The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $25m to Washington State University (WSU) to help towards the construction of a new $35m school for global animal health. 
Melinda (pictured, middle) and Bill Gates (pictured, right) created the foundation in 2006 to help reduce inequities in the United States and around the world
Photo: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Research at the new school will focus on three interrelated approaches to global animal and public health issues - vaccine development and deployment, emerging pathogenic and disease detection, and control of disease transmission from animals to humans. WSU will create novel vaccines to control the major vector-borne diseases of livestock that are a significant impediment to economic development in Africa, Asia and Central/South America. It will also pursue solutions for the prevention of zoonotic diseases through vaccination and other strategies.
The new building will provide around 20,000 sq ft of assignable research, meeting and office space for 12-15 research scientists, support staff and graduate students.
WSU president Elson Floyd says: "The generous support of the Gates Foundation is truly transformational. The work of WSU researchers will be dramatically enhanced and the results of their work could impact countless lives in this country and around the globe."
The grant is the largest single private financial commitment in the University's history; the previous largest was $7m from Boeing in 1993.
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