Startup News: Wayne State, Karmanos land nearly $5M in research grants in July

Research at Wayne State University has enjoyed quite the lucrative month, taking in nearly $5 million in grants during July.

The latest seven-figure grant is $1.2 million from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for breast cancer research that will be split by Wayne State and the Karmanos Cancer Institute. The grant will fund a number of different facets of breast cancer research, including detection, prevention and treatment.

"The point of this grant is to keep breast cancer researchers doing what they're doing," says Maureen Meldrum, chair of the Susan G. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure, the director of breast cancer special programs at Karmanos and a breast cancer survivor. "We lose researchers everyday because there isn't enough funding to go around. We can't afford to lose more good people."

The grant funds the continuation of a number of research programs and positions at both places. It also funds one new research position that explores drug interactions with the hope of learning how to minimize negative side effects and improve the efficacy.

Other grants include:

$2.6 million from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health that will allow Wayne State School of Medicine researchers to conduct one of the largest studies ever on stress resiliency and the social programs designed to ease post-traumatic stress disorder among Iraqi war refugees.

$755,121 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health to examine trajectories and potential mechanisms of sexual risk behaviors among young adolescent females with CSA histories.

$75,784 to the Wayne State University College of Nursing from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation to determine the benefit of routine oxygen administration to terminally ill patients who are near death.

Source: Wayne State University and Maureen Meldrum, chair of the Susan G. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure
Writer: Jon Zemke