Pacific-Southwest Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Diseases (""""""""the Center"""""""") is a research consortium comprising 34 projects clustered within seven programs. The Center also features five differentiated core facilities that serve the entire region. All four states (AZ, CA, HI, and NV) of Region IX are represented among the 27 educational, research, commercial, and governmental institutions of the Center. The overall goal of the Center is outstanding science, achieved with a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach and a portfolio that balances basic and translational research. The Center's major theme is infections of the western United States, the Pacific Rim, and Latin America of relevance for biodefense or as emerging diseases. The seven programs are: (1) dengue, (2) viral zoonoses, including arenaviruses and Nipah virus, (3) botulinum neurotoxin, (4) Category B Burkholderia species, (5) tularemia, (6) coccidioidomycosis, and (7) reservoir-targeted vaccines for prevention of human infections. Applications of the research include improved diagnostics, novel therapeutic agents, and vaccine platforms. Other key functions of the Center are: (a) responding, in cooperation with public health agencies, to infectious diseases emergencies with its collective expertise, resources, and facilities;(b) fostering the careers of talented young investigators and more established investigators newly-entering this research field;and (c) providing a region-wide training facility for investigators and staff to learn safe operations under biocontainment conditions.

Public Health Relevance

Through its basic and translational research programs, the Pacific-Southwest Regional Center of Excellence provides advances for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases of biodefense and emerging public health importance.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Specialized Center--Cooperative Agreements (U54)
Project #
5U54AI065359-06
Application #
7816748
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAI1-DDS-M (J2))
Program Officer
Hirschberg, Rona L
Project Start
2005-05-20
Project End
2014-04-30
Budget Start
2010-05-01
Budget End
2011-04-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$8,627,554
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Irvine
Department
Microbiology/Immun/Virology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
046705849
City
Irvine
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92697
Tsai, Wen-Yang; Youn, Han Ha; Tyson, Jasmine et al. (2018) Use of Urea Wash ELISA to Distinguish Zika and Dengue Virus Infections. Emerg Infect Dis 24:1355-1359
Thongsripong, Panpim; Chandler, James Angus; Green, Amy B et al. (2018) Mosquito vector-associated microbiota: Metabarcoding bacteria and eukaryotic symbionts across habitat types in Thailand endemic for dengue and other arthropod-borne diseases. Ecol Evol 8:1352-1368
Katzelnick, Leah C; Ben-Shachar, Rotem; Mercado, Juan Carlos et al. (2018) Dynamics and determinants of the force of infection of dengue virus from 1994 to 2015 in Managua, Nicaragua. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115:10762-10767
Clemens, Daniel L; Lee, Bai-Yu; Horwitz, Marcus A (2018) The Francisella Type VI Secretion System. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 8:121
Huwyler, Camille; Heiniger, Nadja; Chomel, Bruno B et al. (2017) Dynamics of Co-Infection with Bartonella henselae Genotypes I and II in Naturally Infected Cats: Implications for Feline Vaccine Development. Microb Ecol 74:474-484
Norris, Michael H; Heacock-Kang, Yun; Zarzycki-Siek, Jan et al. (2017) Burkholderia pseudomallei natural competency and DNA catabolism: Identification and characterization of relevant genes from a constructed fosmid library. PLoS One 12:e0189018
Marques, Adriana R; Yang, Xiuli; Smith, Alexis A et al. (2017) Citrate Anticoagulant Improves the Sensitivity of Borreliella (Borrelia) burgdorferi Plasma Culture. J Clin Microbiol 55:3297-3299
Nualnoi, Teerapat; Norris, Michael H; Tuanyok, Apichai et al. (2017) Development of Immunoassays for Burkholderia pseudomallei Typical and Atypical Lipopolysaccharide Strain Typing. Am J Trop Med Hyg 96:358-367
Parameswaran, Poornima; Wang, Chunling; Trivedi, Surbhi Bharat et al. (2017) Intrahost Selection Pressures Drive Rapid Dengue Virus Microevolution in Acute Human Infections. Cell Host Microbe 22:400-410.e5
Bortell, Nikki; Flynn, Claudia; Conti, Bruno et al. (2017) Osteopontin Impacts West Nile virus Pathogenesis and Resistance by Regulating Inflammasome Components and Cell Death in the Central Nervous System at Early Time Points. Mediators Inflamm 2017:7582437

Showing the most recent 10 out of 467 publications