DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Middle Atlantic Regional Center of Excellence (MARCE) proposes to harness and focus the extraordinary wealth of scientific ingenuity, innovation, and investigator experience that resides within the institutions in our region to support research on an array of NIAID Emerging and Category A-C pathogens. The over-arching theme for the MARCE Research Programs is "Emerging pathogen-host interactions". Under this theme, we propose six Research Programs that are centered on the study of: specific emerging viruses (Programs I and II); targeted respiratory and enteric bacterial pathogens (Programs III and IV, respectively); Select or Emerging Agent toxins (Program V); and, development of novel diagnostic technologies to detect these chosen organisms or toxins (Program VI). Each Program contains five or six highly collaborative Research Projects from investigators at three or more institutions within the Middle Atlantic region. In all, ten different institutions in the MARCE are home to one or more of the Research Projects, and six additional institutions host collaborators on these MARCE projects, training activities, or core resources. That the Programs were intentionally founded on cross-institutional collaborations reflects the high degree of inclusiveness fostered by MARCE. As during our first funding period, we will pursue a balanced research agenda that includes a mix of very basic research, clear translational research involving potential products and clinical research that all aim, ultimately, to result in new or improved therapeutic, preventive or diagnostic products. Our Research Programs are supported by an array of training activities including a series of novel courses that were exceptionally well attended during our first funding period. A robust Career Development Program will bring a cadre of bright, motivated, young scientists into the broad area of biodefense and emerging infectious diseases research. Our Developmental Research Plan is designed to incorporate new projects, investigators, and institutions into the existing MARCE program and to emphasize innovative concepts, new technologies, and "high-risk" opportunities that demonstrate potential for "high-yield" novel results in the area of biodefense and emerging infectious diseases research. When coupled with our rigorous internal and external evaluation system that has resulted in continual replacement of projects to address our strategic mission over the past five years, the MARCE will represent an innovative, vibrant and flexible research program well suited to the translation of basic research on emerging pathogen-host interactions into therapeutic and vaccine targets and products. RELEVANCE: The MARCE proposes to harness and focus the extraordinary wealth of scientific ingenuity, innovation, and investigator experience that resides within the institutions in our region to support research on an array of NIAID Emerging and Category A-C pathogens. Scientific information and translational research capacity resulting from these collective efforts will ultimately result in new or improved therapeutic, preventive or diagnostic products for the benefit of public heath. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PLAN: Strategic Plan and Management (Project Leader, M. Levine)] STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PLAN DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Events that occurred in the first decade of the millennium have led civil society, governments at national, state and local levels, and the scientific and medical communities in the United States to recognize that they must grapple with two broad infectious diseases threats that menace the U.S. population: "emerging infections" and the deliberate release of pathogens by nefarious individuals bent on causing terror. Collectively, we have learned that diverse pathogens can emerge under certain conditions to threaten the public's health and that, similarly, an array of pathogens are available to bioterrorists, should they plan a deliberate release. This has led to a realization of the desirability of developing broad-based approaches to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases. The Middle Atlantic Regional Center of Excellence (MARGE) proposes during a second cycle of funding to harness and focus the extraordinary wealth of scientific ingenuity, innovation and investigator experience that resides within the institutions in our region to address these issues and to lay the foundation for the rational development of broad-based preventive, therapeutic and diagnostic interventions.