Purdue disease researchers have partnered with a university in the Middle Eastern nation of Jordan on a project searching for infectious disease treatments.
The pact allows easier sharing of faculty between Purdue and the Jordan University of Science and Technology, or JUST.
Falah Shidaifat is the dean of JUST’s veterinary program and says the focus is on more than treating disease in either Indiana or Jordan.
“It is very important for us not to just limit ourselves to what’s present in the country or in the region," Shidaifat says. "Because in the end, we might be affected all by those infectious agents.”
He says the worldwide spread of pathogens has never been faster, so researchers can no longer focus only on diseases proximate to them.
“It is not the responsibility of one country or one region, it is the responsibility of the whole world," he says. "So we are interested in every pathogen that can be transmitted.”
Purdue’s Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease will contribute to the setup of the new Center.