Researchers at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering recently received $3.5 million in life science funding from the NIH. The grant is called a Transformative Research Award. The NIH’s aim in creating this grant is to fund high-risk, high-reward research. According to News Medical, the NIH funded only 10 of these projects in 2013, one of which is Harvard University’s DNA-based microscopy method of viewing cells.
"The powerful thing about using DNA lies in its amazing programmability," said Peng Yin, Ph.D., a faculty member at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Assistant Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. "We plan to use that capability to make molecules in cells blink in a programmable and autonomous way. This will allow us to see things that were previously invisible."
The researchers receiving this NIH life science research funding will be focused on developing an economical and simple-to-use microscopy method to view many parts of cells at the same time. This DNA-based microscopy could lead to new methods of diagnosing disease, in which doctors differentiate healthy and unhealthy cells based on details on the molecular level. The method could also help researchers understand how certain parts of cells carry out their tasks.
Harvard University Science Center
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
"Until we can visualize many molecular components of cells clearly and simultaneously, we can only make educated guesses about how they team up to carry out their complex biological functions," said Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. "I'm confident that Peng's new inexpensive approach to super-resolution microscopy will transform the landscape of biomedical research, and lead to new diagnostics that spot disease earlier and with greater accuracy."
Harvard University carries out groundbreaking research in its labs every day. Lab suppliers interested in marketing to labs rich in life science funding may want to learn more about Harvard University’s life science research funding statistics. In 2012, the NIH awarded Harvard University $392 million in life science funding. A list of life science departments receiving funding can be found in our recent blog article $3.6M in Life Science Funding Awarded to Harvard University.
In addition to receiving life science funding from the NIH, Harvard University was also awarded $55.3 million from the NSF in 2012. Harvard University had a total operating budget of $655 million in 2011, with research grants and contracts contributing 34%, or $304 million. For more funding statistics for Harvard University, please read our blog article Harvard Medical Life Sciences Update on NIH Funding and Research.
Given Harvard University’s most recent grant, along with other life science research funding statistics, it’s clear that Harvard University is a valuable market. Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. invites lab suppliers to network with researchers, purchasing agents and lab managers with life science funding available to stock their labs at our Boston BioResearch Product Faire™ Event on April 24th, 2014. Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full-service science research marketing and events-planning company that organizes life science marketing events at top research universities across the country. If you’d like to learn about a market closer to home, we encourage you to view our 2013 calendar of events and 2014 calendar of events. For more information on our Boston BioResearch Product Faire™ Event, or to view more funding statistics for Harvard University, click on the button below.