UW Receives $13 Million to Expand Biomedical Research Capability

Sept. 24, 2004 -- The University of Wyoming has received a five year, $13 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand the university's biomedical research capabilities. It is the highest single research award in the university's history.

"NIH, the largest biomedical research enterprise in the world, clearly recognizes that UW is on par with other institutions in the country that have been doing biomedical research for years," says Robert O. Kelley, dean of UW's College of Health Sciences and principal investigator for the new program. "We've been building toward this and now we're a major player. This isn't a gift from NIH. We had to earn it."

Kelley will be in charge of administering the grant along with co principal investigator Heywood Sawyer, a research professor in the Department of Medical Education and Public Health.

The grant is part of NIH's Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program. Established in 1993, the program's goal is to foster biomedical and behavioral research and increase research capacity at institutes and institutions located in states with an historically small number of NIH grant awards, reflecting their low representation of research grant applications submitted to NIH each year.

IDeA grants are administered by the National Center for Research Resources, a component of NIH, and are designed to address the lack of adequate infrastructure and too few competitive investigators at institutions located in the currently eligible 23 states and Puerto Rico.

Kelley says the $13 million award, called an INBRE (IDeA Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence) grant, will be used to:

-- establish a multi disciplinary research network with scientific focus that will build and strengthen biomedical research at UW and its partner institutions;

-- provide research support to faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students;

-- create a "pipeline" for undergraduate students at UW and state community colleges to continue health research careers within IDeA states;

-- provide outreach activities for UW students and the community colleges that are part of the university's INBRE network; and

-- enhance science and technology knowledge of the state's workforce.

Kelley says the INBRE program focuses on three specific areas: women's health and reproductive biology; integrative physiology (including neuroscience); and rural public health outcomes. The grant will be used to strengthen College of Health Sciences clinical programs; establish a visiting senior scientist program; and improve the university's ability to access and manage large, worldwide databases of health related information.

Additionally, the funds will enable UW to improve existing initiatives, such as a mentoring program that encourages senior faculty to share expertise with junior faculty who are starting their careers, and outreach efforts with the state's community colleges to promote careers in the biomedical sciences.

The INBRE grant is the latest in an increase of NIH awards to UW -- both individual and group -- that has helped the agency overtake the National Science Foundation as the university's largest single funding source. In 1997, UW received about $2 million annually in NIH funding. In the past fiscal year, that amount has swelled to more than $8 million a year.

In 2001, UW received $2.1 million from IDeA's Biomedical Research Infrastructure Networks (BRIN) program -- the predecessor to INBRE -- to bolster biomedical research infrastructure. In 2000, UW scientists received a combined $11 million to establish two Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) that support multidisciplinary investigations of a central theme. Researchers are using the COBRE funds to study the effects of nitric oxide on the human body and stressors of cardiovascular health.

UW Vice President for Research Bill Gern says the previous NIH awards paved the way for the INBRE grant by funding the purchase of new equipment, such as a state of the art microscopy facility, and attracting faculty with international expertise in biomedical research.

"The reason why UW continues to build its research enterprise is because of our ability to develop infrastructure," Gern says. "The acquisition of essential biomedical personnel and equipment has allowed the university to continue to set new research funding records, train more graduate students, and involve undergraduate students from UW and state community colleges in the research."

The INBRE grant, Kelley says, "ultimately will result in better training for our students, which contributes to better quality health care in Wyoming and outside the state. This latest grant can be a tremendous driving force in generating student interest (in biomedical fields) and highlighting our research efforts. The NIH recognizes that smaller institutions can be competitive in the arena of biomedical research once the infrastructure and critical mass of scientists is established."

Posted on Friday, September 24, 2004