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Grants
Boost Research
MU is awarded
$10 million grant for Swine Resource Center. Center will conduct
research on heart disease, diabetes, cryopreservation and pathogens.
By Christian Basi
The University of Missouri-Columbia was
awarded nearly $10 million in research and construction grants
from the National Institutes of
Health for a one-of-a-kind center that will supply genetic
material and swine to researchers across the globe who are studying
a multitude of health issues. At the same time, scientists at
the center will conduct life-saving research.
“This is a wonderful recognition
of our life sciences researchers and the expertise on this campus
as we had to compete against other major research institutions
in the country to get this award,” said Jim Coleman, vice
provost for research. “This will be the only swine research
center in the nation, and it will serve requests from all over
the world. In addition, our own researchers will be working
to solve some of the foremost health problems of the nation.”
Swine share anatomic and physiologic characteristics
with humans that make them ideal models for the study of human
diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Pig organs
also are excellent candidates for transplantation into humans
who are in need of life-saving organ replacements.
MU was awarded $7.1 million to fund the
center, and $2.84 million to construct a building for the center.
Current plans call for the center to be located southeast of
the MU Animal Sciences Research Center. The center will function
as both a repository and a distribution hub for swine models
used in a variety of research.
While the center will contribute to a limitless
number of research projects, three areas MU researchers will
study include development of new transgenic pigs, improving
cryopreservation and pathogen detection. Lela Riley, John Critser
and Steve Kleiboeker from the College
of Veterinary Medicine will join Randy Prather and Ed Rucker
from the College of Agriculture,
Food and Natural Resources to operate the center.
“While we will be a valuable resource
to scientists, we also will be working on a variety of research
projects and serving as a training ground for some of our undergraduates
and graduate students,” Riley said. “The center
will be invaluable in our research that detects pathogens in
frozen sperm and embryos as well as help us improve our long-term
preservation techniques to ensure the genetic material from
one specific line of animals is never lost.”
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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