In this application we are requesting funds to continue our COBRE Center, Novel Approaches for the Control of Microbial Pathogens, for five more years. Our COBRE was first funded in 2001 and then renewed in 2006. The objective of the center was to promote and to enhance the research capabilities of tenure track junior faculty members of participating institutions in the state of Kansas with emphasis on inhibiting microbial pathogens. The program has been highly successful during the first ten years with the awarding of 34 Project and faculty enhancement awards. 34 tenure track faculty have received awards and investigators supported by COBRE have obtained 46 NIH grants (19 R01's, 12 R21's, 8 R03's and 1 U01 in addition to 2 R56 1 K01, 2 K22 and 1 SC3) resulting in a total of about $40 million in new funding for the state of Kansas. An essential part of the COBRE was the establishment of a flow cytometry research core. The Flow core lab is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation and the personnel have extensive experience in cell-sorting and flow analysis. The primary goal of the flow core has been to make the instrumentation and technical tools available to biomedical researchers in the Greater Kansas City area but primarily at the University of Kansas Medical Center. It is housed in a 775 sq ft lab that has recently been expanded and enhanced for biosafety. The primary tasks of the core are to 1) educate investigators about the technology, 2) train individuals in the use of the equipment, 3) carry out cell sorting and flow analyses for those investigators who do not want to be trained on the equipment, 4) assist in the planning of experiments, especially for clinical faculty, and 5) aide in data analysis and figure preparation. In Phase III we are requesting funds to continue the very successful flow core and to make it self-sustaining by the end of the 5-year funding period. We also seek support for an administrative core that will oversee the entire program and provide assistance for grant applications. This core also contains a valuable writing core to aide in grant and manuscript preparation. In addition, we seek support for a Pilot Project program to provide support for research investigators to obtain preliminary data to strengthen their applications to federal agencies for funding.
Despite progress made in the study of infectious diseases they still pose a major hazard to human health. This proposal provides support for pilot projects and core research and administrative facilities to enhance investigation into the control of a variety of viral and bacterial microorganisms that cause human disease.
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