Injection Connection

Grad school alum plays key role in novel H1N1 vaccine deployment

One of the nation’s top scientists and a prominent player in the development of the forthcoming H1N1 swine influenza vaccine is Mississippi native Dr. Robin Robinson, a graduate of what became the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

As director of the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority, an organization within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Robinson promotes the development of vaccines, treatments and therapies for a range of public-health emergencies.

Since June, the BARDA office has helped develop, license and move the H1N1 flu vaccine into private-sector mass production. The vaccine is scheduled to go public this month.

The man at BARDA’s helm grew up on the Gulf Coast and in Canton and received a bachelor’s in biology from Millsaps College. In 1981 he received a doctorate in microbiology from the Graduate Program at UMMC, which in 2001 became the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.

Federal administrators tapped Robinson in April 2008 for director. Scientific research-and-development experience across a range of fields – academia, private-sector labs and government – helped prepare him for the job.

As a doctoral student in Mississippi, he studied the herpes virus’ ability to cause cancer. That research led to post-doctoral studies at Princeton University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook into the genetic mechanisms in cancer.

“I was trying to understand why certain genes are turned on and off,” Robinson said.

On faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School-Dallas in the mid-1980s, he studied gene activation in herpes to better understand how the virus infects people, lies dormant and causes outbreaks later.

The academic experience led to a position at the National Cancer Institute, where he worked on HIV. Robinson switched to private industry in 1992 to work in vaccine development before returning to government work.

As deputy director of BARDA’s Influenza and Emerging Disease Program, Robinson and his team worked on an H5N1 avian flu vaccine. Their efforts led to the development, procurement and stockpiling of the world’s first H5N1 vaccine approved for humans and a citation by TIME magazine as the No.1 medical breakthrough in 2007.

“Robin was the strongest candidate to emerge in our nationwide search, and his extensive experience in industry and government concretely demonstrates his ability to succeed,” said Craig Vanderwagen, then-HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the time of Robinson’s promotion to BARDA directorship.

Dr. Joey Granger, dean of the graduate school, said Robinson’s prominent position in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services speaks highly of the quality of the graduate programs at UMMC.

“His administrative role is a perfect example of the tremendous diversity of career opportunities available to our students in the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences,” Granger said.

Though an administrator, Robinson said he enjoys the job and its public-health aspects.

“Certainly I wanted to be a scientist and I’m still able to be a scientist, certainly in the policy end of it,” he said.

When the H1N1 pandemic began, BARDA used part of its playbook from the 2007 H5N1 avian flu outbreak.

“We modified the H5N1 contracts we had with (private industry) previously. They started working on H1N1 in early June,” he said.

Growing the vaccines was one important step in production. It’s a process traditionally done in chicken eggs but increasingly is switching to cultivation in cells.

“We’ve supported the cell-based technology for three straight years. It allows the vaccine to be available sooner and the product yield can be greater, so you have less-vulnerable people,” he said. “Most other vaccines are made in cells, not eggs. So we’re supporting that.”

Though influenza is the disease of the moment, one of BARDA’s biggest objectives is Project Bioshield, a comprehensive, all-hazards approach to protecting the public. Threats to the U.S. population include smallpox and botulism outbreaks, along with anthrax botulism, radiological and nuclear attacks.

“In a nutshell, we take the products that are in early development that have just shown proof of concept, and move them toward licensure and manufacture. That’s primarily through contracts with industry,” Robinson said.

“It’s not enough just to have manufacturing contacts, but they’ve got to have surge capacity. For some threats we stockpile ahead of time, like anthrax antitoxins.”

Others, such as influenza, can’t be. BARDA coordinates with the Centers for Disease Control and state, county and local governments to distribute vaccines, antitoxins and therapies should an outbreak happen.

The agency also is aiding the development of therapies for radiation, Robinson said.

“The Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health and we have worked on a number of new drugs and therapies to resolve some of the problems caused by radiation,” he said.

“There are certain drugs that can be administered to bring back the blood supply at the bone marrow and the G-I tract. For acute radiation, there are a number of drugs in early development, but some are very, very promising.”

Efforts in anthrax and smallpox are going well, he said. There’s a pox vaccine coming for the imuno-compromised. In anthrax, BARDA is working toward increasing manufacturing capacity of an existing vaccine and working on new vaccines.

His office is stockpiling treatment for botulism infections and for different types of chemical events. BARDA also is working with the NIH on Ebola virus therapies.

“We’re also looking for ways to make our existing products better,” he said.

“Suppose you have a vaccine that must be refrigerated. The objective would be to develop a way to store it at room temperature and store it for longer periods of time. Then get it into a patch you could just apply in the field rather than inject it.”

On the supply side, BARDA works with private drug makers to contract for production and increase their production-surge capacity.

With so many potential threats, one wonders how Robinson sleeps.

“It’s a team that makes it happen,” he said. “We’ve got a great team across BARDA and with the assistant secretary for preparedness and response. We work with the federal, state and local governments.”

Just as Robinson’s job keeps him working on the next generation of preventive measures and cures, the country’s universities need to keep working on the next wave of scientists.

”The next generation of people who are going to work in the biomedical industry aren’t there, is the thinking in the industry. We just have a shortage right now of facilities and people,” he said.

That’s why it’s good to see strong graduate programs moving forward, he said of UMMC’s School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences.

“Providing the next generation is so important to our country, our economy and our knowledge base,” he said. “And UMMC can be a part of that.”

-Jack Mazurak

2009-10-19 00:00:00 3538