Vet schools get millions for combat studies

National Report

-- Researchers in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia and at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine each landed million-dollar grants to study war-related treatments.

The researchers at Georgia, bacteriologist Eric Lafontaine and immunologist Jeff Hogan, are co-principals for a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. Their study will test whether vaccination could protect mice against airborne biological warfare agents like glanders and meliodosis. The study will be conducted at the school's Animal Health Research Center.

At Virginia Tech's veterinary school, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology professor Marion Ehrich will work with researchers in the veterinary college to develop a nanotechnology-based approach to protecting people against deadly nerve gases that could be used during combat. A three-year, $946,432 grant from the National Institutes of Health will support the study.