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John La Montagne, Ph.D., Director, DMID, NIAID
Thomas Kindt, Director, DIR, NIAID
NIAID has continued to expand its malaria research program in accordance with its multi-year plan and international efforts. At Council, Dr. Tom Kindt, Director of the Division of Intramural Research, and Dr. John La Montagne, Director of the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, discussed the intramural and extramural parts of the NIAID Malaria Initiative and how these components will work together.
Activities have dramatically increased in malaria research with collaboration between intramural and extramural and industry. These include a collaboration between intramural and extramural to study the major surface protein 1, the development of assays predictive of protection, and vaccine development. Since the meeting of the malaria blue ribbon panel, NIAID has improved access for investigators to well-characterized research materials, furthering discovery and preclinical testing of new vaccine candidates currently being tested intramurally. NIAID has also set up a vaccine task force to advise the institute on candidate selection and assist in interactions with the private sector. This group will work closely with a vaccine advisory committee, dealing with technical issues related to expressing genes and other issues needed to produce a vaccine. Clinical trials are expected to be ready by 2001.
NIAID is also collaborating with DoD and The Wellcome Trust to sequence the parasite’s genome. Other collaborative efforts involve researchers and institutions in England, Netherlands, and France in a multilateral initiative to strengthen clinical research, especially in Africa.
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