IU, Purdue research to benefit from $25 million federal grant

The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute will be able to conduct new research, thanks to a five-year, $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.\nThe National Institutes of Health announced the award May 29, according to an IU news release. The Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, which is part of the IU School of Medicine, partners with IU and Purdue University to do “translational research” – turning scientific discoveries in the laboratory into real-life treatments, according to the release.\nThe universities collaborate with local programs such as Clarian Health, Eli Lilly and Company and BioCrossroads to work on medical research projects.\n“The institute harnesses all of Indiana’s major life sciences research centers into a commonly focused enterprise that will give Indiana’s research scientists many new advantages in finding ways to do their work more effectively and efficiently,” IU President Michael McRobbie said in the release.\nThe Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute will conduct the research through “project development teams,” according to the release. The teams will focus on research ranging from children’s health to helping doctors implement their research findings. Another goal of the institute is to teach researchers to use new technologies including molecular medicine and community-based trials, according to the release.\nThe new research will expand on the Indiana Genomics Initiative, which includes genetic mapping research, and Purdue’s Discovery Park, which involves researchers from every academic field working to solve “large-scale problems,” according to the release.\nConnie Weaver, head of Purdue’s Department of Foods and Nutrition, will lead the institute at Purdue, and IU College of Arts and Sciences Dean Bennett Bertenthal will lead the institute at IU, according to the release.