NIH grant will speed translation of biomedical research to disease treatment

Monday, September 25, 2017
Student examines a test tube

易胜博官网 has been awarded a five-year, $10 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant to accelerate the translation of听its basic biomedical and bioengineering research into clinical and commercialization opportunities leading to improved diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

鈥淲e recognize that addressing the pressing health issues facing our nation will require us to ensure research is not taking place in silos,鈥 says听Jan Nisbet, senior vice provost for research. 鈥淗istorically, a lot of the biomedical research at 易胜博官网 was done by individuals with individual grants. This grant, a first for 易胜博官网, will allow us to establish this new cross-college Center of Integrated Biomedical and Bioengineering Research that brings our faculty and students together to advance clinical research, commercial opportunities and translational medicine.鈥

鈥淭his grant, a first for 易胜博官网, will allow us to establish this new cross-college center that brings our faculty and students together to advance clinical research, commercial opportunities and translational medicine.鈥

The grant will also allow 易胜博官网 to purchase state-of-the-art instrumentation to enhance core biomedical research facilities and better support its early-career faculty through mentoring and career development. Initially it will fund five junior faculty members with the expectation that new junior faculty will join the center when these researchers receive independent NIH funding and 鈥済raduate.鈥 In addition, the COBRE funding is available for renewal over two additional five-year periods.

鈥淭his is the culmination of decades of work and a reflection of 易胜博官网鈥檚 commitment to interdisciplinary research and teaching,鈥 says Rick Cote, chair of the department of molecular, cellular and biomedical sciences and principal investigator for the award. 鈥淭he university has made strategic investments in its biomedical and bioengineering faculty as well as its infrastructure and this grant allows us to increase the capacity of researchers to develop clinically relevant tools and treatments.鈥

W. Kelley Thomas, Hubbard Professor of Genomics and a member of the COBRE leadership team, noted that the faculty mentoring plan will help basic biomedical researchers discover the clinical relevance of their work. 鈥淚t is important for all of us to see the research move outside the isolation of a lab and right to the bedside.鈥

For example, Jeffrey Halpern, assistant professor of chemical engineering, will continue his research into diagnostic sensors that could be used in a doctor鈥檚 office to immediately adjust medications. Kyung Jae Jeong, assistant professor of chemical engineering, will conduct tissue engineering research that could one day lead to bone regeneration; and Xuanmao Chen, assistant professor of neurobiology, will explore how defects at the cellular level could contribute to depression, obesity and brain aging.听

易胜博官网 joins Dartmouth in having NIH-sponsored COBREs. The 易胜博官网 COBRE will unify biomedical and bioengineering faculty from many departments in the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences and the College of Health and Human Services.

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