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NIAID Vaccine Research Center Advances Health Through Collaborative Efforts

"In this century, vaccines have without question been among our most powerful tools for preventing disease, disability and death and controlling health care costs." - Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Source: Folkers GK and Fauci AS. Nature Medicine 4(5), 491-494 (1998).

Multiple agencies within the federal government conduct vaccine research and development. Those that focus significant resources toward vaccine research include agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as other critical federal agencies outside DHHS, such as the Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Within NIH, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is the primary component responsible for the development of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics used to combat infectious diseases through prevention, detection, and treatment. Vaccination is one of the most important measures for the prevention of infectious diseases, especially in the ever-evolving environment of new and re-emerging diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Currently NIAID spends almost one-third of its annual budget on vaccine research, in pursuit of three primary objectives: to develop vaccines against diseases for which there are currently no vaccines available; to enhance the safety and efficacy of vaccines already in use; and to facilitate innovative and accelerated vaccine development. The Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC), an intramural division of NIAID, helps meet these important and challenging goals. The VRC's mission is to conduct research that facilitates the development of effective vaccines for human disease, with a primary focus on the development of vaccines for HIV/AIDS.

The research scope of the VRC is quite broad, encompassing all stages of vaccine development, including basic research to understand mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis; design and development of vaccine candidates; pre-clinical testing; production of vaccine candidates; and conduct of human clinical trials to determine vaccine safety and efficacy. Progress toward achieving the VRC mission depends upon successful communication and sharing of ideas. Thus, the VRC also emphasizes and promotes a spirit of collaboration and scientific exchange, within the center and NIH, and with academic, industrial, and clinical scientists in the United States and worldwide. This spirit of collaboration has proven successful. Since its establishment in 1999, the VRC has made progress in the development of candidate vaccines against several important diseases including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Ebola hemorrhagic fever, West Nile Virus, smallpox and HIV/AIDS. All of these vaccine candidates are currently undergoing early phase human clinical trials to test their safety and immunogenicity in humans. The goal of the VRC is to provide the scientific basis for translating its advances in vaccine development into licensed products to benefit and improve human health worldwide. Working together with the global community of vaccine researchers, scientific collaborators, and partners, NIAID hopes to provide knowledge and resources for the development of novel vaccines against HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and ultimately to reduce morbidity and mortality through disease prevention and treatment.