UCI to open biodefense center

Michael Miller

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded

UC Irvine $40 million to establish a research center dedicated to

combating bioterrorism and infectious diseases.

The federal research grant, to be distributed over four years, is

the largest ever awarded to the university.

The grant was one of two that the institute -- a part of the

National Institutes of Health -- announced Wednesday it was

presenting. Colorado State University and UCI, represent the ninth

and 10th institutions in the country to facilitate biodefense

research centers.

Scientists at the UCI facility will work to prevent and respond to

substances such as anthrax and botulism and also to seek antidotes to

West Nile virus, dengue and other natural epidemics. Microbiology

professor Alan Barbour, who won fame in the 1980s for his

groundbreaking research on Lyme disease, will serve as the center’s

director.

“It really brings people together,” Barbour said about the

center’s mission. “A lot of science, especially in the area of

microbiology, is done in individual labs, but it’s not as common for

people to work cooperatively for a common goal. This is important for

the country, and we need to stay focused on this.”

In 2002, the National Institute committed to establishing 10

research centers in different regions of the country. The UCI

facility, known as the Pacific-Southwest Center for Biodefense and

Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, will support projects on its

own campus and at other research institutes in California, Arizona,

Nevada and Hawaii.

Apart from basic research, the Pacific-Southwest Center also will

provide facilities for dealing with national emergencies, such as

terrorist attacks or outbreaks of new infectious diseases. The

National Institute proposed the 10 centers, known as Regional Centers

of Excellence, in the wake of the anthrax deaths following the Sept.

11 terrorist attacks.

The Regional Centers of Excellence network officially began in

2003, with grants provided to eight institutions: Duke University,

Harvard Medical School, New York State Dept. of Health, University of

Chicago, University of Maryland, University of Texas Medical Branch

at Galveston, University of Washington, and Washington University in

St. Louis. The grants awarded to UCI and Colorado State extend the

network into the Southwest.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who wrote to the National

Institute last November, recommending UCI as a site, was among those

most pleased to hear about the selection.

“I’m proud to represent a first-class research university, and I’m

thrilled that the leadership of the National Institutes of Health

recognizes that UCI is a national leader in biomedical science,” Cox

said in a statement. “This new center can play an important role in

our defense against bioterrorism and emerging infectious disease

threats.”

Barbour said the $40-million grant would go toward research and

supplies, and not toward construction of facilities.

He did not expect the university to add any new buildings to the

campus.

Other UCI faculty members slated to work in the Pacific-Southwest

Center are Pierre Baldi, director of the Institute for Genomics and

Bioinformatics; Jonas Bunikis, assistant researcher in microbiology

and molecular genetics; Philip Felgner, project scientist for the

Center for Virus Research; and Donald Forthal, chief of the Division

of Infectious Diseases in the Dept. of Medicine.

Felgner pointed out that the Pacific-Southwest Center would

complement research on bioterrorism that UCI had already conducted in

recent years, particularly in testing vaccines.

“These diseases are out there,” he said. “They’re out in the

natural environment, but not very common. Our worry is that

terrorists would grow large amounts of these things and spread them

around.”

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at michael.miller@latimes.com.