Colorado State University won $40 million in federal funds Wednesday to study deadly diseases, ranging from tuberculosis to dengue fever, that could be used by terrorists as bioweapons.
The grant, and another to the University of California at Irvine, complete a national network of 10 regional centers for research in biodefense and infectious disease, said Rona Hirsch berg, a grant administrator for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Colorado State has a long history of studies of diseases, especially insect-borne diseases,” Hirschberg said. “They bring very valuable expertise … and highly qualified scientists.”
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the national institute, at the urging of Congress, set new priorities for research on diseases that terrorists could use to wreak havoc, such as releasing anthrax in a subway system.
That strategy drew criticism from academics around the country for pulling funding from other medical projects.
In February, 750 scientists signed a letter urging the institute to restore funding for work on common infectious diseases, such as malaria and cholera, which are responsible for millions of deaths worldwide every year.
“We’re aware there’s criticism, but we think the outcome of this will be valuable in relation not only to biodefense but in terms of emerging infectious disease in general,” Hirschberg said.
With the new grant, CSU will lead a consortium of federal, academic and private researchers from Utah, Wyoming, Montana and North and South Dakota.
Many of the diseases the group will target as possible terrorist weapons also are significant emerging public-health risks in their own right, said Barry Beaty, a CSU infectious disease specialist and the director of the new center.
West Nile virus and dengue fever are on the list, for example, and both have proved effective at making people ill without any help from terrorists, Beaty said.
The scientists will do some basic research on disease-causing agents but will mainly focus on practical products – vaccines, treatments and quick diagnostic tests, Beaty said.
Private-sector partners will help develop those products, he said. Precision Photonics in Boulder, for example, will work on fast, inexpensive and precise ways to diagnose various diseases at bedside.
The grant to CSU comes less than two years after the university received $17 million to help build a secure laboratory for biological research, scheduled to be completed in 2007.
In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also broke ground on an $80 million facility in Fort Collins for infectious-disease research.
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.
