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Institutes unveil future research plans

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Also by Heather Quitos:

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Tag-team academics (March 14, 2007)

by Heather Quitos

Thursday, February 22, 2007

The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery research program put the dreams of some researchers into motion Wednesday as the institutes announced the winners of the Discovery Seed Grants competition.

An overall $3 million will be allotted for eight research teams, a decision decided by a committee comprised of University of Wisconsin faculty members.

"We were really excited about it," said Andy Cohn, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation public relations manager. "There's a real wide range of research."

The money provided from WARF and private donors John and Tashia Morgridge will allow the teams to get a head start on their proposed research this summer, according to Cohn.

The faculty's decision comes after a competition that began last June when more than 200 letters of intent were submitted to a committee comprised of faculty and academic staff.

After the committee filtered down the letters to 35 possible projects last September, they asked each team to write a formal proposal for the final deciding committee, Cohn said.

The winning proposals reflect a variety of academic disciplines, including chemistry, biology, mathematics, pharmacology, psychology and engineering, among others.

"[The research] is a very representative mix — (it) represents a number of schools and a huge number of departments," Cohn said.

The implementation of the seed grant funding ultimately supports research projects in their early stages — an action usually not taken by federal programs, according to Robert Pearce, UW professor of anesthesiology.

"This is sort of a new idea that I'm pretty confident is going to work," Pearce said. "Until we get preliminary data, … it's really hard to get major federal funding. So this will let us get the preliminary data."

Pearce said the integration of academic expertise allows for a full exploration into topics not yet researched.

Pearce will be receiving funding to investigate channels within the nervous system and other excitable tissues in order to assess the effects of drugs within those cells.

The team will be working with organic chemists, engineers, biologists and others — an example of the WID's strong commitment to interdisciplinary research.

"I've got a group of people I'm working with across campus that are all tremendously capable and bring a lot of expertise," Pearce said. "The proposal has different kinds of techniques to bring together, … and it's not anything just one of us could do alone."

Researcher and professor of psychology and psychiatry Craig Berridge agreed, saying that without the collaboration of expertise, some research would not be possible.

Berridge is heading a team that also won the seed grant competition Tuesday and will be researching the effects of medications for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

"We're trying to understand the complex issue of how these drugs used by millions of people improve higher cognitive functions and calm behavior," Berridge said. "One needs expertise in a high range of areas, and no single person has that expertise."

While teams will not receive funding until later this summer, Pearce said his team is already organizing its efforts to "jump-start" the research.

And though the seed grant program is part of the WID, the teams may not necessarily find themselves in the $150 million facility in 2010.

"Right now they're promoting collaborative projects that will lead to additional research," Berridge said. "Who ends up going into the building is very much an up-in-the-air issue."

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Anonymous (February 26, 2007 @ 8:44pm):

Nice to see the humanistic disciplines represented in the selected projects. Oh, wait. Nevermind.

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