Dr. Anne De Groot, founder and CEO of EpiVax Inc., will lead the University of Rhode Island’s new Institute for Immunology and Informatics.

Jeffrey Seemann, dean of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences and the driving force behind URI’s biotech initiative, told Providence Business News last week the new institute is a “critically important opportunity” for URI to connect with a flourishing biomedical sector in Providence.

De Groot will run the institute with long-time associate Leonard Moise, director of vaccine research at EpiVax, along with URI professors Thomas Mather, a vector-borne disease researcher, and Marta Gomez-Chiarri, a fisheries researcher developing vaccines for fish, and De Groot’s father, Leslie, an internationally recognized endocrinology researcher. Greg Paquette, URI’s director of biotechnology programs, will also be involved.

De Groot will have a lab in the Shepard Building downtown and work to develop vaccines against diseases identified as “neglected” by the research community, URI said.