UR Awarded Nearly $250K NIH Grant For Biomedical Research; Funding Will Support 11 Faculty and 70+ Research Students

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND — The National Institutes of Health has awarded the University of Richmond a nearly $250K grant to purchase a high performance computer for biomedical research.

The funding will support 11 faculty from biology, chemistry, and psychology, and more than 70 undergraduate research students, enabling them to perform state-of-the-art computations. Chemistry professor Carol Parish is serving as the principal investigator on this project.

"Our faculty are committed to producing cutting-edge research while also providing professionally meaningful training and research experiences to our students,” said Parish. “A high-performance computer cluster designed for optimal biomedical research will allow us to have a greater impact on solving problems related to a variety of diseases — from developing anticancer treatments, to curbing bone density loss, to preventing the spread of insect-borne infections."

The NIH Basic Instrumentation Grant program supports the purchase of research-critical instrumentation, including HPCs. To be eligible to apply for the award, an institution must hold a minimum of three NIH research grants. Parish noted this latest project helps UR continue to stand out in the liberal arts arena and makes the University more competitive with major research institutions.

“We currently have five faculty receiving NIH support for important biomedical projects, which is very unusual for a primarily undergraduate institution,” Parish said. 

The computer will be purchased over the summer and available for faculty and students to begin using for the 2022–23 academic year.

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