The UCD, SOM seeks federal assistance to renovate basic biomedical research facilities to support development of a new initiative in Membrane Biology. The improvement would co-locate, in upgraded and reconfigured space, a cadre of eight established investigators and the initial three of five new positions under active recruitment. The project facilitates a broad strategy to enhance the size and stature of research activities and strengthen links between basic and clinical investigators. The approach has been to identify areas of existing scientific strength and thematically recruit additional talented investigators, particularly at the junior level. The selection of Membrane Biology for enhancement builds on extensive institutional planning, validated by an external panel of distinguished academic leaders, and a subsequent review of competitive program proposals submitted by the faculty. The project addresses multiple problems in providing appropriate launch space for Membrane Biology. Namely, it would: 1) remedy a number of physical deficiencies in a cluster of existing 24-year-old laboratories; 2) supplement individual laboratories with larger shared laboratories and support space to enhance collaboration and flexibility for meeting future needs; and 3) help alleviate a shortage of research space through more efficient design and the conversion of some former non-research space. The project involves extensive renovations of 9,472 assignable sq. ft. (11,144 sq. ft.). There is $2.794 million available as an institutional match, but insufficient funds to independently undertake all of the necessary improvements, which are budgeted at $4.794 million. The program that will benefit from this project will receive additional institutional support of $1.5 million over six years in start-up funds for five new faculty recruits, plus $150,000 for additional shared and core equipment. The school also competitively awards $2 million per year in intramural pilot awards and another $600,000 - $2 million per year in shared equipment funds. It is anticipated that the Membrane Biology program will also benefit from these ongoing funded sources to meet future development needs. This application follows-up on a previous National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)-funded C06 project, that was completed in December 2000. That project addressed other laboratory and basic infrastructure deficiencies in the same building that contains the subject laboratories in the current application.
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