Two Oregon State University researchers have received Ecology of Infectious Disease Program grants to delve into causes of plant ailments.

Only eight grants were awarded nationwide through the program, which is a joint effort of the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation of Health.

Separate projects by Chris Mundt, an OSU professor of botany and plant pathology, and Elizabeth Borer, assistant professor of zoology, earned awards. Both OSU scientists will serve as lead investigators in research efforts with collaborators at several universities.

The program is designed to support research to understand the ecological and biological mechanisms that govern relationships between human-induced environmental changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases.

Borer, funded by a grant of nearly $2 million, is leading investigation into barley yellow dwarf virus, a disease that targets grasses. Her study will attempt to clarify how a pathogen that infects many types of species can mediate competition between them.

"We will use this research to develop a model to understand how disease transmission affects the composition of a community," Borer said. "By experimenting with a real field system and developing a mathematical model, we can begin to figure out what factors are most likely to control disease transmission."

Borer and her colleagues are studying this plant-pathogen interaction as a model system for understanding diseases that infect many hosts, such as Lyme disease, West Nile virus, or plague.

"This is a very new field; while we've studied diseases themselves before, we rarely look at the entire picture, and that is what we are trying to accomplish with this research," she said.

Mundt's $1.3 million grant will fund research into soybean rust. Rust diseases are caused by fungi that affect major crops such as wheat and soybeans, as well as many native plants.

"I am hoping that by coming to understand how rust disease is spread, I can apply what I learn to other types of airborne fungal diseases and be closer to controlling those too," he said.

Mundt hopes that the results can be applied to airborne human diseases, and into learning how to control pathogens, so that even if they can't be eliminated, they infect fewer people.

"We are looking at this disease on three levels - small scale, in our controlled fields; medium in the state of Iowa; and eventually in large scale as it spreads across the nation," Mundt said. "It's a really great opportunity because it's so rare to be able to study anything on such a large scale. I'm really pleased to share in this opportunity, but I'm also really happy to be working with such a great group of people."

Oregon State University is one of only two U.S. universities designated a land grant, sea grant, space grant and sun grant institution. Its more than 19,000 students come from all 50 states and more than 80 countries. OSU programs touch every county within Oregon, and its faculty teach and conduct research on issues of national and global importance.