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MERC Implementation Grant Awards
2008 Awards
UWCCC Biobank
Catherine Leith, MB, Bchir, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Director of UW CCC Biobank
Award: $450,108 over two years
The goal of this project is to establish a global Biobank for the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (UW SMPH). This will begin with development of a centralized location for collection and storage of human tissues and other human biological material. The UW Comprehensive Cancer Center (UWCCC) Biobank will be used as a platform for an expansion to incorporate samples from non-cancer related programs, such as the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) and the Wisconsin Network for Health Research (WiNHR). The institution of a single Biobank instead of multiple banks provides advantages to the institution in terms of specimen quality and accessibility, regulatory issues and cost. In addition, access to high quality tissue, blood and other human biological material is central to a wide variety of research into human disease, ranging from population health to epidemiology studies to unraveling the causes of cancer.
Wisconsin Center for Infectious Diseases (WisCID)
Bruce Klein, MD, Professor, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, and Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Award: $1,511,306 over three years
Despite advances made in reducing infectious diseases over the past hundred years, the overuse of antibiotics has driven the evolution of microbes that are resistant to the major antibiotics used against them. The WPP is providing funding to create a Wisconsin Center for Infectious Diseases (WisCID) that will investigate microbiological areas of public health importance and translate the research discoveries into novel therapies and preventive measures. The center will be designed to integrate the work of physicians and scientists to facilitate the application of the tools of microbiology, immunology and public health to combat infectious and inflammatory disease. The Center will link efforts with state health professionals and agencies, including the Wisconsin Division of Health and the State Laboratory of Hygiene.
2006 Award
UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
Director, Marc Drezner, MD, Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research
Award: $6,847,846 over 2 years
This award supports a new institute, the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, which will serve as the foundation to achieve major changes in the clinical and translational research enterprise. The goal of the Institute is to create an environment to transform health research into a continuum extending from investigation through discovery to translation into clinical practice in communities. MERC funding is primarily designated for support of Type 2 translational research, including community research, and biostatistics and biomedical informatics. Dr. Drezner is Principal Investigator of a recently submitted 5-year, $65 million NIH grant application, which will support the many other functions essential to enhance clinical and translational research and develop a comprehensive program with a long-term goal of delivering improved health care to communities.
2005 Awards
Research
Survey of the Health of Wisconsin
Javier Nieto, MD, MPH, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Population Health Sciences
Award: $4,116,906 over three years
The overall goal of the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin is to create an infrastructure to assess health needs, to understand the major determinants of health, and to study health trends over time. Results from this survey of a representative sample of Wisconsin residents will be used to establish state health priorities.
Human Proteomics Program
Jeff Walker, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology
Rick Moss, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Physiology
Award: $1,767,208 over three years
Proteomics is the study of the protein makeup of cells and tissues and of protein function in these systems. This project will provide scientists and physicians with the powerful new tools of proteomics for studying and diagnosing human disease. This will be accomplished by developing a core research facility that is focused on the identification and functional characterization of proteins associated with human health and disease, and through a program of professional and public education.
Regenerative Medicine Program
Tim Kamp, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine
Award: $1,200,000 over four years
The aim of the Regenerative Medicine Program is the development of core facilities necessary to overcome roadblocks to the application of stem cell biology to clinical medicine. The program will consist of four core facilities: Stem Cell Resources, Immunology/Pathology, Non-Human Primate, and Imaging. MERC funding supports the Immunology/Pathology and Imaging cores. The core facilities will provide interdisciplinary resources to researchers, foster collaborations, and bring the promise of regenerative medicine to fruition in the form of treatments for various diseases.
Education
Innovations in Medical Education
Susan Skochelak, MD, MPH, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Award: $3,414,780 over four years
This includes: 1) development of a new curriculum combining medicine and public health, with an emphasis on population health, problem-solving skills, new content areas and new technologies; 2) a clinical skills teaching and assessment center to enhance the ability to teach and assess using standardized patients and performance-based testing; and 3) statewide healthcare distance education to allow more community providers, patients and Wisconsin residents to participate in health education programs as well as to provide interdisciplinary education for health professions students. A symposium on the development of these initiatives will be held during the grant period.
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