“Studying how antibodies recognize carbohydrates and characterizing in outstanding detail the immune response to polysaccharides is what we do,” says Alexander Lucas, PhD, senior scientist and deputy director of medical research at CHORI.

The insight garnered from these breakthrough studies is also being applied to investigations of protein-encapsulated pathogens like anthrax. Collaborations with CHORI investigator Terrance Leighton, PhD, a national expert on anthrax and the lead microbiologist for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Emergency Response Team, target vaccine development against anthrax and anthrax spores.

Already at the forefront of current vaccine study and development, CHORI is also leading the way toward the future. In February 2005, the CIVD opened its biological safety level III lab, which permits the handling of pathogens at the highest levels of safety and a DNA clean room in which to conduct DNA isolation and PCR amplification under state-of-the-art conditions.

With one of the newest and best facilities in the nation, CHORI is poised to continue providing groundbreaking research for years to come. Explore the links in the sidebar menu to discover all that CHORI has to offer in immunobiology and vaccine development basic research.