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GOOGLE GRANT
Microbe Hunters Dedicated to Preventing the Next Pandemic
map
With a grant from Google, Mailman researchers will hunt for new pathogens responsible for emerging infectious diseases around the globe. Hot spots of risk from zoonotic emerging infectious diseases are shown here in a map prepared by a research team from Columbia's Center for International Earth Science Information Network, the Consortium for Conservation Medicine Wildlife Trust New York, the Institute of Zoology at the Zoological Society of London, and the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology. The map originally appeared in the Feb. 21, 2008, issue of Nature.
New lethal infectious diseases like AIDS, SARS, and bird flu emerge every year, and now internet giant Google is looking to CUMC microbe hunters to help prevent the next pandemic. The philanthropic arm of Google has awarded a $2.5 million multi-year grant to W. Ian Lipkin, MD, the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology in the Mailman School of Public Health and professor of neurology and pathology in P&S, and colleagues Thomas Briese, PhD, and Gustavo Palacios, PhD, both associate professors of clinical epidemiology in Mailman.
   The new Google award will allow these microbe hunters to pursue pathogen discovery in hot spots of infectious disease emergence in Asia, Africa, and South America and build laboratory capacity needed for rapid containment of new diseases at the source.
   The effort is part of Google’s “Predict and Prevent” initiative, which awarded $14 million in October to six research centers to identify hot spots where diseases may emerge, discover new pathogens circulating in animal and human populations, and respond to outbreaks before they become global crises.
   Dr. Lipkin and colleagues at Mailman’s Center for Infection and Immunity have already helped to pioneer a new era of rapid pathogen discovery. Technology they have developed can scan the “entire tree of life” – bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites – in a matter of days to help identify new pathogens. With such techniques, the team has discovered more than 75 viruses; has been instrumental in efforts to identify, and prevent the spread of, SARS and the West Nile, Ebola and Marburg viruses; and has solved outbreaks that threatened the safety of transplantation, the food supply, and wildlife. Dr. Lipkin also directs the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Diagnostics in Zoonotic and Emerging Infectious Diseases (zoonotic diseases start in animals and jump to humans; they account for 75 percent of all new infectious diseases).
   The Center for Infection and Immunity is dedicated to global research and training programs focused on pathogen surveillance and discovery and on biodefense. More than 35 scientists from around the world have been trained at the Center in state-of-the art diagnostic techniques. Dr. Lipkin also directs the Northeast Biodefense Center (NBC), a Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, comprised of 28 private and public academic and public health institutions in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The NBC addresses the challenges of hemorrhagic fevers, unexplained febrile illnesses, pneumonias, and meningoencephalitides through basic and translational research focused on pathogen biology, diagnostics, innate and adaptive immunity, drugs, and vaccines.


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