UB Receives $1 Million Grant From Markey Trust to Expand Infectious Disease Research

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo Center for Microbial Pathogenesis has received a $1 million grant from the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust to expand its research efforts to better understand and treat infectious diseases.

University officials said the funds from one of the nation's leading grant-giving organizations for fundamental biological and medical research will allow this highly successful UB research group to attract new investigators.

They also anticipate that the center, which has studied such problems as middle-ear infections, pneumonia, tuberculosis and schistosomiasis, will expand its focus to include molecular parasitology studies of malaria, leishmanaisis and toxoplasmosis.

Since its formation, the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences has been extraordinarily successful in developing, on an interdisciplinary basis, insights into infectious diseases, as well as new therapies to treat them.

One breakthrough from the group is a new vaccine to prevent middle-ear infections, which affect more than 2 million children before their first birthday, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. While still in the testing stage, this vaccine has the potential to become as common as childhood vaccines for measles or polio.

Other important problems being studied by the group include the alarming resurgence of pneumonia, antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, parasitic infections and chronic fatigue syndrome.