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Breakthroughs in Bioscience
From NIH-Funded Basic Research
to Improved Health
Louisiana
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
 Nation’s medical research
agency
 Funds the science that leads to
medical advancement
 Campus in Bethesda, MD– but
most funding is distributed to
university researchers
throughout the United States
 Tulane and LSU-Health Science rank
in the top 100 schools for NIH funding
Research Enterprise Is Critical to
Louisiana’s Economy
 Louisiana received more than $128 million in NIH
awards for FY08
 For every $1 million in reseach funding brought into
the state, 33 jobs are created
 Tulane had the second largest improvement in NIH
award ranking during 2001-03
 Research funds from NIH doubled at the Tulane
Health Sciences Center from 2001-2004
 The state continues to support efforts to develop
bioscience clusters in New Orleans, Shreveport, and
Baton Rouge
NIH Grants Support Many Programs in
Louisiana
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A $9.9 million COBRE grant to the LSU-Tulane School of
Veterinary Medicine created a Center for Experimental
Infectious Disease Research
NIH awarded a $16.9 million INBRE grant to 8 state
schools for multi-disciplinary research and to enhance
the quality of faculty
LSU received a $10.6 million grant to train researchers in
translational research
A $4.3 million grant was awarded to Tulane to establish
a center to prepare, test, and distribute adult stem cells
to researchers
NIAID granted Tulane $13.6 million to develop a
bioterrorism center for treatments and vaccines for
emerging infectious diseases
NIH: Saving Lives Through Science
 Current annual budget of around $ 29.3 billion
 Greater than 80% distributed throughout the country
 More than 50,000 grants
 212,000 scientists
 2,800 universities
 Portfolio of basic, translational, and clinical research
NIH has been involved in nearly all the medical & health
related discoveries of the past century
How NIH Makes Science Happen…
 Researchers working at local universities, hospitals and research
institutions are dependent on federal support to fund their research, hire
lab personnel and train young scientists
 They write research grant proposals to compete for funding
 Must explain why they think it’s a good idea, how they’re going to do the
experiments, and what impact it will have on science & medicine
 Proposals are reviewed in a two-tiered system
 Peer-reviewed by scientists to ensure highest quality science
 Reviewed again for applicability to scientific or health priorities by NIH
officials and other stakeholders, including public members
 NIH review system is the envy of the world!
 Very competitive!!!
 Before - 1 in 3 proposals funded; now closer to 1 in 6
 High quality research is not being done for lack of funding
Basic Research: From Bench to Bedside
 Much of NIH funding goes to basic or fundamental research
 Basic research is driven by interest in a scientific question
 The main motivation is to expand knowledge and
understanding, not to create or invent something
 However, the insight into how the human body works and
understanding of how diseases and disorders operate provides
the foundation for medical progress
"People cannot foresee the future well enough to predict
what's going to develop from basic research. If we only did
applied research, we would still be making better spears."
Dr. George Smoot, Berkeley National Lab
What about medical breakthroughs?
 Medical breakthroughs often come from unrelated areas of
science or medicine
 Research on cancer biology has led to drugs for: heart disease;
viral diseases like influenza, Herpes & AIDS; and osteoporosis
 Physicists studying the effects of magnets on atomic particles
made the discovery that gave us MRI
 Usually based on years or decades of fundamental knowledge
 Over time, scientists solve or find different pieces of the puzzle
 This makes it difficult to predict where the next
breakthrough will come from
 Makes it imperative to support a broad range of scientific research
 Much of this research is too basic for the private sector
 The federal investment often lays the foundation for advances in
healthcare
Evolution of Research to
Healthcare
Selected modern examples…
Cardiovascular disease
 Information on the biochemical structure & synthesis
of cholesterol led to the development of statins
 Discoveries in basic kidney biology and blood pressure
regulation converged with an unexpected finding
involving snake venom to yield ACE inhibitors, one of
our most effective hypertension medications
 Understanding how the blood clots, together with a
new cancer treatment and the first commercial use of
recombinant technologies, resulted in rtPA, a clotbusting drug that can prevent death from heart attack
or stroke
RESULTS?? 63% REDUCTION IN DEATHS FROM HEART DISEASE
AND A 70% REDUCTION IN DEATHS DUE TO STROKE; MORE THAN 1
MILLION LIVES SAVED IN 2006 ALONE
Deaths per 100,000
Cardiovascular disease
500
~ 1,329,000
Projected
Deaths in 2000
400
300
200
100
50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 00
Year
30-year
Investment per
American
~$110.00 Total
~ 514,000
Actual
Deaths in
2000
Economic return
of improved
treatment &
prevention
$2.6 TRILLION
HIV / AIDS
 Fundamental knowledge of how viruses replicate gave
scientists targets for therapy. Researchers looking for a new
cancer drug hit one of those targets when they discovered a
way to block replication, resulting in the development of
AZT.
