[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 158 (Tuesday, September 30, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2168-E2169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EARMARK DECLARATION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. BRIAN P. BILBRAY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 29, 2008


  Mr. BILBRAY. Madam Speaker, I submit the following:
  Requesting Member: Congressman Brian Bilbray. 
  Bill Number:H.R. 2638, Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, 
and continuing Appropriations Act, 2009.
  Account: RDT&E, Army.
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Burnham Institute for Medical 
Research.
  Address of Requesting Entity: 10901 North Torrey Pines Road, La 
Jolla, CA 92037.
  Description of Request: Recent world events have made abundantly 
clear the need for a deeper understanding of the molecular and cellular 
mechanisms employed by bacterial and viral pathogens that would 
facilitate the design of countermeasures to weaponized biological 
agents such as anthrax, ricin, smallpox virus, botulinum toxin or 
plague bacteria. Additionally, as evidenced by the ever-present threat 
of viral pandemics and the relentless rise of antibiotic-resistance, 
there is a clear and urgent need for the development of new families of 
therapeutic agents--antibiotics, vaccines, antitoxins and antivirals. 
Given the large and growing number of recalcitrant pathogens, the most 
useful new therapeutics are likely to have broad-spectrum efficacy; to 
target immutable elements of the pathogen or host; to be rapidly 
adaptable in the face of natural or engineered variants; and to be 
physically robust.
  To assist the United States Army in protecting our soldiers against 
these growing threats, I secured $2.4 million for the Infectious & 
Inflammatory Disease Center (IIDC) at the Burnham Institute for Medical 
Research, which will build on its studies of diseases that result from 
a broad range of human pathogens. The work will define and characterize 
host responses to infection, including innate and adaptive immunity and 
inflammation, providing a molecular understanding of host-pathogen 
interactions. Over the next ten years, many antibiotics currently 
prescribed to treat bacterial infections will no longer be effective 
owing to microbial resistance. Drug-resistant strains of some 
pathogens, such as the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, and MRSA, have 
already appeared. Several deadly viral agents have also emerged, 
threatening both our soldiers in the battlefield as well as large 
civilian populations; and, except for some vaccines, few treatments for 
viral infections exist to date.
  With regard to infectious diseases, a major goal of the IIDC is to 
discover, characterize and validate novel virulence factors and toxins 
from infectious agents, working closely with our bioinformatics group 
who annotate (attempt to assign function based on the DNA sequence) the 
rapidly expanding number of pathogen genome sequences. These combined 
studies facilitate the discovery of novel but conserved pathways that 
may be validated as targets for broad-spectrum antibiotics. 
Complementary strategies will be developed to produce drug-like 
compounds for further development, including High-Throughput Screening 
(HTS), `in silico' screening, and the development and application of 
NMR-based fragment approaches (the Institute hosts ``The San Diego 
Chemical Library Screening Center'', one of 5 such centers nationwide). 
The IIDC will continue its well-funded studies of the most likely 
agents of bioterrorism, including anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), 
smallpox (Variola virus), and plague (Yersinia pestis); but it will 
also expand its focus to the study of emerging diseases such as SARS, 
West Nile and Dengue Viruses, as well as preparing countermeasures to 
treat a possible influenza pandemic--should avian flu strain H5Nl gain 
the ability to transmit directly from person to person.

  A major new focus of the IIDC will be to understand and exploit host 
responses to infection. Human cells provide the never-ending

[[Page E2169]]

backdrop in a contest between host-defense molecules and pathogen 
virulence factors that seek to subvert the host's innate and adaptive 
immune responses. Identifying the players and mechanisms of the natural 
host responses, many of which are common to a broad range of 
infections, may provide novel (host-targeted) leads for broad-spectrum 
therapeutics, the exciting possibility of naturally boosting innate 
immunity, as well as the discovery of novel adjuvants for vaccine 
design. Vaccine technology has developed little in the past 50 years. A 
high priority will therefore be the development of novel vaccine 
methodologies which employ robust single-chain antigen-adjuvant 
combinations that facilitate rapid production and modification in the 
face of engineered or mutant pathogens.
  The IIDC is well positioned in that it already has much of the 
infrastructure in place to generate novel therapeutic leads; shortly, 
with the opening of our new facility in Orlando, FL we will have the 
additional capability of developing these leads through medicinal 
chemistry and pharmacology to phase I trials, the latter in 
collaboration with our clinical partners in Florida.
  Additional funding made possible through this process to the IIDC 
will enable the expansion of our Center into a number of critical 
areas. Priorities include recruitment of new faculty members and their 
programs working in the fields of innate immunity, microbiology, and 
medicinal chemistry. Recruitment into these currently underrepresented 
areas within our Center will complement our existing expertise and 
further expedite the development of novel therapeutics.
  Leveraged Funds--Based on the Burnham Institute for Medical 
Research's past successful record of leveraging seed funds, we estimate 
that $3 million for additional scientists through this request will 
result in $30 million in additional grant funding for the next 10 years 
at the BIMR.
  Current/Future/Matching Funding--Private philanthropy for the San 
Diego, CA area has contributed to the current research work ongoing at 
Burnham's IIDC. Since BIMR scientists started focusing on the important 
area of research, the IIDC has secured nearly $40,000,000 in 
competitive federal grants from a number of sources including the DoD 
and the NIAID. BIMR researchers and their research are very well 
respected throughout these federal agencies. Researchers in the IIDC 
will continue to seek federal grants through the traditional 
competitive process. this year through funding opportunities available 
from the DoD and the NIAID.

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