A team of CSU researchers is the recent recipient of yet another multi-million dollar grant.

According to the official release from CSU, the National Science Foundation awarded the team $12.5 million to research further into the aerobiome.

A team made up of agricultural biologists, microbiologists, atmospheric scientists, and sociologists will dive into the research to better understand microbial communities and their impact on global health.

Dr. Sue VandeWoude, the principal investigator for the project and a distinguished professor at CSU, says the research is imperative as "the health of animals, plants, humans and the environment is undoubtedly dependent upon the function of this invisible community".

She spoke further about the importance of their research, and how it can, pretty relevantly, transform society's understanding of the spreading of diseases. It also has the potential to impact the implications and understandings of several other realms of scientific research.

Over the course of the next five years, the $12.5 million will be granted in $2.5 million increments yearly from the NSF Biology Integration Institutes program.

Like the CSU research team who was recently gifted a multi-million dollar grant for their research into ocean bioluminescence, this aerobiome research team has been deep into microbiome facts for several years.

However, this is the first time they will be able to look into microbial life in the atmosphere. The goal of the research is to not just better the understanding of the aerobiome as a whole, but also using the findings to learn how to better help and preserve ecosystem health.

The CSU team will be collaborating with other researchers and engineers from NSF's National Ecological Observatory Network. This collaboration gives Colorado State a further reach into the field that wasn't available before.

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