State awards $22 million in life sciences grants

A state fund tasked with distributing $350 million in tobacco settlement money to support life sciences research in Washington made its first official outlay Thursday afternoon, distributing $22 million in grants among five programs.

The Legislature established the Life Sciences Discovery Fund in 2005. Last year, the fund's board of trustees doled out $4.54 million among six groups, but that money was from private donors.

During a conference call to announce the winners, Lura Powell, the chairwoman of the group's trustees, described the selection process as "rigorous." Seventy-five groups applied in November and had their projects vetted by experts assembled by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Nine of those groups were interviewed in March.

Applications were judged on their scientific and technical merit, their contribution to health care and health in the state, and their economic impact, according to John DesRosier, the fund's director of programs.

The group's board voted Thursday to finance the following projects.

Each project is identified with a principal investigator, although the programs involve collaborations with other investigators, research institutions or businesses.

A group led by Martin Cheever at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center was allocated $2.2 million for a program to make new cancer therapies available to people living in Washington through early-stage clinical trials that will now be able to take place here.

Gail Jarvik at the University of Washington was given $5.3 million in order to establish an Institute of Genetic Medicine, which will allow investigators to rapidly analyze genomic data, with the goal of developing new diagnostic or therapeutic agents.

Another group at the UW, led by Patricia Kuhl, was awarded $4 million to establish a child brain imaging center, partly in order to better understand the causes of diseases with early childhood onset.

Gerald Nepom at the Benaroya Research Institute received $5.6 million to to improve the diagnosing and treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Finally, $4.8 million was awarded to a group led by Richard Smith at Battelle in order to develop technology to identify blood proteins that are an early indication of liver disease.

The fund was allocated $33 million this year. While Thursday's awards are for larger-scale programs, another competition targets more focused studies.

In July, $7 million will be awarded. The remaining money goes to the group's operating expenses, for both this year and last year.