Winthrop University has received a grant of $920,000 from the South Carolina IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence, funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The goal of the SC INBRE is to support biomedical research in South Carolina by aiding institutions in providing students the opportunity to perform on-campus research and experiments that will better prepare students to move into careers in STEM-related fields. Winthrop has been included in the program for fifteen years.
“Basically, the federal government, several years ago, looked across the country to see where there are areas where biomedical research and understanding of health and human service is limited,” professor of chemistry and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Takita Sumter said, adding that, “South Carolina, at the time, had not had a rich history of receiving a large amount of federal funding… so that’s why South Carolina qualifies for this.”
“At bigger institutions, it can often take until you’re in a graduate program before you get the real hands on opportunities in the science labs that funding like this helps us provide. So why does it take funding like this? It takes funding like this because it provides stipends for faculty to do one-on-one research with students in the labs at the undergraduate level. It also provides the resources we need to support students in undertaking research opportunities,” Adrienne McCormick, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, said.
Without the SC INBRE grant, Winthrop would not be as well-equipped to give its students the opportunity to perform hands-on research that increases their chances of landing in their preferred job fields whilst simultaneously making a difference in health and human services.
“Biology, human nutrition, math, and chemistry, physics and geology are who will be supported by INBRE and who will be training students in their research. So, we’re in the process of identifying those faculty right now for this year of the grant,” Dr. Robin Lammi, professor of chemistry, department chair of chemistry, physics and geology, and lead investigator in the implementation of the grant, said. “We’ve proposed that we’d like to have at least 16 faculty and at least 32 students receiving research training annually, so that’s really the heart of what the program is about. It’s geared to help those students be more prepared, more competitive to go into the workforce, to build the scientific workforce in South Carolina and the region, but also to go on to graduate school, professional school, med school, dental school, pharmacy school, PT school, etc.”
Students and faculty will be working together on a variety of projects.
“INBRE will support students and faculty in biology, chemistry & biochemistry, human nutrition and math. Investigators will pursue a wide range of projects including development of the visual system, characterization of DNA-repair genes, understanding roles of essential metal-responsive proteins, the design and evaluation of enzyme inhibitors for targeted cancer therapy, mathematical modeling of infectious disease treatment strategies and interactions between nutrition, stress and gastrointestinal health,” Lammi said.
Winthrop students and faculty typically perform this NIH-funded research during the summer when most classes are not in session.
“Most students who take advantage of this are foregoing other work in the summer, like a paid job, in order to be on campus, so in providing them funding and paying them while they’re doing their research, we can make sure they continue to eat and cover the other types of essentials that enabled them to do that research,” McCormick said.
The SC INBRE grant funded by the NIH has enabled Winthrop to give students the flexibility to forgo summer jobs and work on campus full-time in a professional setting so that students and faculty may work together to further biomedical research and give students hands-on experience that will prove valuable in future career endeavors.
Photo by Emma Crouch
