Dunn foundation gives $3 million to CRC

By Jocelyn Wright     10/9/08 7:00pm

Students interested in assisting professors and researchers with biomedical research at the Collaborative Research Center will now have a greater opportunity to do so. Over the next ten years, the CRC will receive $3 million from the John S. Dunn Research Foundation. The money will be used to fund grants for medical research done by Rice researchers working in collaboration with other institutions, Charles Hall, president of the John S. Dunn Research Foundation, said. Although this money will not go directly to students, Provost Eugene Levy said the grant money would benefit students by giving them the opportunity to participate in more research projects. Hall said the money would be used to fund seed grants for open-ended projects, allowing researchers to have as much free rein as possible in biological research.

"Part of the idea is not to say, 'Go find the cure for cancer,'" Hall said. "It's to take a risk and be innovative and do something that you think might be really helpful, but is not solid enough yet, for example, for the federal government to sponsor."

The CRC, which began construction in 2006 and is expected to be completed in 2009, is designed to enhance biosciences and biotechnology research collaboration between Rice and Texas Medical Center. TMC institutions contributing to the CRC include Baylor College of Medicine, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Texas Children's Hospital and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

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The John S. Dunn Foundation will donate $300,000 each year to the CRC. This annual fund will be divided into six to ten grants for research primarily focused on biomedical sciences and technology, Levy said. Faculty members and researchers will be able to apply for a grant each year, and the specific number and size of the grants will be determined by a selection committee.

Levy said the grant money will also enhance student research opportunities.

"The benefit to students will take the form of either experimental opportunities or paid internships or assistant internships that go to students through participation in projects that are proposed and run by faculty members and researchers," Levy said.

Hall said the John S. Dunn Research Foundation chose to donate to the CRC because it supports collaborative rather than competitive efforts among research institutions.

"This [the CRC] brought together the Gulf Coast Consortia," Hall said. "It just seemed like the right place to get the bang for our buck."

The John S. Dunn Research Foundation's charter describes it as a charitable organization designed to promote further medical research for the betterment of mankind. Hall said the foundation is particularly interested in promoting the training of nurses and funding research in mental health. Additionally, Hall said the foundation supports about six dozen medical clinics in low-income and minority communities.

Levy said Rice was thrilled to receive this gift from the John S. Dunn Research Foundation.

"This gift is just the kind of thing that is so important at a university like Rice," Levy said. "It seeds new ideas and helps bring in new ideas from the conceptual phase into the phase of serious research projects and ultimately to results that will benefit our society, so it's a very exciting gift in that respect.

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