February 3, 2005- Oakland, CA.- Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland has completed construction of its new $5.6 million Center for Immunobiology and Vaccine Development (CIVD), which was designed as a national model to help accelerate the pace of research into pneumococcal, meningococcal, chlamydia trachomatis, anthrax and other infectious diseases. The CIVD will bring together a variety of research programs focused on understanding the immunobiology of infectious diseases, both existing and emerging, and developing vaccines to prevent them.

"This new facility will allow us to conduct research that we could not otherwise perform," said Bertram Lubin, M.D., senior vice president of research at Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland and president of Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI). "Some of our most talented scientists will be using this state-of-the-art laboratory to translate our scientific research into meaningful medical treatments. Our goal is to reduce the long lag time between the identification of a new infectious disease and an effective treatment."

The research that will be conducted at the CIVD focuses on some of the most serious infectious diseases, particularly in children, for which no vaccines are available. Even where vaccines are available, scientists still have an incomplete understanding of how these vaccines work. Specialized facilities are required to conduct molecular, cellular and clinical studies to understand the immunobiology of infectious diseases, both existing and emerging.

The CIVD was constructed in the remaining 8,000 square feet of available space inside CHORI located at 5700 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, which is
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Contact: Venita Robinson
vrobinson@mail.cho.org
510-428-3069
Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland
3-Feb-2005