MUSC gets record $42.9M in grants in 2 weeks

The Medical University of South Carolina earned a record $42.9 million in grants in the last two weeks, climbing into a new echelon in research and reputation that could lure even more grants and high-tech companies, researchers say.

“This is not a coincidence,” MUSC Interim Provost Dr. John Raymond said of five grants in two weeks. “This is evidence that MUSC is joining the top ranks of medical schools in the United States.”

Until now, MUSC stood on a middle rung of the nation’s 125 medical schools in terms of research funding. Raymond said he expects the university to rise to the top third or quarter of medical schools in the next five years.

“It shows MUSC can compete with the best in the world,” Raymond said.

MUSC was among 47 respected centers competing for National Institutes of Health contracts. Duke, Emory and the University of North Carolina applied without success. MUSC received $15.2 million.

“That puts the Medical University in the game with the major players in the country,” said Dr. Daniel Knapp, an MUSC professor. “It is another illustration of how far MUSC has come,” he said, noting that Yale and Stanford also won contracts.

The increase this year over last is astounding, said Dillard Marshall, MUSC director of research and sponsored programs. The $63 million in research money during the first quarter of this fiscal year soared 45 percent above the first quarter of the previous year. During the 2001-02 fiscal year, the university was awarded $131 million in grants.

Another measure of MUSC’s success: During the last two weeks, it landed more grants than it did in all of fiscal 1993.

Every research dollar generates $1.60 in local spending, said Raymond, who foresees the research attracting biotech and other industry.New treatments will be developed and tried here before they are offered elsewhere, so area residents will have the very best care, he said.

The five new grants range from programs that will treat patients immediately to exploration that could shape the future of medicine. They include:

• A $15.2 million contract to develop a Cardiovascular Proteomics Center that is the largest competitive National Institutes of Health grant or contract that MUSC ever has received. Proteomics is a field expected to cure and ultimately prevent disease.

• A $10.9 million grant that will establish a Center in Lipidomics and Pathobiology to study the role of a class of fatty acid molecules, especially in cancer, aging and neurological disease.

• An $8.7 million NIH grant to develop a Center in Oral Health Research, one of only two national Center of Biomedical Research Excellence dental centers in this country. It’s the largest award the MUSC College of Dental Medicine ever has received.

• A $4.4 million grant for a Women’s Research Center that will include treatment and basic science research on drug abuse relapse.

• A $3.7 million grant for research aimed to reduce health disparities. The grant will focus on disorders such as hypertension, diabetes, lipid abnormalities and obesity – all major contributors to health disparities.

Receiving the grants represents a milestone, and these “center” grants represent a new level of institutional reputation and quality said Dr. Kenneth Roozen, director of MUSC’s Foundation for Research Development.

Center grants bring together many individuals, which creates what Roozen described as an explosion of new information. Such grants also support facilities or equipment that no single researcher can obtain, he said.

MUSC has recruited world-class people lately; grants have provided world-class equipment; and the combination improves the chance that MUSC will land still more large grants, said Raymond.

“The days of the Medical University boot-strapping itself up are over,” he said.