DAVIS - The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine will share in an $18 million U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant directed toward protecting the food supply through the study of animal disease.

The three-year grant will fund the new National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense that will be housed at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, said University of California, Davis, officials in a press release.

Research will focus on foot and mouth disease, avian influenza, the mosquito-borne Rift Valley fever and brucellosis, a bacterial disease.

Officials said the center is expected to develop methods of detection, diagnosis and immunization. They said it also will create databases to track the diseases.

Twelve UC Davis faculty members will participate in the first year.

The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles will also participate.