The University of Miami has developed into a major research and educational institution nationally and internationally. The University has in excess 175 million dollars in sponsored research and the School of Medicine over 112 million dollars. In fiscal year 1997, the School of Medicine had over 51 million dollars in NIH funding. A major objective of the school is to promote the interdisciplinary collaborations between our basic and clinical scientists which translate into improved human health. This application is a request for 100,000 dollars toward the purchase of a Shepherd 81-22 Single Source Panoramic Irradiator. This will replace a unit that was initially purchased in 1969 and upgraded in 1987. This unit is not adequate for our research needs because of its high failure rate, prolonged routine irradiation times and the inability to perform high dose irradiations. There are currently 8 NIH funded investigators with over 1,190,083 dollars in direct annual costs and over 5,788,691 dollars in total project direct costs who utilize this equipment. Additionally, because of the age and poor performance of the current irradiator, there are many research projects that we can not initiate.
