| (MEDIA NOTE: A news release issued from UAMS, included below, announces a $16.7 million federal biomedical research grant to several state institutions, including ASU. Below is information about ASU's involvement, followed by the full release.) * ASU will receive more than $1.1 million from the National Institutes of Health over the next five years (approximately $220,000 per year through 2010). * Two ASU professors have been funded as leaders of research projects on this campus. -- Dr. Malathi Srivatsan, assistant professor of molecular biology, leads a research group that is investigating the survival and development of neurons and neurotoxicity. -- Dr. Roger Buchanan, professor of zoology, leads a group that is investigating the effects of nicotine on the developing brain. * Three ASU professors are funded (Drs. Buchanan, Srivatsan and Anne Grippo, associate professor of biology). * At present there are 12 students (three graduate, nine undergraduate) who are funded by this grant to work on these projects. * The NIH-funded INBRE is a continuation of the NIH-funded BRIN. ASU received about $500,000 from the BRIN. Some of the BRIN (and INBRE funds) were awarded to ASU to support the ACCESS grid web-based interactive classroom. -- For additional information, contact Dr. Roger Buchanan at (870) 680-4297 or 530-2872, or Dr. Malathi Srivatsan at (870) 972-3167 News release, Sept. 14, 2005 UAMS, UAF, UALR, Partner Schools Receive $16.7 Million To Boost Biomedical Research Efforts in Arkansas NIH Grant Expands State's Biotechnology Infrastructure LITTLE ROCK - The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (UAF), the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) and seven partner institutions have received a five-year, $16.7 million federal grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand and improve biomedical research in Arkansas. The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a division of NIH, awarded the grant through its Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program. This Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) award follows a four-year, $9.3 million grant funded in 2001 to create the Arkansas Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN). The new INBRE grant is intended to enhance biomedical research through support of individual research projects, state-of-the-art scientific instrumentation and new programs in biomedical education. The funds will be shared among the lead institutions, UAMS, UAF and UALR, as well as seven partner institutions that include Arkansas State University, Hendrix College, John Brown University, Lyon College, Ouachita Baptist University, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the University of Central Arkansas. "This grant is critical for continued development of biomedical research programs that will improve the lives of Arkansans since laboratory research is a vital link in finding new medical treatments," said Lawrence E. Cornett, Ph.D., director of Arkansas INBRE and a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in the UAMS College of Medicine. "Thanks to BRIN funding, we have helped to establish research programs that are conducting cutting-edge research in neuroscience and cancer biology through recruitment of highly-skilled and research-focused faculty and students to these institutions across the state." In the past four years, the BRIN funds allowed the lead and partner institutions to recruit 10 new faculty members with a specific research focus or biomedical expertise; award 85 faculty fellowships to support research activities; award 51 summer student fellowships to work in research labs at UAMS, UAF or UALR; and provided equipment grants to improve research infrastructure at the participating institutions. The initial grant provided fund |
