NU, health care product manufacturer to offer research opportunities
Northwestern and health care giant Baxter Healthcare Corporation announced in a Thursday press release that they will soon be joining in a multimillion dollar research partnership.
The three-year collaboration will allow faculty and students of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science to work with members of Baxter on several proposed projects. The proposals will receive approximately $3 million in funding from the company on a case-by-case basis over the course of the partnership. Some projects will include research of new technologies in areas such as therapeutics and biomedical and device engineering. Each proposal will be reviewed by a committee of senior research leaders from both institutions, and NU faculty will conduct the research.
The two institutions currently collaborate in efforts to advance stem cell and nanotechnology research, as well as student recruitment. The new partnership will allow NU to apply its strengths in engineering, business and medicine to real-world situations through Baxter, a corporation that combines expertise in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
Baxter Healthcare Corp. is a subsidiary of Baxter International Inc., which manufactures and markets products to advance world health care. NU currently has similar partnerships with Honeywell, Ford Motor Co. and Boeing Co.
In the press release, University President Henry Bienen expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration between the two research entities.
"We believe this partnership with Baxter will benefit everyone involved," he said. "It will lead to fostering the development of cutting-edge technology and bringing it to the marketplace."
- Christina Chaey
NU garners all-time high in research grants, receiving $438.8 million
Northwestern received a record-breaking $438.8 million in research grants last year, the highest in the university's history and a 5 percent increase from $416.4 million in 2007.
"It was a fantastic year, given the relatively flat federal budget," said Susan Ross, director for the Office for Sponsored Research on NU's Evanston Campus.
A 10 percent increase in federal funding helped make this possible, Ross said. The largest portion of the funding came from the National Institutes of Health and went to the Feinberg School of Medicine, which received more than $268 million, or over 60 percent of the total grant money awarded to NU.
NIH grants awarded to Feinberg include $32 million to conduct the National Children's Study, billed as the most extensive U.S. study of child development ever performed and $21 million to improve a national research program that helps preserve fertility in women who have cancer.
Ross said she attributes the surge of donations to NU's interdisciplinary research.
"It makes us unique and competitive because the research delves into nontraditional fields," she said, adding that researchers can now continue with their "vital work."
In addition to the high dollar amount, the university also received a record 2,413 grants in 2008, compared to 2,379 in 2007 and 2,227 in 2006.
Other substantial grant recipients included the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science with $59 million and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences with $55 million.
"We review 1.6 billion proposals per year," Ross said. "Last year, we applied for over a billion dollars from the National Institutes of Health, but we are still satisfied with what we got."
- Alexandra Finkel
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