The University of Washington, and collaborators at Rockefeller University (NYC), FIOCRUZ (Brazil), IRESSEF (Senegal), KRISP (South Africa), Aga Khan University (Pakistan) and Chang Gung University (Taiwan) were awarded a NIH National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID) grant for $8.75 M for 5 years to form the United World for Antiviral Research Network (UWARN).
UWARN will address emerging viral infectious diseases by carrying out research with collaborating partner research laboratories in Brazil, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa and Taiwan. The research will develop innovative diagnostic reagents, including human viral-neutralizing antibodies and designed proteins that release light when antibodies to virus are present in blood (LOCKR technology from IPD). UWARN research will also improve understanding of how viruses manipulate the human immune system, facilitating development of better biomarkers to predict severe disease as well as host-directed therapies that could improve outcomes of viral infection.
UWARN will serve as one of ten NIAID Centers in the CREID Network, consisting of multidisciplinary teams of investigators, working in over 30 countries. The CREID network will be coordinated by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI), a large nonprofit research organization with regional and project offices in over 75 countries, and Duke University, a premier university known for its cutting-edge medical research and home to the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. Together they will serve as the CREID Coordination Center (CC).
