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| April 15, 2008 |
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Experts provide global insight for next-generation vaccines initiative | Spotlighting cancer vaccines | Seeding collaborations | Linking discovery to patient care | Finding the key to turnkey manufacturing | Connecting globally |
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Experts provide global insight for next-generation vaccines initiative
The GRA Global Thought Leaders Think Tank held it first meeting February 29, to learn about Georgia’s strengths in next-generation vaccines and therapeutics and provide feedback about the state’s potential for success in this area of research and development. Speaking for the group, Dr. Stanley Plotkin, Executive Advisor to the CEO of Sanofi Pasteur, said: “We are very impressed by the level of science being done, the facilities available, and also the extraordinary support you’ve had from the Georgia Research Alliance. It [the GRA Next-Generation Vaccines and Therapeutics Initiative] certainly seems foresighted and something that I’m not personally acquainted with anywhere else.” More than 40 representatives from GRA member universities, industry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention participated in the meeting. back to top
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Spotlighting cancer vaccines
Enterprising Georgia, a joint venture of the Georgia Research Alliance and the MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta, is presenting its program on “Next-Generation Cancer Vaccines” April 30 from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. as a live broadcast from Georgia Public Broadcasting. Featured speakers are John Ward of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Andrew Mellor of the Medical College of Georgia, Gregg Sylvester from Merck and Robert Nordgren of Merial. They will describe the development and deployment of the hepatitis B vaccine, the role of the immune system in developing therapeutic cancer vaccines, Merck’s HPV vaccine GARDASIL® and Merial’s vaccine for canine melanoma. To learn more about the program and to register to become part of the live studio audience, see www.mitforumatlanta.org. back to top
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Seeding collaborations
The Georgia Research Alliance has announced the second round of its Collaboration Planning Grants. The program supports joint university-based research and development projects focused on next-generation vaccines and therapeutics that have the potential to attract national R&D centers and high-level R&D awards. Proposing teams of investigators must consist of at least two investigators from at least two of the eligible institutions, one of which must be one of GRA’s member universities: Clark Atlanta University, Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Medical College of Georgia or the University of Georgia. Other eligible institutions are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mercer University and Morehouse School of Medicine. The project team may receive up to $100,000 per year. Application deadline is May 12, 2008. Specific details of the application and award process can be found at www.gra.org/collaborationroundtable.
At the April 14 GRA Collaboration Planning Grants Roundtable, co-sponsored with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the CDC Foundation, potential grant applicants participated in a poster session designed to foster new collaborations and share research interests related to vaccines, immune therapies, diagnostics and delivery systems for treatment and prevention of infectious and non-infectious diseases. Poster abstracts are available at www.gra.org/collaborationroundtable. back to top
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Linking discovery to patient care
The new Georgia Research Alliance-Emory Transplant Center Biorepository for Translational Science was launched in February to help researchers better link their laboratory discoveries to patient care in organ transplantation. The new facility will support the collection and analysis of biological specimens for clinical trials and provide a seamless interface between the laboratory and the bedside.
Chris Larsen, M.D., DPhil., is director of the Emory Transplant Center. GRA Eminent Scholar Allan Kirk, the Center’s scientific director, is the leader of a recently funded $6 million, five-year study aimed at finding new ways to make kidney transplants more tolerable for children. Teaming up with Emory in the study are Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto. back to top
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Finding the key to turnkey manufacturing
The newly-formed Georgia State University Center for Vaccine Scale-up/Process Research has been awarded $2.5 million through the Defense Appropriations Bill over two years to develop a facility that will provide methodologies and protocols to properly characterize and define vaccines/biologics during various stages of manufacturing and during storage and stockpiling. The aim is to develop “turnkey” approaches to vaccine development and manufacturing. Partners in the project with GSU are the U.S. Army and VaxInnate, the inventors of a new approach to vaccines. back to top
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Connecting globally
The Emory Vaccine Center of the Emory University School of Medicine and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) have joined forces to create the Joint ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Centre at New Delhi. The ICGEB is an international, inter-governmental organization headquartered in Trieste (Italy) with centers in New Delhi and Cape Town and 38 affiliated centers worldwide. The Joint Centre will be dedicated to vaccine research focused on infectious diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, dengue and malaria. back to top
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