ARRA funding helps rapidly launch new initiative
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health, is accepting grant applications for a new initiative to establish a consortium of human immune profiling research centers. The purpose of these cooperative centers-which together will receive funding up to $100 million over five years-is to characterize the human immune system under normal conditions and to understand how it changes following infection or vaccination.
NIAID will launch this new research initiative in 2010, with the funding for the first year of the initiative coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
"By helping us understand what constitutes a normal human immune response, this program will assist researchers who are developing vaccines and other interventions for a variety of infectious diseases of public health importance, including influenza, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Researchers will examine various elements of the immune system-including white blood cell subsets, signaling molecules and antibodies-after exposure to either infectious agents such as viruses or bacteria or to the components of a vaccine, including vaccine boosters known as adjuvants. They also will follow immune responses as they return to a resting state. By doing so, immunologists can identify specific patterns of the various subsets of white blood cells and immune molecules that reflect the status and function of the immune system under different conditions.
A significant challenge for immunologists is to understand how the immune system behaves at rest, also known as homeostasis. A state of immunological homeostasis does not reflect a lack of immunologic activity, or even a restful condition. Furthermore, the immune system of an individual may return to one of several homeostatic states, depending on the nature of the particular immune challenge, such as infection or vaccination.