NIH Awards USA $14.5 Million Grant

The National Institutes of Health has awarded USA’s College of Medicine a $14.5-million grant to support the University’s ongoing research of the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

The largest competitive grant in USA’s history, the award is funded through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

It will provide for the construction costs of a state-of-the-art infectious disease research laboratory that will be built on the University’s main campus.

“It’s always great to see our faculty awarded for their hard work,” USA President Gordon Moulton told The Vanguard. “We have a history of being very competitive, and this [award] is a reflection of the quality of the science that we do.

“This resource will provide a great infrastructure for future scientific work and grants.”

USA Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology Dr. David Wood will lead research for the grant.

“[The Laboratory of Infectious Disease (LID)] will make possible the continuation and expansion of [USA’s] long-standing infectious disease research program that is directed toward the study of pathogens that pose significant threats to human health and security,” Wood said at a press conference Feb. 5.

Wood’s staff will focus on the pathogens Rickettsia and Burkholderia.

“Because they cause such serious disease and have the potential to spread by several mechanisms, both … have been designated as biological threats by [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and the National Institutes of Health,” Wood said. “The new facility will allow us to expand our research efforts into areas that will increase our knowledge of how these pathogens cause disease.”

This type of research, Wood said, helps create new vaccines and drugs to prevent the diseases these pathogens spread.

According to a USA press release, these pathogens spread illnesses such as typhus and melioidosis, which can cause “lung problems in humans, ranging from mild bronchitis to severe pneumonia and even death.”

“This will bring in new jobs,” Wood said, “not only during construction, but also through the increase of technologists and scientists who will be performing the research.

“It provides outstanding opportunities for our young researchers and investigators and greatly increases USA’s ability to attract and retain productive scientists.”

Future undergraduate and graduate students will also be able to learn from the research that will be conducted in the LID Building.

The facility is estimated to be finished March 2013 and will replace the current Biosafety Level 3 Building in USA’s Technology and Research Park.

It will “more than double the current Biosafety Level 3 research capability at USA,” according to the press release.