OCT. 19, 2009

Stimulus money spurs new wave of research at School of Medicine

BY RUTHANN RICHTER

The National Institutes of Health has awarded more than $84 million in economic stimulus grants to medical school scientists for research into promising new avenues of inquiry as well as ongoing projects that had been slowed in recent years because of national funding shortages for research.

As of Oct. 12, the medical school had some 134 projects, including studies on Alzheimer’s, breast cancer and stem cells, benefiting from the money provided to the NIH under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly known as the stimulus package. Several dozen of these medical school projects had previously been put on hold because of NIH shortfalls. In addition, 65 existing projects received a boost from supplemental grants, while 18 projects were launched under two new grant categories, the challenge grants and the grand opportunities grants. The school has also received one award for equipment. Facilities grants have yet to be announced.

“The stimulus funds are really important to the medical school now in light of declines in recent years in NIH support,” said Marcia Cohen, the school’s senior associate dean for finance and administration. The Recovery Act funds have already added or saved a total of 38 full-time employee positions at the medical school. Hundreds of jobs are expected to be created or retained in the coming months, as the majority of the recipients have yet to begin using the money for their research projects and to do the hiring associated with the grants.  

Nationally, the results of this research could be “pretty dramatic,” particularly in terms of cancer treatments, NIH director Francis Collins said in an interview for the medical school podcast “1:2:1.” The agency has dispensed at least $4.3 billion since Congress passed the ARRA in February. The School of Medicine ranks 15th among medical institutions in total grants awarded.

What may be the largest single award of NIH stimulus funds at Stanford went to Hugh O’Brodovich, MD, professor and chair of pediatrics, who received $3.5 million for a collaborative study on lung disease in premature infants. Some 15,000 preemies each year develop a condition known as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, which may keep them in costly neonatal intensive care units for months, he said.

He said it’s not known why, despite receiving similar therapeutic approaches, some preemies develop the condition, while others don’t. Recent studies suggest a strong genetic component. O’Brodovich and colleagues will use their new federal funding to look for specific genes or pathways associated with the disease. They are working with researchers at the California Department of Public Health, which maintains a large database of blood samples from newborns. O’Brodovich said the work could point to new approaches to treating the condition, sparing children a lifetime of lung problems.

“It has impact not only for the newborns and everything that happens in the neonatal intensive care unit, but we also know that, for those who survive, a fair percentage end up with residual lung defects. So although it’s focused on the newborn, it really has implications throughout life,” said O’Brodovich, who is physician-in-chief at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

He said the infusion of federal funds will enable the team to hire four new people, in addition to providing faculty support. His Stanford collaborators include Mark Krasnow, PhD, professor and chair of biochemistry; Laura Lazzeroni, PhD, a biostatistician in psychiatry; Richard Bland, MD; Jeffrey Gould, MD, MPH; Gary Shaw, PhD; and David Stevenson, MD. Fred Lorey, PhD, and Shabbir Ahmad, DVM, PhD, are their collaborators with the state. 

Twelve Stanford scientists received challenge grants, a new award created through the stimulus program that focuses on projects that can produce quick results with a clinical impact. The program initially was billed by the NIH as being limited to a pool of $200 million. The medical school submitted more than 200 applications for these grants last spring in a round-the-clock effort to get submissions into the government under a tight deadline. The NIH thus far has given out nearly twice what it initially announced —$394 million for the program, including $11.8 million to medical school researchers.

Cardiologist Stanley Rockson, MD, a professor of medicine, received a $1 million challenge grant to help develop a tool for early diagnosis of lymphedema, a painful and hard-to-treat condition that may occur after breast cancer surgery. He and colleagues will take tissue samples from 40 patients and use genetic tools to look for proteins being secreted into the bloodstream that could serve as biomarkers for the limb-swelling condition. The goal is to develop the first user-friendly and accurate method for diagnosing early disease, as well as create a basis for developing a drug treatment, he said.

“With the challenge grant program, one could define a problem that is compelling and provide the evidence to show that the goal could be achieved in a two-year time frame,” Rockson said. “And I think we can do that.”

He will hire two new employees to help with the project.

Douglas Owens, MD, professor of medicine, was also a recipient of a challenge grant for a project that will compare old and new drug treatments for HIV, as well as evaluate the impact of these drugs on patients with cardiovascular problems.

“We hope it will help clinicians choose antiretroviral regimens that are most appropriate and help clinicians get a sense of how effective the newer regimens are,” said Owens, who is a senior investigator at the Palo Alto VA Health Care System and a member of Stanford’s Center for Health Policy. He said the funds will enable him to hire two or three new research staff.

Cohen said stimulus funds are particularly important for young researchers, who might otherwise be unable to continue their careers in bioscience. For instance, the recent funding gave a boost to Matthew White, MD, a postdoctoral scholar in psychiatry who had been worried that he would have to give up his ambition of being a research scientist and focus instead on his clinical work. The stimulus funding now will enable him to continue his work in the lab—and guarantee him a job.

“It allows me to devote more time and attention to pursuing an academic career,” White said. He is working with David Spiegel, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, who received a $902,769 challenge grant for a study on hypnosis. Spiegel and Michael Greicius, MD, assistant professor of neurology, will use functional magnetic resonance imaging to look at brain activity in people who are easily—and not so easily—hypnotized. They will also compare these two groups while they’re intensely focused on a task. The work could lead to better approaches to treating pain, post-traumatic stress, phobias and some psychosomatic conditions, as well as help kids undergoing difficult procedures, Spiegel said.

Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions - Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. For more information, please visit the Office of Communication & Public Affairs site at http://mednews.stanford.edu/.