The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University $630,000 under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program to develop a vaccine against Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus. With an award start date of January 1, 2022 and projected completion by December 31, 2025, Virginia Tech will utilize nanotechnology to prepare vaccines aimed at protecting vulnerable newborn piglets from the viral...
The University of Illinois was awarded a $617,500 federal Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (AFRI program, CFDA #10.310) to develop and test a diagnostic testing technology that can rapidly detect animal diseases like Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, and Classical Swine Fever using a blood sample. This 3-year grant, with a performance period from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2027, will support the...
Arizona State University was awarded a $743,994 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop a portable diagnostic test for African swine fever over a four-year period from May 15, 2022 to May 14, 2026. The grant is being funded through NIFA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (AFRI, CFDA No. 10.310), which supports research, education, and extension projects in food and agricultural...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $110,000 Project Grant under the Cooperative Extension Service (CFDA 10.500) program to Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) for the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD) program. The FARAD program is a chemical food safety initiative designed to provide up-to-date pharmacokinetic information to veterinarians to determine proper withdrawal times for...
This federal Project Grant award, provided by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310), funds the development of a novel double-stage filter system to rapidly detect the presence of Salmonella bacteria in food products. The $299,999 award to Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) aims to engineer an anti-fouling stirred cell device that can filter and collect...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $689,028.47 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) to the Regents of the University of California at Riverside. The grant will fund the development and evaluation of a nanoliter reactor that can digitalize and detect nucleic acid amplification-based techniques in a portable format. The goal is to enable rapid detection of foodborne pathogens from food...
This $635,000 project grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will fund research at the University of Nebraska from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2027 to identify and characterize pathogens affecting swine farmers and develop genetic tests and management solutions to improve animal health and welfare. The University of Nebraska will collect microbial and pathogen samples...
This $225,000 USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Project Grant awarded to Virginia Tech on September 1, 2024 supports research on mitigating the impacts of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) in pigs through nutritional interventions. The project aims to characterize the metabolic and macronutrient consumption changes in PRRSV-infected pigs when provided amino acids potentially important for the immune response and animal growth. By placing intravenous...
This federal Project Grant award, totaling $587,749.00, was made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The award will support research by Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) with the long-term goal of developing automated pest detection and surveillance capabilities for crops. The project aims to optimize low-cost samplers for...
This $1,150,000 federal Project Grant was awarded on July 1, 2024 by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The grant's objective is to develop an AI-powered proactive indoor environmental control and management system to optimize swine productivity, welfare, and sustainability. The project will leverage precision livestock farming techniques to collect swine behavior and physiological data, develop AI...