UNMC has broken its record for total research grants in a single quarter by bringing in $26 million during July, August and September. The record quarter brings UNMC’s total grant funding to $62 million.
University officials are particularly pleased with the increase because the national research funding pool was sharply reduced due to a tight economy and the diversion of significant funds from basic research to biosecurity-related projects.
“While the economy was slumping and state funding was going down, we still managed to continue our momentum,” said Thomas Rosenquist, Ph.D., UNMC vice chancellor for research. “Lots of money that we went after in the past is now earmarked for biosecurity and other areas that are currently not accessible to us.
“Yet, we received some significant grant awards early in the new fiscal year that helped to surpass the previous single quarter record and propel us forward to date.”
Dr. Rosenquist said UNMC’s impressive start for the 2003-04 fiscal year featured grant awards of more than $20.5 million in one week in September thanks to the two largest grants in UNMC history.
The largest single award was a five-year grant totaling more than $10.6 million. Awarded to study genes in neurosensory systems, the grant was funded by the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE) program, which is supported by the NIH. Through the grant support, UNMC will form a research center to study the relationship between neurosensory conditions and specific genes or gene pathways, including disorders of vision and hearing, as well as touch and balance. Shelley Smith, Ph.D., director of the UNMC Center for Molecular Genetics, is the principal investigator for the grant and will direct the NIH-designated Nebraska Center for Molecular Biology of Neurosensory Systems.
A five-year grant totaling almost $9.9 million is the second largest grant ever received by UNMC.
The grant establishes an NIH-designated Nebraska Center for Cellular Signaling at UNMC to further the understanding of cell signaling – the biochemical response of cells to their environment – in relation to a variety of cancers. Margaret Wheelock, Ph.D., professor of oral biology, UNMC College of Dentistry, is principal investigator and director of the new center.
UNMC received $15 million in total research grants for the fourth quarter of the 2002-03 fiscal year (April, May, June 2003), ending the year with a total of $55.8 million. Thirty-five investigators received grants worth $100,000 or more in the fourth quarter. Among the highlights:
Jeffrey Payne, D.D.S., assistant dean for research, UNMC College of Dentistry, received $537,094 from the NIH to conduct a two-year clinical trial on the use of a low dose of doxycycline as an inexpensive, safe means to reduce loss of bone density in the mouth, hip and spine of postmenopausal women. These women will have periodontitis (oral bone loss), which afflicts at least 35 percent of U.S. adults and is the primary cause of adult tooth loss, and will be at risk for osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is associated with an increased incidence of vertebrae, wrist and hip fractures and tooth loss.
Jialin Zheng, M.D., associate professor in the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders, department of pathology/microbiology, received $257,250 to study HIV-associated dementia (HAD). HIV affects approximately 40 million individuals worldwide. In its late stages, approximately 20 percent of infected adults and 50 percent of infected children suffer from HAD and can suffer a severe loss of memory and poor to no retention. Scientific studies have established that macrophages, an important part of the immune system that aids the fight against unwanted invaders and are a target of the HIV virus, talk to other macrophages and other cells, including neurons, through chemical signaling. The research team seeks to identify what these chemical signals mean and how these signals from HIV-infected macrophages affect the neurons in the brain.