Juergen Richt, lead scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Disease Center (NADC) and an adjunct professor at Iowa State University, will be joining Kansas State University as a Regents Distinguished Professor.
At the NADC, Richt worked in two areas: emerging viral diseases of swine and prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also called BSE or mad cow disease. He was the first in the U.S. to describe "atypical" BSE cases.
Richt has developed novel diagnostic tests to detect major swine respiratory pathogens, as well as developing novel vaccination concepts against flu viruses. He also has studied the interspecies transmission of prion agents. Because of his research expertise, he has begun rapidly moving into the field of animal influenza research and is being recognized for his understanding of avian/swine/human viral transmission.
The Regents professorship, which is in the College of Veterinary Medicine, is the most prestigious of all academic appointments in the Kansas Regents’ system of universities and colleges. As a Regents professor, Richt said he plans to establish a new research program at K-State’s Biosecurity Research Institute.
Richt’s appointment begins in April 2008.
Source:
Kansas State University, News Release August 27, 2007