EMORY : in the world

A Global Collaboration
By Rebecca Baggett

Imagine a world where HIV/AIDS no longer threatens the lives of people across the globe. Imagine a future when infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis have joined the ranks of eradicated diseases like small pox. This is what Rafi Ahmed, director of the Emory Vaccine Center, and Virander Chauhan, director of the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), imagine daily through their work on a new joint ICGEB-Emory venture based in New Delhi, India.

The ICGEB is an international organization with facilities in New Delhi, Trieste, Italy, and Cape Town, South Africa. It focuses on research and training in molecular biology and biotechnology with special regard for the needs of the developing world. Its new joint venture with Emory is the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center, which was founded to develop vaccines for some of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases with an emphasis on those that disproportionately affect people living in low- and middle-income countries.

Diseases that are of particular interest to researchers at the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, dengue fever, and malaria. The primary objectives of the new center are to: 1) conduct basic research on viruses and immune responses and methods of determining a vaccine’s protective effect; 2) test vaccines it develops in both the laboratory and ultimately in human subjects; 3) partner with the Indian Ministry of Science and the Indian Council of Medical Research to develop and implement clinical trials for vaccine safety and effectiveness; 4) develop policies for safe global vaccine use and delivery; and 5) enhance vaccine development and implementation in India through continuing education efforts.

One of the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center’s first major projects will address the development of a protective AIDS vaccine that targets the strain of HIV most prevalent in India and sub-Saharan Africa. This will mark the first time such a vaccine has been researched in India specifically for the people of India, according to Ahmed. These efforts are desperately needed, as approximately 2.5 million people in India are currently living with HIV, a number that puts those Indians who are not infected at high risk of contracting the virus.

“Disease burden due to HIV, TB, HIV/TB co-infection, and malaria is enormous in India, and therefore the development of effective vaccines against one or all three major diseases will have a profound impact on the health of the Indian population. Plus we are confident that the success of this effort can be translated to populations in other parts of the world,” Ahmed said.

“Without innovative partnerships such as our new center, this lifesaving and groundbreaking research would not be possible. The HIV vaccine development project is generating great interest from the Indian government, and we hope they will become a third partner with us in this exciting endeavor,” he added. “What is even more wonderful about this arrangement is that further down the research and development pipeline we have the potential to conduct translational research (e.g., clinical trials) of a viable vaccine candidate in India with Indian partner organizations and the Indian government.”

Of all the vaccines that the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center will be working on, Ahmed said he believes that HIV vaccines, particularly this prophylactic HIV vaccine for the dominant strain of HIV found in India (Clade C) is the most promising at this time.

A UNIQUE ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIP
In addition to approaching vaccine development in a novel way, the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center provides a unique model for institutional collaborative research. Emory researchers working for the center will reside in India so that they are able to work alongside researchers at ICGEB on a daily basis.

“This new center permits direct in-person collaboration with top scientists who would otherwise not be on the Emory campus. It markedly increases our intellectual and physical attributes for vaccine discovery, and it is also exciting, creative, and novel and, as such, attracts and retains high quality scientists for Emory,” said Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for global health and director of the Emory Global Health Institute, one of the Emory units supporting the joint vaccine center.

Claudia Adkison, associate executive dean for Administrative and Faculty Affairs at the Emory School of Medicine, agrees that the joint center offers a unique opportunity for Emory researchers. “It provides a wonderful educational opportunity for our medical fellows and a great exchange program for researchers at both institutions,” she said.

“This partnership is based on faculty-to-faculty interaction, conceptualization, and effort. For such scholarly pursuits to be successful, faculty members have to be the driving force. In this case, we have a true partnership driven by world-class scientists. Their joint efforts should deliver wonderful benefits in scientific outcomes, which will quickly translate into diseases averted and lives saved,” added Koplan.

In addition to enabling Emory and ICGEB researchers to work side by side for extended periods of time, conducting research onsite in India has other advantages. Among these are access to patient populations, biological material, and Indian epidemiological data that are not readily available in the United States, said Adkison.

While the two lead partners are Emory University and the ICGEB, the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center also partners with the YRG Center for AIDS Research and Education, the Tuberculosis Research Center, and the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases International Center for Excellence in Research, all with offices in Chennai, India. Ahmed and Chauhan are also working to develop partnerships with the Indian government and a major Indian pharmaceutical company as part of their HIV vaccine development work. Developing partnerships such as these would help the center’s work as it would lead to the development and large-scale manufacturing of new generations of vaccines and bio-therapeutics for global needs, said Ahmed.

Ahmed believes the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center also serves as a good model for other Western universities that are seeking to improve health around the world. “Expertise in infectious disease and vaccine research in Western universities will have a major impact on the control of emerging and re-emerging infections if appropriate partnerships are forged between institutions of the developed world and developing countries that have adequate scientific and technological infrastructures. The success of our efforts in the joint center will definitely provide a model for other American universities that contemplate partnerships to tackle global health issues,” he said.

