This three-year, $799,999 project grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310) will fund research at Texas A&M Agrilife Research on SARS-CoV-2 infections in the captive cervid industry. The project aims to quantify the frequency and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infections among captive deer and between deer, livestock, wildlife and farm workers on Texas deer...
The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. a $649,991.65 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grants program to conduct the Extensive Deer Genomic Surveillance (EDGES) project from June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2026. The EDGES project will test and sequence the SARS-CoV-2 virus in thousands of farmed and wild deer, as well as other animals interacting with deer, in Texas. The goal is to...
The University of South Florida received a $2,995,370 five-year Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) to study the future dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in animal communities. The project aims to advance predictive modeling for future zoonotic variants, identify mammalian host species, and build a framework to understand transmission patterns in wildlife populations. Key efforts include developing AI-driven predictions, empirically...
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $800,000 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program to the University of Illinois on May 1, 2023 for completion by April 30, 2026. The grant aims to establish a partnership to conduct SARS-CoV-2 surveillance and evolutionary characterization in captive and wildlife animals. Sub-awards were provided to the Chicago Zoological Society's Brookfield Zoo and Oklahoma State University to support product...
The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service awarded the University of Maryland, College Park a $3.64 million cooperative agreement under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care (CFDA 10.025) federal grant program. The award will fund a project to expand knowledge of species susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 and improve understanding of potential roles or routes of transmission between humans and white-tailed deer in urban areas surrounding...
The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (LSU) received a $800,000 Project Grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) federal grant program. The three-year award runs from June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2026. Under the award, LSU will construct and test the protective efficacy of three versions of a novel pseudorabies virus quadrupled mutant virus...
The University of Pittsburgh has been awarded a $650,000 Project Grant from the USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program to develop cost-effective molecular methods for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in agricultural animals, particularly farmed deer and cattle. The project aims to create two new detection methods: 1) a reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) test with solid-state nanopore sensing, and 2) an amplicon-based sequencing approach called...
This five-year, $2.5 million Project Grant was awarded by the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture on August 1, 2022 under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grants program (CFDA #10.310). The grant funds modeling of chronic wasting disease transmission between deer and the environment, with a focus on quantifying prion concentrations and dissipation rates across potential reservoir sites like mineral licks, scent...
The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service awarded Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University $4,997,658 under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care federal grant program (CFDA 10.025) on June 1, 2023 for a project period ending May 31, 2025. The university will use mathematical modeling, field sampling, genomic surveillance, biochemical analysis, and immunological studies to expand knowledge of species susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2....
This $2,500,000 Project Grant was awarded by the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) program. The grant will fund research to examine the role of invasive plants as conduits for pathogen transmission across ecosystem boundaries, with a focus on understanding the eco-evolutionary dynamics of disease emergence in agricultural and natural systems. The research team, led by the University of...
The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Louisiana State University a $799,371 project grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program (AFRI, CFDA 10.310). The grant will fund research from June 2023 through May 2026 to investigate the pathogenicity, transmission, and spillover potential of deer-adapted SARS-CoV-2 viruses in cell cultures and wildlife. Specifically, the university will analyze the effect of deer adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 on its ability to spill over or spill back between deer and other animals like rodents, and assess its transmission effectiveness. Through in vitro and in vivo experiments, the project aims to enhance understanding of SARS-CoV-2 dynamics in wildlife species at the animal-human interface and the associated risks of spillback and spillover transmission. Insights gained will benefit scientists, animal health authorities, policymakers, and stakeholders in science education.