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Thomas J. Kindt, Ph.D., Director, DIR, NIAID
Dr. Kindt described facilities and staff increases in the Division of Intramural Research (DIR). The DIR staff now consists of 1,200 people, including 92 tenured scientists and 27 on tenure track. Two new facilities, Building B on campus and Twinbrook 3 in Rockville, will be constructed soon, and there will be expansions at the Rocky Mountain laboratory.
Dr. Kindt briefly outlined the accomplishments of DIR this year; a candidate for a West Nile virus vaccine; progress on a novel HIV entry inhibitor; discovery of the gene that allows fleaborn transmission of the plague bacillus; discovery of a new influenza protein; new genes discovered in group A streptococcus; work on adenosine receptors in inflammation control; a new model for the Versallus zoster virus; NK cell recognition of virus-infected cells; some new information from the malaria virus' genome about its origins and the emergence of drug resistance; chemokine receptor polymorphisms are associated with lower risk of kidney transplant rejections.
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