Montana State University researcher Blake Wiedenheft is a recognized expert in one of today’s hottest science fields, so it’s natural to wonder what discoveries may be in store now that he received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health earlier this year.
And because the NIH’s Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award is designed to provide flexibility to delve deeply into research that could generate breakthroughs, Wiedenheft himself is looking forward to seeing where the five-year funding will lead in his study of the complex interactions between bacteria and the viruses that attack them, with potential applications for treating COVID-19 and a wide range of other diseases.
“An ideal outcome would be stumbling on something entirely unexpected,” said Wiedenheft, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in MSU’s College of Agriculture. “This grant really provides a new dimension of intellectual freedom for pursuing ideas as they evolve.”
