Feeding the Grant Pipeline through Philanthropy

When the Texas Biomedical Forum presents scientists with money for pilot research projects, they are planting the seeds of success for later, larger grant applications. For example, Professor Jordi Torrelles, Ph.D., was the recipient of a $60,000  2018 Forum Grant funding his research on a new inexpensive, easy-to-use test for drug resistant tuberculosis. That project has now been funded by a two-year NIH exploratory grant for $403,496. A $40,000 2017 Forum grant to Professor Larry Schlesinger, M.D., Assistant Professor Smita Kulkarni, Ph.D., and Staff Scientist Eusondia Arnett, Ph.D., yielded a $536,250 two-year NIH grant to study how HIV alters the formation of lesions in the lungs that make patients more susceptible to TB infection. A 2016 Forum grant of $50,000 to Dr. Kulkarni funded research that justified a two-year $526,625 NIH grant to further her studies into the roles of long non-coding RNAs interacting with HIV protein.. Investment by our generous donors is growing the future of biomedical research!