{"id":15305,"date":"2021-09-13T10:44:19","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T14:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=15305"},"modified":"2021-09-13T10:44:19","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T14:44:19","slug":"geisel-receives-12-5-million-nih-cobre-renewal-grant-supporting-institute-for-biomolecular-targeting-at-dartmouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2021\/geisel-receives-12-5-million-nih-cobre-renewal-grant-supporting-institute-for-biomolecular-targeting-at-dartmouth\/","title":{"rendered":"Geisel Receives $12.5 Million NIH COBRE Renewal Grant Supporting Institute for Biomolecular Targeting at Dartmouth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers at Dartmouth\u2019s Geisel School of Medicine have received a $12.5 million renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue the groundbreaking work of the Institute for Biomolecular Targeting at Dartmouth<\/a>, also known as bioMT.<\/p>\n

The bioMT project is funded as an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) from the NIH\u2019s National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The IDeA program builds research capacity in states that historically have had low levels of NIH funding\u2014by supporting basic, clinical, and translational research; faculty development; and infrastructure improvements.<\/p>\n

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Dean Madden, PhD. Photo by Rob Strong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe COBRE grants provide support in three 5-year phases, which can be thought of as \u2018building, strengthening, and transitioning\u2019 stages in funding,\u201d explains Dean Madden, PhD, a professor of biochemistry and cell biology at Geisel, who serves as director of bioMT and principal investigator of the COBRE grant, as well as the vice provost for research at Dartmouth. \u201cSuccess at each phase helps to ensure continued support in the next, with the long-term goal of centers becoming fully self-supporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Established with phase one funding in 2016, bioMT was created to cultivate studies at the interface of fundamental biology and translational science to develop pre-clinical targets for drug development in diseases like cancer, cystic fibrosis, and viral infections. \u201cThe idea is that studying diseases and basic biological processes aren\u2019t separate undertakings\u2014each informs the other,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

During phase one, Madden and his colleagues worked to meet objectives in several key areas to ensure early success of the program. One was to recruit and support the work of junior investigators who could lead targeted projects with the help of seasoned mentoring teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part of that was to accelerate the launch of junior faculty laboratories,\u201d says Madden, who also directs the Dartmouth Cystic Fibrosis Research Center at Geisel. \u201cThe idea was for them to get lots of data to work with and studies to publish, to help them get sizable grants so they could become independent in about three years. When they \u2018graduated,\u2019 we could then hire new junior investigators to take their slots and repeat the process. At the same time, we sought to recruit existing faculty from across Dartmouth who were excited about the vision of the center.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another major goal was to create dedicated core facilities with advanced tools and resources that could be shared amongst all members of the program\u2014equipment and staff that are typically too expensive for individual labs to purchase and maintain on their own.<\/p>\n

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Core scientist Andreia Verissimo, PhD, (left) is shown helping graduate student Kris Keiser purify a recombinant protein using an \u00c4KTA pure instrument in the protein biochemistry and cellular imaging core facility supported by the COBRE Institute for Biomolecular Targeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thus far, the program has performed exceptionally well. In phase one, all six research project leaders with at least two years\u2019 support already earned major funding (R01-equivalent) awards as principal investigators, for a total of $18.8 million. With the help of investors, one launched a $50 million start up. All who were eligible were promoted, and collectively the group gave 116 scientific presentations and published 100 manuscripts\u201430 in top-tier journals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also helped hire 10 faculty members and built from scratch Molecular Tools and Molecular Interactions and Imaging Cores that are now shared by more than 60 investigators across Dartmouth,\u201d says Madden. \u201cAnd our interdisciplinary seminars and workshops, which have helped us develop a real sense of intellectual community, have forged a bioMT identity that spans 10 departments across three schools\u2014Geisel, Arts and Sciences, and Thayer School of Engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n

In phase two, Madden and his colleagues will be focused on meeting three main aims. \u201cThe first involves continuing to recruit junior faculty while increasing our cohort of funded bioMT investigators, so we can fill strategic roles in our research landscape,\u201d Madden says, noting that initial projects will focus on viral immunity, melanoma immunotherapy, and cancer progression.<\/p>\n

A second aim will be to expand on core offerings (based on gaps identified in surveys with center members)\u2014to include parallel protein expression, advanced microscopy, and cryoEM technologies, with a special emphasis placed on providing additional support for mass spectrometry experiments on campus.<\/p>\n

And they will continue to organize the program\u2019s seminars and regional symposia\u2014to enrich connections within the bioMT program while enhancing the diversity and inclusiveness of its scientific community. Madden hopes that these strategies will position the program for a successful transition into phase three support and ultimate COBRE independence.<\/p>\n

When asked what stands out most about bioMT\u2019s early success, he says, \u201cFor me, it\u2019s watching our junior faculty just take off and thrive in their careers, which they all have done spectacularly. And we can see already the impact of the projects that we started.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the really great things about this funding mechanism\u2014it allows our investigators to expand the reach and impact of their research in ways that just wouldn\u2019t be possible without the resources and support from the COBRE.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers at Dartmouth\u2019s Geisel School of Medicine have received a $12.5 million renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue the groundbreaking work of the Institute for Biomolecular Targeting at Dartmouth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":15308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,8],"tags":[1029,810],"class_list":["post-15305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-research","tag-biomt","tag-cobre","author-26"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/DeanMadde_featured.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4r3h1-3YR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15305"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15312,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15305\/revisions\/15312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}