Univ. of Rochester -- Respiratory Pathogens Research Center

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December 27, 2011

University Lung Research Awarded $4.7

Million Contract to Establish a RespiratoryPathogens Research Center

Computing Capability Helps Lure Initiative to Rochester

The University of Rochester Medical Center has been awarded $4.7 million from the Federalgovernment, with several options for additional funding, to establish a center to study the germsthat cause lung disease.

The agreement with theNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),part of

the National Institutes of Health, took effect earlier this month. The agreement, renewable on ayear-by-year basis, could last potentially for seven years. If the agreement lasts the full sevenyears, contract funding may be at least $35 million, and support could reach as much as $50million, if NIAID exercises all its options. University officials expect the contract to create orretain a total of approximately 250 jobs at the Universitya mix of laboratory technicians, studycoordinators, nurses, information analysts, scientists, and others.

The center is being established by NIH to help protect citizens against bacteria and viruses thattake aim at the respiratory system. These cause pneumonia and flu, as well as a host of otherinfections caused by lesser-known but still-deadly microbes such as coronaviruses,metapneumoviruses, parainfluenza viruses, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), as well as a

host of bacteria.

David Topham, Ph.D.

The creation of the center places the University at the vanguard of the health of the nations

citizens. The new center, known as the Respiratory Pathogens Research Center, effectively puts
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University scientists on call in the realm of respiratory infections. In times of national need,center personnel are available at the request of Federal officials to take on urgent projects toinform public health needs.

A cluster of IBM Blue Gene supercomputers

A key to the new center is the new University of RochesterHealth Sciences Center forComputational Innovation(HSCCI), an emerging partnership between the University and IBM.The centerpiece of the proposed $100 million arrangement between IBM and the University willbe an array of IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputers with the capacity to analyze huge amounts ofinformation quicklya crucial ability at a time when biomedical researchers createunprecedented amounts of data. Earlier this month, New York State awarded the University $5million for the initiativewhich will create one of the most powerful computer systemsdedicated to health research in the worldas part of the states regional economic developmentcouncil competition.

An influenza viral particle (Illustration courtesy of Dan Higgins/CDC)

Creation of the new center was led by microbiologistDavid Topham, Ph.D.,an influenzaresearcher who also directs the HSCCI.
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Dave Topham and his team deserve kudos not only for their great work in the past but for the

potential their new center has to reduce the tragedy of a variety of lung diseases, said JoelSeligman, president of the University of Rochester. The award also is evidence of the potential

of high performance computing to transform the way we study, monitor, and treat diseases. Therecent investment by New York State in the HSCCI represents a critical downpayment on this

initiative, which will serve to not only improve health, but also lead to substantial regionaleconomic growth.

Ann Falsey, M.D.

This is one of the largest projects ever undertaken by our scientists at the University ofRochester Medical Center, and we expect the payoff to be enormous, both for the regions

economy and for the health of people worldwide, said Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D., CEO ofURMC. Immunology and infectious disease research have long been outstanding strengths of

the Medical Center. Several widely used vaccines and improved health across the globe aredirect results of that expertise.

Scientists estimate that roughly 2 million children and 4 million people overall die worldwideeach year from acute respiratory infections. In the United States alone, approximately 65 millionpeople each year visit their doctors or emergency rooms with symptoms from respiratoryinfections.

There is a desperate need to understand how these infections lead to complications, and a need

to develop better ways to treat or prevent these diseases, said Topham, professor of

Microbiology and Immunology, who assembled a team of scientists and physicians with

uncommonly broad expertise in respiratory diseases to create the center.

Our team is a great mix of physicians and nurses who take care of patients, researchers whostudy patients, and investigators who explore the science of the respiratory system. And many ofour people do all three, said Topham. Its our ability to put patient care and research together

that makes this work. Thats our strength at Rochester.
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The center will include a broad range of activity: research in the laboratory about why peoplerespond as they do to infection; translational research where scientists seek to make new findingsrelevant to patients as efficiently as possible; and clinical studies where new drugs or vaccinesare tested in people.

