UNM's hantavirus research has unprecedented support, earning recognition from the National Science Foundation and a five-year, $1.5 million renewal agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
UNM biologists were recognized for making one of the 50 discoveries backed by National Science Foundation funding that have had the most influence or biggest impact on the lives of Americans.
"We're of course very pleased with the recognition of this very important research," UNM President Bill Gordon said.
The hantavirus research was highlighted in a foundation publication titled "Nifty 50," and the discoveries were chosen from thousands of National Science Foundation funded projects since its inception in 1950.
The research, originally funded by the foundation in 1988 as part of UNM's Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research project, helped make the rapid discovery of the cause of an outbreak of the new virus that resulted in death in nearly half of the people who contracted it.
Sevilleta researchers and UNM biology professors Terry Yates and Robert Parmenter suggested a possible reason for the outbreak based on information learned from research on small mammals and climate change not related at all to infectious disease.
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"This represents a classic case for the importance of basic research in helping to solve real societal problems," Yates said in a UNM statement.
Yates and collaborators at the Center for Disease Control, working with National Science Foundation supported research collections at UNM's Museum of Southwestern Biology, confirmed the existence of the deadly virus in tissues archived in the museum's collections prior to the outbreak in 1993. The work proved the new virus had been present in New Mexico probably for millions of years and was just now being discovered.
The research helped track the killer virus to the deer mouse, a common rodent found throughout much of North America. The outbreak was centered in the American southwest, but human cases have now been confirmed in 30 states and three Canadian provinces. The new hantavirus is apparently transferred directly from rodents to humans by inhalation of contaminated dust particles.
Biologists at the Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research site in central New Mexico also were able to show rodent populations increased in the region dramatically in 1993 following a series of wetter and milder winters associated with the El Ni§o Southern Oscillation. Sevilleta researchers were able to demonstrate an association with this weather pattern and increased cases of human plague.
Other National Science Foundation researchers have found similar biologically complex interactions among rodent populations, moths, oaks and climate to help explain the cycling of lyme disease in New York.
The foundation is the only federal agency devoted to supporting basic research in science, mathematics and engineering across all fields of math and science education at all levels.
As a result of those discoveries, the National Science Foundation has decided to renew the UNM researchers' funding, awarding them a five-year, $1.5 million grant.
"It is hoped that the studies will eventually lead to a model that allows us to predict human health risk to the disease in a very specific way," Yates said.
Other investigators involved in the research include the following: Jorge Salazar-Bravo, postdoctoral fellow, Museum of Southwestern Biology; Cheryl Parmenter, collection manager and data manager, Museum of Southwestern Biology; John Dunnum, Brian Frank and Ryan Schwarz, field technician research associates; Bob Parmenter, ecologist, Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research program; and Gregory Glass, John Hopkins University.
"UNM is widely recognized as a world leader in studies of emerging infectious diseases, including hantavirus," Yates said. "It is one of only a few institutions worldwide that takes a truly integrated approach to studies of these diseases ranging from basic biological research to vaccine development."
UNM has previously been awarded numerous research grants in this field, including a major project to create an International Center for Infectious Disease Research focused on hantavirus in Chile. It involved interdisciplinary research by Greg Mertz, UNM internal medicine professor; Brian Hjelle, UNM pathology professor, Karl Johnson, UNM adjunct biology and medicine professor; and Yates.
Staff Report
