UMass Researcher Receives $200K Grant
A researcher at Worcester's University of Massachusetts Medical School was one of 10 researchers statewide chosen today to receive $200,000 over two years as part of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center's new investigator research matching grants.
UMass Medical School's Dr. Jeffrey Bailey, assistant professor with the school's Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology department, will now be able to continue his research into the genetic mechanisms that keep some people from catching malaria, according to the center's announcement. He will research the differences in the number of gene copies or DNA segments that are related to malarial resistance.
"We are confident that the work of these young scientists will improve the quality of life in Massachusetts, create jobs, and contribute to medical and scientific knowledge throughout the world," said Susan Windham-Bannister, the center's president and CEO, in a prepared statement.
Bailey's award was part of the $1.38 million voted today for new investigator research grants to 7 researchers at schools like Brandeis University, Northeastern University and the Immune Disease Institute at Children's Hospital, as well as UMass Medical.
The researchers' schools will match the center's research grants as part of the program.
This is the center's second round of new investigator grants. In July 2008 it awarded $3.1 million over three years to 11 different researchers across the state. Included in the first round of grants was one awarded to Chris Schonhoff, a researcher at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton. He is researching how nitric oxide signals liver cells to make bile, and will then use that information to fight bacterial infections in the liver.
The new investigator program was put in place because funding from the federal National Institutes of Health had been flat for five years, which meant that younger researchers had even less chance of scoring a grant.
"By investing in the next generation of researchers, we are investing in the future of scientific innovation in our state," said Dr. Harvey Lodish, chair of the center's Scientific Advisory Board, in prepared statement. The board chooses which researchers receive awards. Lodish is also professor of biology and bioengineering at MIT.
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