Georgia State receives high research funding to set record for sixth consecutive year

Georgia State University received $147 million in research funding in fiscal year 2017, setting a record for the sixth consecutive year.

The total exceeds last year's record of $120.1 million. Externally funded research activity at the university has climbed 81 percent over the past three years. This year one of the largest funding increases came from industry research grants and contracts, which grew nearly fivefold.

The university experienced a particularly large spike in funding for health and biomedical research. Of the $147 million, more than $20 million went toward research in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences and more than $16 million to research in the School of Public Health.

"As one of the nation's fastest growing research institutions, Georgia State has rapidly developed a reputation for scientific innovation," said James Weyhenmeyer, vice president for research and economic development at Georgia State. "Achieving this funding benchmark shows that we've been adept at cultivating monetary support for our innovative work, which helps drive economic development and transformative research at the university and throughout the metro Atlanta region."

This year's key awards included:

• A $7.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health awarded to Margo Brinton (College of Arts and Sciences) to investigate the consequences of West Nile and Zika virus infections on the human central nervous system.

• More than $4 million from the NIH awarded to Christopher Basler (Institute for Biomedical Sciences) to develop a drug targeting the Ebola virus.

• A $3.9 million grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation awarded to Tim Sass and Dan Kreisman (Andrew Young School of Policy Studies) to create the Georgia Center for Education Policy, which will work to improve academic, career and life outcomes for students across the state.

• More than $3 million from the NIH awarded to Kathleen Baggett (School of Public Health) to test the effectiveness of Mom and Baby Net, a mobile phone app combining two programs to decrease maternal depression and build parenting skills.

• A $2.8 million grant from NIH awarded to Zhoglin Xie and Ming-Hui Zou (Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine) to study diabetic cardiomyopathy, changes in the heart's structure and function related to diabetes.

• A $1.8 million grant from the NIH awarded to Andrew Gewirtz (Institute for Biomedical Sciences) to study how changes in gut bacteria could lead to obesity and metabolic syndrome.

• A $1.8 million grant from the NIH awarded to Anne Murphy (Neuroscience Institute) to investigate pain management therapies for people age 65 and older.

• An $867,000 grant from Pfizer Inc. awarded to Michael Eriksen and the School of Public Health's Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science to continue their work to implement tobacco control programs in five major Chinese cities.

"Georgia State's record-high levels in research funding validate the strategy of long-term investment in talent and technology," said Mike Cassidy, president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA). "The GRA stands committed to helping Georgia State continue to expand its capacity to discover more and launch more enterprises around the most promising inventions."

Georgia State earned its designation as a major research institution in 1995, and it now ranks among the nation's top 108 public and private universities in the Carnegie Foundation's elite category of Highest Research Activity.

Source: http://news.gsu.edu/2017/08/03/georgia-state-research-funding-record/