Brown Receives $11.5 Million Grant From the National Institutes of Health
Thursday, June 02, 2016
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Brown University an $11.5 million grant which Brown will use to expand its research in computational biology and launch a new Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE).
The new center will support five early career faculty members as they look into the genomics underlying diseases like cancer, preeclampsia and severe lung infections.
“Brown scientists and students from a number of departments around the University — from computer science and applied mathematics to biology, medicine and public health — have been working collaboratively to understand and realize the benefits of advanced genomics. This new COBRE will expand those programs to help move Brown to the forefront of this exciting, promising field of research," said David Savitz, Brown's vice president for research.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe new center will bring together diverse teams of researcher to generate new insights to advance medicine and health.
“There’s data and then there’s information. Turning data into information you can use for something is what computational biology is all about," said David Rand, director of the new center and chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
New Center, New Projects and Capabilities
The new COBRE will build a research core where expert staff will be able to develop and code technical implementations for the center's researchers, freeing valuable time and resources in their own labs.
The center will directly fund research of five teams of scientists which younger faculty members will pursue studies related to human disease under the mentorship of two senior professors.
COBRE will support researchers with an administrative core that will support new seed projects in order to increase the breadth of users across the University.
Five Projects are set to get underway starting on June 1. Those projects are:
- Amanda Jamieson, assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology, will study bioinformatics data to identify the genomic and cellular mechanisms underlying tolerance of viral and bacterial coinfection in the lung. Her mentors will be Dr. Jack A. Elias , dean of medicine and biologic sciences, and Wu.
- Nicola Neretti, assistant professor of biology, will use bioinformatics screening of a fruit fly model to identify new drug targets for extending healthy lifespan. He’ll work with mentors Rand and Charles Lawrence, professor of applied mathematics.
- Ramachandran will develop new computational and analytical methodologies to identify risk genes for leukemia that differ in incidence across ethnic groups and genders. Her mentors will be Lawrence and Valerie Knopik, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown and the Rhode Island Hospital.
- Alper Uzun, assistant professor of pediatrics (research) will test the hypothesis that variants in a refined set of gene candidates underlie the complex basis of preeclampsia. He’ll work with Dr. Jim Padbury, William and Mary Oh – William and Elsa Zopfi Professor of Pediatrics at Brown and Women & Infants Hospital, and William Fairbrother, associate professor of biology.
- Shipra Vaishnava, assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology, will study the spatial variation in the gut microbiome in response to antimicrobials and immunity pathways that can inform aspects of human irritable bowel disease (IBD). Her mentors will be Professor Richard Bennett from her department and Professor Mitch Sogin from the Marine Biological Laboratories.
COBRE Grants and Brown
Over the last 20 ears, Brown as well as its affiliated hospitals have earned several other COBRE grants for research in areas ranging from human behavior to stem cellos to skeletal health.
After the initial five year period, the grants can be renewed for an additional two-five year periods, however, the final five year award must focus on continued sustainability of the research cores established in the COBRE.
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