October 10, 2001
NIH Funds Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network at UA
October 10, 2001 NR 18-01
The University of ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ has been awarded a grant, totaling $6 million over three years, to build biomedical research and its supporting infrastructure in ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ. The grant award, funded through the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is intended to enhance biomedical research capacity among academic research institutions in ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ. The ultimate purpose of the network is to build a selfsustaining research base that will lead to competitive research applications from multidisciplinary research teams.
The ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN) will be formed by linking the University of ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ Fairbanks and the University of ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ Anchorage with other institutions in the state. The grant will fund two teaching/research faculty positions, one at ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ and one at UAA that focus on genomics and toxicology. In addition, BRIN will support a faculty position in Bioinformatics at ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ, and provide research instrumentation to bring state-of-the-art molecular genomics and protein biochemistry to ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ. Funds will also be available to bring Outside scientists to ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ for seminars and to send ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æns to major research centers for special training. Students will be supported at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
The network’s research will focus on cellular mechanisms: emphasizing the ways in
which contaminants in subsistence foods act on proteins and genes. BRIN will support
a major initiative to create liaisons with other ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ institutions, with ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ
Native groups, and with health researchers in other states. The ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ-BRIN is one
of 24 awards granted to states that have received less than $70 million in NIH funding
on average from 1995 to 1999 or had an NIH grant award success rate of less than 20
percent over that time period. The principal investigator on this grant is Dr. George
Happ of ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ with support from Dr. Gerry Plumley of ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ and Carl Hild of UAA.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Dr. George Happ, ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ, 907-474-5492
NR 18-01