Spring Break
Tuberculosis research focuses on humans, not the lab
National Institute of Health grants assistant prof. $1.5M
David Martinez
Issue date: 10/15/09 Section: News
Diane Ordway spends up to 12 hours at a time in a lab with a mask, scrubs and hairnet, researching highly infectious strains of tuberculosis. She changes clothes when she enters the lab and showers when she leaves.
If a disease leaks, the negative air pressure in the lab ensures that no air escapes. Despite the long hours, the precautions and the danger of her work, Ordway and her team still have passion for what they do.
Ordway, an assistant professor at CSU, recently received a $1.5 million New Innovator Award from the National Institute of Health for her work.
"She's fearless, absolutely fearless," Ian Orme, a professor and researcher in the Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology Department, said.
Ordway has researched tuberculosis for 15 years, becoming interested in the bacterial disease after taking Orme's Immunology class as a student at CSU in the 90s. She worked with Orme as a research assistant on TB for a year after graduating with a microbiology degree.
Ordway is used to operating under difficult circumstances. While partnering with Orme, she worked hands-on with multiple TB strains and developed the hypothesis that would later lead the NIH to fund her grant.
From CSU, she traveled to London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on a scholarship to earn her doctorate and post-doctorate degrees. She worked diligently on her research, but she said the work took a toll emotionally.
Much of her research involved working with patients infected with either HIV or TB.
When explaining why she found her work emotionally draining, she said bluntly, "Everybody died in the end."
However, she also said that her experiences with infected patients gave her a new passion for her research.
Ordway reluctantly returned to CSU after 10 years in London to continue her research.
After Ordway requested Orme as a job reference, he convinced her to visit Fort Collins. She has now worked at the university for more than five years.
If a disease leaks, the negative air pressure in the lab ensures that no air escapes. Despite the long hours, the precautions and the danger of her work, Ordway and her team still have passion for what they do.
Ordway, an assistant professor at CSU, recently received a $1.5 million New Innovator Award from the National Institute of Health for her work.
"She's fearless, absolutely fearless," Ian Orme, a professor and researcher in the Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology Department, said.
Ordway has researched tuberculosis for 15 years, becoming interested in the bacterial disease after taking Orme's Immunology class as a student at CSU in the 90s. She worked with Orme as a research assistant on TB for a year after graduating with a microbiology degree.
Ordway is used to operating under difficult circumstances. While partnering with Orme, she worked hands-on with multiple TB strains and developed the hypothesis that would later lead the NIH to fund her grant.
From CSU, she traveled to London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on a scholarship to earn her doctorate and post-doctorate degrees. She worked diligently on her research, but she said the work took a toll emotionally.
Much of her research involved working with patients infected with either HIV or TB.
When explaining why she found her work emotionally draining, she said bluntly, "Everybody died in the end."
However, she also said that her experiences with infected patients gave her a new passion for her research.
Ordway reluctantly returned to CSU after 10 years in London to continue her research.
After Ordway requested Orme as a job reference, he convinced her to visit Fort Collins. She has now worked at the university for more than five years.
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