FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University of Arkansas will create a position for a bioinformatics professor and build a state-of-the-art access grid on campus as part of a $6 million, 3-year grant from the National Institutes of Health designed to encourage biomedical research in Arkansas.

The grant, awarded to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) the U of A and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. (UALR), will help the three universities create a Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN) to enhance research opportunities for professors and students from other institutions in the state. The Fayetteville campus will receive $1.4 million from the project.

The lead researchers hope the grant will encourage more scientists to seek federal research funding, will better educate students who will then stay in Arkansas, and will benefit the education and the economic systems in the state.

"Arkansas currently ranks low in attracting high-technology industry," said Donald Bobbitt, associate dean of research in the University of Arkansas’ Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and director of recruitment and mentoring for BRIN. "But if we can educate a group of people at the graduate level, we will be able to attract biomedical research opportunities to the state.

"We have this untapped potential of students," who attend colleges with few laboratories and research facilities, said Bobbitt.

The BRIN project has three major goals: to expand opportunities for undergraduate faculty and students to participate in biomedical research; to stimulate more federal grant proposals in the biomedical sciences from Arkansas scientists; and to advance the state’s expertise in bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics and digital microscopy.

Bioinformatics researchers use powerful computational resources to analyze, store and communicate large amounts of information from genomic and proteomic research.

Genomics researchers identify genes, their interactions and their effects on biological processes.

Proteomics researchers characterize proteins, their structure and function to better understand the mechanisms that govern human health and disease.

Digital microscopy allows researchers to located macromolecules within cells and tissues to better assess their function in normal and diseased states.

Through BRIN, the three universities will become partners with Arkansas’ four-year colleges and master’s degree granting institutions to offer the professors and students opportunities to conduct biomedical research with research faculty in large laboratory settings. The universities will offer courses, technical workshops and summer research experiences to help enhance the experiences of undergraduate students and faculty throughout the state.

The professors and students will use multi-million dollar research facilities, participate in state-of-the-art research and learn to expand their own research capabilities, with the ultimate goal of encouraging them to continue their graduate studies within the state.

The initiative in Fayetteville will extend across campus, including chemistry and biochemistry, biological sciences, agriculture and mathematics.

The Arkansas Science and Technology Authority has contributed $600,000 to BRIN. Participating institutions include University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Arkansas State University, University of Central Arkansas, Hendrix College, the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences and the National Center for Toxicological Research.

Lawrence Cornett, professor of physiology and biophysics at UAMS, and Helen Benes, assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology at UAMS, and Bobbitt are the principal investigators on the BRIN project.