Report says UW-Madison loses out on federal disease lab

Madison, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Madison will not be a finalist for a national disease research facility, according to a report in the Wisconsin State Journal.

Officials in the Department of Homeland Security are expected to announce the selection of five finalists in Texas, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, and North Carolina, according to the publication.

UW-Madison, which recently secured $125 million in funding for a national bio-energy research facility, also was one of 14 finalists seeking to build the $450 million National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility.

UW-Madison proposed building the facility at the Kegonsa Research campus in the rural town of Dunn, but it was opposed by local residents and the Dane County Board.

The new lab, which will replace the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York, will study some of the world's deadliest animal diseases that can be transmitted to humans. The goal of the research is to develop vaccines. Related article

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