Center for Infectious Disease Research to Join Seattle Children's Research Institute

Combined scientific team will form largest pediatric infectious disease research program in the U.S.

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Jul 24, 2018, 09:04 ET

SEATTLE, July 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- After 42 years as the oldest and largest, independent non-profit organization in the United States solely focused on infectious disease research, The Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) will join Seattle Children's Research Institute to create a world-class team of researchers working to find viable solutions to infectious diseases that can pose risks to our communities, and disproportionately impact children and those in poverty.

On July 24, 2018, Seattle Children’s Research Institute and The Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) announced plans to join together to create a world-class team of researchers working to find viable solutions to infectious diseases that can pose risks to our communities, and disproportionately impact children and those in poverty. The combined scientific team will form largest pediatric infectious disease research program in the U.S.

The collaboration will leverage the missions and strengths of each organization to advance global infectious disease research, leading to the development of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics that will mitigate the impact of infectious disease for children and adults. The transition is expected to be completed by October 2018, at which point CIDR will officially become part of Seattle Children's Research Institute.

Together, Seattle Children's Research Institute and CIDR will carry forward the significant contributions the two organizations have made to combatting global infectious diseases that include notable advances in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, human papillomavirus and group B streptococcus. Bringing with it an annual $25 million National Institutes of Health-funded research portfolio, CIDR will add to the research institute's extramural funding, which totaled over $120 million in 2017, and boost its position among the nation's top five pediatric research centers.

"We welcome this incredible opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the renowned scientists and staff of CIDR to pursue our shared vision of better understanding, treating, preventing and curing infectious diseases," said Dr. Jim Hendricks, president of Seattle Children's Research Institute. "This collaboration assembles a critical mass of infectious disease scientists dedicated to making transformative scientific advances that will help children around the world live the healthiest and most fulfilling lives possible."

"This is a defining moment for CIDR that provides tremendous growth and collaboration to accelerate our work on defeating the most difficult and deadly infectious diseases plaguing our world," said Dr. John Aitchison, president of CIDR. "It illustrates a continuation of our mission rooted in collaboration, innovation and cross-disciplinary teams."

In the transition, the CIDR scientific team will join together with Seattle Children's Research Institute's Center for Global Infectious Disease Research. Aitchison and Dr. Lisa Frenkel, the current co-director of the center at Seattle Children's, will co-lead the combined research programs.

"The shared knowledge and resources brought together by this collaboration will make new avenues of scientific discovery possible," Frenkel said. "By joining Seattle Children's bench- to-bedside capabilities with CIDR's expertise in systems biology, there will be greater opportunities to study the complex interactions between infectious agents and their hosts, and translate our findings into clinical care."

The CIDR scientific team will continue to conduct research from their current location in South Lake Union. The new joint team will be co-located at that space for the foreseeable future.

About Seattle Children's

Seattle Children's mission is to provide hope, care and cures to help every child live the healthiest and most fulfilling life possible. Together, Seattle Children's Hospital, Research Institute and Foundation deliver superior patient care, identify new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research, and raise funds to create better futures for patients.

Ranked as one of the top children's hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Seattle Children's serves as the pediatric and adolescent academic medical center for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho – the largest region of any children's hospital in the country. As one of the nation's top five pediatric research centers, Seattle Children's Research Institute is internationally recognized for its work in neurosciences, immunology, cancer, infectious disease, injury prevention and much more. Seattle Children's Hospital and Research Foundation works with the Seattle Children's Guild Association, the largest all-volunteer fundraising network for any hospital in the country, to gather community support and raise funds for uncompensated care and research. Join Seattle Children's bold initiative – It Starts With Yes: The Campaign for Seattle Children's – to transform children's health for generations to come.

For more information, visit seattlechildrens.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or on our On the Pulse blog.

About the Center for Infectious Disease Research

The Center for Infectious Disease Research is the largest independent nonprofit in the United States solely focused on the treatment and prevention of infectious disease. Since 1976, it has performed groundbreaking research on diseases that kill more than 14 million people annually and cause widespread suffering, disability and catastrophic economic loss. With more than 250 scientists and team members from around the world in disciplines ranging from immunology, to mathematics, to biology, to computer science, we are unravelling the complexities of the most difficult and deadly infectious agents, like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and other emerging, sometimes neglected diseases, like Zika or dengue that continue to elude effective and long-lasting drugs and vaccines.

As a research institute, we combine cutting-edge systems biology approaches with technologies and computation that enable us to perform integrated analysis of molecules, single cells and whole systems. This generates new knowledge that enables us to accelerate development of new diagnostics, as well as vaccines and drugs with long-term efficacy. We are confident that our innovative, collaborative and nimble approach to research will make transformative advances in treatment and prevention of these diseases. For more information, visit www.cidresearch.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Media Contacts:

Seattle Children's: Lindsay Kurs, Senior PR Specialist
[email protected] or 206-987-5752

Center for Infectious Disease Research: Jacque Seaman, The Fearey Group
[email protected] or 206-838-9203

SOURCE Seattle Children’s