The Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced the 2003 Michigan Life Sciences Corridor award recipients and Wayne State's hard work has paid off.

Proposals by three WSU School of Medicine faculty members, Richard Everson, Michael Tainsky, and Lucia Zamorano, received nearly $7.5 million from the latest round of the program. The University of Michigan and Michigan State University were also big winners in the competition, with U of M receiving four awards totaling nearly $7.3 million and MSU receiving two awards totaling nearly $2.6 million.

Tainsky, professor in the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, received the highest rating of all proposals submitted in the basic life sciences research category. His project, "Assays for the Early Detection of Cancer," was awarded $1,762,447 over the life of the grant.

According to Tainsky's program plan, the goal of this project is to detect antibodies that are produced by patients in reaction to proteins expressed in their ovarian tumors and use them as diagnostic markers. Current technologies have been disappointing and have not resulted in pre-symptomatic diagnostic tests suitable for clinical practice, and Tainsky envisions this grant to create a new paradigm for the course of detection and management of early stage ovarian cancer.

Zamorano, professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery, was ranked second in the basic life sciences research category. Her project, "Integration of Bioengineering & Biocomputing to Advance Michigan Computer-Assisted Surgery Research," was awarded $3,377,560 over the life of the grant.

According to Zamorano's program plan, the objective of this project is to develop infrastructure and a critical mass of multidisciplinary investigators that will advance research in computer-assisted surgery, leading to the adoption of new and innovative surgical approaches in Michigan and elsewhere.

Everson, professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine, Pathology and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, was ranked second in the collaborative applied research and development fund category. His project, "Streamlining Genomics for Personalized Medicine," was awarded $2,354,979 over the life of the grant.

According to Everson's program plan, the overall goal of his project is to develop simplified and cost effective approaches to obtaining samples and conducting genomic analyses in human populations required for the development of personalized medicine. The population resources, laboratory resources, biorepository and expertise developed under this proposal will give the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor important competitive advantages in participating in the development of personalized medicine. In turn, the commercial products required for personalized medicine should be an important contributor to economic development in Michigan. Asterand, a start-up company that has been affiliated with WSU for the past few years, is a key partner in this grant.

"I am pleased that three of our Wayne State researchers were recipients of funding from the recent round of the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor competition," said Irvin Reid, WSU's president. "Nearly all of our proposals received high marks, so I am confident that with some minor adjustments, many of those not funded will be extremely competitive in possible future rounds of the Corridor or funded by other sources."

In this last round of funding, MEDC awarded nearly $30 million to 13 projects plus the Core Technology Alliance, which WSU is a part of. In the past three years, Wayne State has been awarded more than $24 million as a result of its involvement in the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor.

Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. In the past 20 years, Wayne State's research has grown 15 percent annually, with research expenditures reaching nearly $200 million in 2002. Over 75 percent of research at WSU is focused on the life sciences, and this focus has led our School of Medicine to climb the National Science Foundation rankings to 22 in 2001.

Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world.