Innovative ideas: private funding supports research to address disease in eastern North Carolina.

• Author: Kennedy, Kathryn
• Position: RESEARCH NORTH CAROLINA: EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

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A recurring, private funding source for research at East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine is paying dividends for the university by allowing professors to explore new areas in their fields and attract significant federal and industry grants.

Established in 2005, "Brody Brothers" research funding has provided more than $1.1 million over time to support work related to diseases that most impact the lives of North Carolinians in the eastern part of the state. It's one of several ways the Brody family of eastern North Carolina continues to help the medical school achieve its mission of improving the health status of the region's residents.

"The availability of these funds affords ECU doctors and researchers an opportunity to further study innovative ideas and launch new research," said Hyman Brody, who reviews the proposals with cousin David Brody and a team of researchers from the medical school.

"There is a lot of quality research going on at the school," remarked David Brody. "There have been many important contributions to the science and improvement of health generated by our faculty!'

The Brody Brothers Stewardship Committee approved approximately $331,600 for the 2015-16 academic year to be divided among 11 grant proposals. Projects to earn funding this cycle included research related to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and depression.

The awards range from $20,000 to $45,000. But in an increasingly competitive funding environment, so-called "seed grants" have become essential to attracting larger awards from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation.

"With many of the major funding mechanisms out there, you get two tries--a submission and a resubmission," said Dr. Bob Lust, chair of physiology at Brody and a member of the proposal review team. "There's more pressure than ever before to be as competitive as possible on the first attempt."

Lust said the Brody Brothers grants enable researchers to gather preliminary data to strengthen their proposals, or to explore a new idea.

Dr. Myon-Hee Lee, associate professor in ECU internal medicine's Hematology/Oncology Division, knows firsthand how seed funding can aid research. Lee applied in 2013 for an NIH grant to support his investigation into how tumors develop and associated therapeutic targets for cancer patients.

By studying systems in the C. elegans worm, Lee's research team identified a key...