The University of Maryland's Center for Vaccine Development in Baltimore has been awarded a $22 million federal research contract to study new vaccines against diseases ranging from anthrax and smallpox to meningitis and malaria.

The grant, from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is the second-largest awarded to the university's School of Medicine, where the research center is based.

Under the five-year contract, researchers will test the effectiveness of new vaccines as well as determine why some people respond better than others to them.