With a new research initiative starting in April 2005, Japan is looking to take the lead in Asia's infectious disease studies.

It is a new approach for a country that has generally escaped the worst of the region's serial disease outbreaks. But with threats like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and avian influenza knocking on the door, policymakers and researchers have decided to invest in studies that might help thwart these and future epidemics. “There's a renaissance in infectious disease research,” says Toshihiro Horii, a virologist at Osaka University's Research Institute for Microbial Diseases and a driving force behind the initiative.

There's a renaissance in infectious disease research. , a virologist at Toshihiro Horii, Osaka University's Research Institute for Microbial Diseases

The scheme from the education ministry has an annual budget of ¥5 billion for at least five years, and will create research centers at three or four universities to be selected over the next few months. Each program will coordinate the nation's research in one field, such as veterinary sciences, epidemiology or clinical treatment. The diseases to be studied will be selected mainly on their likelihood of invading Japan and are likely to include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), SARS and avian influenza, say those involved.

The centers will also coordinate research bases outside of Japan, in places such as Thailand, China, Vietnam and Kenya.

Many researchers say such efforts are long overdue. At present, the biggest chunk of Japan's research into infectious diseases takes place at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) in Tokyo. But organizers of the new university-based initiative say Japan needs more sustained, basic research that can anticipate diseases before they happen and escape the bureaucratic obstacles that prevent the NIID from forging connections abroad.

At present, no one country leads infectious disease research in Asia. The Paris-based Institut Pasteur has already established a string of infectious disease institutes in places including South Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It will be important to coordinate across the institutes in order to avoid repetition, says Vincent Deubel, director of the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai. “Competition is good. Overlap is not.”