Education and Outreach

Outreach and training are major components of the Institute for Immunology and Informatics' purpose. As such, multiple programs support a wide variety of training efforts that will provide exciting opportunities for teaching the next generation the tools for effective vaccine design. The TRIAD funding supports training efforts through courses and pilot grants for researchers interested in using new vaccine design tools.

Denice Spero, Ph.D., I'Cubed Co-Director, leads successful Vaccine Entrepreneurship Program

Technology is accelerating vaccine development:

Traditional vaccine development is slow, empirical, potentially risky and expensive. There is a cheaper, faster, and more effective way to discover vaccines, by using computer-driven analysis of the pathogen’s genome to select key “epitopes” (the pieces of protein that generate the desirable immune response) that will comprise the vaccine. The researchers driving this technology, led by Dr. Annie De Groot, have located their business (EpiVax Inc.) and Research Institute (I’Cubed) in RI. However, the modern biotechnology company cannot succeed alone. The complexities of commercial biotechnology and vaccine development require a host of highly specialized supplementary companies, such as CROs, animal care specialists, and many others, to facilitate research and development. In response to the need to establish these businesses in RI, and the opportunity to move the RI knowledge economy forward by doing so, we proposed to teach entrepreneurs, scientists and healthcare workers the theory and practice of smart vaccine design and biotechnology company start-up.

This program was unique in that it offered outstanding, high-chance-for-success research ideas along with training from experienced and successful vaccine and business experts. As entrepreneurs continually search for winning ideas, we provide ideas and the template (education around businesses that support vaccines and basic business training) in an environment where business and science professionals were able to learn together. The course married science and business to translate the idea from “science to start-up”. This project built on a firm foundation of expertise already available in the Providence area and recently reinforced by a $13M NIH grant to the I’Cubed. Our vision is to build RI as The Center for Biotech Vaccine Research.

Participants and Course Material

Weekly training sessions started on May 13th at I’Cubed and continued through July 8^th, engaging fourteen  speakers. In each session two invited speakers lead the class in a wide variety of topics. Successful CEO/ entrepreneurs have given lectures sharing their experiences and advice. For example, Dr. De Groot gave the first lecture on the theory and practice of vaccine design. Dr. Barrett Bready, the CEO of NABsys, gave the class options for funding a new company and showed the class his successful “pitch” to VCs. In addition, the class received ideas for specific start-up companies. For example, Mike Settles, owner of TGA in Massachusetts gave a lecture on starting and operating and animal CRO. He is in preliminary discussions with a class member about opportunities for CROs in Providence. Dr. Gary Ostroff, a successful entrepreneur from Boston and now Professor at UMass Medical School gave a lecture on vaccine delivery systems and has offered to mentor any team interested in starting a business in the delivery system area. Jim Pelligrini from Becton Dickson in NC gave the class an overview of the five startups that he participated in including his role in J&J Interventional Systems which produced the first coronary stent. Fred Stolle, an attorney and entrepreneur, discussed with the class the legal aspects of setting up a new company. In the second half of the session the class were given basic business training by professors from the URI business school and an external financial consultant. 

Our ultimate goal is to create a cadre of cross-trained scientists and business professionals who will start vaccine-related biotechnology companies in Rhode Island. We believe that our initiative, focused on the health care industry, will catalyze new companies and jobs in RI. Fourteen diverse professionals registered for the course including an IT Professor from Bryant University, a faculty member from Brown University/ RI Hospital, an owner of a Providence WEB design company, an MBA from Babson College, graduate students from Brown University and URI, a WEB designer from URI and a veterinarian from UMass. The students and faculty entered into collaborative relationships and wrote business plans, which will be received by Dr. De Groot and Spero on August 15^th. They will then be reviewed by a panel of biotechnology experts and the best plan will be awarded $2500 in seed money to start a RI-based business.

Global Vaccine Research and Training

The Institute for Immunology and Informatics will not only have an impact on our own community in Rhode Island, but will also have an impact in the developing world. Our recently proposed program titled "Global Vaccine Research and Development Infectious Disease Fellowship: An Immunoinformatics-Driven Vaccine Training Program" aims to inspire young researchers to tackle the difficult task of developing vaccines for infectious diseases endemic to their own developing countries.