Eighteen Stanford University School of Medicine projects that had been stalled by budget shortfalls at the National Institutes of Health are moving forward now, thanks to $6.9 million in federal economic stimulus funding.
Eleven of the newly funded projects had been peer-reviewed and approved but hadn’t received money yet. Another six involved supplemental grants to existing projects. And in one case, the NIH awarded $500,000 to a researcher to buy two photon microscopes that will be shared with other laboratories.
These projects are the first at the medical school to receive support under the national stimulus plan, with additional grants expected down the road, officials said.
“This is a lifesaver,” said Francis Blankenberg, MD, associate professor of radiology and of pediatrics, who received $655,000 in stimulus funds. “It really stabilizes the lab.”
Blankenberg and his colleagues are working on a novel radiotherapy approach to targeting breast and colon tumors. The technique uses a radiolabeled form of the protein called VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) to selectively target and destroy tumor vessels along with the tumor itself. The researchers initially had applied for a grant in 2007 and, after two more resubmissions, received a score in the 21(st) percentile. The cutoff was at the 15(th) percentile.
“In the old days, they probably would have funded it,” he said, but the project remained temporarily sidelined by the stiff competition for limited NIH money. The money will pay for two postdoctoral scholars, as well as Blankenberg and another faculty member part-time.
Philip Pizzo, MD, the dean of the School of Medicine, said the stimulus funding is critical to the country’s health-care reform effort because of the linkage between research and medical care.
Additional details about the Standford School of Medicine’s use of NIH stimulus funds can be found here.
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