Research grant exceeds $4 million
Recently awarded research grants to the College of Agriculture will provide funds for antiviral research and opportunities for students to gain laboratory experience.
The Institute for Antiviral Research within the College of Agriculture has been awarded approximately $650,000 by private companies and $4.6 million in government grants for research so far this year, according to Craig Day, a research associate with the Institute for Antiviral Research. He said a good portion of the money will help students gain more experience.
“We try to bring students in as much as possible,” Day said. “It’s a good internship for them. We like them because they learn quick, they do a good job, and they’re right here on campus. They don’t have to travel to their job, so they get more work hours and they get experience in research.”
These research opportunities are not restricted to students studying in the College of Agriculture. More than half of the student technicians are premedical and predental students, he said.
“Most undergraduates can get a laboratory experience here,” Day said. “I went to a bigger school, and very few had that opportunity. Here, most of them could leave college with some type of laboratory experience. My belief is they learn more in the laboratory than they do in their classes. They learn things that are more applicable to their career and their everyday work after they graduate.”
One of the grants will help continue the research of Donald Smee, director of antiviral research. He applies for grants annually, and his grant will help him continue to work with animals, specifically mice, to study treatments with anti-viral compounds, he said.
“We’ve actually been doing this type of work for about 12 years,” said Smee. “There’s other people that compete for the same contract, but we’ve been fortunate because we have a good track record. We have a lot of publications in the area, and I think we do a good job.”
Professor Smee’s research involves testing anti-viral compounds to find those that cure orthopoxviruses. Although smallpox, a member of the orthopox family, and other similar viruses have been eradicated from society, samples are still kept for scientific reasons and could potentially be used as weapons, Smee said.
“This is not a vaccination,” he said. “A vaccination protects and you get it prior to having the disease, whereas anti-viral agents are used after you’ve actually been infected.”
Smee said this research is important for other issues as well, including outbreaks of other orthopoxviruses such as monkeypox that are still found in nature. The military are vaccinated for viruses such as smallpox in case those viruses are used in biological warfare, he said.
“Some of these soldiers get adverse reactions and therefore need to be treated,” he said. “For that reason, they’re looking for anti-viral agents. What we do is provide the initial testing, which includes using a mouse model and looking for compounds that actually work.”
Another division within the Institute for Antiviral Research that will use grant money is a vacci
ne training effort led by research assistant professor Bart Tarbet. Day said Tarbet and research professor Kamil Rashid are currently abroad, travelling to countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam to consult with companies and facilities where vaccines are made.
“This is a worldwide training program for people from third-world countries,” Day said. “Twice in the last two years people have come here from seven different countries, and we have given them a three week training course on how to make vaccines.”
– sara.mcquivey@gmail.com