Center for Global Infectious Disease Research

Seattle BioMed

Company type	Non-profit organization
Industry	Biomedical research, Global health, Infectious disease
Founded	1976
Founder	Ken Stuart
Headquarters	Seattle, Washington
Key people	Alan Aderem, President
Number of employees	360+
Parent	Seattle Children's Research Institute
Website	http://www.seattlebiomed.org/

Seattle BioMed, known prior to 2010 as Seattle Biomedical Research Institute or SBRI, is the largest independent, non-profit organization in the United States focused solely on infectious disease discovery research. The mission of Seattle BioMed's 360+ employees is to eliminate the world's most devastating infectious diseases through leadership in scientific discovery. Seattle BioMed is headquartered and has research labs in the South Lake Union area of Seattle, WA and has field labs in Tanzania. Seattle BioMed's research focuses on four areas of infectious disease: HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosos (TB), and Emerging & Neglected Diseases (END) like African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and toxoplasmosis. Seattle BioMed is engaged in early stages of the scientific pipeline including bench science and clinical trials and has expertise in immunology, vaccinology, and drug discovery.

History

Seattle BioMed headquarters on Westlake Avenue

In 1976, founders Ruth W. Shearer, Ph.D., and Kenneth Stuart, Ph.D., set up a research laboratory in Issaquah, WA. Originally called the Issaquah Group for Health and Environmental Research, the name was soon changed to Issaquah Biomedical Research Institute. Scientists at the Institute studied parasites including ones that cause malaria and African sleeping sickness. In 1986, the Institute relocated to Seattle, Washington to enhance its scientific programs and became Seattle Biomedical Research Institute.

Seattle BioMed formalized a long-standing affiliation with the University of Washington in 1992, which permitted reciprocal teaching and training programs. By 1993, all principal investigators at Seattle BioMed were appointed as faculty members in the Pathobiology Department at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. From 80 employees in the early 1990s, to 80 full-time employees in 2001, Seattle BioMed continues to grow and currently employs 360+ employees, who represent over 20 countries around the world, with a budget of over $50 million from a variety of funding agencies including the national government, foundations, and private donors.

In January 2012, Alan Aderem, Ph.D. became president of Seattle BioMed, only the second in its 36 year history, with Dr. Stuart remaining in an active role as President Emeritus and Founder. As part of the Institute's plan for scientific expansion, Dr. Aderem is leading the implementation of integrating systems biology approaches to understanding infectious disease. With this expansion, Seattle BioMed became the only institute in the world that integrates infectious disease research and systems biology under one roof.

Current Research

Seattle BioMed employs some of the brightest scientists in the world to perform research on four areas of infectious disease:HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and Emerging & Neglected Diseases (END) like African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and toxoplasmosis. Seattle is a hug for global health research, and in July 2012, Seattle Magazine honored two Seattle BioMed leaders (Dr. Stuart and Theresa Britschgi, Director of BioQuest) as "Top Docs" for the work they're doing in research and scientific training.

HIV/AIDS

With a focus on discovering safe and effective HIV/AIDS vaccines, Seattle BioMed's researchers are experts in neutralizing antibodies, which are antibodies that block HIV infection. These antibodies bind to the surface of HIV and prevent it from attaching itself to a cell and infecting it.

One of Seattle BioMed's viral vaccines researchers, Dr. Helen Horton, and collaborators recently discovered how long-term nonprogressors can control HIV without antiretroviral therapy.

Malaria

As part of a broad global initiative to fight malaria, Seattle BioMed developed its malaria program in 2000, with an initial grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With a three-pronged approach, Seattle BioMed's malaria program is focused on vaccine discovery for pregnancy malaria, severe malaria in children, and liver-stage malaria. In 2005, Seattle BioMed received two Grand Challenges in Global Health grants to accelerate its malaria research. And in 2011, Seattle BioMed was granted another $9 million from the Foundation to support malaria vaccine efforts.

In 2010, Dr. Stefan Kappe developed his own malaria vaccine candidate which is a weakened form of the malaria parasite, and tht vaccine candidate is undergoing clinical trials at Walter Reed near Washington, D.C. Soon after, in collaboration with PATH's Malaria Vaccine Initiative, Seattle BioMed became home to one of four malaria clinical trial centers in the world where treatments and vaccines can be safely tested in humans using the human challenge model.

