Cleveland Clinic https://clevelandclinic.org, is establishing the “Center for Global and Emerging Pathogens Research” to broaden understanding of emerging pathogens ranging from the Zika virus to SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19 to expedite treatments and vaccines.
The new center has been in the planning stages for 18 months and will span Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute and the soon to open Cleveland Clinic Florida Research and Innovation Center (FRIC) in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Researchers will also collaborate with the newly established Cleveland Clinic BioRepository in order to have access to EMR data through a large scale secure database.
Researchers will collaborate with drug developers at Lerner Research Institute’s Center for Therapeutics Discovery, to rapidly translate research findings into life-saving therapeutics and experts and with the Populations Health Research Center to understand socioeconomic factors that can affect the risk for infections.
With the global pandemic and in anticipation of the new center’s opening, Cleveland Clinic is ramping up research related to COVID-19. A research registry of nearly 10,000 patients is collecting data from patients tested for COVID-19 at Cleveland Clinic with plans to integrate the data with EMRs. Researchers will mine the data to enable other studies on the development of tools that are able to predict risk and outcomes in patients.
In partnership with Cleveland Clinic Florida, the new center will also conduct research at FRIC by building a state-of-the-art research facility, complete with a biosafety level 3 laboratory anticipated to open in summer 2020.
“The new FRIC will complement and expand clinical research underway throughout Cleveland Clinic” said, Joseph Iannotti, MD., PhD, Cleveland Clinic Florida’s Chief of Staff and Chief
Academic and Innovation Officer. “Our vision is to create a research institute dedicated to taking bench discoveries to create leading-edge diagnostics, preventatives, and treatments for infectious diseases, oncology, and other pressing healthcare problems.”