University of Georgia Receives $7.6 Million Grant, Will Add Knowledge in Fights Against Cancer, Parkinson's Disease.

Byline: University of Georgia

ATHENS, Geor., Sept. 5 (AScribe News) -- The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a five-year grant of $6.7 million to a team headed by scientists at the University of Georgia for research that could eventually help in the treatment of certain kinds of cancer and Parkinson's Disease.

The grant is cosponsored by the National Cancer Institute and thereby counts toward the total award dollars needed to apply for an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center Planning Award. This could be an important step in progress for the Georgia Cancer Coalition, in which UGA is collaborating with the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta to form the Georgia Cancer Research Center.

"This grant demonstrates yet again the quality of our faculty involved in research at the University of Georgia," said President Michael F. Adams. "The potential to alleviate human suffering through this work makes it tremendously important."

The large-scale cooperative project will include researchers from UGA, Georgia Tech, the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Yale University and Bresagen, Inc., as well as scientists from Japan.

"We are delighted that our work is increasingly drawing this kind of support," said Michael Pierce, principal investigator for the grant and faculty member at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. "It demonstrates the high quality of our faculty and staff at the CCRC and at UGA, as well as those at Georgia Tech."

The NCRR supports primary research to create and develop critical resources, models and technologies. NCRR funding also provides biomedical researchers with access to diverse instrumentation, technologies, basic and clinical research facilities, animal models, genetic stocks, biomaterials and more. These resources enable scientific advances in biomedicine that lead to the development of lifesaving drugs, devices and therapies.