A National Institutes of Health grant totaling $2.7 million has been awarded to a consortium of universities, one of which is St. Edward’s University, as well as the University of Texas at Austin and Southwestern University. 

This money will provide funding for St. Edward’s undergraduate students to work with post-doctorate researchers.

This consortium is one of only two recipients of the grant, known as the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award for 2013.

“This is the first NIH grant that St. Edward’s has ever been a part of, so this is a big deal for us,” Interim Dean for the School of Natural Sciences Patricia Baynham said.

Eamonn Healy is a co-author and co-principle investigator for this grant. 

He is a professor of chemistry in the School of Natural Sciences. His research is involved in the molecular modeling of enzymatic activity, and he has worked on proteins involved with HIV, leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis.

Healy submitted an application for the grant a few years ago with the grant’s lead author Jennifer Brodbelt, a graduate advisor and professor of chemistry at UT. 

The grant was not awarded then, but the NIH made suggestions to improve their chances next time. 

When Brodbelt contacted Healy to resubmit the grant, they narrowed the focus of the planned program by including fewer partner institutions. Healy rewrote St. Edward’s portion of the grant and submitted it to Brodbelt, who combined it with UT’s and Southwestern’s portions. She submitted them to NIH. 

“The goal (of the program funded by the grant) is to broaden the exposure and broaden the training of post-doctorates so they are more suited to a greater range of opportunities as faculty,” Healy said.

Half of the post-doctorates that this grant will affect will be women or individuals from minority groups. The grant serves to increase diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. 

It will use the post-doctorates as role models for others, Baynham said. 

The program will involve UT hiring 14 post-doctoral researchers over the next five years. For two years, they will perform research at UT. 

These researchers will also become acquainted with writing academic research grants and organizing research symposia. In their third year, the researchers will choose to continue their research projects at either Southwestern or St. Edward’s. 

Faculty from UT, Southwestern and St. Edward’s will have designed the project that the researchers will be working on. 

This will ensure that it continues seamlessly as the researchers transition between universities in their third year of the program.

At St. Edward’s, the post-doctorates will supervise undergraduates working on their research projects. 

They will also co-teach classes in organic chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology or cell biology.

The grant includes two stipends of $2,250 available each summer exclusively for St. Edward’s undergraduate students to work with post-doctorate researchers. 

The size of the stipend is meant to be competitive with what research institutions typically offer. 

After receiving this grant, the university hopes that this will prompt St. Edward’s students to seek research opportunities on campus during the summer, rather than elsewhere.

“It’s an amazing opportunity obviously for our students to get exposed to top-flight research,” Healy said.

Peter King, associate professor of biological sciences, will be collaborating with Healy in the program at St. Edward’s. 

The grant requires that the institutions have active research programs, so King’s work was referenced in the application as an area of research that the post-doctorates could become involved in.

King’s research is involved with atherosclerosis, which is the accumulation of plaque in arteries restricting blood flow.  His research also focuses on macrophage activity, which are a type of phagocytic white blood cell; phagocytic refers to a cell that absorbs any waste matter that can be harmful. 

King also collaborates frequently with Healy’s research. He worked with Healy on the previous NIH grant application, and upon its rejection was concerned that St. Edward’s profile was not to the level that NIH recognizes. 

Finally obtaining “this (grant) is a nice reaffirmation that ‘yes you guys are doing real stuff’ and ‘yes a grant like this can come here,’” King said.

Although many universities apply for this prestigious grant, only a low percentage receive it. 

“The success rate for grants at NIH is between 4 and 6 percent,” Healy said. “Grants of this size are especially competitive.” 

Not only is it one of the largest grants that St. Edward’s has ever been a part of, but it is also one of the most prestigious ones, according to Healy.

Obtaining this NIH grant is also seen as a stepping-stone for future grants.

 “You get yourself on the map…so then when the next grant comes across their desk it doesn’t look that foreign,” King said.