Nebraska was tapped in 2011 by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to lead a a$25 million project to investigate Shiga toxin-producing E. coli that can contaminate beef. Those strains can cause life-threatening bloody diarrhea and kidney failure. The project, which continued through 2017, resulted in at least 77 referred journal articles and led to improved detection methods; a better understanding of how STEC proliferates; improved eradication techniques for meat-packing plants and food safety education for consumers and K-12 schools. The project was led by Rodney Moxley, professor of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences, who later became involved with a Nebraska-led national institute addressing antimicrobial resistance.