The Arthropod-borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory (AIDL) was established at the Foothills Campus of Colorado State University in 1987. Since its inception, AIDL has been noted as a broadly based, interactive, multi-disciplinary research and training unit, interacting with scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases (CDC-DVBID) in Fort Collins and the USDA Arthropod-Borne Animal Diseases Research Laboratory (USDA-ABADRL) in Laramie, Wyoming. An underlying theme of the AIDL research program is to effect a marriage of field investigations with population genetic and genomic approaches to understand transmission, persistence, emergence, and control of vector-borne pathogens. Major emphases of AIDL have been the application of modern cutting edge technologies to define mechanisms of arbovirus interactions with vectors and vertebrate hosts, to determine the trafficking and emergence potential of arboviruses in nature, to develop rapid, clinically and field relevant diagnostic assays for vector-borne infectious diseases (VBID), and to determine the effects of genetic diversity of vectors, viruses, and hosts on vector-borne agent persistence and emergence.
In 2002 AIDL was awarded a grant for a Fellowship Training Program (FTP) in Vector-borne Infectious Diseases by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This grant supports graduate-level training of a new generation of medical entomologists and VBID specialists, capable of applying classical surveillance, control, and epidemiologic field methods in conjunction with development and use of modern molecular and bioinformatics knowledge and technologies to investigate and eventually control these important diseases.
All positions in the FTP program are currently filled. Addition ones may become available as trainees obtain their PhD. However, there are similar GRA positions available on other supported AIDL research grants.
Applications will be accepted and reviewed on an ongoing basis.
