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<\/a>The NIH fundindg will provide resources for Furman students and faculty engaged in biomedical research<\/p><\/div>\n
The funding is part of a five-year, $18 million NIH award to South Carolina, where Furman will partner with colleges and universities across the state in an effort to strengthen the Palmetto State\u2019s biomedical research capacity.<\/p>\n
Under the SC IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (SC INBRE III) award,\u00a0Furman will receive $390,000 in research funding in the first year and a minimum of $1.3 million over the five-year award period. Furman has been a partner institution since the inception of the SC INBRE program in 2005, and, by the conclusion of the new award, will have received more than $5 million in support of faculty-student research and outreach.<\/p>\n
In order to build research capacity, the NIH Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) program provides resources to 23 states that have traditionally received low levels of federal research funding to build research capacity. The University of South Carolina School of Medicine administers the state program in partnership with Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina and nine competitively-selected predominantly undergraduate institutions.<\/p>\n
Dr. John Wheeler, Director of Furman\u2019s Office of Integrative Research in the Sciences, will serve as the local Principal Investigator\/Institutional Director of the Furman program and oversee the selection and funding of 25 faculty and 55 undergraduate students.\u00a0 All will participate in biomedically-related undergraduate research across multiple disciplines, including Biology, Chemistry, Health Sciences, Neuroscience and Psychology.<\/p>\n
In addition, two Furman biology professors\u2014Dr. Renee Chosed and Dr. Jason Rawlings\u2014have been selected through statewide competition as recipients of target faculty awards under the SC-INBRE III Developmental Research Program. Each will receive in excess of $75,000 in direct support for their research efforts during the first year of the award, with the opportunity for renewal in subsequent years.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Dr. Renee Chosed<\/p><\/div>\n
Dr. Chosed\u2019s lab uses yeast to model mixed-lineage leukemia, wherein genetically modified yeast strains are developed to express human proteins involved in this type of cancer. By taking this approach, the disease can be more easily studied without the need to work with much more complex human cancer cells.<\/p>\n
Dr. Rawlings also works in the field of immunology, investigating the mechanism that controls the activation and proliferation of T\u00a0lymphocytes during an immune response. His work has broad applicability to disease states involving immune cells including cancer, autoimmunity and immunodeficiency.<\/p>\n