Friday, February 3, 2023
News on Pathogens and Preparedness
Global Biodefense
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Global Biodefense
No Result
View All Result
Home Biosecurity

Animal Biosecurity and Agro-Defense Program Launches at Auburn

by Global Biodefense Staff
October 2, 2021
Poultry farm chickens with a biohazard symbol in the foreground represent the importance of disease surveillance in avian species

The Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine is home to the new Animal Health and Agro-/Bio-Defense (AHAD) Program through funding from the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS).

The program will focus primarily on diseases affecting economically important domestic animals that pose a threat to public health or impact national security and economic stability locally, nationally and globally.

The partnership was made possible through a collaborative non-assistance cooperative agreement with the USDA-ARS. Initial funding to Auburn is $647,529, with planned funding of more than $2.5 million in the next five years.

Initially, research in the AHAD space will involve a collaborative partnership with scientists in the USDA-ARS through the U.S. National Poultry Research Center in Athens, Georgia. This will allow subject matter experts at Auburn to take advantage of the expertise of peers in the federal space and will enable access to state-of-the-art biosafety level-3 facilities necessary to safely advance solutions for animal health and agro-/bio-defense challenges.

According to Dr. Frank “Skip” Bartol, Alumni Professor and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine—who is spearheading AHAD along with Dr. Paul Walz, head of the Department of Pathobiology—Auburn’s AHAD program will be positioned to serve as a southern regional node in the Coalition for Epi Response Engagement Science, or CERES, that now includes primarily universities in the Midwest and West.

The AHAD/ARS partnership will advance the education and training of next-generation scientists, filling a critical need in this important domain, according to Bartol.

The newly established AHAD program complements and extends ongoing advanced training of next-generation scientists at Auburn who will define the workforce at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF, soon to be opened in Manhattan, Kansas, through the USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Scientist Training Program.

The NBAF will be the first laboratory facility in the U.S. to provide maximum biocontainment (BSL-4) space to enable study of high-consequence zoonotic diseases affecting large livestock and will support pilot-scale development of vaccines and other medical countermeasures designed to mitigate threats to agrosecurity.

“As part of that nationwide effort, Auburn’s AHAD program will expand the mission and capacity of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s existing animal health research to include research complementary to the goals of the USDA and other federal agencies charged to ensure national security and public safety,” Bartol said. “It will work closely with partners in the allied federal space and will 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.

AHAD will focus on the biodefense mission, consistent with four strategic areas of the National Biodefense Strategy as identified by the USDA-ARS. Those areas include predicting the emergence of pathogens in livestock and associated wildlife; understanding the ecology of exotic, emerging and reemerging pathogens; incident response research; and the development of veterinary medical countermeasures for early detection, prevention and treatment of foreign and emerging animal diseases.

Source: Auburn University

Tags: Avian InfluenzaBSL-3Editor PickOne HealthSelect Agents

Related Posts

DARPA Pursues Advanced Threat-Detection for Crop Defense
Biosecurity

DARPA Pursues Advanced Threat-Detection for Crop Defense

January 3, 2023
New Framework for Livestock Disease Indemnity Valuation Proposed by USDA
Biosecurity

New Framework for Livestock Disease Indemnity Valuation Proposed by USDA

September 10, 2022
Waterfowl on a seashore
Biosecurity

HPAI Concerns Prompt U.S. Restrictions on Hunter Harvested Wild Bird Game Meat from Canada

September 2, 2022
Tagged livestock in a row
Biosecurity

Consider Farmers at Individual Level When Controlling Livestock Disease Outbreaks

July 15, 2022
Load More

Latest News

Partner Therapeutics’ Novel Approach to Stratify Sepsis Patients Gains Backing From BARDA

Biopreparedness Research Virtual Environment (BRaVE) Initiative Backed by $105M DOE Funding

January 25, 2023
Influenza Proteins Tilt and Wave in ‘Breath-like’ Motions

Influenza Proteins Tilt and Wave in ‘Breath-like’ Motions

January 25, 2023
Biodefense Headlines – 24 January 2023

Biodefense Headlines – 24 January 2023

January 24, 2023
Biodefense Headlines – 17 January 2023

Biodefense Headlines – 17 January 2023

January 17, 2023

Subscribe

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC