Resources for Researchers
New Research Facilities and Resources
NIAID is planning and has established several facilities and research programs to enhance research on emerging infectious diseases, including both naturally occurring outbreaks and those that may emerge as a result of deliberate release (acts of bioterrorism):
- Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCE) will provide the scientific information and translational research capacity to make the next generation of therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostics against emerging infectious agents, including the NIAID Category A–C agents.
- New NIAID intramural biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratories are planned for Hamilton, Montana (completed), Rockville, MD (under construction), and Bethesda, MD (plans under development). These laboratories will enable the Institute to conduct BSL-3 animal studies and laboratory research on emerging infectious agents such as multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDRTB), Borrelia, Yersinia, influenza virus, West Nile virus, and dengue virus.
- Two national biocontainment laboratories (NBLs) and 13 regional biocontainment laboratories (RBLs) will provide BSL-3 and BSL-4 facilities for biodefense and emerging infectious disease research.
- NIAID’s Biodefense and Emerging Infections Research Resources Program supports the acquisition, authentication, storage, and distribution to the scientific community of state-of the-art research and reference reagents related to biodefense and emerging infectious diseases.
- The In Vitro and Animal Models for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Biodefense Program provides a range of resources for preclinical testing of new therapies and vaccines, including nonhuman primate models to be used in emerging infectious diseases and biodefense research.
- The Food and Waterborne Diseases Integrated Network expands the Institute’s capacity to conduct clinical research studies of food- and waterborne enteric pathogens.
Other Resources