The University of California, Irvine, on Wednesday said it was awarded $40 million to set up the Pacific-Southwest Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research.
The grant, awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is the largest in the university’s 40-year history.
The center is set to be one of 10 federally funded regional facilities researching potential threats from bioterrorism agents and infectious diseases. It’s set to sponsor 30 research projects involving 130 researchers, post-doctoral students, students and technical and support staff.
Dr. Alan Barbour, a UCI professor of medicine and microbiology, will direct the center.
“Our center will bring together some of the country’s best basic scientists and engineers for the common goal of preventing illness by developing more accurate tests to detect infections and new vaccines to protect people,” Barbour said in a release.
The center expects to administer and finance projects at UCI and also at a group of 16 universities and research institutes in California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.
The thrust is going to be bolstering basic biomedical research into bioterrorism agents, such as those that cause anthrax and botulism, and naturally occurring infectious diseases such as West Nile virus, Hantavirus and dengue.
The center also expects to provide scientific support, expertise and facilities in response to a national emergency, such as a terrorist attack or an epidemic of a new infectious disease, like the SARS virus.
