NIH Funds Biomedical Research Infrastructure Networks
Kathy Kaplan, NCRR Information Officer
Bethesda, Md. — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today that it has awarded 24 grants, totaling approximately $45 million, to biomedical research institutions located in states that have not fully participated in NIH grant funding in the past. The awards, funded through the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program, enhance biomedical research capacity among academic institutions and research institutions within the 23 states* and Puerto Rico that are eligible to participate.
The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), the NIH component that administers the IDeA Program, has awarded the grants to the following institutions, each representing a Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN):
University of Alaska, FairbanksUniversity of Nevada, RenoUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little RockUniversity of New Hampshire, DurhamUniversity of Delaware, NewarkNew Mexico State University, Las CrucesUniversity of Hawaii at ManoaUniversity of North Dakota, Grand ForksUniversity of Idaho, MoscowUniversity of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma CityUniversity of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas CityUniversity of Rhode Island, KingstonUniversity of Louisville, KentuckyUniversity of South Carolina, ColumbiaLouisiana State University and A&M College, Baton RougeUniversity of South Dakota, VermillionMount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, MaineUniversity of Vermont, BurlingtonUniversity of Southern Mississippi, HattiesburgMarshall University, Huntington, West VirginiaMontana State University, BozemanUniversity of Wyoming, LaramieUniversity of Nebraska Medical Center, OmahaUniversity of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras
The grants will enable each of these institutions to establish a BRIN, a subcomponent of the IDeA Program. Through BRIN, the grantee institutions will develop areas of potential research through staff development and access to research resources. Specifically, the program provides funding to:
Bring together institutions within a state to establish the network;
Make institutional alterations and renovations;
Improve laboratory equipment; and
Assist in the recruitment of new faculty.
While each BRIN will have unique characteristics depending on a state’s infrastructure needs, the ultimate purpose of a network is to build an effective research base that will eventually lead to competitive research applications from multidisciplinary research teams.
“BRIN offers a unique opportunity for institutions within each eligible state to work together to increase that state’s capacity to support and conduct important biomedical research,” said Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, NIH Acting Director.
States eligible to apply for grants funded through the IDeA Program are those that 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 period. In 1998, investigators from the 23 eligible IDeA states and Puerto Rico accounted for only 8 percent of the total number of research grant applications received by NIH.
NCRR is this nation’s leading Federal sponsor of resources that enable advances in many areas of biomedical research. NCRR support provides the scientific research community with access to a diverse array of biomedical research technologies, instrumentation, specialized basic and clinical research facilities, animal models (mammalian and nonmammalian), genetic stocks, and such biomaterials as cell lines, tissues, and organs.
The National Center for Research Resources is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.*Current IDeA-eligible states: Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Puerto Rico also is eligible to participate in IDeA.
