Three School of Medicine faculty projects were recently funded as AMC21 2019 Multi-PI awardees. These grants enable School of Medicine faculty members to organize and integrate multidisciplinary teams of accomplished investigators who will compete successfully for long-term support from funding agencies.
The projects, chosen based on scientific merit, were eligible for up to $150,000 per year for a project period of up to two years, pending appropriate progress and achieving benchmarks.
The awardees are:
Suzanne Lapi, Ph.D., professor in the department of Radiology and senior scientist at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, received this award for the grant, “Imaging in Cancer Immunotherapy.” Dr. Lapi’s research interests are in the development and translation of new PET radionuclides and molecular imaging agents.
Hubert Tse, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, received this award for the grant, “Deciphering the interplay of pancreatic alpha- and beta-cells in diabetes.” Dr. Tse also serves as a scientist in the School of Medicine at the Comprehensive Diabetes Center, Center for AIDS Research, and the Comprehensive Arthritis, Muscoloskeletal, Bone and Autoimmunity Center.
Herbert Chen, M.D. FACS, professor, chair, and surgeon-in-chief in the Department of Surgery, received this grant for “SPORE in Neuroendocrine Cancer at UAB.” SPORE, or Specialized Program of Research Excellence, aids in conducting research and developing new therapies to treat brain tumors.
Scientific enterprise at UAB
“We believe these grants will help make changes in the scientific enterprise at UAB,” said Etty “Tika” Benveniste, Ph.D., senior associate dean for Research Administration in the School of Medicine and associate vice president for Medicine and Basic Sciences. “Both teams of awardees will be poised to be competitive for substantial external grant awards upon completion of their studies.”
The AMC21 is UAB Medicine's strategic plan to become the preferred academic medical center of the 21st century.The three projects will aid in developing advancements in scientific discovery and biomedical research at UAB.
“These multi-investigator grants have supported our faculty to strengthen collaborative interactions and have had a significant return on investment in terms of large, new extramural grants as well as high-impact publications,” said Anupam Agarwal, M.D., executive vice dean.