PULLMAN Molecular biology professor Raymond Reeves (photo) and his colleagues at WSU have been awarded $2 million over the next five years to train graduate students in biotechnology.
The funding is from a continuing grant from the National Institutes of Health. This brings the total award to WSU for this program to over $8 million since its inception. The award recognizes the fact that WSU is a leader in biotechnology research and is training the next generation of scientists and engineers to continue the increasingly important tradition of merging the life sciences with a variety of practical applications.
The Biotechnology Training Program was developed by the NIH in 1989, and WSU was one of the inaugural universities to be selected for funding. After an unprecedented 20 years of continuous support, the agency has announced plans to continue funding this program through 2014.
“We were one of the first programs in biotechnology, and one of only three to run continuously to this day, along with MIT and the University of Wisconsin,” said Reeves, director of the Biotechnology Training Program since 2000.
Students in the training program come from five colleges in the areas of chemical engineering, chemistry, molecular biosciences, molecular plant sciences, pharmacology and veterinary microbiology & pathology. Over the past 20 years, 109 trainees have participated and 32 are currently working towards their doctoral degree.
“We are delighted to have the continuing support and confidence of NIH in this program,” said Dean of Sciences Michael Griswold. “I congratulate Ray and the others who put together the successful program and the competitive renewal proposal.”
