Centre for Respiratory Infection Research.

We wish to establish a world-class translational Centre for the study of respiratory infections, bringing together Imperial College s established leaders in this field, many of whom have substantial Wellcome Trust funding and most of whom are on the St Mary s campus. Our existing expertise spans molecular, cellular, animal and human studies, in patients and in volunteers. This core of applicants is flanked by key UK collaborators, providing a coherent critical mass of basic and clinical investig ators, largely on a single Imperial site. Our key goal forming a Centre is to underpin the coalescence of these groups and themes by providing core funding for interdisciplinary activity and research, providing stability, focus and strategic direction to fundamental and applied research themes. The disease targets are influenza, common colds and tuberculosis; we have identified bacterial infections as an area for further growth that would be facilitated by the Centre s foundation. Our major g oal is to define protective and pathogenic host responses, developing new therapeutics and aiding vaccine development. The formation of the Centre will enable new cross-cutting collaborations that will provide a step-change in research output, with the ability to react to future outbreaks and emerging needs in this field of global importance.