The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last month Texas A&M AgriLife would receive part of $105 million in funding to help support New World screwworm (NWS) research projects.
The USDA launched the NWS Grand Challenge, calling upon federal and nonfederal entities to develop high-impact projects to enhance “detection, control and eradication readiness.” In June, the USDA announced the “40 breakthrough research projects” it had chosen to fund.
From 226 applicants, seven proposed projects by Texas A&M AgriLife were selected, based on their “innovative approaches, scientific gold standards and their potential to make a significant impact on the prevention and response to NWS.”
Projects include: -A sterile fly production project is to be led by AgriLife Research, with a goal of maximizing sterile insect technique efficacy though the optimization of electron beam irradiation conditions for screwworm control.
-Therapeutics and treatments projects are to be led by AgriLife Research, with goals of applying knowledge gained from the Honduras NWS outbreak to U.S. preparedness and developing a nanomaterialenabled dsRNA biopesticide for sustainable control of NWS.
-Preparedness and response tool projects are also in the works, with goals to investigate potential biological controls to NWS, to promote non-invasive and non-destructive techniques for sensing screwworm larvae, to develop surveillance and rapid molecular confirmation of NWS in livestock and to enhance early wound detection using AI. The two former projects are to be led by Texas A&M University’s Department of Entomology and Texas A&M AgriLife, respectively, and the latter two by AgriLife Research. Texas A&M AgriLife was also nominated to contribute to seven additional projects with other agencies, including BanfieldBio Inc., Colorado State University, Hive Biosystems Inc., North Carolina State University, the University of Texas at Arlington, Wasik Associates LLC and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station.
“These projects reflect the strength of our Texas A&M AgriLife teams and their commitment to protecting animal health and supporting Texans,” says Jeffrey W. Savell, vice chancellor and dean for Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.
“By uniting innovation with purpose, we’re building the tools that protect livestock, safeguard our food systems and strengthen the resilience of every community that depends on them,” claims G. Cliff Lamb, director of AgriLife Research. “This work reflects our commitment to science that serves, providing solutions that defend animal health today while preparing Texas and the nation for the challenges ahead.”