‘Critical mass’ of scientists launches Institute to tackle infectious diseases

Imperial College London launched a pioneering new Institute to tackle some of the biggest challenges in infectious disease. The new Institute of Infection brings together one of the largest critical masses of researchers working across infectious disease, anywhere in the world. Building on the College’s global research expertise, the Institute will unite scientists from medicine and life sciences with mathematicians, engineers, physicists and a range of other fields to work together in new ways, harnessing their combined expertise to tackle emerging and longstanding issues in infectious disease. Tackling challenges The aim of the Institute is to address some of the biggest unanswered questions in the field of infectious disease, such as how is climate change impacting the spread of diseases transmitted by flies and mosquitoes, how can gene-editing technologies help to reduce the spread of disease (such as Dengue and Zika), and how can animal vaccination programmes help to curb diseases which also affect...