The Northeast Biodefense Center (NBC) is a consortium of >350 investigators in 28 academic and research institutions (many of them in close proximity to one another in the greater NYC metro area), and 13 US based governmental and international organizations. Over the past 5 years, NBC investigators have demonstrated their commitment to working together across disciplines and institutional boundaries in research and training programs focused on biodefense and emerging infectious diseases as well as emergency preparedness. Evidence of productivity includes >160 publications, 15 invention disclosures, 13 patent applications and 5 licenses for product development. This renewal will comprise 42 investigators and 32 research projects organized into 6 scientific theme areas: Passive Immunotherapeutics (chair: Arturo Casadevall, Einstein);Vaccines (chair: John Rose, Yale);Diagnostics and Pathogen Discovery (chair: Ian Lipkin, Columbia);Therapeutics (chairs: Charles Rice, Rockefeller and Howard Shuman, Columbia,);Innate Immunity (chairs: David Levy, NYU, and Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Sinai), and Microbial Pathogenesis (chairs: Jorge E. Galan, Yale, and Jorge Benach, Stony Book). Biotechnology and pharmaceutical collaborators are represented in the Diagnostics and Pathogen Discovery (Agilent, Akonni, Cepheid, Xynostics, 454 Life Sciences), Therapeutics (Prosetta, Snowdon), and Passive Immunotherapeutics (Regeneron) themes. These industrial links provide not only intellectual capital and resources but also a path for moving discoveries from NBC laboratories to a larger arena where they can contribute to human health and welfare. Additional strength derives from relationships with national and international public health agencies that provide unique access to insights and clinical materials (such as diagnostic samples and PBMC) that enable work that could not otherwise be pursuec. Core facilities will include Protein Expression, Animal Models, and Proteomics. We will also invest in Developmental Projects (innovative pilot projects) and in Career Development and Training Programs that include individual and group career development awards. As a Center based in a School of Public Health and a State Department of Health, the NBC has a firm commitment to and practical understanding of Emergency Preparedness. Strategic Management Plan (I Lipkin) STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PLAN DESCRIPTION: The Northeast Biodefense Center is a Regional Center of Excellence for Research in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases that represents more than 350 investigators in more than 30 institutions in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The mission of Administrative Core is to promote research and training programs in biodefense by distributing awards for research and career development, supporting core facilities, and facilitating communication and collaboration through meetings and electronic media. The Core has three sites, one at Columbia University, where the Director and Principal Investigator (Lipkin), and Associate Director (Diane McFadden) coordinate scientific, fiscal and communicative aspects of the program, a second site at the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health, where the Wadsworth Center Liaison (Harry Taber) and Public Health Liaison (Lawrence Sturman) coordinate the Developmental Projects and Career Development Programs as well as Emergency Response Planning, and a third at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where the Deputy Director (Arturo Casadevall) works closely with the Director in coordinating the Center and monitors the Animal, Expression and Proteomics cores. The Administrative Core reports to a Steering Committee comprised of representatives from the lead institutions: the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Columbia University, Cornell University, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York University, The Rockefeller University, SUNY Stony Brook, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Wadsworth Center and Yale University. The Administrative Core pursues an annual review of NBC performance considering such metrics as publications, inventions, meetings and training course offered and attended, scientists recruited and/or trained in biodefense research, intra and inter-RCE collaborations fostered, and Scientific Advisory Board and NBC member evaluations. Every two years, in consultation with NIAID program staff, the Core engages an outside entity for a formal independent assessment of center performance.
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