Despite decreasing availability of resources from the university's main benefactor, the National Institute of Health (NIH), research funding has increased 11.5 percent during the fiscal year of 2006.
According to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) annual survey, total research and development expenditures for the year were $297.9 million, up from $267.3 million in 2005.
"We've seen a funding increase across the board," said Joseph Cusker, executive assistant for the vice president for research.
According to Cusker, the increase is a result of researchers' growing interest in non-traditional agencies for funding. These include the Federal Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, as well as NASA and some private foundations.
UB's main source of funding continues to be the NIH, but Cusker said resources have become more difficult to obtain. It has been necessary for researchers to look to new agencies due to a decline in support from traditional ones.
"The major concern nation-wide is that after years of expansion, the National Institute of Health has leveled off in funding. Almost every research university has experienced a leveling off or even a decline," Cusker said. "UB is a major health sciences university, so that accounts for a major chunk of our funding."
Jean Wactawski-Wende, associate professor of social and preventive medicine and co-director of UB's Women's Health Initiative, has been able to secure funding from some non-traditional sources.
"I have been able to get funding by applying with a good idea and working with a great team of collaborators," she said. "Much of the funding I have has come by working with investigative teams from across disciplines and branching new research ideas off our existing research programs."
Her sources include the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group and in the past, the Department of Defense. Still, most of her funding is from NIH.
"Clearly NIH funding is becoming more difficult to obtain. Looking to other sources of support may help to keep our research programs productive," she said.
Wactawski-Wende is a researcher in one of the cutting-edge projects that have drawn funding from new agencies to UB. She is currently investigating aspirin as a method of improving a woman's chances of becoming pregnant and maintaining pregnancy to term. The National Institute of Child Health and Development funds the national study; UB receives a $2.8 million portion.
Mark Frank, social psychologist and associate professor in the department of communication, is another UB researcher with an innovative project. Studying conscious and unconscious facial expressions, he has developed ways to suggest whether a person is lying.
His findings, funded by the NSF at $1 million per year, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Naval Research, are used to identify suspects of criminal behavior and are being tested in the identification of potential terrorists.
UB Distinguished Professor and chair of the department of pharmaceutical sciences William J. Jusko was awarded a $4.5 million grant from Pfizer to support a Center of Excellence in Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics.
He is working with mathematical models in the study of pharmacodynamics - the effect of drugs on the body over time. Jusko is examining drugs' alteration of individual gene action the NIH has funded his research for the past 25 years.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
