The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has extended funding for the Midwest Regional Center for Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (MRCE), anchored at the School of Medicine.
The center received a five-year, $37 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to continue to support basic and translational research in bio-defense and emerging infectious diseases throughout the Midwest.
The MRCE, established in 2003, is one of 11 Regional Centers of Excellence (RCEs) dedicated to developing new or improved ways to treat, diagnose or prevent diseases that could be used for bioterrorism, such as anthrax, or infectious diseases, like West Nile fever, plague and dengue fever. The RCEs also provide scientific expertise to first responders in an infectious disease-related emergency.
MRCE researchers have focused their efforts on understanding innate immunity, a type of built-in protection against certain microbial assaults, and exploring infections caused by West Nile virus and poxviruses. Additionally, they have worked to improve the safety of vaccines, discover new viruses and develop new antiviral therapies.
Herbert “Skip” Virgin III, M.D., Ph.D., the Mallinckrodt Professor and head of Pathology and Immunology and professor of medicine and of molecular microbiology, is director of the MRCE, and Michael Diamond, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology and immunology, of medicine and of molecular microbiology, is co-director.