MSU receives $10.1 million for research center for better understanding diseases that spread between humans and animals.

Montana State University has received $10.1 million to develop a research center for better understanding diseases that spread between humans and animals. Such diseases, called zoonotic, have been found naturally in Montana and are potential weapons for bioterrorists. They include anthrax, hantavirus and West Nile virus, among others.

By Evelyn Boswell, MSU News Service

http://www.montana.edu/commserv/csnews/nwview.php?article=1937

"It’s a good day when you are awarded a $10 million grant," said Allen Harmsen, head of the Department of Veterinary Molecular Biology at MSU. "It’s going to allow us to move to the next level."

Tom McCoy, Vice President for Research, Creativity and Technology Transfer at MSU, said the award would be a significant contribution to the continued growth of biomedical research at MSU.

"Specifically, this funding will enable MSU to greatly expand its research program focused on infectious diseases," McCoy said. "I applaud Allen Harmsen, as well as all of his colleagues for their success in building a world-class research program in the pathogenesis of diseases that can be transmitted from both wild and domesticated animals to humans."

As the federal fiscal year neared its Sept. 30 end, the National Institutes of Health announced that it was awarding a five-year COBRE grant to MSU. The Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence grant was one of about seven such grants awarded across the nation, Harmsen said.

The COBRE grant will increase the number of infectious disease investigators at MSU by allowing the hiring of three more faculty members in veterinary molecular biology and one in biochemistry. It will fund four research projects by junior faculty members at MSU and the University of Montana. It will support the work of faculty who currently work in infectious diseases and will mentor the junior faculty.

Senior infectious disease researchers from MSU, UM and the NIH Rocky Mountain Labs in Hamilton will form the nucleus of the center, said Harmsen who will administer the grant. The research center will be based in the Molecular Biosciences Building where Harmsen’s department is located. No construction will be involved.

"Because of the expertise of the mentors, the outstanding MSU and UM institutional support and the significance and timeliness of zoonotic disease research, we believe that COBRE support of this proposal will result in a program that will make significant scientific contributions," the researchers wrote when they applied for the grant.

The junior researchers conducting projects under the grant will be Jay Radke, Benfang Lei and Jim Burritt at MSU and Michele McGuirl at the UM. Radke, veterinary molecular biology, will research toxoplasma infections. Those are caused by protozoa and can be caught by eating contaminated meat. Pregnant women can get them by emptying litter boxes. Lei, veterinary molecular biology, will study the proteins produced by Group A Streptococcus. This group of bacteria can cause everything from strep throat to scarlet fever and rheumatic heart disease. Burritt, microbiology, will research Aspergillosis, a lung infection caused by an organism found in soil. McGuirl, biology, will study the way prions interact with copper. Most of her work will involve scrapie, a chronic wasting disease of sheep.

"The financial support to continue with my research while I have other responsibilities like teaching is really, really helpful." Burritt said.

The grant will allow him to hire undergraduate students, graduate students and possibly a postdoctoral researcher to help him study Aspergillus, Burritt said. The organism is found naturally in the soil, and most people can breathe it in without problems. Farmers shoveling moldy hay might have Aspergillus in their lungs, but have no problems because they have a good immune system. People with immune deficiencies, however, can develop an infection known as Aspergillosis and die.

When applying for the COBRE grant, the researchers said infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide and the third leading cause of death in the United States. Besides that, the intentional release of highly infectious diseases into the environment has become a significant concern.

Evelyn Boswell, (406) 994-5135 or [email protected]