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TTUHSC SEES SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN RESEARCH AWARDS
LUBBOCK -- Federal research dollars awarded to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in fiscal year 2000 were 2.3 times the amount for fiscal year 1998.
And overall research funding for fiscal year 2000, totaling $12,950,422, was almost double the amount for fiscal year 1998, which was $6,758,280. Total federal funding for fiscal year 2000 was $7,250,858, while federal awards for fiscal year 1998 totaled $3,124,648.
Barbara Pence, Ph.D., associate vice president for research and associate dean for research and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, says the jump in funding is largely due to the school's strategic plan for research.
"We have made great strides in supporting research by encouraging more participation in seed grant programs, purchasing new equipment and hiring new recruits," Pence said. "We also have seen a big increase in research grant applications by TTUHSC faculty."
Pence said supporting student research is another area in which TTUHSC is attracting more visibility and national recognition. "The number of students in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has increased by about 50 percent in the past two years," she said.
The National Institutes of Health awarded Raul Martinez-Zaguilan, Ph.D., of the Department of Physiology, $1,678,000 for his research project, "Proton ATPases in Microvascular Endothelial Cells and Diabetes." By measuring proton movements inside of living microvascular endothelial cells, Martinez-Zaguilan hopes to find avenues to ameliorate problems associated with diabetes. His laboratory also is funded by the American Cancer Society to evaluate the relevance of proton pumping activity in metastatic human breast cancer.
"The administration has been very encouraging and supportive of our research efforts," he said. "It is becoming a top priority."
Douglas M. Stocco, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, continues to work on several aspects of the StAR protein, including how the StAR gene itself is controlled and how StAR may perform its role of delivering cholesterol for steroid biosynthesis. Stocco and his research group identified StAR, a new protein in steroid producing tissues, and published their findings in 1994.
James Rohrer, Ph.D., of the Health Services Research Department, and other TTUHSC researchers hope to survey 5,000 elderly residents in a 108-county region to investigate differences in access to health services and changes in health status related to being members of under-served rural and minority populations.
TTUHSC also continues to break new ground in research areas such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, border health issues and sick building syndrome to name just a few, said Joel Kupersmith, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
"I think we have just scratched the surface of research opportunities here at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center," Kupersmith said. "Now in addition to being a top education and service provider, we are becoming a nationally recognized r
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