NCRR Grants $117 Million in Institutional Development Awards to Underserved States

11 Awards Will Advance Core Research, Enhance Competitiveness

October 29, 2009 — Providing adequate research infrastructure, mentoring and training opportunities for biomedical researchers is crucial to advancing science to improve health. To this end, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded $117 million in continued funding to 11 Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBREs). The awards, administered by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), fund research centers in 23 eligible states and Puerto Rico that focus on critical research and disease areas such as translational neuroscience, infectious disease and cancer genetics.

COBRE awards support multidisciplinary centers that each concentrate on one core area of research in order to strengthen biomedical faculty research capability and enhance research infrastructure. COBREs are a component of the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program, which is designed to improve the competitiveness of investigators in states that historically have not received significant levels of competitive NIH research funding.

“COBRE centers feature scientists who work to accelerate the pace of research discoveries that ultimately may deliver new preventions, treatments and cures for diseases,” said NCRR Director Barbara Alving, M.D. “These new awards will enable the further development of core efficiencies and provide essential mentoring opportunities for young investigators who are then better positioned to become future leaders in biomedical research.”

Applications receiving continued funding include:

• Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge): “Center for Experimental Infectious Disease Research.” Estimated Five-year Award: 11.2 million.
• Montana State University: (Bozeman) “Center for Zoonotic and Emerging Infectious Diseases.” Estimated Five-year Award: 10.4 million.
• Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (Oklahoma City): “Molecular Mechanisms and Genetics of Autoimmunity.” Estimated Five-year Award: 11.8 million.
• Rhode Island Hospital (Providence): “COBRE Center for Cancer Research Development.” Estimated Five-year Award: 11.1 million.
• Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (New Orleans, La.): “Mentoring a Cancer Genetics Program.” Estimated Five-year Award: 10.5 million.
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Little Rock): “Center for Translational Neuroscience.” Estimated Five-year Award: 10.4 million.
• University of Kentucky (Lexington): “Center for the Biologic Basis of Oral/Systemic Disease.” Estimated Five-year Award: 10.7 million.
• University of Kentucky Research Foundation (Lexington): “Center for Biomedical Research Excellence in the Molecular Basis of Human Disease.” Estimated Five-year Award: 10.5 million.
• University of Nebraska Medical Center (Omaha): “The Molecular Biology of Neurosensory Systems.” Estimated Five-year Award: 10.2 million.
• University of Nevada, Reno: “Smooth Muscle Plasticity Center of Biomedical Research Excellence.” Estimated Five-year Award: 10.2 million.
• University of New Mexico (Albuquerque): “COBRE Center for Evolutionary and Theoretical Immunology.” Estimated Five-year Award: 10.8 million.

Full descriptions of each of the newly funded projects are available at www.ncrr.nih.gov/cobre/2009.

These COBREs already are making significant contributions to a range of complex health issues. Since its inception in 2003, the Rhode Island COBRE Center for Cancer Research Development (CCRD) has made discoveries that have broadened knowledge of different types of cancer by identifying a new mode of transmitting signals regulating the growth and spread of cancer, a new gene that determines sensitivity to anti-cancer drugs, and another gene elevated by acid reflux that increases the risk of esophageal cancer. Over the next five years, the center will focus its efforts on research aimed at identifying characteristics of cancer stem cells that could serve as therapeutic targets.

During its first five years of funding, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences COBRE has produced a novel potential treatment for tinnitus “ringing in the ears;” a new use for an existing drug that relieves the excessive reflexes induced by spinal cord injury; and an effective new treatment for spatial neglect, which is a common side effect of stroke.

For more general information about the IDeA program, visit www.ncrr.nih.gov/idea.