 Increased understanding of how HIV operates at the
cellular and molecular level identified more targets, and
eventually led to the combination of drugs knows as the
‘triple cocktail.’
RESULTS?? AIDS HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED FROM AN ACUTE
FATAL ILLNESS TO A CHRONIC CONDITION; THE PROPHYLACTIC
USE OF ANTI-VIRALS PREVENTED ALMOST 350,000 DEATHS
WORLDWIDE IN 2005
HIV / AIDS
Deaths from
AIDS dropped
nearly 70%
between 1995
and 2000
Survival rates for
those infected with
HIV has increased
by 10 years
Cancer
 Basic research into the shape and characteristics of the
estrogen receptor gave us tamoxifen, which can reduce
breast cancer incidence among women at risk by over 45%.
 The breakthrough finding that human papillomavirus
(HPV) could cause cervical cancer has led to a new vaccine
that NIH estimated could reduce cervical cancer incidence
by as much as 90%.
 While investigating the cellular machinery controlling cell
growth, scientists developed bortezomib - now used to treat
patients with multiple myeloma.
RESULTS?? FROM 1993-2002, CANCER DEATH RATES
DROPPED 1.1% PER YEAR; MORE THAN 2/3 OF PEOPLE
DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER CAN EXPECT TO LIVE 5+ YEARS
Cancer
Millions of People
Increase in Cancer Survivors
9
6
3
1971 1986 1990 2003
30-year
Investment per
American
~$260.00 Total
Infant mortality
 Studies on lung function led to the discovery of surfactant.
This protein-lipid mixture is crucial for the survival of
premature infants, decreasing the number of infant deaths
from respiratory distress from 15,000 per year to less than
1,000.
 The use of anti-virals to prevent mother to child HIV
transmission has reduced the rate from 25% to about 1% in
the U.S.
 Studies on a metabolite of progesterone, known as
progesterone 17P, have led to the finding that injections of
this compound can reduce pre-term deliveries by as much as
30%, a particularly important result for African American
RESULTS?? IN LESS THAN A CENTURY, INFANT MORTALITY IN
women.
THE U.S. HAS BEEN REDUCED BY 90%, TRANSLATING TO
ALMOST 500,000 BABIES SAVED PER YEAR
NIH-Funded Discoveries in LA
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Researchers at LSU’s Pennington Center are developing a cancer
treatment void of debilitating side effects seen with most
chemotherapy
Researchers identified specific cell type (perivascular macrophage)
in the brain infected by SIV/HIV. These infected cells are
responsible for neurologic disease in AIDS
A rhesus macaque model of Lyme disease was developed at the
Tulane National Primate Research Center
Identified a cell that prevents the immune system from destroying
cancer cells in the body
Initiated design and testing of modern immunoassays for Old and
New World arenaviruses, including Lassa fever virus
Researchers developed novel 3-D models of cultured human
placental epithelial cells that are functionally similar to the
developing in utero placenta
The Bottom Line…
 People are living longer, healthier lives
because of NIH funded medical research
 What were once swiftly fatal illnesses have
become treatable or manageable conditions
 For those suffering from diseases that have
no current treatment or cure, medical
research provides hope – which has a major
impact on quality of life
The Challenge…
 NIH funding is entirely dependent on Congressional support
 In recent years, Congressional support has diminished, and
the NIH budget is slowly eroding from lack of funding and
inflation
 Lack of understanding in Congress about the importance of
medical research and the treatments and hope it provides
 As the NIH budget falls, success rate also falls
Diminished investment in NIH = loss of
talented researchers = missed opportunities
= delays in medical progress
Louisiana’s Congressmen Need to
Advocate for NIH Funding
 Nothing should surpass improving our health as a
national priority
 Opportunities for discoveries that translate to
improved health for our citizens have never been
greater
 Every increase in the NIH budget means additional
funding for research in the state and new jobs
We Need Your Help:
Working Together for NIH
 Contact Senators Landrieu and Vitter, and
your Congressional Representative
 Let them know that medical research is
important to you and what a bargain it is
 Write a letter to the newspaper and talk to
your friends
 Help educate policymakers and neighbors
about the important work NIH is doing
 Nothing is more important than our health
 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) should
be an American priority
Want to know more??
Please visit
http://opa.faseb.org
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)