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 California
State University, Fresno has been awarded a five-year, $4.5 million
federal grant to develop a state-of-the-art biomedical research facility
in which researchers can take advantage of new technologies to research
health issues.
The university is one of 19 in the country – and one of two in
California – to receive the award from the National Center on Minority
Health and Health Disparities, a center of the National Institutes of
Health.
The grant to the College of Science and Mathematics will fund the
Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) program, which
builds research opportunities at institutions that offer degrees in life
sciences and other health areas to a predominantly minority student
body. The award seeks to better integrate teaching and research.
“The RIMI grant will involve Fresno State faculty and students in
cutting-edge research to address serious health issues that impact our
community,” said Dr. Lynnette Zelezny, a psychology professor who will
direct training and behavior aspects of the grant.
“I am excited and proud to be part of this unique collaborative effort
to address health disparities and to support future research training
and infrastructure at Fresno State.”
“Securing this grant allows us to develop biomedical research facilities
and acquire instruments on par with any other world-class research
institution,” Krishnan said. “The facilities will allow us to compete
for and seek additional funding from agencies that were previously out
of reach.”
Instruments at the facility will support research in the areas of
proteomics, functional genomics and bioinformatics.
The facility also will support the research of several Fresno State
faculty, including Krishnan and Dr. Alam Hasson in chemistry
(inter-relationship between air pollution, viral infection and asthma in
the Central Valley); Dr. Jason Bush in biology (effects of pesticides on
breast cancer in Hispanic farm workers); and Dr. Amanda Mortimer in
psychology (cultural differences in marital care-giving interactions in
Alzheimer’s disease).
Fresno State will collaborate with several renowned research facilities,
including UCSF-Fresno, Queens University, California Cancer Registry
(Fresno), Center for Comparative Medicine, UC Davis Medical Center and
the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla.
Provost Jeri Echeverria serves as the principal investigator for the
grant, which runs through 2012.
For more information about the RIMI grant, visit
www.rimicsufresno.org.
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