NIH grants Boston University School of Medicine $1.3M grant for medical research

(Boston) - Boston University School of Medicine's (BUSM) CityLab program has received a five year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Research Resources (NCRR).

With this award, BUSM's CityLab program will expand its curriculum supplements with hands-on laboratory experiments and computer-generated simulations designed to impart an understanding and appreciation of the basic elements of clinical research including clinical trials.

"Our goal is to generate a deep appreciation of the importance of citizen participation in clinical trials and the importance of the data generated by a clinical trial," said Carl Franzblau, PhD, professor of biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine. "This award allows BUSM to show students, teachers, parents and the community the significant role of clinical trials in medical research," he added

The Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program of the NCRR has supported BUSM's CityLab program for more than 18 years. CityLab's hands-on inquiry based biotechnology laboratory curriculum supplements have been used by more than 600,000 middle and high school students nationwide as well as more than 3,000 teachers. CityLab has two dedicated laboratories at Boston University School of Medicine along with its mobile biotechnology laboratory (MobileLab) and is a teaching model for both local and national efforts to improve pre-college science education.

In 1992, Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) launched CityLab, an innovative, science education outreach program that has been disseminated across the country. CityLab is a biotechnology learning laboratory serving students and teachers in grades 7-12. CityLab is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) and BUSM. CityLab's mission is to provide access to state-of-the-art biotechnology laboratory facilities and curriculum, unavailable to most school systems. Teachers from Massachusetts and neighboring states bring their students to CityLab where they solve problems by applying the same techniques and concepts of genetics and molecular biology used in research laboratories today.

The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), provides laboratory scientists and clinical researchers with the tools and training they need to understand, detect, treat, and prevent a wide range of diseases. NCRR supports all aspects of clinical and translational research, connecting researchers, patients, and communities across the nation. This support enables discoveries made at a molecular and cellular level to move to animal-based studies, and then to patient-oriented clinical research, ultimately leading to improved patient care. Through programs such as the Clinical and Translational Science Awards, NCRR brings together innovative research teams and equips them with essential tools and critical resources needed to tackle the nation's complex health problems.