MUSC wins a federal award to speed research from lab to patient

The Medical University of South Carolina has won a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health, putting it in a national network of research centers working to shorten the time between scientific discoveries and treatments for patients.

The NIH announced Tuesday that MUSC was one of seven institutions to receive the award, The Post and Courier reported. The seven will share $171 million, bringing the consortium to 46 members. The others named Tuesday were the University of Florida, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and New York University School of Medicine.

MUSC will receive $20 million over five years, according to The Post and Courier, which in a second report put the figure at up to $25 million. The award also makes MUSC eligible for more NIH grants.

The grant funds the South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute, with Dr. Kathleen Brady as its lead investigator, according to NIH grant records, which list the project as starting July 14 and show a first-year award of about $3 million. Brady and Dr. Perry Halushka were the primary applicants. Eleven other institutions in the institute will also benefit, including the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, South Carolina State University, Claflin University and the Greenwood Genetic Center, the newspaper reported.

“This is truly a transformational award not only for this institution but for the entire state,” MUSC President Dr. Ray Greenberg said.

It is MUSC’s second major national honor of the year, following the National Cancer Institute’s designation of its Hollings Cancer Center, Greenberg noted.

He also pointed to the jobs the money supports in a state with the third-highest unemployment rate in the country, the newspaper reported.

“Every one of these research dollars will be used to employ well-compensated researchers and their support staffs,” Greenberg said.

The NIH started the program in 2006 and plans to have 60 institutions in the consortium by 2012. The next round of awards is due in July 2010, according to The Post and Courier.