West Virginia is a State that has had a historically low success rate in obtaining grant funds from the National Institutes of Health and has been designated as an IDeA state. In this renewal application, Marshall University (MU), in partnership with West Virginia University (WVU), will continue to build on the success of the West Virginia IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (WV-INBRE) to help develop biomedical research infrastructure and capacity throughout the network and provide biomedical research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students from the partner institutions. MU, in partnership with WVU, will continue to serve as lead institutions to a research network consisting of fourteen primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs)/partner institutions. The multi-disciplinary theme for WV-INBRE will be cellular and molecular biology with an emphasis on chronic disease (cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity-related illness and addiction). Supporting the activities of the network will be the Administrative, Bioinformatics and Genomics Cores which have been established to facilitate research progress, mentoring and training, and career development of investigators and students at the lead and partner institutions. Research in the network will be supported by major PUI research awards, Faculty Research Development Awards (FRDAs), and Center for Natural Products Research, Cancer Biology Research and Chronic Disease Research Program pilot project awards. Ties to WV COBREs, the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA; an NIH-funded SEPA program) and the WV IDeA-CTR (WVCTSI) will be expanded.. Proposed programs will provide research opportunities for PUI students, including the summer research program, HSTA Scholar initiative, and the Developmental Research Project Program to help serve as a pipeline for these students into health-related research careers. HSTA high school science teachers and partner institution faculty fellows will also be provided summer research opportunities at the lead and network institutions. Through providing workshops, seminars, research training and mentoring, and access to state-of-the-art core facilities, WV- INBRE will help enhance the science and technology knowledge and skill base of the WV workforce.

WV-INBRE supported research projects will investigate several major human health issues that are particularly prevalent in West Virginia including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity-related illness and addiction. An important aspect of WV-INBRE is directed toward enhancing the pipeline of undergraduate and graduate students choosing a career in the biomedical science research field.