10:20 a.m., Sept. 3, 2010----The Delaware IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) program hosted two representatives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a site visit on Sept. 2-3.

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Fred Taylor, director of the NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program, and Krishan Arora, INBRE program officer, visited all six partners in the Delaware INBRE -- the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Wesley College, Delaware Technical and Community College, Christiana Care Health System, and Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children.

A multi-institutional program funded by the NIH National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and administered by UD, Delaware INBRE has secured more than $45 million in competitive grants from NIH-NCRR since 2001.

The program is aimed at establishing and growing a statewide biomedical research capacity through support of early-career faculty in mentored biomedical research, involvement of undergraduate institutions in the research process, and development of the biomedical research infrastructure and workforce.

The visit began at UD, where Taylor and Arora were hosted by Karl Steiner, principal investigator of the program, and Steven Stanhope, program coordinator and chair of the INBRE research committee.

“We're thrilled to have Fred and Krishan here to meet with many of the researchers who have benefited from the support of the INBRE program over the past 10 years and to see how our biomedical research capability and infrastructure have grown and strengthened during that time,” said Steiner.

In addition to supporting bioinformatics initiatives, core instrumentation centers, and undergraduate research opportunities, the Delaware INBRE provides pilot grant support for research projects in cancer, cardiovascular science, and neurosciences.

“It's exciting to see that INBRE has created a functioning network involving so many institutions in Delaware,” Taylor said. “Delaware is a very interactive place where people work together to accomplish things. The program has had a significant economic impact across the state and opened new doors for health-related research and careers in health care.”

Taylor also lauded Delaware for the leveraging enabled by the strong working relationship between INBRE and the related COBRE (Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence) program. Also funded by NCRR, COBRE supports thematic multidisciplinary centers that augment and strengthen institutional biomedical research capacity. Delaware currently has four COBRE programs in place, three at UD and one at Nemours.

Arora said that INBRE has made a significant difference in the culture of biomedical research in Delaware and promoted fruitful partnerships among institutions.

One important INBRE-seeded partnership is the Delaware Health Sciences Alliance, which includes three INBRE partner institutions -- UD, Christiana Care Health System, and Nemours -- and combines their respective capabilities with the expertise at Delaware's medical school, Thomas Jefferson University.

The site visit coincided with the opening of a new Delaware INBRE suite in McDowell Hall, which also houses UD's College of Health Sciences.

Article by Diane Kukich
Photo by Doug Baker