It appears the University did not win their bid for the creation of an Army Biotechnology Center on this campus, although they did get a more mundane-sounding but similar “Midwestern Regional Center of Excellence (RCE) for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research.” The University has been quiet about it, and neither the Daily nor the Ann Arbor News have written much about it. I wrote about the U’s failed bid for the Army center after I obtained a copy of their application to the U.S. Army.

“U-M chosen for bioterror project

The University of Michigan is one of 14 institutions selected by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to research ways to protect people from bioterrorism.

U-M will participate in the Midwestern Regional Center of Excellence (RCE) for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, one of eight regional centers to be established around the country with a $350 million, five-year grant.

These regional centers will conduct research related to the detection, prevention and treatment of potentially lethal illnesses caused by biological agents, including emerging infectious diseases such as SARS and West Nile virus, as well as pathogens that could be used for bioterrorism.

U-M scientists will work on developing vaccines and countermeasures against biological pathogens, according to Dr. James J. Baker Jr., U-M’s Ruth Dow Doan Professor of Nanotechnology and director of the U-M Center for Biologic Nanotechnology.

In addition, U-M will manage communications among all scientists affiliated with the Midwestern Center, using software developed at U-M, according to Stephanie Teasley, a senior associate research scientist in the U-M School of Information.”

> From the Ann Arbor News

Author: Rob