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MSU names two buildings to house infectious disease research
August 18, 2008 -- By Evelyn Boswell, MSU News Service
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| John Jutila, former vice president for research at Montana State University, speaks Monday at the naming ceremony for the Jutila Research Laboratory and the Johnson Family Livestock Facility. (MSU photo by Kelly Gorham). |
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BOZEMAN -- More than 100 people attended a ceremony Monday morning to name and dedicate two new Montana State University buildings that will be used for researching infectious diseases that affect livestock, wildlife and humans.
Both located behind the Marsh Lab on North 19th Avenue in Bozeman, one building was named the Jutila Research Laboratory after John Jutila who was MSU's vice president for research from 1978 through 1990. The building, providing about 3,500 square feet of research space, will allow researchers to study organisms that need to be in a Biosafety Level-3 facility. Among those are the organisms that cause brucellosis and Q-Fever.
The other new building, providing about 7,500 square feet of research space, was named the Johnson Family Livestock Facility after the Johnson family of Stillwater County. The building, a Biosafety Level-2 facility, will be used for researching such diseases as salmonella, E. coli, rotavirus and cryptosporidiosis. The livestock facility is for large animals, predominantly calves, but it may include sheep and adult cattle, too. The work could also expand to chronic wasting disease.
"It's certainly an honor," Jutila said of the building named after him. "I'm really quite surprised that the naming opportunity came up. It came out of the blue."
The Jutila Research Laboratory is a needed facility that benefits MSU and Montana, he added. It also gives MSU students an opportunity to participate in valuable research. The infrastructure for researching infectious diseases is expensive, Jutila said, but without it research is "stymied or greatly diminished."
Former MSU President Bill Tietz said the Johnson family facility resulted from a rancher falling off his roof about 100 years ago. After breaking his legs and deciding to pursue something else, Joe Quinn sold 160 acres for $1,800 to Albert Johnson. Johnson's son, Ingwald, raised livestock and was so appreciative of the people who treated his animals that he told his three sisters that he wanted his legacy to go toward veterinary research. The sisters eventually gave the ranch to MSU. The ranch, including leased sections, now covers about 6,000 acres. The MSU Foundation still owns the ranch and used proceeds from the operations to help fund the new livestock facility.
The facility will help MSU address the myriad of organisms that have become a concern because of factors like rapid international transportation, loss of certain environments and growing populations of animals, people and insects, Tietz said.
MSU President Geoff Gamble, Vice President for Research, Creativity and Technology Tom McCoy and Mark Quinn, head of Department of Veterinary Molecular Biology, all spoke at the ceremony held outdoors near the Jutila Research Laboratory. They thanked the Johnson family for their generosity to MSU and their foresight. The Johnson sisters never married and are now deceased. Pearl Johnson was a medical lab assistant in Seattle. Grace Johnson was a home economist. Isabelle Johnson was an artist.
Gamble, McCoy and Quinn praised Jutila and Tietz for their roles in advancing research at MSU.
"We really owe both of them a huge debt of gratitude," McCoy said.
The Department of Veterinary Molecular Biology was highly successful before the new facilities, but the new facilities will allow it to succeed even more, McCoy said. Among other things, the research on infectious agents could also help fight bioterrorism.
The Jutila Research Laboratory cost about $2.5 million, with funding coming from the MSU College of Agriculture, Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, the Office of the Vice President for Research, Creativity and Technology Transfer at MSU, and the National Institutes of Health. The building has been completed and is in operation.
The Johnson Family Livestock Facility cost about $3.4 million with funding coming from the Johnsons' former ranch, the MSU College of Agriculture, the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of the Vice President for Research, Creativity and Technology Transfer. The building will be completed in the next week or two, Quinn said.
Money for both buildings has already been raised, Quinn said.
Evelyn Boswell, (406) 994-5135 or evelynb@montana.edu
Hi-Resolution Images or PDFs Available:
| [View or Download] | 1. | John Jutila, former vice president for research at Montana State University, speaks Monday at the naming ceremony for the Jutila Research Laboratory and the Johnson Family Livestock Facility. (MSU photo by Kelly Gorham). | | [View or Download] | 2. | John Jutila addresses the crowd at the Aug. 18 naming ceremony of the Jutila Research Laboratory and the Johnson Family Livestock Facility. (MSU photo by Kelly Gorham). | | [View or Download] | 3. | The Johnson Family Livestock Facility, named after the Johnson family of Stillwater County, was one of two new buildings named Aug. 18 at Montana State University. (MSU photo by Kelly Gorham). |
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