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To expand the state's biomedical research capability, many things are needed: more researchers, technicians, equipment, funding and collaboration. UH gets $5.9 million
grant to set up a state
biomedical research allianceThe purpose of the grant is
to improve research statewideBy Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com
The University of Hawaii announced yesterday it has received a three-year $5.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish an alliance of higher education and research institutions to improve biomedical research throughout the state.
The grant to create the Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network will be coordinated by UH's Pacific Biomedical Research Center and be shared with the other private four-year universities, community colleges, hospitals and private and nonprofit research facilities.
"This comes out at a very wonderful time for the state of Hawaii because ... the public is beginning to have some appreciation of biotechnology and biotechnology as an alternative potential industry," said the program director, Dr. Martin Rayner, interim director of the research center and associate dean of basic research at UH-Manoa's John A. Burns School of Medicine. "Our job is to create change in the state."
Hawaii's grant was one of 24 awarded throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The awards went to states that receive less than $75 million a year from the National Institutes of Health. "We should be pushing $50 million by the end of this year," Rayner said.
The award comes as UH is poised to begin construction on new medical school and biomedical research facilities in Kakaako, and Kamehameha Schools is discussing whether it can use some of the space near the new medical school for a high-tech office complex, Rayner noted.
"At a time when we are in a potential breakout mode, we need to think carefully about the future and how we should plan for an expanded capacity in this area," he said.
One of the key elements will be generating interest in science among high-schoolers and students at the other higher-education institutions. In addition to creating more researchers, the state also needs to start training more technicians in order to attract researchers and biomedical companies to Hawaii.
"We want to grow our own," Rayner said.
Part of the grant will be used to provide research and mentorship opportunities at UH for science teachers at the high school and college level to help them, and their students, get more excited about biomedical research.
"We're are absolutely delighted to be part of this" partnership with public and private institutions, said Chaminade University President Susan Wesselkamper. While Chaminade is not a research university, it does have strong science and teacher-training programs, she said.
Interim Manoa Chancellor Deane Neubauer added that the university hopes that by providing research opportunities here, Hawaii graduates will opt to remain in Hawaii, and perhaps others who have left can be persuaded to come home.
The networking with other research institutions is crucial for Hawaii to increase productivity, Neubauer said.
"We're too small a state to be divided," he said. "We need to take advantage of all the resources in the state."
University of Hawaii
