Peoria NEXT Announces Research Grant Recipients
Posted on February 6th, 2004
Peoria NEXT is pleased to announce the recipients of the first round of funding in the Peoria NEXT
Research Grant Program. The grant program is designed to fund seed-stage scientific and technological research in the Peoria area. Funds for the program were obtained through donations to Peoria NEXT and have been designated to support innovation and the implementation of commercialization in the areas of life science, material science, and engineering science.
Funding has been awarded to the following two projects:
Inducing Functional Neurons from Bone Marrow Stem Cells $25,000 award
Collaborators include Craig Cady, Ph.D., Neurophysiology Laboratory, Assistant Professor of Biology, Bradley University; Dzung Dinh, MD, MBA, Head, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria; Darwin Prokop, MD, Ph.D., Center for Gene Therapy, Tulane University Health Science Center
The Development of an Active Control Algorithm for a Hydrocephalic Shunt System Using
Microprocessor Control $21,800 award
Collaborators include Julie Reyer, Ph.D., Assistant
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Bradley University; Julian Lin, MD, Assistant Professor,
Department of Neurosurgery, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria; Martin Morris, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Bradley University
We are very excited to be able to support these two projects. These grant awards represent the type of research endeavors that will fuel the culture of discovery and innovation that Peoria NEXT is all about, says Dr. Richard Lister, Managing Director of Peoria NEXT.
Selection of grant recipients was based on projects that best incorporated inter-institutional collaboration, scientific/technical merit, potential for commercialization, and future access to funding. Each project had to involve at least two Peoria NEXT member organizations.
The grantees were chosen from an impressive pool of nineteen qualified submissions, says Dr. Joseph Milbrandt, Co-Leader for Research on the Peoria NEXT Research, Education, and Innovation Team (REIT). This has been a phenomenal launch for the program and we anticipate strong interest in the second round of proposals as well.
For more information on the Peoria NEXT Research Grant Program, CLICK HERE.
