July 14, 2010

Marquette is part of consortium receiving $20 million NIH grant

MILWAUKEE – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today it has awarded a $20 million grant to a consortium of eight Milwaukee institutions, including Marquette University, to create a Milwaukee-wide research partnership that shares a common vision, resources and staff to advance biomedical research, patient care and education.  

The goal of the five-year funding, awarded through the NIH’s Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program, is to create a borderless, complementary and synergistic biomedical research enterprise in Southeast Wisconsin that will accelerate the translation of research discoveries into new and improved medical treatments.

The NIH’s National Center for Research Resources awarded a perfect score to the Milwaukee consortium’s grant proposal, as a national model for multi-institutional collaboration.  The Medical College of Wisconsin will coordinate the grant, administered through a new academic entity recognized by all partner institutions:  the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) of Southeast Wisconsin.  

In addition to Marquette and MCW, the other CTSI member organizations are: the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Children’s Hospital and Health System, Froedtert Hospital, and the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center.  The partner institutions have worked for three years to establish the CTSI and develop the grant application. Dr. Raza Shaker, the Joseph E. Geenen professor and chief of gastroenterology at the Medical College, is the director for the CTSI.

“The CTSA grant will facilitate the continued development of an infrastructure that fosters collaborative research among the institutions of higher education and health care organizations in the Milwaukee area,” Marquette President Robert A. Wild, S.J., said. “Marquette is pleased to be part of the collaboration that includes sharing equipment and laboratories, joint faculty appointments and the support and training of young clinical investigators in order to advance patient care within our community and beyond.”

Since 2003, the NIH has designated 55 CTSA centers nationwide at leading academic medical centers.

The CTSI’s research portfolio currently includes more than 140 protocols.  Faculty researchers will have access to each member’s research resources and may seek adjunct faculty appointments at the partnering colleges or universities.  A $720,000 award from the Medical College’s Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin program has already funded 17 collaborative research studies currently underway, including five involving Marquette researchers:

Computation Cardiology: Translating Theoretical and Subject-Specific Computation Fluid Dynamics Results into a Novel Stent.
John F. LaDisa, Jr., Ph.D.,  assistant professor of biomedical engineering, Marquette, and adjunct assistant professor of medicine (cardiovascular) and pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, with researchers from MCW and MSOE;

Influence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on Motor Impairment in Veterans.
Manda Keller, DPT, Ph.D. candidate, and Sandra Hunter, associate professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Marquette, with researchers from MCW and the VA;

Supraspinal Contributions to Upper and Lower Limb Motor Control and Recovery after Stroke – a fMRI Study.
Michelle Johnson, Ph.D., assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Medical College and research assistant professor, Marquette, and Sheila Schindler-Ivens, PT, Ph.D., assistant professor of physical therapy at Marquette, with UWM researcher.

Brain Activation and the Stress Response during Motor Performance in Older Adults.
Sandra Hunter, Ph.D., associate professor of physical therapy (Exercise Science Program) and Kristy Nielson, professor and chair of Psychology at Marquette, with MCW researchers

Scaling up Computational Tools for Genome Wide Association Studies.
Craig A. Struble, associate professor in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Marquette, with MCW researcher.

Academic programs will also be expanded through the CTSA grant.  In the fall of 2009, The Medical College of Wisconsin launched a Ph.D. program in Basic and Translational Research and a Master of Science degree in Clinical and Translational Science.  Marquette University is developing a Ph.D. program in Clinical and Translational Rehabilitative Health Sciences for health professionals.  

The Medical College is also expanding its Master of Science degree in Clinical and Translational Science to include coursework at Marquette, MSOE and UWM.