NIH program to create academic research consortium

The National Institutes of Health is injecting $100 million into a new project to create a consortium of universities that will cooperate on research projects. By 2012, the government plans to bring funding up to $500 million a year and expects to have 60 academic research centers involved, working cooperatively on advancing medical research. The goal is to push cooperation as medicine gets increasingly specialized and new genomic data is gathered. The NIH wants to end the days when lone researchers plugged away in isolated labs and herald a new era that will advance new therapies and speed investigative work. Among the first group to be involved: Columbia University; Rockefeller University; Mayo Clinic College of Medicine; Oregon Health & Science University; University of California, Davis; University of Pennsylvania; University of Rochester; University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; Yale University.

- here's the AP report on the financing

PLUS: Scientists around the country say the new financing system can spark a revolution in the way research is translated into new therapies that are approved for use. Report