ESTABLISHING THE JOINT VACCINE CENTER
The ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center builds on previous collaborations between the ICGEB and Emory. For example, Emory’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center has tested a malaria vaccine candidate that was developed by the ICGEB on its research monkeys, and researchers at ICGEB and the Emory Vaccine Center have previously worked together on HIV vaccine development studies. However, there were many steps taken by numerous players between the conduct of this initial collaborative work and the official founding of the joint vaccine center.

The joint center is the result of the hard work of numerous Emory players who include Ahmed, Adkison, and Koplan as well as Abdul Jabbar, scientific project manager at the Emory Vaccine Center; Walter Orenstein, professor, School of Medicine; David Stephens, executive associate dean of research, School of Medicine; and Thomas Lawley, dean of the School of Medicine. Key players from ICGEB included
Chauhan and Francisco Baralle, ICGEB director-general. Ahmed initiated discussions with representatives from ICGEB in 2005 to discuss the potential of more formal collaborations between researchers at both institutions. These discussions led to researchers from each institution visiting the other, and the eventual signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in summer 2007 to establish the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center.

Adkison was instrumental in developing the MOU between Emory and the ICGEB. “I spent two and a half years working to help develop the center, and I’m prouder of this than of anything I have done in my 30-plus years of medicine. The center just needs one hit to make a significant difference in world health,” Adkison said.

The grand opening of the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center took place in New Delhi in January 2008. A team of Emory senior scientists and administrators attended the event as did Shri Kapil Sibal, India’s Honorable Minister of Science & Technology and Ocean Development.
“There was incredible enthusiasm and a packed audience at the opening,” said Roseanne Waters, administrator of the Emory Global Health Institute and a member of the Emory contingency that attended. “Leaders from all of the center’s partners voiced their commitment to the partnership and their belief that we were going to have some major scientific breakthroughs,” she added. Adkison, who also attended the opening, echoed this sentiment and said that the opening was regarded as a major scientific event in India.

Both Emory and the ICGEB have committed significant resources to the venture. The ICGEB has provided space and infrastructure for the center’s operating facilities in New Delhi, while Emory’s commitment to this venture is evident through both the enthusiasm that its leadership has expressed and through the approximate $2.3 million in funds it has provided to support scientific researchers. Several Emory units and departments have contributed to this investment including the Emory Center for AIDS Research, the Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, the Emory Global Health Institute, the Emory Vaccine Center, and the School of Medicine.

While Emory has made a large initial investment, the belief is that the joint center will bring even more research dollars to both collaborating organizations. “The ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center will bring together experts in immunology from Emory and India who would otherwise not be able to work together. It will also allow Emory and our Indian partners access to research funds that are not available to either one alone,” said Dean Lawley.

While there is much excitement surrounding the joint vaccine center and the potential its Emory and ICGEB researchers have in making significant breakthroughs, Ahmed recognizes the challenges he and his team face as well. “In spite of our best efforts, successful translation of cutting edge vaccine research leading to the discovery or development of effective vaccines could pose real challenges in human clinical trials,” he said. “However, the joint center will be well positioned to address these challenges because of its expertise in the study of the mechanisms of infection and immunity in a multitude of pathogens.”

For more information, visit www.vaccines.emory.edu

Chennai-based Center Battles Growing Global Diabetes Epidemic

In addition to being vulnerable to infectious diseases that researchers at the ICGEB-Emory Vaccine Center are working to prevent, chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer are also prevalent in India due to Indian society’s adoption of unhealthy “western” behaviors such as smoking and consuming high-fat diets. Venkat Narayan, Hubert Professor of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health and an Emory Global Health Institute Distinguished Faculty Member, is working to address India’s battle against one chronic disease through his leadership in another collaborative research center located in Chennai, India.

Narayan leads the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF)-Emory Population-based Global Diabetes Research Center, which received start-up funds from the Emory Global Health Institute in spring 2007. Researchers at the center will work to fund solutions to the growing global diabetes epidemic. The center will serve as the research leader and hub for population-based research and large intervention trials throughout South Asia and globally.

The center’s specific objectives are to:

Build the scientific research capacity within India so that effective and mutually beneficial collaborations become routine;
Develop data management, quality assurance, and analysis processes within India so that collaborators from Emory and the MDRF can leverage global skills and cost advantages regarding these issues;
Provide increased educational and research opportunities to Emory University faculty, staff, and students; and
Strategically leverage Emory resources to identify and secure long-term funding from governments, foundations, and industry.

The center will advance a long-term reciprocal partnership between Emory and the MDRF and will bring influence and added value by promoting cultural compatibility in science and innovation, low-resource solutions, and complementary strengths in collaborative, interdisciplinary global diabetes research.

For more information about the center, contact Venkat Narayan at kmvnarayn@sph.emory.edu.

Rebecca Baggett is the communications and program manager of the Emory Global Health Institute.