Of the funding, $8.8 million is a renewal of NIH grant money awarded to the Birth Defects Center and the University of Louisville School of Dentistry in 2002 to establish a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE). The award will be distributed over five years and is designed to give young scientists the support they need to conduct research and build a basis to gain their own federal funding.

An independent NIH grant of $1.5 million awarded to Robert Greene, director of the Birth Defects Center, will allow him to research mutations in genes that may predispose babies to birth defects such as spina bifida. He plans to conduct the studies in collaboration with other national researchers.

“These two grants will build on the previous work of our researchers. It means they can continue searching for solutions aimed at preventing birth defects and saving the lives of infants and children,” said UofL President James Ramsey.

The research done by UofL’s COBRE-funded scientists focuses on unlocking the mechanisms behind infertility and birth defects including spina bifida, spinal cord abnormalities, smoking-related mental and physical defects, and cleft palate.

“Birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality and the cause of nearly 70 percent of the anomalies remains unknown,” said Greene. “Each proposed COBRE-supported research project addresses significant, unanswered questions in the area of birth defects and may have a significant impact on major biomedical health care issues.” 

The Birth Defects Center was established in 2000 and is a collaborative effort of more than 30 researchers and physicians from multiple departments in the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Arts and Sciences.