Life Sciences Discovery Fund Awards $4.7 Million to Support New Vacci...( SEATTLE Dec. 16 /- The Washington Lif...)

SEATTLE, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Washington Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) has awarded nearly $4.7 million to launch the start-up phase of the Washington Vaccine Alliance (WAVA) and to support initial research into three new vaccines for E. coli, herpes and syphilis. Announced today, the grant is funded by Washington's$350 million tobacco-lawsuit-settlement bonus and provides essential funding to bring this innovative new organization to life.

WAVA core operations during the initial startup phase will operate within the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

WAVA is a consortium of seven nonprofit-research institutions that is focused on providing the necessary skills and infrastructure to develop, test and deploy new or improved vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. In addition to the Hutchinson Center, the consortium includes Battelle Pacific Northwest Division, Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), PATH, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI), University of Washington (UW), and Washington State University (WSU).

"This creative new consortium is a demonstration of the innovation and determination of the members to bring new vaccine solutions to world," said Harlan Patterson, executive director of WAVA.

Scientists at WAVA organizations are collectively researching about a dozen disease clusters that are potential candidates for vaccines and which have succeeded in winning major internationally focused research grants in infectious diseases. The WAVA structure will allow the member organizations to more effectively develop and share critical skills and facilities, help build economic activity for vaccines in Washington, and position the organizations to partner with commercial pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the final vaccine development and deployment stages.