With a mission of defeating viral infectious disease through development of vaccines, Dr. Belshe directs the SLU Vaccine Center in research in human immunology. He has led the Center to become an integral part of the program established in 1991 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The nine areas in which he and his colleagues are working include a genetically engineered AIDS vaccine currently under study, a nasal spray flu vaccine to treat and reduce the spread of childhood disease, and a vaccine to prevent infection with rotavirus, the major cause of diarrhea and vomiting in young children. They have also developed a cold-adapted vaccine to reduce croup and pneumonia in children.