Baltimore, MD: Fiscal year 2007 (July 06 - June 07, FY07) was an uncommonly busy year for grant submissions from the MBC. A record breaking 68 grants were submitted by 13 different MBC researchers! Tim Hughes, MBC Assistant Director, cannot recall another year like it. "MBC has always been productive, but we have never processed so many grants before. But everything went very smoothly with UMBI's Office of Research and Development, even with the new NIH online submission system and the first-time state stem cell program," he remarked.

The sources of funding to which MBC researchers have turned are broader than ever before, including foundations, companies, and the State of Maryland. In the past, faculty members have relied heavily on federal sources like the NIH. However, federal funding levels have dropped below 10%, so essentially only 1 NIH grant application in 10 is being funded. With such a low funding level from traditional sources, researchers now have to look to elsewhere.

Not all submissions have or will result in funded grants, but even in a tightening economy, MBC researchers continue to maintain productive laboratories. As for next year, a significant portion of FY07 submissions will not be decided upon until the next fiscal year, so MBC will have to wait to see if the record number of submissions results in a significant increase in funding.

Several of the new grants which have been funded are unusual. Besides two Maryland Stem Cell Commission stem cell grants to Drs. Shengyun Fang and W. Jonathan Lederer that will be funded in FY08, Dr. W. Jonathan Lederer also received a large equipment grant. The $737,850 grant will go to the purchase of a new, shared state-of-the-art confocal microscope.