Center For Global Infectious Disease Research
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Since October 2018, the Center for Global Infectious Disease Research has been part of the Seattle Children's Research Institute. At the time of the merger, CID Research had 166 scientists. Its mission was to eliminate the world's most devastating infectious diseases through leadership in scientific discovery. The organization's research labs were in the South Lake Union area of Seattle, WA. The institute's research focused on four areas of infectious disease: HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and Emerging & Neglected Diseases (END) like
African sleeping sickness African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness or simply sleeping sickness, is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals. It is caused by the species '' Trypanosoma brucei''. Humans are infected by two ty ...
,
leishmaniasis Leishmaniasis is a wide array of clinical manifestations caused by parasites of the trypanosome genus ''Leishmania''. It is generally spread through the bite of phlebotomine sandflies, ''Phlebotomus'' and ''Lutzomyia'', and occurs most freq ...
,
Chagas disease Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily ''Triatominae'', known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change over the cou ...
, and toxoplasmosis. CID Research was engaged in early stages of the scientific pipeline including bench science and malaria clinical trials and has expertise in immunology, vaccinology, and drug discovery.


History

In 1976, founders Ruth W. Shearer, Ph.D., and Kenneth Stuart, Ph.D., set up a research laboratory in
Issaquah, WA Issaquah ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 40,051 at the 2020 census. Located in a valley and bisected by Interstate 90, the city is bordered by the Sammamish Plateau to the north and the "Issaquah Al ...
. Originally called the Issaquah Group for Health and Environmental Research, the name was soon changed to Issaquah Biomedical Research Institute. Scientists at the Institute studied parasites including ones that cause malaria and African sleeping sickness. In 1986, the Institute relocated to Seattle, Washington to enhance its scientific programs and became Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. In January 2012, Alan Aderem, Ph.D. became president of Seattle BioMed, only the second in its 36-year history, with Dr. Stuart remaining in an active role as President Emeritus and Founder. As part of the Institute's plan for scientific expansion, Dr. Aderem led the implementation of integrating
systems biology Systems biology is the computational modeling, computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological syst ...
approaches to understanding infectious disease. In April 2017, Dr. John Aitchison became the organization's third president and director. The organization's name was changed to the Center for Infectious Disease Research in April 2015 to better reflect its focus. Its merger with Seattle Children's Research Institute was announced in July 2018 and finalized on October 1. Until this time, it was the largest independent, non-profit organization in the United States focused solely on infectious disease discovery research.


Research

The Center for Infectious Disease Research performed research on four areas of infectious disease: HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and Emerging & Neglected Diseases (END) like
African sleeping sickness African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness or simply sleeping sickness, is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals. It is caused by the species '' Trypanosoma brucei''. Humans are infected by two ty ...
,
leishmaniasis Leishmaniasis is a wide array of clinical manifestations caused by parasites of the trypanosome genus ''Leishmania''. It is generally spread through the bite of phlebotomine sandflies, ''Phlebotomus'' and ''Lutzomyia'', and occurs most freq ...
,
Chagas disease Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily ''Triatominae'', known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change over the cou ...
, and toxoplasmosis. Seattle is a hub for global health research, and in July 2012, Seattle Magazine honored two Seattle BioMed leaders (Dr. Stuart and Theresa Britschgi, Director of BioQuest) as "Top Docs" for the work they're doing in research and scientific training. As part of a broad global initiative to fight malaria, CID Research developed its malaria program in 2000, with an initial grant from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...
. With a three-pronged approach, the organization's malaria program was focused on vaccine discovery for pregnancy malaria, severe malaria in children, and liver-stage malaria. In 2005, it received two Grand Challenges in Global Health grants, which are sponsored by the Gates, to accelerate its malaria research. And in 2011, it was granted another $9 million from the Gates Foundation to support malaria vaccine efforts. In 2010, Dr. Stefan Kappe developed his own malaria vaccine candidate which was a weakened form of the malaria parasite, and that vaccine candidate was undergoing clinical trials at Walter Reed near Washington, D.C. Soon after, in collaboration with PATH's Malaria Vaccine Initiative, CID Research became home to one of four malaria clinical trial centers in the world where treatments and vaccines could be safely tested in humans using the human challenge model.


Education & Training

One education program offered by CID Research to engage and mobilize the next generation of scientists was BioQuest Academy, a "biomedical boot camp" for 11th graders with over 60 hours (two weeks) of intensive instruction through a global health curriculum. BioQuest Academy was a
STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
career pipeline. In fact, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE in 2010, "97% of alumni (2005-2008) are attending postsecondary schools throughout North America; eight graduates have already published scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and/or presented their scientific data at national and international meetings, and 26 have been retained by Seattle BioMed researchers as compensated technicians and interns."


References


External links


Seattle Biomedical Research Institute
{{authority control Research institutes in Seattle Tuberculosis organizations HIV/AIDS research organisations Malaria Medical research institutes in the United States Medical and health organizations based in Washington (state)