Overview and History

The roots of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) began in 1985. Soon after the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Drs. Barton Haynes and Dani Bolognesi formed a working group at Duke University to make a vaccine for AIDS. Out of this group, which included Drs. Kent Weinhold, Tom Matthews and Tom Palker, came crucial discoveries that led to the development of azidothymidine (AZT) and a second type of AIDS drug, T-20, or Fuzeon from the Bolognesi laboratory and vaccine candidates for AIDS from the Haynes laboratory. Because of the extraordinary diversity of HIV and its ability to rapidly mutate, developing a practical and effective HIV vaccine proved far more challenging than initially imagined. In 1990, Drs. Haynes and Bolognesi established the Duke Human Vaccine Institute to support interdisciplinary efforts across Duke to develop vaccines and therapeutics for HIV and other emerging infections that threaten the health of our nation and our world. In 1998, Dr. Bolognesi left Duke to become CEO of Trimeris, Inc., and Dr. Haynes became sole director of DHVI.

 

In 2002, DHVI received support from the Dean of the School of Medicine to recruit new faculty for HIV research and to apply for a Regional Center for Excellence in Emerging Infections and Biodefense grant from the National Institutes of Health. This large Region IV consortium grant, the Southeast Regional Center of Excellence in Emerging Infections and Biodefense (SERCEB), was awarded in September 2003 to the DHVI and five partners (University of North Carolina, Emory, Vanderbilt, University of Alabama-Birmingham, University of Florida). The SERCEB grant was established to fund the basic research to make drugs, vaccines and diagnostics to protect citizens from emerging infections such as SARS, avian influenza, dengue and monkeypox.  In 2003, the NIH funded the construction of the Duke Global Health Research Building, an infectious disease research facility and a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL). Completed in 2006, this building is designed to support basic research necessary to develop drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines for emerging infections and biodefense, and to provide surge capacity in the event of a public health emergency.

 

The Duke Human Vaccine Institute has established a place of national and international leadership in the fight against the major infectious diseases. Our investigators understand the power and opportunity of the team approach, a new paradigm for successful research in an academic setting. The diseases of HIV, TB and malaria together cause over 18,000 deaths per day worldwide, and only partnerships between academia, the government and private companies can solve these difficult problems. By focusing on the “bottlenecks” for the development of HIV, TB, and other vaccines, DHVI investigators are poised to make major new contributions to global health challenges.