photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Strong Hall on the University of Kansas campus is pictured in September 2021.

An infectious disease center at the University of Kansas has received more than $11 million in new federal funding to continue its work studying emerging contagions from around the world.

The Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease Center at KU has been awarded an $11.35 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. This is a phase two grant, meaning the NIH had previously provided grant money to help start the center.

The new funding will allow the center to grow by hiring two full-time faculty members who will serve the center but also be part of KU’s Department of Molecular Biosciences.

The grant also allows for some facility spending. For example, with the previous grant, KU built a small laboratory space physically separated from other parts of the center that allows scientists to work with a higher degree of biohazard materials that are tested and studied.

The primary function of the funding, though, will allow KU to continue its work in a field that has had its importance highlighted through the pandemic.

“The CBID Center is intended to bridge infectious disease and medicinal chemistry expertise to better address the public health challenges,” said P. Scott Hefty, the center’s principal investigator and professor of molecular biosciences at KU.

Part of the funding also will help KU collaborate with researchers from the KU Medical Center, Kansas State University and Wichita State University, according to a press release.