Friday, Jun. 19, 2009

NIH money fuels expansion of Winthrop science research

While much of Winthrop University's campus quiets down during the summer, the Sims Science Building bustles with students and faculty focused on intensive research into some of society's most complex diseases.

In a room on the third floor, senior Lyndsey Powell analyzes slides under a microscope, gathering data about a protein that's been linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Down the hall, seniors Lee Varnedoe and Joshua McClellan experiment with disodium salt and palladium. They're working on new ways to make medicines.

The students' work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, which recently awarded Winthrop a $442,000 grant. The money is part of a five-year cash infusion under the Idea Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence program, created to expand scientific research at undergraduate and research universities in states that haven't received significant government money for science.

Boosting the caliber

Winthrop is one of seven schools in South Carolina selected to take part. In all, 23 states and Puerto Rico get research dollars through the program. The intent is to increase research capacity in the state by boosting the caliber of science faculty and giving students an opportunity to work hands-on in a laboratory.

Winthrop spends the money on supplies, equipment, research-related travel and hourly wages to students for their lab work, said Patrick Owens, head of the chemistry, physics and geology department.

“This makes our students very competitive for graduate school,” Owens said. “Many, by the time they graduate, have two years of research under their belt.”

Doctorate pursuit

Since Winthrop received its first payment under the grant program in 2005, the number of students going on to pursue a ph.D. in a biomedical science has jumped.

In 2005, one student went on to do so; this year, eight are pursuing doctorates.

In four years, 90 different students have performed research, according to Winthrop figures. Twenty-one went on to pursue doctorate degrees in a biomedical science. Students, Owens said, have gone to Harvard, Duke, Johns Hopkins and New York University.

Brad Angel, who graduated this year and will pursue a doctorate in biochemistry at Notre Dame, said his experience in the lab is what got him into that school.

“I've had access to instruments that undergraduates probably wouldn't even see at other places,” he said.

McClellan, 22, who wants to work in forensics, said research money is key to moving on.

“When you get a job,” he said, “you're going to be working in the lab. Not taking classes.”

This Idea money, which Winthrop got in May, is the last portion of the five-year grant. But the state is planning to reapply this year to keep the money flowing, Owens said. It's critical, he said, because it allows faculty members to conduct research that leads to additional grants from places like the National Science Foundation.

Students' lab work contributes to faculty research, some of which could lead to medical breakthroughs.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Robin Lammi's work on Alzheimer's, for example, could pinpoint a way to stymie a protein that scientists believe is linked to the disease's early development.

“We're some of the first people looking at it in these earliest stages,” said Lammi, who recently received $251,000 from the National Science Foundation to continue her research.

Christian Grattan, an associate professor of chemistry, is working with a faculty member at the Medical University of South Carolina on cancer research. Grattan leads students researching ways to tweak a medicine formula that could someday help stop the disease from spreading after chemotherapy.

The research “is teaching our students a lot of cutting-edge stuff that they would only see in a graduate school environment,” Grattan said. “It's pretty rare for an undergraduate university of this size.”

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