Forsyth receives research grants from National Institutes of Health stimulus funding

Institute secures over $6 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds

Four Forsyth scientists have received grants from the latest round of National Institutes of Health stimulus funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. To date, Forsyth has received 13 ARRA grants totally nearly $6.4 million. The recent round of funding includes three highly competitive 'Challenge Grants'. The NIH received 22,000 submissions in the Challenge Grant competition ― only about 500 were funded.

"The ARRA stimulus funds are critically important to an independent research institute such as Forsyth," said Dr. Philip Stashenko, President and CEO of Forsyth. "These funds enable Forsyth's science to progress during these challenging economic times while offering employment opportunities for the research community." Added Stashenko, "It is also a strong testament to Forsyth's scientific excellence that our team has received challenge grant funding because these grant submissions had such a low success rate."

Dr. Yi-Ping Li was awarded $919,338 for his project entitled: "Novel RNAi Inhibits Both Inflammation and Bone Resporption in Oral Diseases." This project addresses the specific challenge: "Translational application of gene silence strategies to oral and craniofacial disorders." This research has the potential to save billions of dollars and accelerate the development of a novel therapy to reduce the severity of inflammation-induced tissue and bone loss that is common in oral diseases.

Two other Forsyth investigators were named as co-investigators on challenge grants. These include Dr. Bruce Paster for a project with Northeastern University and Dr. Floyd Dewhirst for work with the Marine Biological Laboratory.

Another major ARRA funded grant was recently received by Dr. Daniel Smith, for recruitment of two new scientists to Forsyth's Center for Discovery at the Host-Biofilm Interface. This award is for a total of $1,840,766 over two years. This grant will enable Forsyth to rapidly launch its new recruitment campaign.