BLACKSBURG -- U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, announced Monday the largest one-time federal research grant ever awarded to Virginia Tech.

The $27.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will support continued development of a global infectious diseases database called the Pathogen Portal.

Development of the database is being led by Bruno Sobral, founding director of the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Tech and leader of the CyberInfrastructure Group.

The grant, which will support five years of the group's work, was awarded by NIH last month and announced Monday by Boucher and Tech President Charles Steger at the Holtzman Alumni Center.

Boucher praised Steger, the start of whose presidency coincided with the 2000 founding of the bioinformatics institute.

The grant and the institute "derived from Dr. Steger's vision" to make Tech one of the nation's leading research institutions, Boucher said.

The announcement "brings great credit to Blacksburg and to Virginia Tech" and it will "benefit the public health of the nation," Boucher said.

The grant will fund the work of about 20 full-time researchers, who specialize in everything from biology to software engineering, Sobral said.

That team compiles infectious disease data and analysis from around the world, making it available to scientists hoping to find new ways to combat influenza and other emerging infectious diseases.

Researchers at the Bioinformatics Institute also work on bacterial infection and other research under the auspices of NIH, he said.

Sobral thanked Steger and Boucher for their help in attaining the historic grant, but also reminded the crowd of researchers and officials that it "is a drop in the bucket of the need. There is much more to be done," Sobral said.

Team members hope eventually their work "will expand into clinical realms," he said.

The grant announced Monday brings to $176 million the federal funding awarded to the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute in its nine-year history, according to institute officials.

Bioinformatics is the marriage of biological and biomedical research with computer science and other technologies to help scientists diagnose, treat and prevent disease.