UNMC has received a five-year grant totaling almost $17 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further its goal of building a statewide biomedical research infrastructure among undergraduate and graduate institutions. This is the largest grant in history received by UNMC.
“With the support of this grant we will be able to establish a platform of scientists for the development of a 21st century biomedical technology industry in Nebraska,” said Harold M. Maurer, M.D., UNMC chancellor. “This speaks volumes about our researchers and their talents and the collaborative relationships they have built with the state’s undergraduate institutions. I applaud their efforts.”
 |
James Turpen, Ph.D. |
James Turpen, Ph.D., professor in the UNMC department of genetics, cell biology and anatomy, is the principal investigator on the grant, which is through the Institutional Development Award Program (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). The grant, which totals $16.9 million, comes from the National Center for Research Resources, which is a division of the NIH.
“The whole idea is to expose students to serious biomedical research,” Dr. Turpen said. “This is a statewide effort, with UNMC as the lead institution, that will provide research opportunities for undergraduate students and serve as a pipeline for those students to continue in graduate research.”
Dr. Turpen said another major goal of the INBRE grant is to enhance the science and technology knowledge of the state’s workforce, which will hopefully attract more biotech industry to the state. It also will provide support for core facilities in bioinformatics, proteomics and microarray technology for biomedical research.
“Dr. Turpen is an outstanding scientist who has become a national leader in the design and implementation of these kinds of programs,” said Dr. Rosenquist. “We’ve been told that our grant application has become the new standard by which other similar grant applications will be measured in the future.”
This is the second NIH grant to support this effort. In 2001, UNMC received nearly $8 million in funding over three years to create the Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN). The goal of the BRIN program is to strengthen an organization’s infrastructure and increase its capacity to conduct cutting-edge biomedical and behavioral research.
The number of undergraduate students participating in the BRIN program has increased each year, Dr. Turpen said, with 15 students participating the first year, 24 students the second year and 26 students the third year.
The students, who enter the BRIN program after they complete their sophomore year of college, are recommended for the BRIN program by their college professors. They come from 10 different undergraduate and community college programs – the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Creighton University, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Doane College, Chadron State College, Wayne State College, Priest Tribal College and Western Nebraska Community College.
Each undergraduate school nominates approximately three students each year for the program, Dr. Turpen said. Once in the BRIN program, the students are given two-year scholarships worth $11,000. The scholarship provides students with $2,500 during each of their next two undergraduate years and $3,000 during each of their next two summers. During the school year, the students conduct research on their home campuses. During the summers, the students have the option of staying on their home campus or coming to UNMC, UNL or Creighton and conducting research.
For graduate students, the BRIN program can provide $20,000 in funding for one year for up to 10 students per year. BRIN scholar, Kay Crabtree, said she would not have been able to pursue her interest in a research career if not for the support provided by the grant. Crabtree, who is receiving a $20,000 graduate stipend for one year, is a graduate research assistant working with Charles Wood, Ph.D., director of the Nebraska Center for Virology and the Lehr/3M Professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
BRIN scholar, Kay Crabtree, said she would not have been able to pursue her interest in a research career if not for the support provided by the grant. Crabtree, who is receiving a $20,000 graduate stipend for one year, is a graduate research assistant working with Charles Wood, Ph.D., director of the Nebraska Center for Virology and the Lehr/3M Professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“The biggest benefit of this grant is that it increases awareness about opportunities to do biomedical research in Nebraska among the state’s undergraduates,” said Crabtree, who applied for a BRIN scholarship when she was studying biology as a graduate student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
A BRIN conference, showcasing the research work of undergraduate students who are current BRIN scholars, will be held Aug. 11 and 12 in Grand Island.