| Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D) |
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| 207 S. Martin Jischke Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907 www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/pi4d/ Contact: Thomas G. Sors, tsors@purdue.edu Twitter: @purduepi4d |
Education Research and Training | |
| Role(s) | • Located in Discovery Park at Purdue University, the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D) is leveraging the significant diversity of life sciences, physical sciences and engineering on campus to develop and integrate basic immunologic advances and new diagnostics, probe basic biological and inflammatory processes, and develop and commercialize novel intervention methods to control an array of chronic inflammatory conditions, cancer and infectious diseases. • PI4D performs research in four strategic areas: i) Imaging and diagnostics, ii) Immunology and Inflammation , iii) Infectious diseases, and iv) Control and Intervention • By integrating across program areas and leveraging Purdue's vast expertise and resource in • inflammation, immunology and infectious disease, the institute is able to partner across campus and with private and public partner institutions across Indiana, creating synergies for maximum human impact. |
| Mission | Provided the foundation for collaborative research across a broad spectrum of disciplines at Purdue that leads to increased funding in the life sciences and national and international recognition. Our focus is to seed and promote new relationships that leverage existing strengths, utilize untapped human and infrastructure resources, and continually recruit additional faculty expertise to further strengthen and expand core strengths. |
| History | 2015 – Created as one of the institutes in Purdue's Pillar of Excellence in Life Sciences initiative. |
| Org | Staff of eight Members of PI4D - Faculty and staff - 215 across nine colleges and 40 departments Leadership: • Richard J. Kuhn: Krenicki Family Director (kuhnr@purdue.edu) • Thomas G. Sors: Assistant Director (tsors@purdue.edu) |
| Board | PI4D sustains an advisory board which includes the following individuals: • Pamela Aaltonen, Nursing • Cate Hill, Entomology • Harm HogenEsch, Comparative Pathobiology • Chris Hrycyna, Chemistry • Mike Ladisch, Ag and Bio Engineering • Andy Mesecar, Biochemistry • Tim Ratliff, Comparative Pathobiology • Joe Pekny, Chemical Engineering • Sunil Prabhakar, Computer Science • Ali Shakouri, Electrical and Computer Engineering • Liz Topp, IPPH |
| Finance | Initial funding of $15M to develop PI4D. Annual operational budget of $590,000 from a variety of sources including annual support from subsidy from EVPRP and Krenicki Director Endowment Funds |
| Data Source | • Purdue University Sponsored Program Services • Purdue Research Foundation – Office of Technology and Commercialization • Online news resources and search engines • Government partners (i.e., Lewis Burke firm hired by Purdue University to provide information about new initiatives in government that result in funding opportunities) |
| Data Access | • Funded research awards by various agencies including NIH, NSF, USDA, etc. • Funded research projects by industry partners • Tracking of patents granted and patents pending • Tracking progress of internally funded projects |
| Tech Capabilities | • Multidisciplinary research administration • Project management for biomedical research • Research translation and commercialization • Deep knowledge and access to facilities to do research and development of emerging pathogens in a high-containment environment • Deep knowledge and access to facilities to do research and development of protein engineering and production • Access to Purdue's distributed computing for high-content genomic research and image reconstruction analyses |
| Projects | Various projects with industry related to protein engineering, biomedical devices development, virus contact testing, antiviral screening, novel therapeutics formulations, adjuvant testing, microbiome, anti-microbials, immune therapy and oncology. |
| Future Focus | Large center grants for sustainability, new opportunities to develop novel technologies, commercialization. |
| Talent Development | • Lecture Hall Series, this entails graduate students presenting scientific topics to local high school students. • Training of NIH T32 trainees through the Purdue University Molecular Biophysics Training Program and Drug Discovery in Infectious Disease Training. • For staff, students and faculty we host seminars, most recently seminars have been called Covid Research Spotlight series. • Mentoring postdoctoral research associated and faculty through programs including the Indiana CTSI - PDT, Postdoc challenge, Disease Diagnostic INventors Challenge, Access to Detection Technology. • New Purdue faculty reception • Leadership development of PI4D graduate students through our Ambassador's program. • Career development efforts by bridging graduate students and postdocs with industry through an organized conference called “Leap from Lab.” |
| Data Sharing Agreements | This is project dependent. |
| Programs/ Publications | Annual reports: https://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/pi4d/ Newsletters: https://www.purdue.edu/research/life-sciences/news/newsletter-archive.php |