The region received $18.9 million in funding from several sources for HIV and Alzheimer’s research, the creation of a new business model to promote startups, supercomputing and community-based healthcare.
–A new federal program to help early stage companies with commercialization is being created through a $1 million grant to Carnegie Mellon University’s Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Works from the Economic Development Administration.
IW and the Center will partner in the development of a model that will locate and support technology companies, drawing on the commercialization abilities of both to help companies reach the commercial stage faster and on leaner resources. The program hopes to evolve into a national model.
–The University of Pittsburgh and collaborators are developing a vaginal film that will reduce the risk of HIV infection with the support of an $11.8 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The quick-dissolving film (similar to paper breath fresheners) contains a powerful drug that reduces infection, an improvement over microbial gels. The product is also easy to dispense and use.
–Several of the world’s leading Alzheimer’s researchers were in Pittsburgh last week to discuss a new research made possible through $400,000 from the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. University of Pittsburgh’s Dr. William Klunk and Harvard University’s Dr. Rudolph Tanzi will study the unique properties of the Indian spice curcumin (curry spice), which has shown promise in reducing the damage and progression of the disease in early studies using mice.
–The Three Rivers Optical Exchange (3ROX), the advanced network research group at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, has received two National Science Foundation four-year grants totaling $2.5 million. The grant will be used for networking upgrades to the region’s research and education computing system, vastly increasing computing speed. It will also make transponders available to researchers at no-cost to assist with data-intensive research.
–The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health received $3.2 million to create a community-based education center for the training of health professionals to meet the region’s diverse health needs. The five-year grant will create The Pennsylvania Public Health Training Center, a center that will develop relationships with community-based organizations and health departments to provide training in management, health communications and more.
Source: Stephen Bollinger, Intimate Bridge to Conception
Writer: Deb Smit
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