Washington State University lands $10 million for food-safety studies

Aim of bacteria research is to keep food supply safe from natural, terrorist threats

Hannelore Sudermann
Staff writer Spokesman Review

Washington State University scientists have been awarded nearly $10million from the National Institutes of Health for research into keeping the nation’s food supply safe from natural threats and terrorism.

The researchers, who announced the grant Wednesday, plan to focus on bacteria such as E. coli, salmonella and listeria, all of which move from animals to humans and are potentially fatal.

"This contract will provide an important opportunity for our researchers to expand their work in helping protect homeland security and the safety of our food and water supply," said WSU President V. Lane Rawlins.

The money will fund research in Pullman as well as join WSU to a network of medical and veterinary units around the country charged with responding during a public health emergency.

The WSU researchers hail from departments across campus including the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Engineering and Architecture. It was, perhaps, their innovative approach of including different research areas that made them one of just five units in the country to win this NIH funding, said Dale Hancock, a disease outbreak specialist and the principal investigator under the grant.

"We did have some unique ideas," he said. "That played a role in our being chosen."

Among the ideas was examining the role of water in disseminating disease among animals, something few others are investigating.

"They’ll be looking at irrigation, they’ll be looking at dust," said WSU Vet School Dean Warwick Bayley. "They’ll be looking at things we take for granted."

Their tools include global positioning satellites for a wide view of how animals move through the landscape and camera/microscopes powerful enough to allow them to focus in on the DNA of bacteria.

Some of that work is already under way. In Dan Rice’s lab this week, a group of students and technicians prepared more than 400 samples of E. coli O157:H7.

The bacteria, sometimes found in ground beef and produce, are an emerging cause of illness and can be fatal, especially in small children.

The samples at WSU were taken from cows and manure locally to be used for studying antibiotic resistance. The lab also is looking at whether changing the animals’ diet can reduce the prevalence of E. coli.

Upstairs in professor Douglas Call’s laboratory, workers at computers studied the genomic sequence of listeria, a bacterium that contaminates milk, cheese, ice cream and prepared meats. It is the second-deadliest food-borne pathogen and the reason for many food recalls from food retailers.

"Our goal would be to keep it from getting to that point," said Hancock.

The scientists also are studying salmonella, the deadliest food-borne pathogen, which can be transmitted through food or infected pets. The bacteria are a problem worldwide, especially as strains have developed resistance to antibiotics. The bacterium also is a prime example of using food as a biological weapon. In 1984, members of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult sprayed salmonella on produce in grocery stores and at salad bars in The Dalles, Ore., making hundreds in the community sick in order to sway a local election.

The next act of terrorism may not be flying an airplane into a building; it could be introducing a pathogen into our food supply, said James Petersen, WSU vice provost for research. That’s something that could affect the morale and health of the nation, he said.

The NIH grant comes from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases branch and will be distributed over the next seven years.

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