创造或维持至少325个美国就业岗位，并通过一个密集的项目，优先雇用来自哥伦比亚特区的有才华、未被充分代表的少数族裔和那些背景不利的人。该项目将改变和扩大乔治华盛顿大学的生物医学研究，该研究中心将极大地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.