News
1/30/2008 - $4.5 million grant given for research
1/23/2008 - Grant will fund biomedical research facility
1/22/2008 - Fresno State gets $4.5 million grant
Posted: Jan 30, 2008
Jessica Lester / The Collegian
A $4.5 million research grant was given to Fresno State by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, part of the National Institute of Health, to build a state-of-the-art laboratory for biomedical research over the next five years.
This 2,000 square foot structure will be built in the first room of the basement in the Science I building. The laboratory will continue to expand with the arrival of new equipment. Students, as well as faculty, will have the opportunity to study there.
Krish Krishnan, associate professor of chemistry and a research director at Fresno State, said the grant allows Fresno State to develop biomedical research facilities “on par with any other world-class research institution.”
Fresno State, along with California State University, San Bernardino, were winners of this grant, given to 19 universities in the country.
“The facilities developed here will allow us to educate and train not only students in the College of Science and Math, but also anyone interested in biomedical research,” Krishnan said. “It will allow the students to compete more effectively in their professional careers.”
One of the reasons that Fresno State was chosen was because of the excellent credentials of the Fresno State Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) team.
Biomedical engineering is a relatively new discipline that combines traditional engineering with biology. Its goal is to improve patient health care, especially improving the designs of devices such as pacemakers, implants and artificial limbs.
“It gives us a whole suite of tools to really allow us to move forward with the cutting-edge technologies,” said Alejandro Calderon-Urrea, a Fresno State biology professor helping to develop the biomedical center.
Some of the members of the RIMI team include Dr. Jason Bush, who is studying air quality and immunoproteomics, along with Krishnan and Dr. Alam Hasson. Dr. Amanda Mortimer is researching marital caregiving interactions in Alzheimer’s disease.
Krishnan is the project director for the biomedical research, while Dr. Lynnette Zelezny is the director of the behavioral research as well as training.
The RIMI team at Fresno State says they understand the importance of investing in biomedical structure in the Central Valley.
Potential focuses include Alzheimer’s disease for the psychology department, and cortisol applications, for the science department. Cortisol is a stress hormone in the saliva. It is also used in hydrocortisone, the chemical form of cortisol used as a treatment for severe allergic reactions.
“[The grant] directly supports President Welty’s mission to engage in high-quality research by enhancing research activity through technology,” Krishnan said.
www.fresnostatenews.com
1/23/2008
California State University, Fresno has been awarded a five-year, $4.5 million federal grant to develop a state-of-the-art biomedical research facility in which researchers can take advantage of new technologies to research health issues.
The university is one of 19 in the country – and one of two in California – to receive the award from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, a center of the National Institutes of Health.
The grant to the College of Science and Mathematics will fund the Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) program, which builds research opportunities at institutions that offer degrees in life sciences and other health areas to a predominantly minority student body. The award seeks to better integrate teaching and research.
“The RIMI grant will involve Fresno State faculty and students in cutting-edge research to address serious health issues that impact our community,” said Dr. Lynnette Zelezny, a psychology professor who will direct training and behavior aspects of the grant.
“I am excited and proud to be part of this unique collaborative effort to address health disparities and to support future research training and infrastructure at Fresno State.”
“Securing this grant allows us to develop biomedical research facilities and acquire instruments on par with any other world-class research institution,” Krishnan said. “The facilities will allow us to compete for and seek additional funding from agencies that were previously out of reach.”
Instruments at the facility will support research in the areas of proteomics, functional genomics and bioinformatics.
The facility also will support the research of several Fresno State faculty, including Krishnan and Dr. Alam Hasson in chemistry (inter-relationship between air pollution, viral infection and asthma in the Central Valley); Dr. Jason Bush in biology (effects of pesticides on breast cancer in Hispanic farm workers); and Dr. Amanda Mortimer in psychology (cultural differences in marital care-giving interactions in Alzheimer’s disease).
Fresno State will collaborate with several renowned research facilities, including UCSF-Fresno, Queens University, California Cancer Registry (Fresno), Center for Comparative Medicine, UC Davis Medical Center and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla.
Provost Jeri Echeverria serves as the principal investigator for the grant, which runs through 2012.
Cash will be used on biomedical research center.
By Barbara Anderson / The Fresno Bee
01/22/08 23:08:13
Fresno State has been awarded a five-year, $4.5 million federal grant to create a biomedical research center that will focus on health disparities in the community.
Researchers say the grant will allow the university to purchase sophisticated laboratory equipment that previously has been available only at major research institutions.
"It gives us a whole suite of tools to really allow us to move forward with the cutting-edge technologies," said Alejandro Calderon-Urrea, a California State University, Fresno, biology professor charged with helping to develop the biomedical center.
Fresno State was one of two universities in the state -- and 19 nationwide -- to receive grants from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, a center of the National Institutes of Health. California State University, San Bernardino, received the other award in California.
The Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions grants focus on building research programs at universities with large minority enrollments that offer degrees in life sciences and other health areas.
The Fresno State center will include a mass spectrometer to detect differences in proteins, equipment to find differences in DNA and computers capable of interpreting the results, Calderon-Urrea said. The center will be located in the basement of the Science building, he said.
The grant not only allows for the building of a state-of-the-art research center, but gives researchers the equipment they need "for projects that are highly relevant to people in the community," said Krish Krishnan, a project director and chemistry professor.
Several research projects will benefit from the grant, Krishnan said. Among them: a study of the effects of pesticides on breast cells of Hispanic farmworkers in the Central Valley; the relationship between air pollution, viral infections and asthma; and a study of the cultural differences of Hispanic and Caucasian spouses who are caring for loved ones with Alzheimer's disease.
Breast cancer researchers, for example, will use equipment in the biomedical center to study changes in proteins when breast cells are exposed to organochlorines, a type of pesticide, said Jason Bush, the principal investigator and a biology professor.
The Alzheimer's project will take advantage of the biomedical center to study levels of cortisol, a stress hormone in the saliva of caregivers, said investigator Amanda Mortimer, a psychology assistant professor.
The research projects relate to issues that are pertinent to the community, said Lynnette Zelezny, a project director and chair of the psychology department.
The grant should help the university recruit faculty interested in health issues in the Valley, she said. Another goal is to create a pipeline of future investigators. "My role is to train researchers from across the disciplines at Fresno State," Zelezny said.
And the hope is that researchers from other institutions in the Valley also will use the biomedical center for their studies, Krishnan said.
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