Scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit genomic research organization, are key members of a team recently awarded up to a 5-year, $23 million contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for the Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRC) for Infectious Diseases Viral Project.
The JCVI-Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation-Vecna Team continues as lead organizations on this renewal of the team’s BRC project that began in 2004, and will continue to develop and augment the Influenza Research Database (IRD) and the Virus Pathogen Resource. Richard Scheuermann, Ph.D., JCVI’s Director of Informatics, is the Principal Investigator on this award.
IRD and ViPR are comprehensive human pathogenic virus databases, along with the computational and visualization tools, that enable scientists worldwide to conduct research into the control and eventual elimination of these pathogens.
The list of pathogenic viruses contained in these public databases includes:
- Influenza
- Ebola
- Dengue
- SARS/MERS
- Hepatitis C
- Chikungunya
- Enterovirus D68
The IRD/ViPR websites each week attract more than 2,000 unique users from 170 countries. Research compiled from these sites has contributed to more than 270 scientific publications.
“We are very pleased to continue our work on this important NIAID project. The Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center project complements the strengths in viral genomics, pathogenesis and vaccine production at JCVI and is an essential aid to researchers tackling the new and emerging biological threats the world faces today,” said Scheuermann.
This project is fully funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health & Human Services.
Source: JCVI press release, adapted.
