# Pandemic preparedness research and biocontainment infrastructure at The Rockefeller University

> **NIH NIH G20** · ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $7,019,416

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Rockefeller University is a unique institution: with only 70 Heads of Laboratories, the faculty have received 3
Nobel prizes in Medicine in the last 10 years and 5 (plus 1 in chemistry) in the last 21 years, along with
appointment of 18 faculty as HHMI investigators and 29 to membership in the National Academy of Sciences.
Rockefeller faculty have played an outsized role in contributions to foundational discoveries in virology and
infectious disease, both historically and presently. Recognizing the importance of the current pandemic, over
the past two years, a dozen research groups at Rockefeller have joined the research efforts focused on
pandemic threat viruses, with numerous grants supporting the work and over 50 peer-reviewed publications to
date. Rockefeller labs have made seminal contributions identifying the spectrum of neutralizing antibodies to
the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the impact of variants on neutralization, and characterizing the atomic-
resolution binding of antibodies to spike protein. Collectively, Rockefeller laboratories are working on
Alphaviruses (e.g., Sindbis, chikungunya viruses), Flaviviruses (e.g., yellow fever, Zika, West Nile, Powassan
viruses), Hepaciviruses (hepatitis C virus, Norway rat hepacivirus), Hepadnaviruses (hepatitis B virus),
Orthomyxoviruses (influenza), Coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses) and retroviruses
including HIV-1. Many of the viruses under study, including chikungunya, yellow fever, West Nile, Powassan,
and SARS-CoV-2, are classified as Risk Group 3 (RG3) pathogens, requiring BSL3 containment facilities and
practices. Moreover, some research at Rockefeller includes the generation of replicons and chimeric (VSV-
based) viruses whose stability and safety should be established under BSL3 conditions prior to use at lower
biosafety containment levels. This project seeks to enhance and expand space and support for both in vivo
and in vitro research. Specific aim 1 is to increase the Rockefeller University’s BSL3 capacities to meet the
scientific needs by establishing a new BSL3 facility in an existing laboratory building. Specific aim 2 is to equip
and enhance the new facility and the BSL3/ABSL3 facilities that already exist at the University. To achieve
these aims, an extremely experienced team of personnel at Rockefeller propose to: establish a new multiple-
investigator BSL3 facility; add equipment to the existing single-PI BSL3 facility; replace an existing autoclave
and add an incremental autoclave in the ABSL3; and modernize the supporting infrastructure in the ABSL3.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10611639
- **Project number:** 1G20AI174706-01
- **Recipient organization:** ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Timothy O'Connor
- **Activity code:** G20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $7,019,416
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-16 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10611639

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10611639, Pandemic preparedness research and biocontainment infrastructure at The Rockefeller University (1G20AI174706-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-09-03 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10611639. Licensed CC0.

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