Please join me in congratulating Roberto Rodriguez, associate professor of environmental and occupational health in the School of Public Health-Bloomington, on receiving a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for his research on avian flu outbreaks in poultry farms across Indiana.
The three-year grant is part of the USDA’s HPAI Poultry Innovation Grand Challenge, a program that funds innovative projects aimed at combating highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Roberto’s team includes Justin Greaves from the School of Public Health-Bloomington, as well as researchers from the IU School of Medicine and other universities. Their project, “Enhancing Poultry Farm Biosecurity Using UVC Light Technology to Prevent Avian Influenza Virus Contamination,” explores UV technologies as a means of eliminating avian flu.
A recent story about the grant describes how Roberto and his team will work to “validate a UVC system that will be modelled for implementation in various farm settings and produce a pilot project that can be effectively implemented on farms across the state.”
Congratulations, Professor Rodriguez!