The National Institutes of Health has awarded Montana State University $5.4 million to research emerging diseases that originate in animals and are transferred to humans.

Professor of pharmacology Mark Quinn tells the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that scientists are trying to understand the biology behind the diseases and how human bodies fight them. He says up to 80 percent of emerging infections can transfer between humans and animals.

They will investigate influenza that originates in swine and birds, antibiotic-resistant MRSA and a cattle disease called Q-fever.

This is the third time MSU qualified for a grant under a federal program called Centers of Biomedical Research. The university received past grants in 2004 and 2009.

The grant money will be used to buy research equipment and provide seed money to scientists.

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