Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine collaborates on $18 million NSF grant to combat future pandemics

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - August 23, 2024 – The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) is proud to be part of a new initiative, supported by an $18 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), aimed at enhancing global pandemic prediction and prevention capabilities. This grant brings together five leading universities and more than 20 researchers, academics, and public health experts to establish the Community Empowering Pandemic Prediction and Prevention from Atoms to Societies (COMPASS).

The COMPASS Center, headquartered at Virginia Tech’s interdisciplinary Data and Decision Sciences Building, will utilize state-of-the-art labs, data centers, and other advanced facilities to tackle the critical challenge of preventing infectious diseases that threaten communities worldwide. However, the work of this center will extend beyond its walls, transcending institutional and geographic boundaries.

"This collaboration allows us to combine our expertise in regenerative medicine with research from leading institutions, all working toward the shared goal of predicting and preventing future pandemics," said Dr. Anthony Atala, Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. "It’s an exciting moment for science and for the global community."

Wake Forest University will join forces with Virginia Tech, Cornell University, the University of Michigan, and Meharry Medical College to address this pressing global health challenge. The collaboration will focus on understanding how pathogens and diseases emerge and spread while training the next generation of scientists to continue this vital work.

The COMPASS Center is part of the broader $72 million NSF Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP) program. Initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the PIPP program was created to address both immediate and long-term threats from infectious diseases that drastically impact life on Earth. The program is designed to develop predictive models and strategies to manage diseases arising from the complex interplay between humans, animals, and the environment.

About Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine: The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is recognized as an international leader in translating scientific discovery into clinical therapies, with many world firsts, including the development and implantation of the first engineered organ in a patient. Over 500 people at the institute, the largest in the world, work on more than 40 different tissues and organs. A number of the basic principles of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine were first developed at the institute. WFIRM researchers have successfully engineered replacement tissues and organs in all four categories – flat structures, tubular tissues, hollow organs and solid organs – and 17 different applications of cell/tissue therapy technologies, such as skin, urethras, cartilage, bladders, muscle, kidney, and vaginal organs, have been successfully used in human patients. The institute, which is part of Wake Forest University, is located in the Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem, NC, and is driven by the urgent needs of patients. The institute is making a global difference in regenerative medicine through collaborations with over 500 entities and institutions worldwide, through its government, academic and industry partnerships, its start-up entities, and through major initiatives in breakthrough technologies, such as tissue engineering, cell therapies, diagnostics, drug discovery, biomanufacturing, nanotechnology, gene editing and 3D printing. Learn more at WFIRM.org.