$2.8 MILLION NIH GRANT AWARDED TO UH FOR
BIONANO TRAINING
B. Montgomery Pettitt Named Multi-institutional Lead, Endorses ‘Meta-university’
Concept
HOUSTON, Oct. 19, 2004 – A $2.8 million National Institutes
of Health grant awarded to the University of Houston is not only
expanding research, but also preparing the next generation of scientists
among Houston universities and medical schools.
The T90R90 grant, earmarked specifically for bionano training and
research, was awarded to UH through the school’s Institute
for Molecular Design (IMD) for the Keck Center for Computational
and Structural Biology. The grant will be disbursed to undergraduate,
graduate and postdoctoral students over the course of the next five
years as competitive fellowships among those at UH, Rice University,
Baylor College of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. These institutions
make up the Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC), a group designed to combine
institutional strengths to train new scientists, establish a research
infrastructure to collect data, cultivate a supportive atmosphere
for both biological and non-biological researchers and students,
and apply the resulting knowledge to prevent and treat diseases.
“This grant substantiates the fact that you can’t separate
research and training,” said B. Montgomery Pettitt, principal
investigator for this grant and Cullen Distinguished Professor of
Chemistry, professor of physics, biology and biochemistry, and associate
dean of computational and computer science for the UH College of
Natural Sciences and Mathematics. “Like anything, research
is a practiced art, and the discoveries that result are what come
from hands-on training. Grants like this give students experience
in doing research, as well as helping them find out what areas they
excel in and should likely pursue further.”
Just as the GCC melds training and research, this National Institutes
of Health (NIH) grant reinforces a similar approach to scientific
education. All part of a new NIH roadmap initiative, the grant supports
the shared vision of interdisciplinary education to which the Keck
center and GCC contribute.
The grant seeks to develop a new type of interdisciplinary scientist
in the emerging field of nanobiology that draws upon the interface
and combines the tools, ideas and materials of nanoscience and biology.
The new discipline will be characterized by the interplay between
current nanoscience applications in high technology and biotechnology
and biomedical applications for clinical and research medicine.
The intended mission is to integrate the principles of nanoscale
science and biology in research and coursework to develop the first
generation of nanobiologists. The result will be bionano research
that examines disease discovery, disease prevention and drug discovery,
as well as laying the foundation for a new wave of scientific discovery
and applications to address health care, environmental monitoring
and transportation.
“We’re using the basic sciences as a springboard to
branch out to more applied science through this grant,” Pettitt
said. “Training is research in a lab. The traditional boxes
of basic degrees that delineate disciplines no longer describe real
research.”
Along those lines, what is especially innovative about this grant
extends beyond just the recent money awarded. While UH is the lead
center and the fellowships are being administered through IMD, Pettitt’s
role as director of the Keck Center for Computational and Structural
Biology allows the grant to be shared among the member institutions
of the GCC. With six institutions and 40 other investigators besides
Pettitt collaborating, students are able to take full advantage
of the various resources that each institution is uniquely capable
of providing while still being able to claim a home base from which
they will receive their degrees.
“These vehicles allow us to put teams together in a meta-university
of sorts,” Pettitt said. “This is just the right thing
for student training and education. Through interdisciplinary and
inter-institutional study, we can offer a custom-tailored curriculum
for each student that opens up the playing field to study at each
university under different professors and experts. This is how new
ideas are born.”
This has become a very effective recruiting tool for UH. Its “students
are getting snapped up because industry demands workers that are
diverse and trained across the board.” He emphasizes that
this “no one size fits all” approach is a more accurate
reflection of the types of researchers needed for the scientific
challenges that exist in today’s society. With applications
already pouring in, he said they expect to begin handing out fellowships
as early as this semester.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research
and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers
and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate,
civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university
in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and
service with more than 35,000 students.
For more information about the Institute for Molecular Design,
visit http://www.chem.uh.edu/imd/index.html.
For more information about the Keck Center for Computational and
Structural Biology, visit http://cohesion.rice.edu/centersandinst/gcc/keck.cfm.
For more information about the Gulf Coast Consortia, visit http://cohesion.rice.edu/centersandinst/
gcc/gcc_about.cfm.
To receive UH science news via e-mail, visit www.uh.edu/admin/media/sciencelist.html.
For more information about UH visit the universitys Newsroom at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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