Important New Research Venture Launches in SLU

In the past few years Seattle's reputation as an international HUB of biomedical research has been soaring. Now a new research initiative has jettisoned the SLU neighborhood to center of this global stage. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) has awarded a $30.6 million, five-year grant to establish the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious disease at the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute located at the corner of Westlake Avenue and Thomas Street. The Center is one of only two in the U.S.

A consortium of scientists from more than 250 Washington organizations will work on providing a "blueprint" for the development of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for global infectious disease. Peter Myler, Ph.D. is the principal investigator of the Center that will bring together the "best and brightest" to study influenza, drug-resistant tuberculosis, and other diseases. (No toxic strains will be grown in Seattle.)

The Center will use state-of-the-art technology experimentally to determine the three-dimensional structures of proteins from a number of pathogens. (A pathogen is an agent that causes disease).