Centres for infectious diseases research established in the Netherlands
The Netherlands organisation for scientific research (NWO) has awarded grants of 1.35 million euro each to two new research centres established to study infectious diseases. The centres will use the funds to carry out multidisciplinary research into the prevention, management and treatment of infectious diseases in the Netherlands and developing countries. The centres will be virtual institutions, formed by clusters of researchers from around the country. The first of the two centres is the Netherlands influenza vaccine research centre (NIVAREC). It will bring together researchers from the University of Groningen, the Erasmus medical centre Rotterdam, and Solvay Pharmaceuticals in Weesp. The main aim for the centre is to produce new flu vaccines to ensure that the Netherlands is fully prepared for an influenza pandemic. The second virtual institution is the poverty relationship infection oriented research centre (PRIOR), which will seek to control poverty related diseases in the third world, as well as developing knowledge infrastructures in developing countries themselves. The centre will focus its efforts on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The subsidies received by each centre were established as an initiative of the NWO and the Netherlands organisation for health research and development (ZonMw) to stimulate research into infectious diseases. Both organisations were involved in the establishment of the European and developing countries clinical trials partnership (EDCTP). The multidisciplinary nature of the two virtual centres will enhance cooperation between experts in cell biology, immunology, epidemiology and social scientific research in the fight against infectious diseases.
Countries
Netherlands