A Kansas University faculty member will be among the researchers involved in $350 million in biodefense grants announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Bill Picking, associate professor of molecular biosciences, will be among 100 Midwestern researchers at four universities involved in a grant to create a major, federally funded center for biodefense, said KU spokesman Todd Cohen. Picking wasn’t available for comment Thursday.

The $1.47 million grant, from Health and Human Services and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will allow a group of researchers, led by the University of Iowa, to plan a Regional Center for Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research.

The center — which also includes researchers from Iowa State University and Wichita State University — would center on the use of proteins to prevent bacterial and viral infections. It also would train future scientists to work in biodefense research and encourage collaboration among researchers.

Picking’s research focuses on the proteins in the bacterial infection shigellosis. The infection occurs in many poor countries, and if left untreated it grows in the lining of the intestine, causing dysentery that can cause major health problems, especially in children.

The planning grant is among $350 million in grants, to be dispersed in the next five years, that were announced Thursday by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

The grants establish eight Regional Centers of Excellence, in addition to two planning grants for future centers. The University of Minnesota will receive the second planning grant.

The Associated Press contributed information to this report.