The Presbyterian Health Foundation has awarded 10 grants totaling $1 million to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
These grants will support the purchase of critical scientific equipment and studies at OMRF in areas such as Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, lupus, sickle cell anemia and ovarian aging.
Timing of the PHF awards is fortunate, as the National Institutes of Health recently announced it would cut the amount it pays to biomedical institutions like OMRF for research grants. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has halted implementation of the rate cut pending further review.
“The uncertainty of future NIH grant funding levels means alternative forms of support now have greater importance than ever,” said PHF President Rick McCune. “We’re proud of the role we play in filling that gap, assuring that future scientific discoveries continue to be made in Oklahoma.”
PHF primarily supports the state’s biotechnology, medical research and education organizations, with an emphasis on research and innovation taking place within the Oklahoma Health Center campus in Oklahoma City. Its awards support the early research results needed to compete for larger grants.
For instance, with a new $65,000 PHF grant, OMRF physician-scientist Hal Scofield, M.D., hopes to uncover why women are far more prone than men to developing lupus.
Scofield suspects the absence of a particular gene protects men against lupus. With the PHF grant, he’ll perform experiments testing this theory.
The $100,000 PHF grant awarded to OMRF scientists Michael Stout, Ph.D., and Xin Geng, Ph.D., will provide early study results involving the lymphatic system, which helps drain toxic substances from tissues. The researchers hypothesize that in women, malfunctioning lymphatic vessels lead to premature ovarian aging.
“This study will allow us to get some critical answers that otherwise would have been delayed, perhaps indefinitely,” Stout said. “PHF’s support gets us ahead of the curve.”
PHF has contributed $20 million in research grants to OMRF over the past decade. Since its inception in 1985, PHF has invested $225 million in biomedical research, discovery, and health initiatives in Oklahoma.
“For three decades, PHF has helped us purchase essential lab equipment and supported the testing of new ideas,” said Courtney Griffin, Ph.D., OMRF’s vice president of research. “Many of these ideas might have remained unexplored without PHF’s help. We’re grateful for their continued trust in our scientists’ expertise and creativity.”
