This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Nine research projects, including the two pilot projects led by Project Leaders Marisa Pedulla and Kurt Toenjes, in the areas of infectious disease and environmental health are supported by the MT INBRE Research Core at four of the state's baccalaureate colleges. (The tenth research project directed by Mari Eggers is supported by the Outreach Core.) Five of the eight projects take advantage of their location in Montana, focusing on the ecology of reservoirs and transmission of hantaviruses, isolating antifungal compounds from unique micro-organisms from the Berkeley Pit in Butte, collecting water quality data to determine environmental contamination on the Crow Indian Reservation (in the Outreach Core), and investigating chronic wasting disease, an emerging problem in the state. Other projects take advantage of cutting edge technologies and expertise at MSU in fungal genetics and in the Center for Biofilm Engineering. An extensive mentoring and research collaboration program links the Project Leaders of each of these projects with established, NIH-funded investigators at MSU-Bozeman, UM-Missoula, the McLaughlin Research Institute, and the NIH Rocky Mountain Laboratories. All network researchers have access to shared facilities, equipment, and training at MSU-Bozeman and UM-Missoula. The long-term goal is to position these researchers to be competitive for their own NIH funding. In addition to these research projects, three research sub-groups have developed and are increasingly visible mechanisms for providing training, collaborations, and research support for the Project Leaders. Included in these groups are the Big Sky Yeast Group, the Bioinformatics Users Group (in the Bioinformatics Core), and the Environmental Health Working Group (in the Outreach Core). Two new pilot projects have been added to the Research Core. The first, led by junior investigator, Dr. Christina Campbell (Department of Health and Human Development, MSU-Bozeman) focuses on DHA Status in Pregnant Women with and without Gestational Diabetes. The second focuses on MRSA on the Apsaalooke Reservation and is co-directed by Dr. Jovanka Voyich-Kane (Department of Veterinary Molecular Biology, MSU-Bozeman) and Dr. David Mark, M.D., Infection Control Officer and primary care physician at the Crow-Northern Cheyenne IHS Hospital in Crow Agency.
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