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Our commitment to research at the VCU School of Medicine is evident through our growing faculty size and graduate school enrollment, as well as the construction of new buildings to create more research space and expand critical core facilities.
In recent years, the school has seen a nearly 40 percent increase in the number of grants submitted to the National Institutes of Health and an increase in awarded NIH grant dollars during a time when many research institutions are seeing a decrease in funding.
The VCU School of Medicine now accounts for almost half of VCU’s sponsored research awards and for 87 percent of the university’s NIH funding.
Below are several areas of Basic Laboratory Research that VCU School of Medicine supports.
Strengths are in behavioral and molecular studies of central nervous system agonists and antagonists of receptors for cannabinoids, opiates, nicotine, and alcohol as well as the identification of genes involved in addiction.
Ph.D. and Master's degrees are awarded in Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Human and Molecular Genetics. An Institutional Training Grant supports pre- and postdoctoral students doing research in this area. Basic research is conducted in the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies, an NIH Center that is part of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies. Investigators are located primarily in the following Departments:
Strengths are in immediate hypersensitivity, mast cell biology, tumor immunology, T cell biology and cytokine signaling.
The Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology award advanced degrees to students doing research in this area. An Institutional Training Grant supports predoctoral students. Faculty are in the following Departments:
Strengths are in therapy of hematologic malignancies, cell signaling, cell response to radiation, epigenetic control of hematologic processes, cancer immunology and cancer genomics.
The faculty performing research in this area are members of the Massey Cancer Center and most have their laboratories in the new Goodwin Research Building. Two Institutional Training Grants support pre– and postdoctoral students doing research in this area. Students who work with these investigators can get degrees in the following Departments:
In addition to the Departments listed above that grant Ph.D. degrees, faculty have their primary appointments in the following Departments:
Strengths are in cell signaling in cancer and bacterial cells and, in particular, in the role of lipids in cell signaling.
Students doing research in this area can get Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in:
An Institutional Training Grant supports postdoctoral students doing research in this area. In addition to the Departments above, faculty doing research in this area are also in the following Departments:
Strengths include the entire nervous system, enteric ion channels, hepatic and gut cholesterol metabolism and hepatic steatosis. An Institutional Training Grant supports postdoctoral students. Advanced degrees are awarded in:
Faculty performing research in this area are also in the Department of:
A formal interdisciplinary training program, called MBG, has been created for advanced degree students that merges coursework from various graduate programs and has its own seminars and journal clubs. The coordinator is Gail Christie, Ph.D. [E-mail]: christie@vcu.edu. Participating Departments include:
Students can pursue advanced degrees in any of these six disciplines.
Strengths in this area include glial cell biology, neural plasticity and circuits, traumatic brain injury, substances of abuse, cellular and genetic basis of behavior and neurological disease, and neurodegeneration.
A Ph.D. degree in neuroscience is awarded in this discipline. The Departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Anatomy and Neurobiology have Institutional Training Grants (T32) that supports pre-doctoral students. The integrated program is directed by John W. Bigbee, Ph.D., and involves faculty from the following departments:
In addition to getting a Ph.D. in neuroscience, students can get a master’s or Ph.D. degree in:
Strengths are in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases, staphylococcal infections, vaccine development and evaluation, microbial genomics and the resistance of pathogens to antiinfective agents.
Students can obtain Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. An Institutional Training Grant (T32) supports both predoctoral and postdoctoral students. Faculty doing research in this area are in the following Departments:
Strengths include the molecualar basis of preeclampsia, regulation of steroidgenesis, the genetic basis of polycystic ovary syndrome, mechanisms of fetal membrane rupture, the molecular basis of sperm motility and folliculogenesis. Advanced degrees are awarded in:
Faculty doing research in this area are also in the Departments of:
Below are the areas of clinical and translational research supported by VCU School of Medicine
CCTR is an incubator for all clinical research to be performed in the five schools on the MCV Campus. VCU has received an NIH Planning Grant to develop the Center and formulate curricula for advanced degrees (both Master's and Ph.D.) in Clinical and Translational Research.
Clinical Research Programs in the School of Medicine include:
The Institute for Women's Health sponsors multidisciplinary research into women's health and sex/gender issues and has received federal funding to support these studies. The following are examples of the research supported by these grants:
VCU School of Medicine uses the following resources to conduct research
Information about our core laboratories
For information about our core laboratories, please see the VCU Office of Research website.
Additional resources for clinical research are available within the SOM Clinical Research Administration group as well as the Center for Clinical and Translational Research website.Learn more
Bricks and Mortar: The most recent additions to research space include the Goodwin Research Building, opened in 2005 to support research in the Massey Cancer Center, the Molecular Medicine Research Building (opened in 2009), the Pauley Heart Center (on the seventh floor of Sanger Hall, completed in fall 2012), the Massey Cancer Center vivarium (completed in fall 2012) and the expansion of space for our Structural Biology Core in the basement of the James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Medical Education Center (completed in fall 2013). All new labs are organized in an open lab format to encourage research collaboration. The receipt of an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award in 2010 led to the creation of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR), located in the old Richmond Academy of Medicine Building. The increased space for basic science research and creation of the CCTR has enabled us to move more easily toward the translation of basic science discoveries into new and novel treatments for patients.
Michael Donnenberg, M.D.
Sr. Assoc. Dean for Research & Research Training
Michael Donnenberg, M.D.
Sr. Assoc. Dean for Research & Research Training
Office of Research & Research Training
Phone: (804) 828-0673
Fax: (804) 827-1469
Email: michael.donnenberg@vcuhealth.org
Address/Location:
1101 E Marshall St, Sanger Hall, Room 1-055
Zakir Ullah, PhD
Scientific Proposals Review Administrator
Zakir Ullah, PhD
Scientific Proposals Review Administrator
Office of Research and Research Training
Phone: (804) 828-0272
Email: Zakir.Ullah@vcuhealth.org
Address/Location:
Physical: 1101 E Marshall St, Sanger Hall, Room 1-055
Georgia Straton
Administrative Assistant to the Associate Dean
Georgia Straton
Administrative Assistant to the Associate Dean
Office of the Senior Associate Dean for Research
Phone: (804) 828-0673
Fax: (804) 828-5022
Email: georgia.straton@vcuhealth.org
Address/Location:
Physical: 1101 E Marshall St, Sanger Hall, Room 1-055
Mailing: Box 980565 Richmond, VA 23298-0565