Chemistry & Biology Faculty and South Carolina Awarded Major NIH Biomedical Research Grant (Winthrop Press Release)

ROCK HILL, S.C. - A team of five Winthrop chemistry faculty (Calloway, Lammi, Owens, Parker, & Sumter) and four Winthrop biology faculty (Dimaculangan, Glasscock, Johnston, & Westover), along with collaborative research teams from six other universities across South Carolina, have recently been notified that the National Institutes of Health will be funding South Carolina's proposed five year initiative to increase biomedical research capacity across the State.  The $17.3 million federal grant is among the largest ever awarded to a university in the Palmetto State.

Improving citizens’ health represents a major need for South Carolina.  One recent study ranks the State fifth in the nation for stroke deaths, third in cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths, and seventh in ischemic heart disease deaths.  South Carolina also has some of the highest cancer rates in the nation, ranking in the top 10 nationwide for five to 10 different types of cancer with perhaps the highest prostate cancer mortality rate of any state.  Particularly hard-hit are African American South Carolinians, for whom CVD illnesses result in ten years of lost life and for whom prostate and lung cancer incidences are 50 to 60 percent higher than national averages.

In recognition of these major human health concerns and as South Carolina’s second largest primarily undergraduate institution (PUI), Winthrop University is planning to establish a nationally distinctive biomedical research program.  Over the next five years, Winthrop Univesity will receive nearly $ 2.4 million from the National Institutes of Health to assist in accomplishing this goal.

Key elements of the proposed multidisciplinary biomedical research program include:

• A vigorous and aggressive mentoring program for targeted faculty
• A 50% reallocation of faculty teaching time for biomedical research
• Establishment of a biomedical laboratory core facility led by Dr. Cliff Calloway with four new staff scientist positions and major investments in biomedical research equipment
• Funding for student research assistantships, summer student and faculty stipends
• A major recruitment effort to increase the participation of science majors and minority students in biomedical research projects
• Establishment of a formal chemistry-biology biomedical science curriculum.
• Integration of biomedical research efforts at Winthrop
• Integration of Winthrop into South Carolina biomedical research network