Tuberculosis

Through its tuberculosis (TB) research, Seattle BioMed seeks to uncover the strategy the TB bacterium uses for long-term survival with the goal of providing better insight on how to improve drugs to act more quickly against the disease. In 2002, Seattle BioMed initiated the Pacific Northwest Tuberculosis Straining Typing Center in order to assist the Seattle King County Public Health Department in pinpointing the origins of local tuberculosis outbreaks. This rapid diagnosis aided the health department in 2003 when King County suffered its biggest surge in TB in 30 years.

Training & Education Initiative

Seattle BioMed is committed to training & education as they are both inherent parts to our mission. Seattle BioMed scientists spend many hours at the lab bench conducting experiments or at the computer interpreting large amounts of data. However, they are teachers at heart, and therefore prioritize spending generous amounts of time preparing others to be successful researchers. Seattle BioMed provides many opportunities for students, from high school all the way through post-doctoral training, to be mentored by our world-renowned scientists. In fact, in 2011-2012, Seattle BioMed's training & education initiative supported over 1,100 trainees, including visiting scientists, secondary teachers & students, graduate students, undergraduate interns, and workstudy students from nearby campuses like the University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University.

BioQuest

One of Seattle BioMed's most talked-about science education training programs is BioQuest. BioQuest began in 1999 as a modest outreach program for pre-college youth at Seattle BioMed's second facility, which was located in the Fremont area of Seattle. Since formally launching the BioQuest program in the South Lake Union location in 2004, over 12,000 students have participated in tours and intensive programming. BioQuest is one of the only education programs in the country to be hosted within the footprint of an infectious disease research facility.

Site Explorations

Schools in the Puget Sound area gain unique, engaging, and interactive access to Seattle BioMed's life-saving mission through Site Explorations. During the school day, a class of up to 32 students visits BioQuest for half-day, mini job shadows. Following a biosafety overview, students take a tour of Seattle BioMed, learning about infectious disease research directly from Seattle BioMed's scientists and complete their global health exploration with a hands-on lab investigation in the Discovery Lab. Teens and teacher alike praise the ability to investigate malaria through Anopheles mosquito dissections. During the 2011-2012 school year, BioQuest hosted over 970 students from across the state including students from Kennewick and Port Townsend, and 38% of those students are from backgrounds underrepresented in the sciences.

BioQuest Academy

Older high school students can apply to enter the BioQuest Academy (BQA) — a "biomedical boot camp" for 11th graders. The Academy delivers over 60 hours (two weeks) of one-on-one introductions to molecular biology, global health, infectious disease research, and pathways to scientific careers. Critical connections between students & program mentors continue long after sessions end.

The Academy proves to be a true STEM pipeline, and sometimes even "hooks" students into science by accident. In fact, 75% of the BQA graduates from 2005-2007 have obtained a degree in a STEM field, and five are practicing nurses. 97% of the 200 BioQuest Academy graduates from 2005 - 2011 are currently in college or have already graduated. 44 of them have worked or interned at Seattle BioMed laboratories and 20+ have published the results of their work in scientific journals or presented in scientific meetings. 2011 Academy graduates are attending post-secondary schools across the country including Boston University, Brown, Dartmouth, Stanford, the University of Arizona, University of Washington, Washington State University, and USC.

Funding & Collaborators

Seattle BioMed investigators receive funding from a variety of sources including the federal government, corporations, family foundations, and private donors. Some of those funding sources are the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Norcliffe Foundation, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the United States Department of Defense, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Silver Family Foundation, and the Crystal Family Foundation. In FY11, 54% of Seattle BioMed's revenue came from government grants.

Collaboration is imperative for scientific discovery. With more than 100 collaborators across the globe, Seattle BioMed's partnerships make it incredibly well-situated to accelerate its research and ultimately save lives through creating new solutions and discoveries. Some of its formal affiliations and partnerships include the Association of Independent Research Institutes (AIRI), the University of Washington (UW), and the Washington Global Health Alliance )WGHA).

External links

• Seattle Biomedical Research Institute
• BioQuest
• BioQuest Academy