KBA: "Now is the time for collaboration."
The Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) has launched a $2.5m initiative to develop plans to protect people and businesses against the malicious use of animal-borne diseases. 
Photo: Kansas City Authority
Agriculture is a key part of US economic growth and productivity, accounting for 12% of the country's gross domestic product. KBA president Tom Thornton said that a deliberate assault, such as a terrorist attack, could damage food supplies and public trust in agricultural safety as much as a natural outbreak.
The Collaborative Biosecurity Research Initiative (CBRI) aims to support research through developing countermeasures for foreign-animal diseases by strengthening institutional biosecurity capabilities. It will support the licensing of vaccine countermeasures, and provide advanced diagnostic capabilities and threat detection.
"We're issuing a call today for the nation's brightest researchers to partner with us to protect public health and safeguard the agriculture economy," said Mr Thornton. "Now is the time for collaboration to take on this important national challenge."
The CBRI will provide up to $500,000 to investigators working on projects that partner with the University of Kansas's new biocontainment facility, the Biosecurity Research Institute (BRI). It comprises animal rooms for research on infectious livestock and poultry diseases, a food processing plant, and insect vector, basic molecular biology and plant science research laboratories.
Furthermore, the state of Kansas hopes that the initiative will enable it to strengthen its bid for securing the US Department of Homeland and Security's National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). Kansas State University is one of six finalists selected for the $450m facility that will replace the outdated Plum Island Animal Disease Center off the coast of Long Island, New York.
CBRI-eligible institutions include US academic research universities, federal agency researchers, and non-profit research institutions.
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