UNL research boosted by $15.7 million in grants

This year the University of Nebraska-Lincoln received $15.7 million in grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, allowing increased revenue for research across campus.

UNL received 45 grants through the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, according to Prem Paul, vice chancellor of research and economic development. The grants were funded from various federal agencies through the ARRA stimulus plan, which was enacted in February.

Grants provided competitive funding as well as supplements to ongoing research and money for equipment and renovation, Paul said. In addition to providing funding, the grants aim to provide opportunities to students while adding and retaining jobs for faculty.

"The grants allow for more research to raise the stature of the university," Paul said.

The grants were awarded through the end of the fiscal fourth quarter. The university applied for 147 grants through the act. More responses are still coming in with others still pending. The amount of funds awarded range from $25,000 to $2.7 million.

Rick Bevins, psychology professor, was awarded $997,732 from the National Institute of Drug Abuse to fund his ongoing research about how nicotine affects addiction. The grant was to supplement two more years of his project, which has been in progress for five years. The grant helped hire a lab manager technician, as well as a graduate and post-doctorate student.

Bevins' project looks at various facets of nicotine, including why it is so hard to treat those who quit smoking. According to Bevins, 70 percent of those who smoke say they want to quit, and if they do quit, 95 percent who do so without any help will relapse. Of the quitters who do seek treatment, the success rate is around 20-25 percent.

"The pestering question is how addictive nicotine is," Bevins said. "What is it about that 75 percent that we can't treat?"

The grants awarded also have a broad impact on undergraduates. Bevins has five or six undergrads volunteering with his project, and the money received allows for mentoring opportunities undergrads wouldn't normally have, Bevins said.

This is also true for the grant awarded to Robert Powers, an associate professor of chemistry. The NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Powers $375,670 for his research that could lead to discoveries of new drugs or antibiotics. His grant indirectly helps undergraduate students who work on the project with two graduate students. The grant was used to support these graduate students, as well as funding equipment used to develop their techniques and the day-to-day needs to continue research. His team uses methods that combine structural biology, nuclear spectroscopy, bioinformatics and drug screening to  develop techniques to identify novel proteins, to identify potential new cures.

"(The grant) was essential funding to continue moving and progressing the projects," Powers said.

The ARRA was passed by Congress and later signed into law by President Barack Obama in February. The three main goals of the ARRA are to create and save jobs, spur economic activity and foster accountability in government spending.

For UNL, the grants will continue to ensure quality health education and science, Paul said.

"(The grants awarded) provide solutions we face as a society," he said.

paigecornwell@dailynebraskan.com