UM Vice Provost for Research

Vice Provost for Research

Chief research officer for the University of Miami, the Vice Provost for Research is responsible for overall policy implementation and coordination of the research activities of the University. Reporting to the Office of Research are the Division of Veterinary Resources, the Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Office, the Office of Research Compliance Assessment, the Office of Research Education and Training, the Office of Research Information Management, the Office of Research Standards, and the Coral Gables and Medical Research Administration Offices. The Vice Provost for Research serves as Chair of the University Research Council, the University Patent and Copyright Committee, the University Compliance Committee, and the Institutional Biosafety Committee, and is the administrative official responsible for the South Campus.

Dr. Richard J. Bookman, Vice Provost for Research
E-mail: rbookman@miami.edu

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 016960 (R-64) Miami, Florida 33101

Street Address:         1400 N.W. 10th Avenue         Dominion Tower 12th Floor         Medical Campus, LC: R64         Miami, Florida 33136

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Science Daily - Next decade offers promise for treatment of spinal cord injuries

Although new developments in the management of spinal cord injuries (SCI) are on the horizon, any eventual cure for the condition is more likely to involve a multidisciplinary approach, drawing from expertise in several fields, according to new research.

Read Full Article:  spinal cord injuries

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One of the better-kept secrets about the massive clinical research hospital at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., has been tucked away for half a century in Wing D of a building that dates to 1953. That is about to change.

The Pharmaceutical Development Section (PDS) is a corps of 20 chemists, pharmacists, pharmacokineticists and technicians who make investigational agents for many of the 1,500 clinical research studies running at any given moment at the NIH's Clinical Center. It is not a drug-discovery group, but rather a team of experts who churn out custom-made pills, vaccines, intravenous drugs and capsules, and even ointments and creams, for NIH investigators when the investigational agents they need aren't available.

Twenty-first century technology and government-mandated manufacturing standards have outpaced the equipment and capacities of the group's old, 743-square-metre workspace. But, if all goes according to schedule, in early June it will move seamlessly into a new, $12-million, 1,115-square-meter drug-making facility--a warren of rooms seven years in the planning that is tailor-made for the group's purposes.

The PDS's new digs are a reservoir of state-of-the-art machinery and minus 80 ºC freezers; high-efficiency particulate-absorbing filters populate the ceiling; and highly purified watercirculates through stainless-steel pipes that cost over $1,000 per meter. There are meticulous controls on air temperature, humidity and pressure. The facility's layout and structural materials are geared to maximum cleanliness--right down to the easily-scoured, porous epoxy floors."

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Stem cell leader moves to industry

Another sign today of stem cell research becoming more commercial: An announcement that Stephen Minger, one of the field’s leading academics, will join GE Healthcare next week as head of Research and Development for Cell Technologies.

Minger, an American, has been in charge of stem cell biology at Guy’s Hospital and King’s College London since moving to the UK in 1996.

As well as being one of the top researchers into human embryonic stem cells in Britain - his lab has derived several hESC lines including ones with genetic mutations for cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease - Minger has been a fearless public advocate of stem cell science.

The relatively science-friendly legislative and regulatory framework for embryo research that has emerged in the UK owes something to Minger’s communications skills. He is one of the most open and media-friendly scientists I have come across, in any field.

“Leading GE Healthcare’s Cell Technologies research and development will allow me to bring many years of academic research in the stem cell field to bear in a commercial environment,” he says. “This is an opportunity for me to play a leading role in the realization of the emerging potential of stem cell technology in drug discovery and therapy, and to help grow a strategic business for GE Healthcare.”

Stephen Minger

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From FT Science Blog

View Larger Map

Animals with human genes and cells

November 9, 2009 11:59pm

by Clive Cookson | Comment

Britain’s Academy of Medical Sciences has launched an imaginative new study - on the use in research of animals containing human genes or cells.

“This area of science has had very little public discussion, though it has been scientifically very important and has led to some important medical advances,” says Martin Bobrow, the Cambridge University medical geneticist who will lead the study.

Animals containing human material - mostly transgenic mice with genes of human origin - are used routinely in laboratories world-wide. They have enabled researchers to make groundbreaking advances in understanding the causes and devising treatments of disease.

However, increasingly powerful methods for introducing human material into animals, including new stem cell technologies and ways to transfer many genes together, will present new opportunities and significant regulatory and ethical challenges in the future.

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New Scientist - Big banks, big pharma, big problems

Image by Trodel via Flickr

Could the cash piles of big pharma be mobilised in a more efficient way for the public good?

There is another way to fund the development of new treatments. Many innovative ideas that have changed society have arisen from the combination of curiosity and academic freedom found in universities. This is where small amounts of funding can produce big results. In recent years, university research has been exploited by industry to produce new drugs, such as blood clot-busting "tissue plasminogen activator", courtesy of the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) in Belgium.

Now, while big pharma has so much money it doesn't know what to do with it, universities are being starved of resources and research funding has decreased in real terms. At the same time, university research strategy is under-organised and there is ignorance of how to exploit intellectual property and utilise patents. Nevertheless, the potential of universities is enormous.

Sadly, because of intense competition for limited funds, academic scientists are now driven to perform predictable low-risk science in small packets that will give quick results in time for the next grant application. The end result is that we have a plethora of small groups with strong leaders that act independently, fragmenting effort. At the same time, little translational research is being performed, even though politicians pay endless lip service to the idea.

The way forward is obvious: inject the money into university research. Experience tells us this can have major benefits.

"There is another way to fund the development of new treatments."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427295.500-big-banks-big-pharma-big-problems.html

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