Exploratory Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Vaccinology (E-CIRVE)
In response to national efforts to develop, improve and deliver vaccines, Emory University has developed an Exploratory Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Vaccinology (E-CIRVE). Vaccines are one of the most effective and cost-effective preventions known, but the introduction and use of new vaccines increasingly has been slowed by a series of obstacles, including incomplete understanding of human immune correlates of protection, delays in identification of candidate antigens for vaccines, limited understanding of risk factors for vaccine failure or adverse events, difficulty in eliciting adequate immune responses in the very young, the very old and the immunocompromised, imperfect delineation of the best strategies for the design of infectious and non-infectious disease vaccines, and problems with use, acceptance and supply of vaccines. The goals of E-CIRVE are to develop a comprehensive program to better integrate new quantitative methodologies into vaccinology and to engage multidisciplinary science (genetics, bioinformatics, microbiology and human immunology, biostatistics and analytical epidemiology, behavioral and communications research, economics, population biology, clinical medicine and engineering) in solving complex problems in vaccine development, safety and adverse events, production and supply, acceptance and use.