$15 million NIH grant for study of flu vaccines
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded on April 1 a $15 million, five-year grant to medical school researchers to study how current influenza vaccines interact with the human immune system. The award was made before the outbreak of swine flu.
The principal investigator is Mark Davis, PhD, director of Stanford's Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection. Other project leaders at Stanford are Ann Arvin, MD; Atul Butte, MD, PhD; Yueh-Hsiu Chien, PhD; Corry Dekker, MD; Harry Greenberg, MD; David Hirschberg, PhD; Garry Nolan, PhD; and Stephen Quake, PhD, as well as Gary Swan, PhD, a researcher at SRI International.
The investigators seek to understand at multiple levels how the immune systems of humans in different age groups are constituted and how they respond to or fail to defend against specific influenza strains. It is expected that these studies will aid in the development of more effective vaccines, as well as in a better understanding of immunological correlates of health.
The research could also advance efforts to prevent or mitigate potential harm from the influenza virus—a serious public-health concern in any case—in the form of a pandemic or a weapon of bioterrorism.
Share This Story