Norfolk State University Receives

National Institutes of Health Grant for $3.6 Million

Norfolk, Va.—The National Institutes of Health (NIH)—Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) program has awarded Norfolk State University a $3.6 million grant to assist in the creation of a Center for Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences (CBBS) at NSU. The newest science center will be housed in the Woods Science Building and the Marie V. McDemmond Center for Applied Research, formerly known as the RISE Center.

NSU will receive the funds over the next five years. The grant will be used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment housed in a bio-analytical core facility, train faculty at research-intensive schools in the newest technologies related to biotechnological and biomedical sciences, conduct research in three major areas of computer assisted drug design, proteomics/glyconomics and reproductive biochemistry and provide increased research opportunities for students in the biomedical sciences. Lead researchers in the area of reproductive biochemistry at NSU will use the funding to further research to develop non-hormonal approaches toward male contraceptive development and the development of in-vitro assays for the detection of reproductive cancers in men and women.

In an effort to step up research opportunities in the biomedical area, Eastern Virginia Medical School, the University of Virginia and Watson Laboratories, Inc. will partner with NSU forming a “research linkage partnership” that will provide cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research collaborations among the institutions and industry involved. Additional objectives of the grant proposal include: increasing the number of NSU faculty members submitting and acquiring competitive research grants; hiring three new faculty members whose research interests are in the biomedical sciences; and providing opportunities for faculty and students to exchange scientific ideas with leading biomedical scientists in the country and around the globe.

For more information, contact Dr. Joseph C. Hall, program director for the CBBS, at 823-8675 or Dr. Camellia Moses Okpodu, associate program director for the CBBS, at 823-8957.