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AKU among seven global institutes collaborating on new pandemic study 2020-06-04

Date: 
Thursday, 2020, June 4
Location: 
Source: 
SAMAA www.samaa.tv
Photo: AKU
Author: 
SAMAA | Health - Posted: Jun 4, 2020

A new grant to spur vital global research into infectious diseases and pandemics has been awarded to the University of Washington (UW) and its partners, including the Aga Khan University, by the US National Institutes of Health’s Centres for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The $8.75 million grant spread over five years will help support UW and collaborators at Rockefeller University in New York City and institutions in Brazil, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa and Taiwan to develop the United World for Antiviral Research Network.
Such large-scale global collaborations are becoming necessary to combat diseases.

“Pandemics are becoming an increasingly frequent threat to public health in the developing world,” said Professor Asad Ali, associate dean for research at AKU.
“We need to deepen our understanding of emerging infectious diseases in order to prevent the emergence of new viruses from becoming pandemics that threaten our way of life.”
Just two years ago, the World Health Organisation had identified a priority list of viruses for which no vaccines and drugs were available. It included “Disease X”, a stand-in for pathogens yet unknown that could cause a serious international epidemic.
COVID-19 is exactly the type of threat that Disease X was meant to represent.
UWARN will help identify potential pandemic viruses, develop the urgently needed diagnostic tools and drugs that work against a range of pathogens, and expand understanding of the body’s immune responses to viruses which is a key to vaccine development.

“We are particularly excited to be collaborating with Aga Khan University with its excellent research personnel and infrastructure, plus its outstanding connections in Africa through its medical school in Kenya,” said Dr Wesley C Van Voorhis, co-director of UW’s Center for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Disease and one of the principal investigators.

UWARN researchers will be looking to advance innovative approaches to laboratory diagnosis, including identifying reagents for antibody tests that detect antibodies in the blood in order to diagnose an active or previous infection.

Another approach would be through ‘designed proteins’ that release light when antibodies are present in the blood, using technology developed by UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design.

The group will also work to improve understanding of how viruses manipulate the human immune system, facilitating the development of better blood biomarkers to predict the severity of diseases as well as drugs that could improve outcomes for patients with viral infections.

Several AKU faculty will be involved: Najeeha Talat Iqbal, from the paediatrics and child health and biological and biomedical sciences, is the principal investigator for Pakistan. Dr Farah Qamar and Dr Ali Faisal from paediatrics and child health and Professor Erum Khan from pathology and laboratory medicine are co-investigators on the project.
UWARN will serve as one of ten centres in the CREID Network which has multidisciplinary teams of investigators spread over 30 countries.

The CREID network will be coordinated by the Research Triangle Institute, a large non-profit research organisation with offices in over 75 countries and Duke University.


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