K-State is growing as a center for plant and animal biosecurity research, as proven by the recent hire of a renowned zoonotic, or animal-born, diseases scientist.
Juergen Richt, the lead scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, will come to K-State next April as a Regents Distinguished Professor.
Veterinary Medicine Dean Ralph Richardson said the College of Veterinary Medicine has three Regents professors, which the university chooses based on expertise and economic influence.
"University priorities mean two things - the professors are very prestigious in their field, and there is a potential for economic growth in that area," Richardson said.
Richt, also an adjunct professor at Iowa State University, said he hopes to establish a zoonotics research center at K-State's Biosecurity Research Institute.
"They offered a great opportunity at K-State with the new BRI," Richt said. "That's a very exciting opportunity."
Richt said the program would focus on four main areas of research: pathogenesis, the origination and development of a disease; vaccine development; diagnosis and therapy. The research would focus on four or five zoonotic diseases like animal flu and Mad Cow Disease, or BSE.
Richardson said the diseases Richt will research are infectious and possibly harmful if not contained.
"These diseases, if they were to infect our livestock, would be devastating to the economy," Richardson said.
Richardson said Richt could not research these diseases if the BRI did not exist at K-State.
Though the BRI will not be ready for research until early 2008, BRI Director Jim Stack said the institute will be ready for Richt and his staff, which will include at least a research technician and assistant professor. He said the institute is testing all equipment and facilities extensively. He said Richt provides assurance to the BRI.
"It's a tremendous shot in the arm," he said. "It gives us confidence that we have the proper infrastructure to attract doctors like Richt."
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