While the specific projects to be undertaken have not been decided upon, they could includeprojects such as:

Studies in people of an experimental vaccine designed to protect the elderly againstpneumonia;

An unprecedented look at the interactions between the germs that normally live in ourbodies and help to keep us healthy, and harmful germs like the flu;

How and why some children fight off an RSV infection effectively while others becomevery sick;

How the body first recognizes respiratory viruses and then rouses the immune system tokill themkey knowledge for the creation of new vaccines;

How flu vaccines might be modified so they can be safer and more effective for peoplewho have had organ transplants;

How viruses harm the breathing of infants born prematurely, with researchers workingwith collaborators with the Universitys Prematurity and Respiratory Outcomes Program

(PROP); What happens in the body when viruses and bacteria both cause infection at the same

time. A common example occurs when a patient catches a cold and is told that anantibiotic wont be helpful. The patient becomes sicker and sicker and then, weeks later,

finds out that a bacterial infection has also occurred, and that indeed, antibiotics wouldnow improve his or her health.

Additional clinical trials of drugs or vaccines for respiratory diseases in children oradults, with studies ranging in size from a few dozen participants to hundreds at sitesaround the world, depending on the need.

Ann Falsey, M.D., professor of medicine at the University and an infectious disease specialist atRochester General Hospital, will help direct the center. Falsey is an international expert on RSVand will lead the teams efforts to understand the virus as well as possibly test potential vaccines

and treatments.

Other faculty investigators at the University include John Treanor, M.D.; Mary Caserta, M.D.;Stephen Gill, Ph.D.; Hulin Wu, Ph.D.; Minsoo Kim, Ph.D.; Andrea Sant, Ph.D.; ThomasMariani, Ph.D.; Martin Zand, M.D., Ph.D.; Mark Sangster, Ph.D.; Gloria Pryhuber, M.D.; andEdward Walsh, M.D.

Richard Scheuermann, Ph.D.,a computational informatics scientist from the University of TexasSouthwestern Medical Center in Dallas will also take part. The team has also enlisted potentialcollaborators around the worldfrom Buffalo to Brazil, from South Africa to Indiawho areready to contribute if needed.
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The new center fits squarely in the Universitys history of protecting people against respiratory

threats. Among the other accomplishments or resources:

TheNew York Influenza Center of Excellence, one of five national centers established byNIH in 2007 to study influenza, and to try to prevent and prepare for flu pandemics. This

University center is led by John Treanor, M.D., who was awarded $29 million to createthe centerpreviously the largest NIH contract awarded to a Medical Center researcher. The Vaccine Research Unit, which has played a crucial role protecting people against

threats like flu, bird flu, whooping cough, and other diseases. Indeed, Treanor led thenationwide study that resulted in the nations first approved vaccine against bird flu.

Currently the unit has a $15.5 million agreement with NIH to study live vaccines aimedat variants of flu that might occur. This work occurs at the FEVURthe Facility for theEvaluation of Viruses at UR.

TheCenter for Biodefense Immune Modeling, which endeavors to apply computationaland mathematical modeling to better understand the immune response to influenzainfection and vaccination, and is led by Martin Zand, M.D., Ph.D., and Hulin Wu, Ph.D.

This center was established with a $10 million award in 2004, and renewed for five moreyears in 2009. Medical Center researchers helped develop surfactant technology that gives life to a

majority of children born extremely prematurely. Fifty years ago, about 90 percent ofinfants who weighed less than about 1.5 pounds died, often from acute respiratorydistress syndrome caused by the inability of their immature lungs to function properly.Today, roughly 90 percent of those preemies live. Contributing to the difference was thesuccessful development at Rochester of lung surfactant. Rochester researchers were thefirst to administer lung surfactant to premature infants, dramatically improving theirsurvival rates.

Medical Center researchers ushered in a renaissance of vaccine development nationwidewith their creation of a new type of vaccine known as a conjugate vaccine 30 years ago.That work resulted in two commercial vaccines, one of which has dramatically curbed thenumber of infections that cause pneumonia as well as ear infections and meningitis inchildren.

Rochester has long been a national powerhouse in the area of infectious disease, particularlyrespiratory infections, said Topham. We have several different centers focusing on infectious

disease, with people approaching the problem from many perspectives, and were building on

that foundation to do even more.
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Univ. of Rochester -- Respiratory Pathogens Research Center