Applications are being accepted through Nov. 19 from young faculty for grants to pursue cancer-related research. Funding is for 2010 and will be available around Jan. 1.
WSU has offered these grants for 32 of the past 33 years, thanks to the successful efforts of Nancy Magnuson to acquire and renew funding. Magnuson, a professor in the School of Molecular Biosciences and the Herbert L. Eastlick Distinguished Professor in the College of Sciences, leads a laboratory team that works to understand the signaling pathway that, when altered, leads to cancer of the immune system. A recent discovery is that the same pathway, when altered, leads to many other cancers, most notably prostate cancer.
Magnuson recently received renewal of funding of the American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grants (ACS IRG). Funding of $270,000 will provide three $30,000 annual grants in each of three years (2010-2012).
“The American Cancer Society grant I was awarded provided me with resources to obtain results that subsequently led to an National Institutes of Health R01 award for five years, several manuscripts and supportive data for a patent application,” Black said. “This award came at a pivotal moment in my early academic career, and I believe it was central to establishing my research program at WSU.”
Magnuson’s motivation for pursuing the ACS IRG funding is that it helps young faculty get a head start on collecting data for obtaining more extramural support.
“Although WSU is not a medical school, I point out in grant renewal applications that eligible WSU faculty are basic scientists whose research programs are not yet firmly established,” she said. “Since the ACS intends for the grants to serve as incentives for the pursuit of cancer research, I emphasize that the talents and interests of young WSU faculty could be turned toward cancer studies.”
The subsequent success of young faculty who get these grants, as well as her own success at continuing to get this initial money for her colleagues , have been incentives to continue pursuing the funding, Magnuson said.
The grants are intended to support independent, self-directed investigators early in their careers. Grant applicants must be junior faculty members or equivalent. They should be within six years of their first independent research or faculty appointment.
They must be eligible to apply for independent national competitive research grants but may not have such funding. They must demonstrate promise towards providing preliminary and publishable data to compete successfully for national research grants.
New applicants are encouraged, but previous reward recipients also are eligible for a second year of support. Second-year applications should demonstrate significant progress with the first-year project.
Applications via e-mail, in PDF form, must be received at dsmerdon@wsu.edu by Nov. 19. PDF application forms are available from Diane Smerdon, dsmerdon@wsu.edu. For more information about eligibility, contact Magnuson at 335-0966 or magnuson@wsu.edu.
