UAMS, NIH Effort Yields Homegrown Researchers

By David Robinson

Jan. 24, 2012 | Lindsey Dayer still recalls the thrill of injecting cells with a needle during a 2003 summer research fellowship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

Having just completed her sophomore year at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, it was her first time conducting lab research, and the experience helped shape her future.

“It definitely played a role in what I’m doing now,” said Dayer, a first-generation college graduate who earned a doctor of pharmacy degree, joined the UAMS College of Pharmacy as an assistant professor in 2010 and is conducting cancer-related pharmacy research. “I don’t know that I would have thought about doing research without that experience.”

Dayer’s career path counts as one of many homeruns for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutional Development Award (IDeA) funded program called the Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), whose summer fellowship targets students from Arkansas or those attending an Arkansas undergraduate college.

“The summer fellowship program is designed to get undergraduate students interested in biomedical research as a career,” said Helen Beneš, Ph.D., Arkansas INBRE’s program coordinator. “So we would like to see them either go on to graduate school to get an advanced degree or go to a professional school, such as medical school or pharmacy school, and consider research as part of their career goal.”

The summer fellowship program is competitive, with promising undergraduates invited to apply for the 10-week program from colleges across the state. Dayer, for example, was one of just 16 students accepted to the 2003 summer program, which drew 56 applicants.

The seeds for stories like Dayer’s have been sown by the Arkansas INBRE program every year for the last 10 years. With $3 million going to INBRE each year, the program encompasses much more than the summer fellowship program and includes the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (UAF) and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) as its primary partners. Its overall mission is the same – to produce a bigger crop of homegrown biomedical researchers and medical professionals.

One year after Dayer joined the College of Pharmacy, Victoria Sayarath Seaton, Pharm.D., a 2004 INBRE summer fellow, joined the College of Pharmacy faculty at the UAMS Northwest campus in Fayetteville.

“Their stories are what INBRE is all about,” said Lawrence Cornett, Ph.D., the principal investigator and director of Arkansas INBRE and UAMS vice chancellor for research at UAMS.

The summer program, which has mentored 124 summer fellows since 2002, has kept up with the students after their participation. Most are pursuing research or medical-related careers. The largest number, 29, are in graduate school, while six Ph.D.s are doing postdoctoral research. Seven of the former summer fellows are in medical school and nine are serving medical residencies. Others are Ph.D. graduates in either private industry or as college faculty, and some are in dental school, medical technology school, or the UAMS College of Public Health.

Seaton, also a University of the Ozarks graduate, fondly recalls having Beneš as her research mentor. She said the experience paid dividends as she advanced her education.

“Her lab welcomed me with open arms, and having that experience really allowed me to excel in my research abilities,” said Seaton, who also completed a one-year voluntary pharmacy residency that included a research component. “I feel like it opened up doors for me. I was able to say, ‘This is what makes me different as a candidate for pharmacy school.’ It really highlighted my resume and helped prepare me for postgraduate work.”

The summer fellowship program, managed since its inception by UAMS’ Caroline Miller Robinson, is one of three successful INBRE outreach efforts, which together are called the Outreach Core. Much of the Outreach Core’s work is performed at UAMS, but it is directed from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where until recently it was led by Donald Bobbitt, Ph.D., now president of the University of Arkansas System. The outreach program also includes faculty fellowships and an annual research symposium in Fayetteville that invites participation from students and faculty at colleges across the state.

Much of the $3 million annual INBRE funding is spread to colleges throughout the state. Small grants are awarded to support research equipment purchases and research time by faculty at the primarily undergraduate institutions. About $1.5 million a year goes to 13 project leaders at six schools: Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Lyon College in Batesville, Hendrix College in Conway, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

Research faculty at UAMS, UAF and UALR serve as mentors to the project leaders.

“Funding for the Arkansas INBRE from the NIH Institutional Development Award Program has enabled us to change the research landscape in Arkansas,” Cornett said. “Colleges that didn’t have any research activity a few years ago now have faculty and students conducting real science in labs supported with INBRE funding.”