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New NIH center focuses on finding an AIDS vaccine

Although HIV is the priority, the Vaccine Research Center is also looking at smallpox, West Nile virus and Ebola.

By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. April 7, 2003.

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Washington -- If new labs with the latest equipment operated by an assembly of top-notch scientists and backed by federal funds can make a difference in the fight against the AIDS virus, the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center stands ready.

It is the first facility at NIH dedicated solely to vaccine research and production and, for now at least, is focusing its formidable resources on the development of an AIDS vaccine. As a result, it is uniquely positioned to take a promising vaccine candidate from basic research through preparation of a vaccine and animal testing and on to clinical trials in people.

The six-story center opened in September 2000 and, within its first year, had launched an AIDS vaccine trial -- a rapid pace by anyone's measure. Described as a cross between a biotechnology company and an academic organization, its quest is a vital one as approximately 40,000 Americans and untold thousands more around the world continue to become infected with the virus each year.

"There are no other centers like this center where there is a group of scientists together in one building whose major focus is the development of an AIDS vaccine," said Gary J. Nabel, MD, PhD, director of the facility, which is formally known as the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center.

Dr. Nabel is also a hands-on researcher who heads up the center's virology lab, just down the hall from his small office on the fourth floor. He has another, much larger first-floor office, with a yellow and blue Keith Haring sculpture just outside. But he doesn't spend much time there, said Abe Mittelman, MPH, associate director for management and operations at the center, preferring instead to be closer to the action.