The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) awarded three renewal grants, totaling $1.45 million, to continue support for projects investigating sickle cell disease. Each award, funded through the Innovations in Clinical Research Award (ICRA), is worth $486,000 over three years. Including these recent awards, the ICRA has provided funding for 20 sickle cell disease projects totaling $9.7 million since 2009.

The 2012 ICRA awardees, as announced by the DDCF, are:

Targeted Derepression of Fetal Hemoglobin in Sickle Cell Disease

James E. Bradner, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Genomic and Functional Analyses of Erythrocyte Hydration Pathways as Modifiers in Sickle Cell Disease

Patrick G. Gallagher, MD, and Vincent P. Schulz, PhD

Yale University

Translating Genetic Discoveries to Improve Sickle Cell Disease Prognosis and Treatment

Joel N. Hirschhorn, MD, PhD, and Guillaume Lettre, PhD

Broad Institute and Université de Montréal, Montreal Heart Institute

Columbia University Receives $200 Million Gift to Endow Mind Brain Behavior Institute

Columbia University received a $200 million gift from Mortimer B. Zuckerman to endow a Mind Brain Behavior Institute. The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute will be led by founding co-directors, Thomas Jessell, PhD, and Nobel laureates Richard Axel, MD, and Eric Kandel, MD. The Institute will bring together the neuroscience research efforts of the school’s campuses.

The interdisciplinary Institute will facilitate translational programs aimed at discovering new therapies and cures for numerous disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, neurodevelopmental disorders, mood disorders, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Researchers will also focus on investigating human mental functions in wellness as well as disease. Much of the leadership for the Institute will be based at the University’s Manhattanville campus in the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, which will serve as the hub for cross-campus research on brain science. Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, and other schools …