Summary
Thirteen project teams involving 70 scientists from 29 institutions are collaborating on basic research targeted at preparedness for future emerging pathogens that could threaten human health.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is committing $100 million to a new Emerging Pathogens Initiative to support basic research targeted at preparedness for emerging pathogens that could threaten human health in the future. Thirteen project teams involving 70 scientists from 29 institutions will collaborate on the research.
“We are optimistic that this initiative will help these scientists develop new, untested approaches that can reveal how pathogens work and how the human immune system responds to pathogen infection,” said HHMI Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer Leslie Vosshall. “With this program, we hope to gain some of the knowledge and tools we need to get a scientific head start on future epidemics.”
During the COVID pandemic, many in the global scientific community learned as much as they could – as fast as they could – about the underlying SARS-CoV-2 virus. Labs retooled, researchers stretched in new directions, shared information openly, and began new collaborations to better understand a deadly pathogen that was rapidly evolving. The scientific community also began engaging more broadly with questions about oversight of research on existing and potential pathogens and how to make sure this important work is done as safely as possible.
As some HHMI labs began shifting their attention to COVID, HHMI launched a research pilot, investing $35 million in four collaborative research projects aimed at understanding more about COVID and SARS-CoV-2. That work motivated the Institute to do more.
“We were excited by the idea of catalyzing this collaborative research on a larger scale – focusing on novel approaches to understanding the biology of emerging pathogens and the interactions of the human immune system with infections to further the basic science needed for rapid and durable responses to future pandemics,” said HHMI Senior Scientific Officer Dennis McKearin.
Last year, HHMI announced plans to accept proposals for the newly created Emerging Pathogens Initiative, a program that will run for three years with a goal of accelerating research into the origins, mechanisms, and evolution of emerging pathogens that could threaten human health. This one-time competition invited proposals from HHMI Investigators for projects to be conducted independently or in collaboration with a diverse spectrum of scientists at US institutions and across the globe. The 13 projects selected involve 70 scientists at 29 institutions. They tackle timely questions, including implications for diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines against a wide range of worrisome pathogens.
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HHMI is the largest private biomedical research institution in the nation. Our scientists make discoveries that advance human health and our fundamental understanding of biology. We also invest in transforming science education into a creative, inclusive endeavor that reflects the excitement of research. HHMI’s headquarters are located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC.
Projects and Scientific Collaborators
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Focus area: Akkermansia muciniphila as a mucosal vaccine platform for emerging pathogens Lead Investigator: Gregory Barton, HHMI, University of California, Berkeley Collaborators |
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Focus area: Developing modular, multifunctional therapeutics from “parts lists” for a broad spectrum of RNA viruses Lead Investigator: Carolyn R. Bertozzi, HHMI, Stanford University Collaborators |
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Focus area: Infectious disease vaccines that do not directly target microbes Lead Investigator: Richard A. Flavell, HHMI, Yale University Collaborators |
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Focus area: Targeting cell envelope biosynthesis in Borrelia for diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccine discovery Lead Investigator: Christine Jacobs-Wagner, HHMI, Stanford University Collaborators |
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Focus area: Pathogenic brain states: cells and circuits involved in altered brain function after non-central nervous system infection Lead Investigator: Michelle Monje, HHMI, Stanford University Collaborators |
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Focus area: Decoding the mitochondrial proteomes of six pathogenic protozoa Lead Investigator: Vamsi K. Mootha, HHMI, Massachusetts General Hospital Collaborators |
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Focus area: Targeting essential surface-accessible processes of bacterial gut pathogens with designed peptides Lead Investigator: Joseph D. Mougous, HHMI, University of Washington Collaborators |
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Focus area: Elucidating rapidly evolving virulence factors and their functions from bacterial pathogens Lead Investigator: Kim Orth, HHMI, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Collaborators |
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Focus area: Merging the technologies of RNA biology and enhanced biosafety to create next generation broad spectrum RNA-based antiviral therapies Lead Investigator: Anna Marie Pyle, HHMI, Yale University Collaborators |
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Focus area: Natural product discovery for combating emerging pathogens Lead Investigator: Benjamin Tu, HHMI, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Collaborators |
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Focus area: Investigating and engineering the avian and human antibody response to target emerging influenza viruses Lead Investigator: Wilfred A. van der Donk, HHMI, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Collaborators |
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Focus area: Exploiting circadian rhythms in anti-parasite immunity Lead Investigator: Russell Vance, University of California, Berkeley Collaborator |
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Focus area: Building a toolbox for individualized jumbo-phage therapy against antibiotic-resistant infections Lead Investigator: Elizabeth Villa, HHMI, University of California, San Diego Collaborators |
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