Auburn, Ala. (EETV) – Auburn will receive more than $ 2.5 million over the next five years to fund the new Animal Health and Agro / Bio Defense Program (AHAD).
Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine will be home to the new AHAD program, funded by the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS).
This program will primarily focus on diseases that affect economically important pets, pose a threat to public health, or affect national security and economic stability locally, nationally and globally. It is also positioned as the southern regional node in the Coalition for Epi Response Engagement Science (CERES), which now primarily includes universities in the Midwest and West.
“As part of this nationwide effort, the Auburn AHAD program will expand the mandate and capacity of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s existing animal health research to include research that complements the goals of the USDA and other federal agencies involved in ensuring national safety and security public security. “Said Bartol, alumni professor and assistant dean for research and graduate studies at the College of Veterinary Medicine. “It will work closely with allied federal partners and leverage the capabilities of a National Animal Health Laboratory Network-supported program established at the Alabama State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory adjacent to the Veterinary Campus.
“Auburn’s subject matter experts with significant experience in food animal research already include specialists in internal medicine, virology, immunology, molecular diagnostics, vaccinology and zoonosis. We hope that the establishment of AHAD will allow this program to be further expanded to include an epidemiologist / computer scientist.” Specialist and one or more specialists in microbiomics / pathogenomics. “
AHAD will focus on the bio-defense mission, which will include:
- Predicting the occurrence of pathogens in farm animals and related wild animals
- Understand the ecology of exotic emerging and re-emerging pathogens
- Incident Response Research
- Development of veterinary countermeasures for early detection
- Prevention and Treatment of Foreign and Emerging E-Mail Diseases
“Over the years Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine has developed working relationships with a number of federal agencies active in the agro / bio-defense field,” said Bartol. “AHAD will work closely with its partners to accomplish the CERES mission of ‘Protecting and Defending America’s Agricultural Industry from Global Health Threats and innovating for food security now and in the future.'”