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MSU’s Recipe for an NIH Program Project Grant
1997: Interesting data on differences in arteries and veins are found by Pharmacology and Toxicology summer research student Allison Grady of Haslett.
1998: Drs. Galligan and Fink receive AURIG (All University Research Initiation Grant) support through the MSU Office of Research and Graduate Studies to explore these data further.
1999: Using data and ideas developed with AURIG funds, Drs. Galligan and Fink receive a grant from the American Heart Association, and Ron Johnson, D.V.M., Ph.D., works on the project as his graduate thesis.
2000: Building on Dr. Johnson’s work, Drs. Galligan and Fink apply for and receive a three-year grant from NIH to continue and expand their studies. Dr. Watts (skilled in studies of blood vessels in hypertension), Dr. Kreulen (an expert on the differences between nerves supplying arteries and veins), and Dr. Chen (skilled in using viruses to insert new genes into blood vessels) join the team.
2001: The team submits their first application for a Program Project Grant, which receives a good score but is not funded. Associate Dean for Research McCormick provides seed money from MSUCOM to support the team’s efforts to improve their research plan. The Provost and the Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies, the
Colleges of Human Medicine and Natural
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Dr. Fink studies the literature in his office.
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They’re not just passive pipelines to return blood to the heart and lungs. Our veins act as the major storage depot for blood in the body, and may also hold the key as to why one in five Americans suffers from hypertension.
Five scientists from the MSU Colleges of Osteopathic and Human Medicine have been awarded a $9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore the function of veins – a grant important because of its size, its prestige, and its standards for collaboration.
Dr. Galligan at work in the lab. |
Researchers include Professors Gregory Fink, Ph.D., and James Galligan, Ph.D., (co-directors of the project), Associate Professor Stephanie Watts, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor Alex Chen, Ph.D., from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Also included is Professor David Kreulen, Ph.D., who is jointly appointed in the departments of Neurology and Ophthalmology, and Physiology.
The team was awarded the specialized Program Project Grant (PPG) from NIH’s Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. PPGs are rare, and according to the NIH, are given “to support research in which the funding of several interdependent projects as a group offers significant scientific advantages over support of these same projects as individual regular research grants.”
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Dr. Kreulen oversees one of his experiments.
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Dr. Fink noted that most research in hypertension has been focused on arteries, and that until recently it was thought that veins and arteries responded in the same way to neurohumoral control – that is, control of their functions by hormones that circulate in the blood or are released from specialized nerve cells.
“But there are important differences between the arteries, with their thicker walls and smaller interior diameter, and the thinner, larger, more flexible veins,” he says. “Learning what these differences are may affect how people with hypertension are treated.”
Dr. Watts (left) with graduate students Keshari Thakali and Wei Ni. |
One significant role of veins is their function as reservoirs, keeping an “extra” supply of blood handy for vital tissues like the brain and heart in case of dehydration, blood loss, or simply standing up. These storage veins, located mainly in the intestines, are made to constrict by hormones when a redistribution of blood is necessary.
In addition, the PPG funds research that will examine how veins may contribute to other diseases such as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), stroke, and chronic fatigue syndrome, Dr. Fink says.
College and university administrators credit the MSU team with following a research development process that helped to ensure the grant. (See sidebar.)
“The process used demonstrates the way we all should do it,” noted MSUCOM Associate Dean for Research Justin McCormick, Ph.D. “You have to show that the university supports the effort in a real way. This is,” he says, “the best $20,000 I’ve ever committed.”
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Science, and the team’s home departments contribute a total of $100,000 to support the application effort. With these funds the team revises their plan based on suggestions from reviewers and colleagues.
2002: During an intensive year, the team develops additional preliminary data supporting their hypothesis that veins are important in hypertension. They resubmit the Program Project Grant application at a time when NIH expressed interest in learning more about veins in cardiovascular disease.
2003: Drs. Galligan, Fink, Watts, Kreulen and Chen receive the entire requested budget ($9 million) from NIH to support their joint research effort for five years. Praising the team, Pharmacology and Toxicology Chairperson J.R. Haywood, Ph.D., notes, “They worked hard. They played by the book. They built trust as collaborators. And their idea came at the right time.”
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