The University of Maryland School of Medicine has been chosen to lead a multi-school effort to develop vaccines to protect against bioterrorism, the school announced Thursday. The Middle Atlantic region will receive a five-year, $42 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Besides creating vaccines to guard against anthrax, smallpox and West Nile virus, they will study antibodies that could produce short-term protection. “The events of 9-11 and the anthrax attacks that followed made it clear that there are nefarious people out there,” Dr. Myron M. Levine, who is the regional leader. “We have also come to realize that we are extremely vulnerable and to a great extent unprepared for biological attacks. It is critical for us to develop preventive vaccines to protect ourselves.” Levine of the University of Maryland School of Medicine will be in charge of the collaboration of 16 research institutions — such as Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Georgetown University, George Washington University, West Virginia University and University of Pittsburgh. He will guide more than 60 scientists at three facilities in the region. Full Story
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