BCM awarded NIH grant to continue vaccine research

HOUSTON -- (November 7, 2007) -- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded $23.7 million over seven years to Baylor College of Medicine for the continuation of its Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit.

BCM is one of eight institutions this year to receive the vaccine unit designation. The purpose of the units is to respond to pressing national and international public health needs by investigating vaccines and therapies for infectious diseases other than AIDS. Dr. Wendy Keitel, associate professor of molecular virology and microbiology at BCM, has served as the principal investigator of the BCM vaccine unit since 1995. NIAID expects the new units to carry out more clinical trials in large populations and to test the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in specific vulnerable populations, such as infants and the elderly.

"As part of the VTEU system, we are able to conduct high quality research expeditiously through the collaborations we have with other VTEUs," said Keitel.

Baylor has been home to a VTEU from 1968 to 1999 and 2002 to present, and has tested numerous vaccines, including vaccines for prevention of pneumonia, whooping cough and anthrax. BCM investigators also participated in clinical trials that led to licensure of the nasal spray influenza vaccine.

Currently, BCM is investigating vaccines for potential pandemic influenza, malaria and parvovirus, and biodefense vaccines for prevention of tularemia and anthrax. Vaccine unit investigators are also studying the pathogenesis of Norovirus and entero-aggregative E. coli infections – both important causes of diarrhea. Studies of the safety and effectiveness of immunization during pregnancy and of a cytomegalovirus vaccine in adolescent girls also are planned.

Baylor investigators include Drs. Keitel, Robert Atmar, Hanaa El Sahli, Shital Patel, Robert Couch, Thomas Cate, W. Paul Glezen, Flor Munoz, Pedro Piedra, Carol Baker, Morven Edwards and Mary Healy. Other collaborators include Dr. Pablo C. Okhuysen at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston; Dr. Herbert L. DuPont at The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston and clinical professor of medicine at BCM; Drs. Susan Fisher-Hoch and Joseph B. McCormick at The University of Texas School of Public Health in Brownsville; Drs. Lawrence R. Stanberry and Christine B. Turley at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; and Dr. Manjusha J. Gaglani at Scott & White Clinic in Temple, Texas.

The other new VTEU sites are Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Emory University, Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, St. Louis University, University of Iowa, University of Maryland and Vanderbilt University.